Andy Neil
Forum Replies Created
-
[Drea Solan] “And can you clarify, are you talking about downsampling the HD clips before they’re placed into an SD sequence in FCP or do you do all of your editing in an HD timeline in FCP and then export the final HD movie and downsample that in Compressor?”
I don’t know who you’re replying to, but I’ve always downrezzed in Compressor from an HD project in FCP. The consensus seems to be that using FCP to downrez is probably one of the worst workflows.
Work in HD. Export an HD QT. Convert HD QT to SD DVD in Compressor.
Andy
https://www.timesavertutorials.com
-
-
Difficult to say Kevin without knowing your specific workflow, but I’ll highlight what I can for you.
[Kevin Matluk] “I have been editing in Final Cut Studio for about 7 years and use Soundtrack Pro, Color, Compressor, and DVD Studio on a weekly basis.”
Some elements of Soundtrack and Color have been included into FCPX, but they are not replacements for those programs. Depending on the extensiveness of your use of those programs, it’s possible FCPX will work for you, but perhaps not. Even Apple suggests Resolve as the Coloring tool of choice for FCPX. The thing is, I don’t know if you can send Premiere or Avid projects to Color, and CS doesn’t really have an equivalent yet (although it looks to be coming).
Compressor and DVD Studio can be maintained and used with any NLE choice. DVDSP is EOL, but its been EOL for years now and still works fine.
[Kevin Matluk] “I regularly open my older projects to update and also reference for newer spots.”
This is a problem with FCPX as it doesn’t have the ability to open FCP 7 projects. I think Premiere can though, and Avid with a plug-in, but in both those cases, there may be “gotchas” along the way. If you’re opening old projects in order to steal graphic overlays or such for current promos, then perhaps FCPX would work in conjunction with Motion. Promo elements can be built as Motion projects which would be available as title effects inside FCPX. Its one of FCPX’s best features.
[Kevin Matluk] “This is a major turning point as it will affect both my current job and my skills as an editor down the road.”
As an editor, I would do everything I can to be as familiar with all the big players. In the short-term at least, there will be a post-production shift to Avid, but there are lots of shops with varying needs who are perfectly satisfied staying with FCP7 for the next few years or switching to Premiere, or even to Vegas, Edius, Lightworks, what have you.
[Kevin Matluk] “I recently talked with my former college professors who are switching the curriculum to Avid and Premiere from Final Cut entirely.”
This isn’t surprising since colleges have to follow the industry in order to prepare their students for jobs. You would have to see some facilities use a proven FCPX workflow before colleges started offering classes on it. Since FCPX is still missing some key features for post facilities, I wouldn’t expect many places to adopt it fully for some time yet.
In all though, my advice is to stay with FCP 7 as long as you can. If you aren’t planing on shooting on different formats than you currently are, and your workflow works, there’s no reason to jump away just yet. Especially if you need to access old projects.
Andy
https://www.timesavertutorials.com
-
[Dave LaRonde] “There are broadcast editing applications available that allow you to edit a news story, and while you’re STILL EDITING THE END OF STORY, play it back over the air during a newscast. Now, that’s cutting it close — quite literally! Some stations rely on that capability several times a day.”
Which application is that Dave? We used Avid for the majority of our editing at my station and we used an Avid transfer tool to send the file from the edit bay to the playout server. In our case, the file could be 25 percent transferred when it would be available for playback (something we did more often than I would like). We were also able to literally playback from the edit bay with a call from the director over the PL.
But I’ve never heard of a program where you could be working on the end of a pkg, and playing the beginning.
Andy
https://www.timesavertutorials.com
-
Use the 1080i bars. It’s the proper frame size which is what you need. Don’t worry about it not being 23.98. Just decide whether you want unity to be set at -12db (default) or -20.
Andy
https://www.timesavertutorials.com
-
Well, you’ve certainly explored this more than I have, but have you tried Compressor?
I’ve always done my HD to SD conversion in Compressor, mostly because I’ve always used compressor to build my DVD files. I’d be curious to hear what you know about it.
If it’s in the same league as FCPX for you then perhaps that’s the solution because Compressor is a batch converter. And with the 64 bit rewrite, it does a good job of using all cores.
Andy
https://www.timesavertutorials.com
-
[Ben Edwards] “I think maybe something like Edious may be a safer option. If others have got FCPx working in a smeller environment that’s cool but if not I think letting someone else be the first would be the way to go”
It’s certainly an option, although I don’t know if you’ve ever cut on Edius before. Personally, I’m not a fan. Though I completely understand not wanting to be the first out of the gate either.
Andy
https://www.timesavertutorials.com
-
[Dave LaRonde] ” Are they willing to be on the bleeding edge just to say they’ve done it? Or are they more interested in getting something that works RIGHT NOW, no speculation or theorizing necessary”
I suspect that since this station is a start-up and small, that price point is a major consideration. Installing a “bullet-proof” solution costs a great deal more than being the guinea pig.
But I wouldn’t say that FCPX is “unproven for their needs,” because who’s to say it is? Perhaps they looked at FCPX and said that it’s exactly what they need, and so they are building out from there.
Yes it’s a new NLE, but it works well for new NLE, and it has a lot of features that mesh well with news storytelling. Whether or not you can build a decent pipeline around it…well, I guess the OP will find out.
Andy
https://www.timesavertutorials.com
-
Robert, your situation is different. You’re transition is applied to a secondary storyline. Storylines do not composite with layers below; only connected and compound clips.
For you, you have a couple of options. Raise the previous clip into the secondary storyline so that the transition will work properly, or drop the clip with the transition into the primary storyline for the same effect.
If however, the connected clip is also compositing with the layer below, then you must create a compound clip from the connected clip, open it up in Timeline Mode and apply the transition there, making sure that the Transition to/from black is unchecked.
I can’t tell from your image what you’re trying to do in your sequence, so I gave you all three possiblities.
Andy
https://www.timesavertutorials.com
-
My main concern for you is enterprise level DAM for your facility. I’m making assumptions here, but since FCPX is the editor they’re looking at, I suspect that this will likely be a fairly tapeless facility shooting on either cards or discs which means long-term archive will likely be some kind of server based system. Our station was switching over from tape to this when I left.
FCPX might be able to handle a simple stock footage library using collections for day to day editing, but keeping track of years worth of stories and airchecks will require separate management software. The question is, will the two databases ever be able to talk to each other, or will it be able to read metadata tagged by FCPX? Or vice-versa even?
It may not be entirely necessary to merge those workflows since you can use a DAM to find and access footage which can then be simply added to an event for editing, but it’s something to consider long-term as FCPX matures.
andy
https://www.timesavertutorials.com