Roles: got ’em to work.

[Mark Morache]

I’ve given up on trying to keep my timeline in any sort of order. Occasionally I’ll elevate an audio clip if I see that there’s room above it, otherwise I just try to let the clips lay where they want.

It’s forcing ourselves to “think different”, which in many cases isn’t bad at all, even though it requires effort at first.

The timeline index is our new best friend. It’s so easy to solo tracks based on keywords or “roles”. In many ways this makes it even easier to identify and isolate or modify clips in the timeline.

If you want neatness, select every clip of one particular type and create a compound clip out of it. If you use your imagination, it almost looks like a track. Be careful however if you break it back into clips. I had unexpected results from doing that, and I decided I wouldn’t do that if I didn’t need to.

However you can apply effects to the compound clip, and it makes it act like a bussed effect.

———
FCX. She tempts me, abuses me, beats me up, makes me feel worthless, then in the end she comes around, helps me get my work done, gives me hope and I can’t stop thinking about her.

Mark Morache
Avid/Xpri/FCP7/FCX
Evening Magazine,Seattle, WA
https://fcpx.wordpress.com

[Jeremy Garchow]

[Simon Ubsdell] “but the point about this is that it involves a lot more “housekeeping””

Got ya. And that’s where roles would step in as the housekeeping area. If you need the visual alignment, you have to sort it as you want.

I think some sort of target system would help here. For instance, in the timeline, always keep the layers sorted by Role. This could be a preference or something. I mean, it’s a database driven architecture, we should be able to sort how we want, correct? 🙂

[Simon Ubsdell]

[Jeremy Garchow] “For instance, in the timeline, always keep the layers sorted by Role. This could be a preference or something.”

Now that sounds like a really good idea – I think Roles are powerful enough that they could accommodate a lot of good stuff like this. Hope you suggest thie one to Apple as it’s a good ‘un.

Simon Ubsdell
Director/Editor/Writer
http://www.tokyo-uk.com