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Template drop zones not respecting in/out points
I’m trying to drop some clips into the drop zone of some templates and it doesn’t respect my in/out points. Always starts at the beginning of the clip. This is a motionvfx purchased template/motion 5 project. I’m not a big template user but when time and budget is a reality… Anyway, I thought this was an issue in older versions of X. Is there a trick to get drop zones to respect your in and out points? I dragging from the event directly to the drop zone. FWIW my event is in thumbnail mode.
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9 Replies
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Here’s what I decided about drop zones back at the time of the release of 10.0.9 – don’t know if it’s true, but it seemed to be true.
In version 10.0.9 Apple seem to have resolved most of the remaining issues with the use of Drop Zones.
You can now pick the first frame that you want to see in your DropZone clip by selecting it directly from the Browser.
Click on the Drop Zone image well, skim to the frame that you want, click and then Apply Clip.
You will now get consistent results even after export, and even after a restart (which could reset the chosen frame previously).
Note that you can longer use the older technique whereby you selected a clip directly off the timeline. Or rather you have to make a compound clip of it first and then select it. If you don’t make a compound clip first you will get only a freeze of your source material.
The Drop Zone will use the compound clip from its start frame – you cannot choose a specific frame as you can if you select from the Browser. It might look as though you can when you hit Apply Clip but this is not the frame you will get.
I hope this information is correct – Drop Zones have never yet been reliable and theories as to how they work have frequently been subject to change. Here’s hoping Apple have fixed the problem once and for all. Please do correct me if your experience differs from the above.
Simon Ubsdell
http://www.tokyo-uk.com -
Excellent info I’ll try it. I had placed clips in the timeline thinking that was working, but then I realized it was grabbing a freeze frame from the last frame of the clip in the timeline! WTF? I’ll try the click on the frame in the event method and post results.
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It would be great to know how you get on.
Apple have silently changed the way drop zones work in X/M5 several times already by my reckoning and it’s never actually been documented so trial and error seems to be the only way to go.
Simon Ubsdell
http://www.tokyo-uk.com -
[Andy Branner] “Actually they have and drop zones respecting the defined in-point of a clip in the event was in fact changed in 10.0.7 and the reset bug you speak about was fixed with 10.0.8. “
You really should think about providing chapter and verse for this kind of claim.
Simon Ubsdell
http://www.tokyo-uk.com -
The only thing said about Drop Zones there is that:
Drop zones no longer reset to the first frame of video after application restart.
This does not strike me as constituting a full and detailed account of how to use Drop Zones.
Simon Ubsdell
http://www.tokyo-uk.com -
[Andy Branner] “I was speaking purely of the introduction of the in point thing.”
For which you are unable to cite chapter and verse.
[Andy Branner] “If not, there are various resources out there, if not in fact the manual.”
Please indicate the section of the manual you are referring to.
Simon Ubsdell
http://www.tokyo-uk.com -
[Andy Branner] ” I’m certainly not going to dance circles around such a ridiculous point with you, thanks.”
If it’s ridiculous, why did you bother commenting?
Still waiting for the quote from the manual.
Simon Ubsdell
http://www.tokyo-uk.com -
Um, wow. No. Not using an age old version. 10.0.9 on mavericks on souped up 2012 iMac with Pegasus raid, BMD Ultratstudio Express, 32gigs of RAM, all the bells and whistles.
So I’ve been playing with it. Putting a clip in the timeline, and clicking the drop zone, then clicking the clip results in a freeze frame from the end of the clip. Clicking a clip in an event that is a favorite ends up starting from the beginning of the actual clip, not the favorite. Placing a clip in a timeline and compounding it works, although it doesn’t seem to have any rhyme or reason to where the clip links up. If the clip isn’t long enough, or it doesn’t like the frame you clicked on, it’ll put an undetermined amount of freeze frame at the start.
Best luck I’ve had is compounding the clip to be used. Then opening it in the event. Then clicking the drop zone and clicking somewhere within the clip in the event and then applying. Then check and see if your clip is in motion all the way through or has freeze at the start or uses the portion you thought. It’s pretty much a hit and miss concept.
What it IS NOT is obvious or fully functional. I don’t care what Apple says, this drop zone stuff is a mess. In legacy, you simply dragged a clip from the timeline or bin to the zone and it worked. I’m not sure what X is trying to do. It may be actually trying to match up the skimmer with the point you click in the event or something, but that’s pretty counter intuitive, not to mention unprecise if it’s the case.
As well, I’ve decided that the use of templates in X in it’s current form is just, crap. Not so much because of the zones, but because you can’t open them in motion. Sure you can edit the template before you use it. But once you’ve spent hours getting the text and drop zones the way you like them, you had better really like the template! Because if you decide you don’t want a particular element of the template like a line or a light, or a color, or a blur, etc. then you can’t go in and edit it. I’m not sure where these timeline instances of the template live, but once they’re in the timeline they’re on their own. No connection to the instance in the generators browser. Which makes sense. But, they should be editable in motion. I suppose that’s coming in December hopefully. But the lack of roundtripping is just ridiculous. It would be better to simply export the clips, open up the project in motion, render it out and bring it into FCP X. Then you can at least make changes and re-render. We’re only getting half the puzzle here. Adobe Premiere seems to have the other half with their roundtripping to AE. But they don’t have the template fx editing like we do.
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I’m still having the same issue. I’m unable to specific the starting point for a number of DropZones.
I tried to do the trick mentioned above where you manually select the start point and then click apply. It seems so work on some clip and not on others… with no real indication as to why? Very frustrating!
It is also a template purchased from MotionVFX.
Running FCPX 10.1.1
Thanks for the help!
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