Todays FCP X announcement

[David Roth weiss]

[Craig Seeman] “Timelines have been used for certain functions that FCPX endeavors to obviate the need for.”

At least it endeavors to obviate the need in the minds of the software engineers and a minority of editors. Whether it actually obviates the need in the minds of most editors still remains to be seen.

Until Apple fires the puck closer to the vast majority of editors, or the majority of editors become more proficient skaters, the magnetic timeline may never likely be quite the puck Apple is hoping for.

David Roth Weiss
Director/Editor/Colorist
David Weiss Productions, Inc.
Los Angeles
https://www.drwfilms.com

Don’t miss my new Creative Cow Podcast: Bringing “The Whale” to the Big Screen:
https://library.creativecow.net/weiss_roth_david/Podcast-Series-2-MikeParfitandSuzanneChisholm/1

POST-PRODUCTION WITHOUT THE USUAL INSANITY ™

Creative COW contributing editor and a forum host of the Business & Marketing and Apple Final Cut Pro forums.

[Lance Moody]

And, then again, it might be exactly that.

I actually used the software and (even prior to this update) most of the complaints about it (particularly the magnetic timeline) are ridiculous–it edits just like an any editor edits. Now with the update, which addressed ALL of the major complaints, we see piddling new complaints that have magically become the NEW showstoppers.

Thank God that there will be no quality decrease in THE KARDASIANS due to waiting a month for the software to be updated AS PROMISED.

Lance

[Adam Dewhirst]

hi craig,

“Timelines have been used for certain functions that FCPX endeavors to obviate the need for.”

do you mind me asking what endeavours these are?

“Organizational needs will be managed by metadata.”

i’m willing to adapt to this mode of working although i used to organize my media via sequences.

“Visual feedback some might still want be the function for that is already diminished.”

this is a big problem for me. i am working in a VISUAL medium and need visual cues to remember what i have and where.

“Basically you have to look at WHY you need one clip on top of another. There are other ways to fulfill most of those needs.”

to composite/layer (its also much easier to organise visually but i dealt with that above)

“Roles, while still a work in progress, allow you to disable clips that perform a specific function. They provide control based on function rather than track layer.”

to be honest i have no clear idea what this means but it does seem to me its another step towards conceptualising (and hiding from the eye) what one used to be able to see and make more immediate desicions based on this vision.

adam

[Craig Seeman]

[adam dewhirst] “this is a big problem for me. i am working in a VISUAL medium and need visual cues to remember what i have and where.”

I can still see what I have on top of the primary storyline. I can still pile things up if I need to. The question is the need. I need to composite I can do that. I need to put an alternate set of b-roll over another set of b-roll, I can do that. If I need to turn off all my titles, I can do that. I can turn off all my VO, Sound FX, etc.

[Craig Seeman]

[Matthew Sonnenfeld] “Te problem is that all of those things take extra steps.”

You point to a track (the old way) or you assign a role (the new way). You need to do “a thing” and you do it.

[Matthew Sonnenfeld] “Tracks have been used this way for a reason and it’s proven at this point. “

Tracks have been used that way because there was no alternative. Now there is. It used to look like a spreadsheet with rows of clips. Now it looks like a database. It still needs some work but the concept is better IMHO and the execution is improving. Maybe it’s like touch typing. I don’t need to look at the keys to know I’m hitting the right one. I can see the story though as I type it.

[Andy Neil]

[Matthew Sonnenfeld] “Take the issue with audio in FCPX. Sure you can export audio with dialogue, effects, music, etc. but the way i understand it is that the clips all need to be labeled individually so that the XML can organize them coherently to go to ProTools. Yes it’s nice metadata to know what’s dialogue and what’s not at a glance but its extra steps.”

See, this is a common misconception about the Roles feature. You should check out my tutorial on Roles right here on the Cow.

FCPX INs and OUTs-Roles

First of all, those metadata roles are assigned automatically by FCPX using a variety of criteria when imported. If it guesses wrong, roles can be changed for a single clip, or entire event’s worth of clips with about two clicks of the mouse.

Secondly, you likely do it all the time so you probably don’t see it this way, but placing specific audio on specific tracks in a timeline is actually taking “extra” steps. They are the extra steps that you do consciously to remain organized, but you don’t HAVE to put your dialogue on tracks 1 and 2.

The roles feature trades a completely manual workflow for one that is about 90 percent automated. How does that defeat the purpose?

Andy

https://www.timesavertutorials.com

[Tony West]

[Lance Moody] ” we see piddling new complaints that have magically become the NEW showstoppers. “

Well put.

[Michael Gissing]

“Now with the update, which addressed ALL of the major complaints, we see piddling new complaints that have magically become the NEW showstoppers. ”

Come on Lance. From day one many said the magnetic timeline was THE showstopper (wow the caps makes it seem so much stronger). So not ALL the original issues have been addressed. Like no broadcast tape I/O support.

I want to know more about the support for AJA and Decklink cards, but if you are a Matrox person the problem remains. Is the Kona support both ways? Can I input and record via SDI in? Is SDI out true rec709? Does the output to a broadcast monitor include on screen displays like the Nattress curves or is it a true clean feed?

Far from solving ALL issues, it certainly starts to tick some of the original boxes. The issues left might be piddling and new for you but they are still old game stoppers and serious for others.

[Lance Moody]

As I mentioned, the magnetic timeline can’t really be a showstopper for an actual editor. Yes, it handles the timeline differently than the old FCP but editing functions all work more or less as we have come to expect, even if in a different package (and I started before CMX3600>AVID>FCP1.0).

I will tell you what the real showstopper for many folks here is:

Learning how to use the new software.

I was frustrated as hell on the first FCPX project. But I was frustrated as hell on the first Avid project as well.

But as I worked in X (and I chose a somewhat complex project that I could take my time with), the better things got and the easier they got. I can look at that timeline and see my own clunky misunderstanding in the early portion of my work and then I can see how things began to click the longer I worked.

I came to really love the way it worked. There were still horrible problems then but they almost all have been cleared up in this latest release. And yes, I should acknowledge that there are still a few issues remaining, not everything got fixed. I am looking forward to using X in the future.

Best,

Lance

[Michael Gissing]

“I will tell you what the real showstopper for many folks here is:
Learning how to use the new software.”

Well that doesn’t apply to me. I have spent my life beta testing all sorts of editing software, mostly audio editing. As I have pointed out from the beginning of FCPX debate is that the magnetic timeline for me represented a backwards step in audio functionality and by adding Roles, Apple seems to be moving away from a possibility that they will let the editor decide which model works best.

I could bore you with dozens of reasons why Roles and magnetic timeline can’t efficiently make the deliverables that I need on a day to day basis but I have already been there and done that.

So until it gets all the functionality that I rely upon and are available in FCS3 I just can’t use this software professionally. I’ll tell you when all my list is tick if and when it happens.