[Andy Neil]

[Mike Warmels] “And my point remains: why did FCP5/6/7 and why do AVID and Premiereall these export possibilities IN the programme and FCPX not?”

If you’re interested, I believe the answer to this is that FCPX is a purely 64 bit application and as such only 64 bit codecs are supported for export. As I understand it, Compressor is still straddling the line between 64 and 32 because it maintains support for legacy codecs. That’s how I’ve understood it anyway.

Andy

https://plus.google.com/u/0/107277729326633563425/videos

[Andy Neil]

[Mike Warmels] “And trimming: you don’t have to select. I have my smart tool of trimming always ON… and then it just click with the CTRL and you can trim by hand immediately. If you want to do it differently, go to trimming mode. AVID allow for several methods.”

I was responding to you specifically comparing FCPX trim using keyboard shortcuts versus using Avid with keyboard shortcuts.

If you’re talking mouse controls, then you can trim by just clicking the audio or video edge and either drag or use keyboard shortcuts. Same number of steps. You work with smart trim tool always active? You can work with all audio expanded in X if you like. Instant access to your audio tracks.

I’m never going to suggest that X has as good trimming tools as Avid, it obviously doesn’t. But it’s just as easy to make the kind of split edit trims you’re talking about. I see no measurable difference in editing time.

As far as your waveform workaround, it’s just that. A workaround. I don’t want to have to mark INs/OUTs to view waveforms. And I don’t want it to have to redraw the damn things every time I resize my timeline view. FCPX draws waveforms faster, and they react to changes, and it just works better.

And I don’t see the slow downs you’re experiencing. Not since the 10.0… versions. FCPX works snappy for hours. The only lag I get is if I’m editing with a large number of multiclips up or editing with the inspector open. Is your Avid system on the same computer as your FCPX or are we talking two separate computers?

Andy

https://plus.google.com/u/0/107277729326633563425/videos

[Andy Neil]

[Mike Warmels] “You forget you have to select the clip first (action no.1).”

[Mike Warmels] “By keyboard: one keystroke for trimming mode, select left or right and then nudge.”

I find it funny that you mention how you have to select the clip in FCPX to use keyboard shortcuts, but neglect to mention that you have to select the track in Avid to do the same thing.

I work in Avid all day, and personally I find it MUCH slower in terms of overall performance. I hit buttons fast and find that sometimes I’ve hit two shortcuts in quick succession and the second one doesn’t register. So I wait and then have to hit the shortcut again to do what I want. This is particularly a pain when using the smart tool. I select the smart tool, move some clips, then turn it off. Only because the Avid was concentrating on the move I was making, it doesn’t register that I hit the shortcut to turn it off and then when I attempt to scrub in my timeline, I end up grabbing a long piece of slug and erasing an entire track of video.

Don’t even get me started on the autosave. After working with a program that always saves everything you do without interrupting you, waiting for the Avid to save all your open bins (sometimes in excess of 15-20 seconds) every 15-30 minutes is worse than annoying. And heaven forbid if you have a bin open that you don’t own the lock on. Yes, it’s not as enjoyable as it sounds being told that this bin won’t be saved and requiring you to click “don’t save” each time autosave kicks in. Yeah, that doesn’t ever interrupt the flow of my work.

And Avid can have a long delay playing a sequence too since it has to load the whole thing into RAM first. It’s been my experience, especially in the most recent version that FCPX is much faster on that front. Everywhere I look, there are delays with the Avid interface. Like to see your waveforms? Better wait for them to draw. Want to zoom in to your timeline after that, better wait for them to redraw. Perform a few functions, oh wait, suddenly the waveforms have to redraw again for no apparent reason. Need to move some clips? I hope you don’t have audio scrubbing on because that’s going to take a while. What’s that? You can’t turn off audio scrubbing while you’re in the middle of moving the clips? You have to stop what you’re doing, turn off audio scrubbing, and then go back to moving in order to regain any speed? How about trimming? Surely, making one frame trims with audio scrubbing on isn’t hard. Oh, delay again. Wow. Lovely.

I like my Avid, but I’m also not in denial about how slowly it handles in comparison to the newer, faster NLEs. If Avid would stop adding functionality for niche film workflows long enough to improve the responsiveness of the UI, I would be happy. But alas, if the marker window has taught me anything, it’s that Avid doesn’t see any issue with the UI, or else is afraid to make any changes, even to performance.

Andy

https://plus.google.com/u/0/107277729326633563425/videos

[Andy Neil]

[Darren Roark] “By that logic, a project or a timeline should have been called a reel. Ha!
“

The issue isn’t that Apple used a different word for timeline. After all, Avid uses “timeline” and FCP7 used “sequence”.

The issue is that they used a word that already has an established meaning within the editing sub-culture. If they’d called it a “Clippering” or a “Bazoola” confusion wouldn’t exist. But imagine if Avid started calling a timeline, a “subclip”.

People may not like the names, Library or Event, but they’re not confused when talking about it with others. But it’s difficult to tell when you’re talking with someone and they refer to “project”, whether they’re talking about the timeline, or the entire she-bang.

Andy

https://plus.google.com/u/0/107277729326633563425/videos

[Andy Neil]

[Dwain Williams] “Looks like I can upgrade to the i7 for $225…do you think that is a good investment for the price?”

You should absolutely get the i7. There is a significant speed boost between those two chips. Significant. Having had both, I would even go as far as saying that the i5 is ill-suited for FCPX.

There’s not much of a speed bump between 3.3 gHz and 3.5, but there’s a big one between the i5 and i7 chips.

Also, never worked with the fusion drive, but an SSD on your system drive is going to make a huge difference in app loading times for FCPX over a standard ATA drive.

Andy

https://plus.google.com/u/0/107277729326633563425/videos

[Andy Neil]

That whole date grouping default in the event browser is ridiculous and is one of the first things I turn off when dealing with a default set up.

Click on the gear at the bottom of the Library window. Select Group Clips By, and choose None. If you ever want to sort by date, there’s a Content Created column in the browser you can use.

Andy

https://plus.google.com/u/0/107277729326633563425/videos

[Andy Neil]

Convert first. Then create proxies and optimize at the end so that the pro res is built from the converted files and not the original 60i footage.

Andy

https://plus.google.com/u/0/107277729326633563425/videos

[Andy Neil]

If you’re going to convert the 60i footage, do it before importing to save hassle. Unless there’s just too much of it. But if you wait to convert until you’ve got a cut, well, that way lies headaches in any NLE.

Since you’re doing a doc, and typically those have a much larger shoot to edit usage than other types of media, I would convert your AVCHD to proxy only and then manage the project after, converting only the used clips to ProRes for final. It’ll save space on your RAID, still looks good enough to cut with, and the lower bandwidth requirements will give you better performance overall with as much media as you’ve got going. Especially if you’re using an underpowered mac to cut with.

Andy

https://plus.google.com/u/0/107277729326633563425/videos

[Andy Neil]

There isn’t an auto save in the traditional sense. FCP X saves everything all the time. When you quit, and restart, you end up exactly where you left off. There is a project backup that occurs, but that’s not an auto save. It’s more of a safety valve in case there’s a glitch with the normal operation of the program.

Andy

https://plus.google.com/u/0/107277729326633563425/videos

[Andy Neil]

I hope the editor they hire has parents in town because that’s where they’ll have to be living in order to survive on 25K.

Andy

https://plus.google.com/u/0/107277729326633563425/videos