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The Magnetic Timeline – Time, Space and One Clock To Rule Them All
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[Craig Seeman] “[David Lawrence] “The question is, is this more efficient?”
It is when you’ve created stacks of items that are designed to happen relative to each other. The interview, cutaways, titles, fx, are relative to the words and actions in the interview and you can move that entire relative relationship anywhere in time and the relationship will be maintained.”
Craig, here’s a fundamental issue I’m wondering about with the grouped stack:
I don’t edit in ripple mode much at all. I frequently need to insert a video or audio clip in a timeline that may have 10 tracks of both video and audio. I select everything to the right of the insert point with a single click of my five button mouse and deselect those clips that overlap the insert point from the left that I don’t want to move. I then create a gap equal or longer than the clip I’m inserting and plunk the new clip on the correct track depending, if it’s video, on the layered ordering I want. But the clips that don’t move may be only 2 of 10 overlapping clips. I know which ones they are. I know the vertical layering order of the new clip. No software algorithm will or can.
It’s hard for me to see how a grouped stack of equal complexity can handle the insert situation I described as efficiently. This is where the vertical fixed track would seem to me to be more capable than going about placing and replacing objects before and after they’ve been shifted ‘magnetically’. But please enlighten me if I’m wrong.
David
AllinOneFilms.com -
[David Roth Weiss] “but no intelligent person can resist trying to interpret hieroglyphics, so here we are…”
Brilliant!!! So true 🙂
And great podcast, btw.
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[Glen Hurd] “And great podcast, btw.”
Thanks Glen!!! Always good to hear positive Cow feedback.
David Roth Weiss
Director/Editor/Colorist
David Weiss Productions, Inc.
Los Angeles
https://www.drwfilms.comDon’t miss my new tutorial: Prepare for a seamless transition to FCP X and OS X Lion
https://library.creativecow.net/weiss_roth_david/FCP-10-MAC-Lion/1POST-PRODUCTION WITHOUT THE USUAL INSANITY ™
Creative COW contributing editor and a forum host of the Business & Marketing and Apple Final Cut Pro forums.
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[“Walter Soyka]” What challenge was this redesign meant to address?””
[Paul Dickin] “As Craig has indicated, to find a way of graphically representing AV Foundation building blocks in an edit-friendly manner”
I have argued this with Craig every time he’s brought it up. I think AV Foundation here is a red herring. (See this post where I dig through the AV Foundation documentation [link] and outline why I think AV Foundation has nothing to do with the FCPX data model.
AV Foundation is the framework for reading and writing media. The AVMutableComposition class [link] that everyone keeps pointing to as the essence of an FCPX project does not provide any tools for clip connections, which are the foundation of the magnetic timeline, or for primary and secondary storylines. I think AV Foundation naturally models timelines the old-fashioned way.
[Paul Dickin] “to make the ‘editing process’ more comprehensible to a (far) wider user base.”
I agree here — I’ve argued elsewhere [link] that I think that FCPX’s design philosophy is abstraction, hiding technical detail where possible and moving the editor away from the underlying mechanics of what the computer must do to assemble the edit.
Walter Soyka
Principal & Designer at Keen Live
Motion Graphics, Widescreen Events, Presentation Design, and Consulting
RenderBreak Blog – What I’m thinking when my workstation’s thinking
Creative Cow Forum Host: Live & Stage Events -
[Glen Hurd] “I feel like we’re giving Apple too much consideration. It’s like a committee of linguists studying a recently discovered collection of free-verse, spending days discussing the potential insight and irony of this genius, while, unbeknownst to them, it’s actually the meandering words of a child – signed by a playful parent – e. e. cummings.”
I think many here are still trying to understand the new model Apple’s engineers and UI designers have dropped in our laps. I don’t think they built it this way accidentally, which is why I’m so interested in understanding what it does, why it does it, and what workflows it’s built for.
David has been leading us through an exploration of why NLEs have worked the way they do — going back to theory and first principles. This is all presented in contrast to the new FCPX model. Since FCPX isn’t likely to go away any time soon, and since it’s so different from what has come before, I think the study is well worth while.
Walter Soyka
Principal & Designer at Keen Live
Motion Graphics, Widescreen Events, Presentation Design, and Consulting
RenderBreak Blog – What I’m thinking when my workstation’s thinking
Creative Cow Forum Host: Live & Stage Events -
The part of this equation that no one can know, is exacty that, the unknown.
It is pretty obvious to me, there are things missing, or not “switched on”.
The interface might be confusing as all the parts aren’t there. The foundation is built, but the walls aren’t raised.
I agree with you David L, the efficiency is in question and the proof or lack of evidence will come with time. I do find the trim tool to be remarkably efficient as it essentially removes the “media limits” of FCP7 and all that comes with that.
I do think all the functionality isn’t all fleshed out yet. There is a reason the vocabulary has changed. It might not quite make sense at this point, as the dictionary is still being written.
Of course, I could be wrong about all of this.
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I can be positive . . . no, really!! 😉
You’re welcome, Dave. So many words get lost in the jumble on the page – no matter how many breaks we use to create clarity. But hearing an insightful discussion keeps complex ideas alive and manageable. Much appreciated. Especially with this topic.
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I’m still waiting for my voucher codes, so I haven’t had a chance to actually work on FCP X, but the concept of “ripple only” sounds like a real sticking point to me. I can say that I never edit in this manner, and always do “insert” style editing to borrow an old video tape term.
My question is this: If you WOULD like to edit in a more absolute time manner, where rippling in minimized (or ideally, eliminated), could you create a single clip that is the targeted length of your final program, and then reference everything to that? In essence, could this single clip be a type of proxy absolute timeline, allowing you to edit in a more traditional manner if you wanted?
If so, could you forsee a scenario where people would store generic black clips on their drives to be used to “black” the timeline, much as we would black a tape in the days of tape editing?
Professor, Producer, Editor
and former Apple Employee -
[David Lawrence] “Outstanding observations and a key question, David. Great stuff!
Yes — what does this interaction model mean for rhythmic modes of cutting? Cutting is always about rhythm and pacing. What does it mean to be cutting to a relative frame-of-reference?”
Thank you David.
I suspect that Craig’s point about rhythm & pacing being relative to other objects rather than absolute time is only partly true. It holds for rhythm but not so much for overall pacing which is often a combination of clock time and content, as any long form editor will attest.
Nevertheless, I’m sure the magnetic timeline can manage both. What’s not clear is how it deals with complex insert situations that I outlined in my post to Craig elsewhere in the thread…which may be the record for the longest wait for response by Craig in the the history of this forum…two hours and counting 🙂 (Ah well, I give the guy the benefit of the doubt…maybe his typing fingers have fallen off :).
David
AllinOneFilms.com -
In FCPX you can Insert, Append to End, Connect to Primary Storyline, Overwrite.
If you want to move things around if you use the Select pointer it’s “magnetic” or the Position pointer so you can freely move things around (have gaps). You can Delete with Ripple or Delete and fill the space with a gap (a filler black slug).
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