-
Skimming? Is it really that great?
So I’ve been playing with X a bit and it seems that skimming is a huge part of using X. In so many posts, people are saying “just skim to this part of the clip and then do X, Y, or Z” or “It’s so easy to just skim there…”
Haven’t we all said that keyboard shortcuts are way more efficient than click and drag. We have all (generally) agreed that using JKL is way more efficient than drag the playhead thru the clip in the Viewer. But isn’t skimming just the same as dragging without the click? Why don’t people have a fundamental issue with skimming now when it was basically universally agreed that it was less efficient two years ago?
I know we can still JKL in X but it seems to have taken a back seat to skimming.Sorry if it has been discussed before but I’ve been away for a while.
Chi-Ho Lee
Film & Television Editor
http://www.chiholee.com -
19 Replies
-
Skimming? Is it really that great?
Yes.
-
Yes it is, best thing in any NLE for finding shots, the fact you can skim all the clips in your event without having to load clips
[Jason Brown] “Skimming? Is it really that great?
Yes.
“Seconded
Steve Connor
‘It’s just my opinion, with an occasional fact thrown in for good measure” -
I see it as another brush in the palette. FCP X can also be driven quite effectively with keyboard alone. But sometimes you just want to plow throw a mountain of clips looking for one elusive thing and for that Skimming cannot be beat.
-
Chi-Ho,
I think it’s fair to say that ‘Beauty is in the eye of the beholder” and for some that means that skimming is the best thing since sliced bread. For others, “JKL” will be the first option and for others, a fusion or hybrid of the two will do just nicely.I believe that Skimming is a feature and one that can be very useful and also has its place. I don’t believe that the JKL feature has been deprecated. FCPX is, well, relatively, new and as such, it will introduce new concepts and new features.
But I’ll read with fascination what others have to say on the matter.
Lawrence
-
In a few words – yes, it is.
But, you don’t need to click to skim. Just slide the pointer over the clip and move the pointer left and right.
Since my trackpad is right next to my keyboard, and most of my keyboard shortcuts are done with my left hand, it’s really easy to simply slide back and forth over the trackpad.
Of course, I’ve also used Wacom tablets for year to do similar stuff in other apps.
Tim
—
Tim Jones
CTO – TOLIS Group, Inc.
https://www.productionbackup.com
BRU … because it’s the RESTORE that matters! -
Thanks everyone for their replies but if skimming is so great, then why did most of us poo poo’d it (dragging) back in the previous versions? It’s essentially the same thing!
Chi-Ho Lee
Film & Television Editor
http://www.chiholee.com -
Skimming is fantastic way to preview…it gives you 2 options of interacting with the timeline of positioning actions (blade, inserts, trims) becasue with a simple depression of the “S” key you can use that location or the location of the playhead. It gives you so much flexibility.
In addition, the “clip skimming” function is AMAZING to see content inside of a composite without having to disable tracks to see below them. Now, I always keep my left hand on the keyboard for Q-W-E-S or cmd+1,2,3 for inserting.
Pressing the S key is simple, quick and easy and for the options it gives you…it’s an extremely easy way to preview clips. The double click and click and drag is a thing in my past…I’m smiling about that!
-Jason
-
For my purposes, I didn’t find an implementation of skimming that I found particularly compelling to use until I saw it in Final Cut Pro X. I find it quite handy for previewing footage quickly. Previous implementations of skimming weren’t nearly as fast to use.
What’s your take on it Chi-Ho? Does it work for you?
“Whether you think you can or can’t, you’re right.”
-
Add another vote for skimming. Clip skimming is particularly useful when you have stacks of elements.
Clicking the top level of the event or kw collection and setting the browser to thumbnail is a fanatic tux way to buzz through footage quickly.
I find myself trying to skim in fcp7. It doesn’t work. 🙁
Skimming is completely different than click and drag for me.
Not to mention there’s also the playhead which really cool to be able to use the slimmer and playhead in tandem. The playhead saves your spot, the skimmer goes hunting for something else.
-
JKL works great when you are close to where you want to be. But if you have to move 10 minutes away, it takes forever with JKL.
Skimming is very fast and you can cover a lot of ground quickly. So I’d say for precision edits, JKL works well, maybe better than skimming. But for finding a shot in the midst of hours of material, skimming is where it is at. It simply can’t be done with JKL.
Of course you still have JKL with FCP X
Reply to this Discussion! Login or Sign Up