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The basic problem with the skimmer: it’s shite.
really interesting discussion going on at dvcreators under a great article about the origins of FCP
one of the comments by a fellow called Frank Leeman really struck me:
A lot of blogs, are focussing on what features are missing from FCPX and why that’s a reason to call it a failure or a success.
It’s not the features.
A lot of the things missing from this v1 will be solved in the coming months/years and ‘real’ professionals won’t upgrade their FCP just yet. The thing that concerns me is that Apple succeeded to follow it’s current trend; making things consumer-centric.
It’s that trend that’s been bothering me for a while, and FCP X is the culmination of all that. Outside FCP X, why does OsX every time I mount a disk image have to ask me if I trust the source? I know why, but I would really appreciate the opportunity to dismiss that prompt forever.
About FCP X. The workflow has changed in a visionary way.
Apple decided nobody will be using film (16, 35 etc) or tape anymore. With film or tape the workflow has been, import a couple of really long clips in a low resolution, either reel length or tape length. Spot these (yourself or an assistant), make a ‘selects’ timeline, and use your selection edit as your new source for the story –I’m sure this is not the only way of doing it, but a lot of editors I know use this method. When you have a final edit, use an EDL to rescan or rebatch the material in an hi-res online environment, let’s say inside autodesk lustre color grading suite. Use the output from the grading session to reconnect your project and merge it with sound, or some more high-end productions do that in Autodesk Flame or After Effects, also based on that EDL. Will that be solved by a plugin? Yes, but If you import a clip that’s over 15 minutes, the skimming method is not precise enough. With a tiny flick of the wrist you skip over 4 minutes of material. Of course you can re-adjust the viewer so it shows you a bigger skimmable area but even then it’s hard not to skip over material as the time indicator is so easily moved. Of course when you’ve shot on a Canon 5d, an Alexa or something else that creates a new clip every time you record, this function of skimming your clip for in/out works fine.
I guess the thing I noticed is that while FCP X is a brilliant piece of software, it in fact seems to be LESS flexible than old FCP. FCPX forces you to let it do all the thinking. But it’s not flexible enough to adapt to your preferences and workflow. And that is something I don’t think they’re going to solve with plug ins and upgrades. And that’s also something a lot of professionals, that work with weird formats and requests are going to hate about it. The software is dictating the way they have to think, as opposed to having software adjust to the way they like to work.
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somebody tell me why the skimmer and a little yellow rectangle is better than the dedicated viewer present in FCP7 and every other piece of editing software ever made.
Famous quote from Mahatma Gandhi:
“Randy Ubillos, you brain damaged dwarf, FCP7 wasn’t a multitrack editor, editing is a multitrack operation, editing software is intended to be an expression of that truth.”http://www.ogallchoir.net
promo producer/editor.grading/motion graphics -
18 Replies
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You can turn off skimming and you can still set in/out points from the keyboard. What’s supposed to be the problem here?
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Digital Workflow/Colorist, Nice Dissolve.You should follow me on Twitter here. Or read our blog.
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[Chris Kenny] “What’s supposed to be the problem here?”
BZZZ – buzzer says wrong Kenny – you’re deliberately referring to skimming on the timeline – the man’s points refer to being able to see the bloody footage at all before he puts it in the timeline. I’ll let Frank Leeman take over and clear up your confusion –
“..the skimming method is not precise enough. With a tiny flick of the wrist you skip over 4 minutes of material. Of course you can re-adjust the viewer so it shows you a bigger skimmable area but even then it’s hard not to skip over material as the time indicator is so easily moved.”
See? interesting isn’t it? the skimmer looks sexy, but fascinatingly it turns out to be tricked out bullshit as a tool.
Famous quote from Jimmy Carter:
“Randy Ubillos, you pompous, pompous ass, FCP7 wasn’t a multitrack editor, editing is a multitrack operation, editing software is intended to be an expression of that truth.”http://www.ogallchoir.net
promo producer/editor.grading/motion graphics -
[Aindreas Gallagher] “BZZZ – buzzer says wrong Kenny “
Wow, you might be the most obnoxious individual presently posting here, and that’s saying something.
[Aindreas Gallagher] “the man’s points refer to being able to see the bloody footage at all before he puts it in the timeline. I’ll let Frank Leeman take over and clear up your confusion – “
Did you not actually read my response? The bit about setting in/out points from the keyboard? You can do this in the browser. You can turn off skimming and essentially treat the filmstrip displayed in the browser the same as you treated the scrubber at the bottom of FCP 7’s viewer window. Use the mouse or JKL to find your first frame. Hit the ‘I’ key. Find your last frame. Hit the ‘O’ key. Hit W/D/E to perform an insert/overwrite/append, or drag your selection to the timeline.
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Digital Workflow/Colorist, Nice Dissolve.You should follow me on Twitter here. Or read our blog.
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i was just trying to liven it up a little, sorry if my game show analogy tweaked one’s nose. You’re right too about the preview methodology. the point you made there makes perfect sense.
I will go now and find something else to beat this software up on. I may return to something I have beaten it up on before, there is always the godawful timeline – I know – you love the timeline, that is fine.
http://www.ogallchoir.net
promo producer/editor.grading/motion graphics -
[Aindreas Gallagher] “”..the skimming method is not precise enough. With a tiny flick of the wrist you skip over 4 minutes of material. Of course you can re-adjust the viewer so it shows you a bigger skimmable area but even then it’s hard not to skip over material as the time indicator is so easily moved.” “
I like the skimmer. It needs some work but I expect that to happen.
In Events Browser List View, a long clip is hard to skim precisely.
In Events Browser Thumbnail view one adjusts the range from All (single thumbnail per file) down to .5 second. This allows for precise skimming. The thumbnails let you know where you need to jump to in the file. When you put the Events Viewer on a second monitor (Window/Show Events on Second Display) It’s easy to know where you are. On Single monitor viewing, the Events Viewer can be very cluttered as you have to do some scrolling to get to the right thumbnails to start skimming.Of course if you’ve ever tried to search through a long clip in the viewer in a “traditional” NLE, that’s not easy either. Having the thumbnails lets me see where I need to go IF it isn’t a long talking head piece where all the thumbnails look alike. I don’t see how having a Viewer makes that any easier.
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yeah that all makes total sense, I’m climbing down from throwing bricks at the skimmer.
I do like it in use, its nice to play with, I just have real hesitation thinking about it being used in anger with a total pile of assets.http://www.ogallchoir.net
promo producer/editor.grading/motion graphics -
Yeah, I haven’t use the software yet, but coming from Avid and even FCP 7, if you had a long clip in the viewer, it was hard to scan through it also. At least in the skimmer window you have all those thumbnails to help you find your spots. It appears to be a bit of a eyesore, but it seems functional, once you get used to it.
I’ll be buying FCP X in a few weeks to mess around with it. It definitely seems like it’ll be fun to play with and I’m sure I’ll find uses for it.
Chris
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[Aindreas Gallagher] “I do like it in use, its nice to play with, I just have real hesitation thinking about it being used in anger with a total pile of assets.”
The Skimmer is an example of a good idea but somewhat incomplete. There needs to be an easier way to get to that .5 second view then using the mouse to pull that tiny slider. It should also work in list view.
It should be a keyboard command otherwise one should be able to select a range and skim within that.I like what FCPX does. It very incomplete though. Apple should have had a year long transition so people could continue to add FCS2009 seats while Apple adds features to FCPX.
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[Chris Conlee] “It appears to be a bit of a eyesore, but it seems functional, once you get used to it.”
My original reaction to al the thumbnails was the same. I thought, why would anyone use that over file view? It greet for finding your way in long clips though. It’s even easier to use if you designate it for a second display. There needs to be an easy way to go from list to thumbnail view and then bring thumbnail view down to .5s. They have the right pieces but they need the connections. A keyboard command maybe? The ability to do that in file view as well?
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Yeah, I don’t know if you read it yet, but I found this article totally fascinating –
Lots interesting reasoned stuff, there he makes the same essential point – if they had simply said FCS3 will be supported with updates and fixes through Lion, but should be considered a mature application that will not alter radically from now on.. And then apple could proudly say – this new app (whatever they choose to call it) represents the future of editing, when it is mature, it will take over from FCS.. That would have forestalled a lot of the firestorm.
But the way they’ve done this.. Broadcasters, facilities, post houses, they’ll none of them forget what apple did here – they’ll lable apple as a batshit unreliable software vendor for all time. Apple as a software vendor will have gone on an awful lot of people’s shit list.
http://www.ogallchoir.net
promo producer/editor.grading/motion graphics
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