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Workflow: Roundtripping & FCP – edit flexibility lacking?
So Motion2/FCP5 roundtripping “works” for me, BUT, it seems to really lack a key feature to make it truly flexible – OR am I missing something? Point is, yes, I can select a clip & send it to Motion, but what if later I want to change the clip that the effects are applied to? Easiest would be to overwrite the “source” clip in FCP timeline, without overwriting the Motion effect. But of course you can’t do that. Or can you? (Without the dance of exporting a QT ref file and replacing it via Motion.)
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9 Replies
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How do you want to change it that you cannot?
Noah
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I think what Bob is looking for is being able to “step in” to the Motion clip and be able to change the source media directly in FCP. I agree this would be a very cool feature and would really take the FCP/Motion combination to a new level.
Martin
Digital Heaven, London UK
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AutoMotion – 0-60 graphics in 5.2 seconds – Coming Soon… -
Even though Avid can’t do what I’m asking for (as least it couldn’t 3 years ago, when iI switched to FCP), their interface approach for what I’d like was perfect. Scenario: you’ve sent a clip to Motion, roundtripped it back, and have it in the FCP timeline. Now you need to change out the shot that was the “base” for the Motion FX. In Avid, when you had filters applied (not talking a “roundtrip” thing here) you could double-click the clip, and it would “open up vertically” to show filters, etc as sort of a layered clip. You could then use regular edit tools to swap shots, etc. SO… if the Motion “returned” clip could somehow be opened in FCP so that the “base” shot could be swapped, without having to export a QT ref from FCP, that would then go into the Motion composite. OR, do you folks overwrite the Motion clip w/ the new shot, send that to Motion, then open up the original Motion file for that spot and copy all the FX content to the new clip?
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“Step In” – THAT’s IT! (in reference to my post below about Avid). That’s what Avid called it….
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I think the best way to approximate what you are trying to achieve is put all your effects into one layer in Motion and drag the layer into the favorites folder, then send the new clip you want to use from FCP to motion and drag the newly-created favorite into your canvas, swap the shots and you should see what you want. This is more steps, but should do what you need it to do. I have also had some success with copy and paste from one motion project to another. In other words, send the new clip to a motion project just as a way to hold it and copy it into the original composite.
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Yup, this is what I’ve been doing (copy n paste), but didn’t seem as elegant as it should be.
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Heya Bob,
The tricky bit is that the Motion projects might use a number of media files, not just a single background clip, so it’s not a straight one-in one-out switch. You’d need the ability to browse and replace any of the media in the embedded Motion project, so you might as well switch to Motion, anyways.
All that being said, I can see how that if you’re doing something really simple like a lower-third over a single clip, it would be nice to do a swap.
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if your not affecting the clip (apply any effects directly to it) you can always export from fcp – add layers – switch of the clip and save motion project. then import the motion project into fcp and cut it on a video track above your clip.
because motion creates an alpha channel it will be composited onto your base track. then just replace the clip as you like.
really depends on if your applying effects to the clip in motion that only exist in motion.
Carsten -
Yup, this is how I do all lower 3rds, etc. But I was thinking of what Martin reminded me Avid called it – “Stepping Into” the clip. Call this one for the wishlist…
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