shortcuts

[James Ewart]

yes sorry I mean expand audio video which effectively for me expands audio as opposed to detaching and I have mapped control option command S to collapse all.

Getting the hang of this now… I find the shortcuts more essential in X than I did with 7.

[Bret Williams]

I saw some new ones for back timing an edit I may try to map. But honestly I drag most edits because you can finesse more IN the timeline. You never obliterate a render or edit by dragging a clip that’s too long, plus no track mapping for 3 point, overwrite or insert is really an advantage. Whether dragging or key editing you don’t have to be so precise and can edit in the timeline MORE unlike what Bill says. Im really not sure where he’s going with all his edit in the Event comments. My events are not a library of footage for the future. They apply to a specific project, are used, media managed and then put on a shelf and slated for demolition on 12/21/12 when the new interstellar bypass comes through.

Sorry, that was both OT and incoherent. Wrapping up a project. Might need a little sleep.

[James Ewart]

I love drag and drop editing but for some reason I find it rather clunky compared to FCP7…not sure why… just feels a bit less direct… might be the magnetic timeline.

I would dearly love to be able to toggle it (magnetic timeline) on and off rather the have to hit P every time.

My main bugbear but it seems that’s what Apple think is the most important feature. But it irritates me.

I am with you on Events…each Event is a different job for me..usually on a different external drive.

[Bill Davis]

[James Ewart] “I would dearly love to be able to toggle it (magnetic timeline) on and off rather the have to hit P every time.

My main bugbear but it seems that’s what Apple think is the most important feature. But it irritates me.”

It will irritate you right up until you change your work expectations. Which WILL happen over time. Then it won’t bug you again ever.

At this stage, you’re “conditioned” to think that a timeline is something where clips are organized freely in horizontal space – and that’s how you still conceive of “editing.”

If you use X a lot, in just a couple of short months, all the angst will fall away and you’ll be left with a new alternative way to think about editing. One that works really, really well for a lot of projects.

Good luck with your journey.

“Before speaking out ask yourself whether your words are true, whether they are respectful and whether they are needed in our civil discussions.”-Justice O’Connor

[Jeremy Garchow]

[James Ewart] “I would dearly love to be able to toggle it (magnetic timeline) on and off rather the have to hit P every time.”

Easiest way is to work with P on ALL the time, and hold A when you want to turn the magnetic timeline on, until you get used to how the magnetic timeline moves.

It’s similar to having to hold option in FCP7 to toggle differing trim modes.

[James Ewart]

Thanks for this.

Well I use the primary storyline a lot more than before when I would, habitually drop shots in sequentially but using v1, v2, v3, v4 and checkerboarding a bit like the way audio editors used to on film.

I liked being able to see everything there but am getting used to mainly using the primary storyline. I have learnt my shortcuts…well most of the ones I seem to be needing most of the time. this has helped for sure. I don’t use Auditions much but have hammered the shortcuts into my brain because I think it could be useful indeed.

Compound clips I don’t seem to need much but then I never much had a need for nesting with my work.

But can you help enlighten me about how I should be thinking differently with X?

What is the fundamental main difference in the way you work now… that moment when you saw the light?

Is it just getting used to use=ing the primary storyline? I confess to still finding this a little claustrophobic!!

Best regards

James

[James Ewart]

Thanks Jeremy…that’s what I’d like to do. I’d like to leave P on all the time with one keystroke and let it remain so until such time as I need the magnetic timeline. For my first assembly I can do without it. When I start editing and trimming I would switch it back on.

Is there a way of leaving P “On”?

best regards

James

[Jeremy Garchow]

[James Ewart] “Is there a way of leaving P “On”?”

The Position tool is a bit of a mode. When you hit p and release it, you are now in position mode and you can trim without the magnetic trim. When you grab a clip, it will overwrite other clips.

If you need to reverse the behavior and temporarily turn ON magnetism, or trim without leaving a gap, simply push and hold ‘a’ for the arrow tool, make your move, then release ‘a’ and you are back to the position tool.

Let me know if that makes sense.

[James Ewart]

Well that’s the weirdest thing ever or I am a complete raving dunderhead (the latter) but I just tested that out and up until now for some reason I thought I had to hit P every time to stay on Position mode but all of a sudden it’s working when before I would swear it wasn’t but it must have been me being absolutely stupid because nothing’s changed.

Thanks for your patience…

EUREKA

[Bill Davis]

[James Ewart] “What is the fundamental main difference in the way you work now… that moment when you saw the light?

Is it just getting used to use=ing the primary storyline? I confess to still finding this a little claustrophobic!!”

Okay, but understand that this is me. It’s how my brain works. It may or may not prove to be similar for you.

14 months ago when I first saw X I came to it with 11 straight years of working in Legacy. So when I started editing with it, my natural tendency was to try to operate it *like* Legacy. Which meant I would “import” clips into the program – toss them onto a timeline and start editing.

This works – but not very well in X. Because that kind of workflow essentially circumvents MOST of the power of the new design.

Legacy was largely a 2-stage editor. Import then Timeline cut. X is a 3 stage editor. The new middle stage is the Event Browser. It’s where the persistent power of the new software approach lives. Because we didn’t have ANYTHING like it in Legacy.

It’s a “pre-work” space where everything you do sticks around and can be leveraged for additional value later in your work. Keywording, pre-editing, color corrections, trimming, etc. etc. etc. can ALL be done in the event browser -and once done, that work REMAINS attached to that project and can be re-used at will. This is a massive new capability. Because it’s built in the form of a relational database that’s driven by end user choices about WHAT keywords or ranges or clips to effect, it typically takes quite some time for the user to figure out what it is. And (and I think this is critical) to develop a strategy for using it that works effectively for the individual editor.

I think this is one of the HUGE reasons that X adoption has been so slow. There’s this massively useful new capability built right into the software itself, and it’s complex and flexible.

And it’s “foreign.”

It’s much easier for most migrating editors to just work with what they’re comfortable with (timeline editing) and ignore the new complex stuff. So they do.

But the new three part approach truly changes how you start to think about editing projects.

There are many, many other changes in the X approach, major and subtle. But this is a big one, IMO.

And editors simply can’t use the software as efficiently as it’s designed until they learn what the new capabilities do – and how to leverage them smartly to help them make their editing easier.

Hope that helps.

“Before speaking out ask yourself whether your words are true, whether they are respectful and whether they are needed in our civil discussions.”-Justice O’Connor