[Ben Scott]

as a trainer (I also train commercially as ACT) who has worked at times in higher education as a part time lecturer I would like to feedback something related to me from someone more full time at the university.

he said the purpose of the course should have been training so they can go into the workplace but that it rarely was that (to add to that he, myself and many others were doubtful if they could attain that level of understanding from the course on offer). What he admired as an alternative was that the focus became on concepts and film/media theory (probably due to lack of technical staff or impetus to call them lecturers).
he isnt the only person in higher ed I have had echoing these comments

I tend to agree that its the ideas that matter and that the software isnt so important. I realise in some situations with technical courses this can be different.

one thing I dont agree with is that this is going to cause a world of technical problems and pain, in fact as far as I can see it will really lower the technical requests as its media management is way more robust than in the past with version 7

also I think time for learners to get up to speed will be dramatically reduced with FCPX as I feel it is simpler and self taught persons cannot learn as many bad habits as when they are let loose with tracks and filed anywhere on the harddrive. if it is simpler for learners to get started and tell storied this is good thing NO?

and no I dont think this software is any more limiting in storytelling as a consequence of its design than any other software, just wish the audio mixing was a bit better thought out

[Ben Scott]

is that compared to using a mouse to change between windows?

[Ben Scott]

I am not sure if I have magnetism to the magnetic timeline!

There are advantages and disadvantages, less time patching thats for sure, more time in the metadata and no IN/OUT across the timeline for ripple deletes etc

also I think for audio it is very confusing at times to not have tracks

what I really think the magnetic timeline will bring along with the improved media management is the ability to be confident you are getting a tidier project from offline to online

has anyone been involved working from other editors edits?

how much of your day is spent checking clip and sequence settings in FCP7 and collapsing redundant tracks so you can finish the piece more easily?

I for one would say thats reason enough for magnetic timeline, no more messing around with other folks misunderstanding of what editing is acceptable.

[Ben Scott]

why not just get it link to media on import

you wont be able to capture and have it keep updating in FCPx

[Ben Scott]

no need for bussing for tracks what I am talking about is grouping of elements so you can put a set of meters that arent VU meters on the output of a “role” or total final mix
and for such a crucial thing the compound clip solution is a fudge and gets in the way

the copy paste thing makes the software unusable for onlining material, it needs granualarity badly. In fact this is the killer feature of FCP7 and other apple software like aperture, try doing it on an Avid its a pain

seeing clips in sync is really important it shouldnt be the case that breaking apart audio and visuals causes such problems, the only fix I have was to match frame back to source clip in event browser

[Ben Scott]

try

• turning off skimmer
• display clips as a list
• use command 1 or 2 to toggle whats on the viewer

only thing I see as a problem for matching is ganging is missing which is essential for reconforming edits

for eyelines Its awkward that you cant turn off mark in and out when in events browser and the skimmer is off thats why jkl is probably better in that situation.

[Ben Scott]

i think the article by oliver peters is good but slightly cynical

like many people have said in above comments this has been addressed or is a different consideration in FCPX

I really like this thread and think people should be turned on to it as it is explaining what is good and objectively what isnt quite working

talking about version the new upgrade end sept/beg oct 2011

personally I think the audio needs some sort of scratch track, somewhere a filter like PPMULATOR or giniometer can be added so you can watch the output of everything from the mix

in fact why not proper bussing of tracks its what is needed

the installation of motion plugins needs to be better explained and some sort of installer needs to be provided so its easier for the less techie to install

trimming is perfect when using the dragging method, frankly keyboard based it isnt, this needs to be fixed and priorities on the keyboard shortcuts need to be readjusted

what Oliver I think missed was the ganging back to original edit, this is essential for a reconform

the copy and paste feature is so lame it needs to be granular like aperture or at least FCP7, i wasted an hour trying to fix audio levels I had mixed as they were overwritten when copy/paste coloru correction. the whole lock sound /or/ lock picture idea no longer works but this is dangerous when doing finishing

the colour balance in “color” board is lame, give us the 3 way and curves then this is a viable solution, plus some form of tracker while you are at it

mixer needs to be there but I would say more important is the support for control surfaces and midi

out of sync is a joke, this is a priority

grouping of keyword collections is something I think is needed the browsing of 100 keywords isnt working

also roles are great, as are colour corrections, please sort these out so that these are loaded in a way that works. it would be nice to delete roles and have sets of roles that can be loaded in/out.

also I would like to challenge if there is rich metadata support, unless there is something like fcp server support with custom translations of metadata then this is limited.
also why no metadata out, why the dumn export NLEs have had for so long, its there, why not aggregate to rss feeds etc, its a basic function that is essential to rich media

also grading is really let down by the fact that there is no way to copy paste effects properly, this will make fcpx drag behind and not work for broadcast work and is a major priority

the I/o thing makes it embarrassing when discussing when discussing with clients e.g. its not ready

audio rolls dont work, also why the full overlap feature on transitions when what is needed is something like that on audio so you can get the storyline function to work

for tracks with visuals I have to disagree with everyone that misses in fcpx it is addressed and is more eloquently done

FCP import/export XML is a wait and see, I think there is enough proof of concept this is going to be much more rich than in the past, plus I think you will see more web based programmers picking this up

would be very nice to have some form of automated QC built in to fcpx, this is a killer feature that would make this a system over other NLEs. thinking applescript or watchers.

I can see FCPX integrating with some output VTR tools for versioning etc, this is essential for it to be used. if there is the same ease of use as AVid DS for output then this is a killer tool

the almost nodal timeline should get deeper in its nodal effects system, I think send to motion is sorely needed as is apple buying up Conduit plugin. please do!!!!

I find overall that FCPX is too mouse/touch surface driven, this needs to be addressed with keyboard priorities or control surfaces for this software to be taken seriously

but lastly and most of all
I think FCPX kicks ass big time, it is the future and when people see what it actually brings (and not be cynics) they will be bowled over. It is going to be the next indesign to the quark, wait and see.

[Ben Scott]

think the colour board is nice in concept but poor in practice

its been designed for a touch surface not a mouse, i even tried remapping keyboard to move between tabs and parameters but it got very very confusing

its not great at all as a way to correct colour balance, the wheels and curves are needed for this

its a nice interface for luma and saturation controls however

I really think it has potential with things like secondaries that are amazing, shame the shape can only be keyframed as no tracker

if they had bothered to implement a copy/paste and colour looks browser like Aperture it would have been good, shame they are waiting to release that in the future and probably charge for it

also the way broadcast safe is implemented is just dumb, putting on an adjustment layer to get it to work in the correct order for effects e.g. colour correction is applied after effects in render order so makes broadcast safe useless on graded shots

[Ben Scott]

is that cause the edit assistant and technicians set up for you

moving media from avid is easy when done correctly to begin with, if done wrong can be slow to fix without a consolidate

[Ben Scott]

this was what I needed to know for editing tomorrow (my own wedding)

thanks

was kinda wondering why smaller clips couldnt be created though, unless working exactly to full length of event (which u shouldnt)

editing is about cutting it down to something watchable, small source clips is part of that (if they have a long audio section seems to be of little consequence)