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The exponential greatness of the magnetic timeline in FCPX
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[Oliver Peters] “[Jeff Markgraf] “But overlapping clips in Avid results in overwriting”
Agreed. To clarify my example:
I just wanted to point out that there are older and other versions of the magnetic timeline. Not that they are necessarily equal to X’s approach.”
Where is the audio, re: Avid? Is it in a track?
I have always construed magnetism as more of an audio-is-magnetized-to-the video (and not the ripple construal).
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[Oliver Peters] “That of people struggling with X for quite awhile until something “clicked”.”
Just a quick note: The people struggling with X are the one who have used other NLEs. The “kids mostly” whose first (and only) NLE do not struggle with it.
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[tony west] “For me it’s more about the connected clips.
You can grab a huge group of elements by grabbing one clip and they all travel together.
Drag them all down the timeline and drop them in a spot in seconds.
Other NLE’s can be in a ripple mode but they don’t have connected clips”
Tony, that’s exactly what I was thinking!
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[Richard Herd] “Just a quick note: The people struggling with X are the one who have used other NLEs. The “kids mostly” whose first (and only) NLE do not struggle with it.”
Hopefully those kids today won’t be struggling adults tomorrow when, inevitably, they’ll have to learn a new NLE. And a new NLE after that. And yet another new NLE after that… 😉
I don’t think anyone would debate which NLE is the easiest to pickup by someone that’s never touched an NLE before. The basic questions surrounding X, IMO, typically fall into one of two categories. Can it fit into the workflows I already use without significant disruption and does using X present a large net gain in productivity (or is it more of a lateral move)? First comers aren’t going to have those concerns (obviously). Neither of those questions is really unique to X though (even though X presents some unique changes) as anytime someones looks to change what they are currently doing has to examine what their needs and goals are.
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[Richard Herd] “Where is the audio, re: Avid? Is it in a track?”
In this mode the audio would be on A1/A2. This mode hides the audio tracks and basically works at the point of early assembly when you’d have straight-across audio and video edits. Figure it as sort of a storyboard function. I’ll have to double-check that though, as the sequence I tested was picture-only. I never use this mode and am not completely sure how it has changed in 8.3. Media Composer lets you view the timeline in Heads, Heads-Tails, and Track modes.
– Oliver
Oliver Peters Post Production Services, LLC
Orlando, FL
http://www.oliverpeters.com -
I think the strength in a the magnetic timeline lies in the fact that, next to the fact that it for a lot of editing operations it works quicker (sometimes you have to learn to edit ‘differently’, think differently, and sometimes it ISN’T faster… But for most stuff, I have the feeling it is), is that it’s content-based.
The whole idea of having a trackless system, BUT with Roles as an organizing system, is content-based.No clip collisions, no track one, track two, no patching… With Roles you can think in content (Titles, Dialogue, Music… or with subroles, the options are endless).
Of course, in that case you need to organise your footage first, but organising things in X is very quick.I think we are all agreeing that Roles can be made a lot better (grouping, color coding, an audio mixer based on it, etc. …). But the whole idea behind it, I think is actually genius. And that you then just can choose what to export in your last step…
It takes a lot of time to think differently with the magnetic timeline. Normal rough assemblys… no. That goes fast. But more complex edits, it takes more time to think in ‘terms’ like primary storyline, how to move those clips, how to tackle an edit. But now that I do, I really have difficulty working in a track-environment these times because it’s like my brain thinks like X now, because I use it so much (grew up with Premiere Pro and before X spent most of my young professional career in FCP 7 – I switched to X since 10.0.3 for small projects, and used it on a bigger scale in the firm where I do all my freelance work, switching them completely since 10.0.6)
And, like Oliver said, sometimes there are some things missing in X, or just because of the way it works, that some stuff works slower then in another NLE. In my mind, X wins most of the time, but your mileage may vary.What I’m saying is… with X you think much more content-wise. I’m not an editor because I love the technical nature of editing (although of course there is a big part of me that likes it a bit). I like to tell stories. I think X is more appropriate for artists then a lot of other NLE’s because of this. The magnetic timeline seems to have a more direct connection – again, most of the time – between what you want to achieve and achieving it. Like moving a clip downwards, and everything just automatically adjusting.
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It’s also tied to the fact that the entire X editorial system is constructed with wildly different philosophy overall,
Where traditional timelines used to be the ONLY place where editorial decision making took place, in X that is no longer true.
This was a MAJOR philosophical shift in NLE operational focus, IMO.
In X, your editorial decision making starts inside the database by allowing the editor to express anything from a single edit decision – to the entirety of the editing decisions for their entire program – with as much precision as they elect to employ via range selection and keyword storage.
This truly can becomes an actual “editing stage” when used with intent.Seen that way, it gives one the option to do multiple pre-edits of not just a single clip, but multiple versions of any clip as well. The database tracks these pre-edits and allows you to do a number of things with them. You can do a simple string out. OR you can use the Auditions function to create additional scene choices inside a pre-trimmed string out – and if you do – it’s the MAGNETIC nature of the storyline that allows you to make quick comparisons while you are altering your choices.
While you’re doing that, vertical magnetism keeps any attendant content decisions (titles, b-roll, whatever) consistent – even as you’re swapping auditions.
As always, to confront “the magnetic timeline” from the perspective of how it does the things that another NLE does is kinda silly. Because no other NLE does ALL the peripheral things that the one with a magnetic timeline does – so you can’t really look at it as just a “thing” on it’s own. IMO.
It’s a tool that is NATURAL in X. And for an editor who doesn’t cut in X, the very idea of it is un-natural – simply because there’s never any reason for them to consider what it might do really, really well – because they typically have only a bit of vague experience in the magnetic environment – often softened by going back and forth between editorial systems – where the re-inforcement mechanism needed to solve ALL an editors challenges inside a magnetic system gets muted.
This does not diminish non-X forms of editing in the least. And I’m not arguing that one way or the other is inherently better or worse. But it remains true that that many of us who have learned the new rules – are finding ways to deploy the “database plus magnetic system” in ways that save us substantial amounts of time and stress in our daily work.
Non-X editors want to figure out “how to turn off magnetism” FIRST. Funny how actual X editors I talk to do so remarkably seldom. A (P) position tool activation here. A Tilda key clip move there. They become the very rare exception to our on-going editing.
Wouldn’t you think that if magnetism was the bane that the non-X editor thinks it is, all really good X editors would spend lots of time defeating it with the functions built into the very program to do so? Oddly, none of them that I talk to ever do. And in fact when forced to work on a project without magnetism – they often feel that they’re missing something very valuable and being far less efficient.
So there’s that.
Really, Magnetism isn’t a single “thing” iIMO. It’s part of the cohesive editing system in X. And to isolate it and talk about it in the absence of the database that drives it and connected clips, secondary storylines and the other X vertical relationship “stickiness” elements – can only lead to more misunderstanding and more editors not truly familiar with X missing the larger point.
My 2 cents.
Know someone who teaches video editing in elementary school, high school or college? Tell them to check out http://www.StartEditingNow.com – video editing curriculum complete with licensed practice content.
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This is where X really started to win me over Richard.
I had done my first project with it and the client wanted some changes. It was a snap moving things around in that timeline after you had already built a bunch of elements.
I found it fast to assemble stuff and fast to change things around.
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[Oliver Peters] “I don’t know about that. Look through all of the forums across the ‘net related to X and you’ll see a re-occuring theme. That of people struggling with X for quite awhile until something “clicked”. I’m not sure 1 month is enough unless you are solidly involved in a complex project for that month and are using X in ernest.”
Agreed, but with a disclaimer – for the non-editor and with kids – the “click” largely never happens – because the X process is nearly totally intuitive for them from day one.
However, the longer an editor has been active at a high level with traditional NLE software – the longer it often takes for them to stop fighting the software so that the “click moment” can arrive.
FWIW.
Know someone who teaches video editing in elementary school, high school or college? Tell them to check out http://www.StartEditingNow.com – video editing curriculum complete with licensed practice content.
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[Mathieu Ghekiere] “I think we are all agreeing that Roles can be made a lot better (grouping, color coding, an audio mixer based on it, etc. …).”
Please god, limit the color coding!
In another group, somebody posted this…
(speaking ONLY of the interface representation, for all I know they’re a great editor, but to my eye this is a interface disaster of epic proportions and is exactly what we’ll all be seeing if we allow unlimited timeline color tagging.)
YIKES!
Know someone who teaches video editing in elementary school, high school or college? Tell them to check out http://www.StartEditingNow.com – video editing curriculum complete with licensed practice content.
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