Andrew Johnstone
Forum Replies Created
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Thanks Doug, but I can’t see a link to the plugin that you mention.
Following your comment, I tried the following workflow:
1) highlight the two clips that I want to fade audio between (in this instance two lots of ambient sound)
2) detach the audio for each from the video clips
3) apply the dissolve transition to the edit between the audio clips.It work, but it is a crappy fudge to the very neat, miles better and much more user friendly solution in FCP7 of simply selecting the edit point and ctrl+clicking the pop-up menu and ‘apply default transition’.
This is exactly the sort of thing that makes my blood boil with FCPX, it’s ‘all talk and no trousers’. They have done lots of seemingly clever things but lost sight of some of the most basic needs and some of the most simple tools that editors used every day and left us scrapping about for plugins and crappy workarounds. Emperors New Clothes.
Thanks for your help though.
Andy
Andy Johnstone
Wild Dog Limited
film & multimedia production
http://www.wilddogworld.com -
Is there no way to do an audio cross fade between two clips in FCPX. Really…?
What happened to being able to ctrl+click on the edit point to bring up ‘apply default transition’ (or whatever the precise wording was in FCP7). How did anyone ever think that losing this tool would be a cool idea?
Andy Johnstone
Wild Dog Limited
film & multimedia production
http://www.wilddogworld.com -
[Michael Hancock] ”
You can also navigate to the MXF or .mp4 files (depending on the camera you have) at the finder level and drag them in, bypassing the Import window, which allows you to Leave Files in Place without having to break apart the folder structure. This works for a handful of cameras.”Yes, but I am not sure that this then brings in any/all meta data for the clips that are stored in the native file structure of whatever format you’re using. P2 saves audio files in its own little folder in the camera file and so the only way to get this into the system was to convert the rushes to ProRes.
The other clips that we had issues with were from JVC Enviro (11?? I think that is what it was called) handy cam that we have given to one of the contributors for use as a diary camera. Again the file structure meant that FCPX would not play with it, so again it had to be transcoded.
It is easier to work with the app once you have discovered that for all its whizz bang claims, it is not as clever as it thinks it is or as Apple would like it to be.
Andy Johnstone
Wild Dog Limited
film & multimedia production
http://www.wilddogworld.com -
Sorry I have ignore this thread as I have been shooting and away on me hols…
The reason I am using FCPX is that I rough cut the film in my studio, then take it in to the client for a final cut with one of the in house film editors. This is a workflow I have used successfully for years with FCP7. FCPX leaves me cold. I posted a Q and some ‘statements’ on another thread yesterday about how I feel about the app.
After that I got stuck into my third project on FCPX. On this one I shot Sony Slog and I have about 2 hours worth of rushes so far , plus GoPor clips and some diary cam.
What i have learned about FCPX is that while it says it can handle any media, it actually can’t and it converts everything into ProRes for the edit. I have tried ‘leaving files in place’ but if the files are inside a Sony Card file format the app won;t have it and they have to be ingested. On my previous film I struggled with P2 files and I have a colleague who struggled with Canon log files. The net result was to use Edit Ready from Divergent to transcode everything and/or to ingest into the library. As a reult my library folder on this new project is over 400mb in size.
So there is no benefit in using FCPX over 7 in terms of data storage. What i can say is that once everything is in a format that FCXP likes, it is quick on it’s feet and colour grading Slog on the fly is very fast.
BUT…I still have significant issues with the app. Window layout droves me nuts but I have a solution now. The app still does not remember I have a dual screen though and each time I open it I have manually move things from my main display to the external monitor.
As for the other issues I have with the programme….I will not mention them here, but they are legion…
Thanks for all you helpe on the layout thing. And yes you cannot lay the edit windows out as you would like. WTF???!
Andy
Andy Johnstone
Wild Dog Limited
film & multimedia production
http://www.wilddogworld.com -
I have been forced to start cutting on FCPX as my main client now using it as their primary edit tool for features.
Like many others I have found the transition deeply frustrating and some of the comments here in this thread are, it seems to me, ‘unhelpful’. Specifically:
1) Suggesting that FCPX is ‘all about the story’ suggests that every other edit tool is not. I am not aware that FCPX serves the story any better then any other NLE and i am not aware of having being unable to tell stories in Premier or FCP7 before now. So this is unhelpful twaddle. The idea that the magnetic timeline works some sort of magic is a nonsense. The track tool in Premier of FCP7 allowed you to move the entire story line down the timeline to build a new sequence in the middle of the film or copy and paste a sequence form elsewhere (including from another edit) and slot it in. The ‘add gap’ tool in FCPX is just a bit less handy than the track tool.
2) ‘forgetting tracks’ is also nonsense because FCPX uses tracks it just renames them as ‘storylines’. Audio lanes mimics audio tracks and I can see that assigning roles to specific audio puts them on different ‘lanes’ but I can’t see that the same is true of assigning roles to video clips. In other NLE’s the ability to order video tracks so that you have say sync on track 1 and cutaways on Track 2 allows you to very easily create a sequence and shift things about. You can then add specific trans for alpha channels or grades (in Premier Pro) and build mini title animations or layered fast cut edits. etc. This kind of precise cuttign still seems to be much easier to achieve in a classic track based NLE like Premier.
3) 64 bit v 32 bit aside, FCPX is not necessarily ‘faster’. There are plenty of people who have cut 1/2hrs for broadcast in a day on all manner of systems including on FCP7. You are up and running on Premier Pro much more quickly than you are on FCPX as you don’t need to wait for the machine to churn to ingest & transcode footage. The biggest beef I have with FCPX so far is how it handles media. I have had to use Edit ready to transcode P2 media to ProRes Quicktime files on my last project and one of my colleagues had issues with Canon Log, which again needed to be transcoded for FCPX to play with it. FCPX saves me no hard drive space as the workflow I have settles on to the safe is that everything should go through Edit Ready before it gets imported into FCPX. This is partly due to point 4 …(below)
4) Sharing projects seems problematic. I took the (very) rough cut into the client for final cutting. They loaded my XML without a hitch. We produced a first cut. The Series Editor asked for some script changes. I brought the XML back to my studio and none of my source material would relink to the new XML. The reason? FCPX it seems had created a load of proxy files on the client system (links to ProRes files) that I could not relink on my system. I have since learned that for grading the colourist will require the entire project (sorry “library’ – minor gripe, but why use different language when referring to everything. WTF is an ‘event’…?) rather than an XML. Ok, this would be the case on FCP7, but nonetheless, FCPX is not proving to be any smarter at handling/managing media than FCP7 which required a consolidated project file for post. Worse, the OMFs that FCPX exports for audio dubbing are, I am told< a shocking mess.
5) Adapting to this system has taken most of the editors i know a huge amount of time. Now for old dogs to learn new tricks is not a bad thing, but just think for a minute about how much time, collectively everyone has had to waste learning this application. It has caused days of down time with my main client and I have spent endless hours looking at Youtube and other tutorials trying to figure out how to make this system work. Compare that with the amount of time I spent learning Premier or Davinci Resolve – about an hour and you’re up and running. If the system were some holy grail then it might be worth it, but to end up working on an NLE that is actually not quite as good as others out there is just crap.
Those points not withstanding and given that I have to learn this system my requests are these:
1) can the magnetic timeline be turned off? Sorry it is very annoying. I can see some benefits, but it would be good to be able to disable it.
2) can I scrub/preview clips in the preview window rather than having to do this in the bins
3) Can I have a track tool!
4) Is it possible to layout my desktop and resize windows as I need them? There only seems to be fixed layouts and you cannot resize windows. This is a major loss from FCP7. And each time I restart FCPX I have to manually reposition stuff to my seccon screen, even though I have saved my desktop layout. What is that all about…?Given the choice, I would be cutting on Premier…just in case anyone was wondering…every day of the week and twice on Sundays.
Thanks for any thoughts.
Andy
Andy Johnstone
Wild Dog Limited
film & multimedia production
http://www.wilddogworld.com -
I am running into problems on an edit using native MXf files from my Sony FS7.
I am cutting on my iMac which has 16GB RAM and a NVIDIA GeForce GT 650M 512 MB. Probably not enough horse power, but i can’t afford a new machine right now…!
I am trying to set up a native time line that the Sony MXF content will sit on, but not having any success…
Ideas?
Andy
Andy Johnstone
Wild Dog Limited
film & multimedia production
http://www.wilddogworld.com -
I am doing my best to try ad learn FCPx (because one of my clients is insisting on rolling it out.
I’ll add my shout of a scrubber in the ‘event’ window on source media and a need for timecode in and out. Would be nice to add markers too. These are pretty basic. Scrubbing (hey, let’s call it “Skimming”…yay! Grrrr) in the browser window is fine, but not really accurate enough, Selecting in and outs in the source viewer is really much better.
I have tried FCPX a couple of times before and been deeply unimpressed. The database thing is very good, but in the latest versions 10.3, they seem to have cottoned on to the need for proper audio tracks – I see there are ‘Audio lanes’ now. Essential for sending projects to the dub that audio is properly organised in sync, ambient, effects, Music and VO tracks. No?
I can see that it I am finally going to be able to use this application (because I have to), but I really don’t think it is going to be my edit tool of choice. In the past weeks I have spoken to two colour graders and both have said “stick with Premiere’….I am not sure they are wrong.
Andy Johnstone
Wild Dog Limited
film & multimedia production
http://www.wilddogworld.com -
I have just had exactly this problem with FCP7 on Mac OS Sierra.
We had a new temporary edit suite set up for a film I am working on in Bristol. When we cam to record the VO on a 1920/25 ProRes timeline, the audio (set to 48khz/16bit) played back at Mickey Mouse speed. Neither the editor nor the engineers at Auntie could work it out.
I brought the project file home to continue rough cutting on my system – where I have never had this problem – and the VO issue replicated itself on my system, to the answer is that it was simply a bug in the project preferences.
The solution I found was to set the VO tool to record at 44.1 khz (you can toggle this setting in the VO window in FCP7), record a test, render it, then reset the VO tool to record to 48khz. This fixed my problem…
HTH
Andy
Andy Johnstone
Wild Dog Limited
film & multimedia production
http://www.wilddogworld.com -
I have been sniffing around El Capitan too.
I am still running Mountain Lion and have no issues with FCP 7, Adobe CS6, Apple Aperture etc.
The only reason to upgrade to the new OS is to be able to buy Logic Pro which does not run on Mountain Lion. This in itself is deeply annoying…
Andy Johnstone
Wild Dog Limited
film & multimedia production
http://www.wilddogworld.com -
My general rule of thumb has been ‘don’t volunteer to be the guinea pig’ when it comes to software updates!
I am still running Mountain Lion with no issues on CS6 (PP, PS, LR, AI, AU etc) and I am also heavily reliant on FCP7, so the need to upgrade my OS is not pressing.
However, I have been sniffing about at Logic Pro X for some music projects and so I am tempted to break my own rule, since current Apple apps do not seem to be compatible with older OS X versions. This in itself is deeply annoying…!
I’d be interested to hear any positive El Cap experiences from heavy CS6/FCP 7 users though….
Andy Johnstone
Wild Dog Limited
film & multimedia production
http://www.wilddogworld.com