Bill Davis
Forum Replies Created
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[Walter Soyka] “I didn’t work on the first Macs, but I remember a lot of these from the 90s:”
OMG Yes.
As the original Appliance Macs evolved, there were definitely periods of time when everything got buggier and less stable.
Thinking back, trying to craft useful code for a machine with 128K of RAM and 3.5″ disk capacities of 400K was kinda insane, but the engineers of the time did it and it launched a whole new era of personal productivity.
That the original Mac was as stable as it was – was likely the combination of not trying to do too much because there was very little code room IN WHICH to do very much – and relentless code QC because every software package was going to go on store shelves in shrink wrapped boxes – and a bug meant a physical product re-do.
Creator of XinTwo – https://www.xintwo.com
The shortest path to FCP X mastery. -
[Oliver Peters] “In most projects, that’s a method that almost never really pans out when you get into edit. There are very few projects that I’ve ever edited that only used the hero take.”
If thats how you think about it – it won’t.
It’s not “only using the hero take.” at all. It’s FOCUSING your initial attention on what you saw ONCE, in the field – and preserving that instinct into the suite.
Int he X keyword system, you ALWAYS have the option to step back and re-mine everything. Extend, revert, re think. For me the keyboarding in X isn’t EVER about permanence – it’s about fluidity. It’s focus here NOW – but if that doesn’t work – to re-focus takes only seconds.
That’s nowhere near “only using” anything.
It’s certainly IS a different mindset than the way I used to work when whether I put a subclip into a particular folder or not – was the primary thinking I was conditioned to employ.
Just differing styles – related to conditioned use of different tools, I suppose.
Creator of XinTwo – https://www.xintwo.com
The shortest path to FCP X mastery. -
[Neil Goodman] “These are multi million dollar shoots with lots of eyeballs and sometimes movie tie ins and still no metadata in sight.”
Which is a really sad.
I know on the shoots where I’ve had the luxury of Lumberjack and especially if I’ve been able to make my own notes during a shoot on my iPhone – the time I can spend in creative decision making – verses pure organization – really shifts.
In a string of 10 takes – my on-set decision that “Take 8 was DEFINITELY the circle take” means I can vastly reduce all the time sink of messing around looking at and judging the other 9. Only if 8 somehow fails late in the game – do I have to do ANY assessment of the other 9.
Huge time win.
And ALL you have to do is hold your phone in your hand during the shoot. Have three lumberjack “ratings” tags preset as Bad/OK/HERO
Use OK for the start and stop of EVERY take. (which in X lets you REJECTS everything else but usable takes. Pop in a short Bad tag after stinkers – And pop in a short tag at “HERO” directly after the Winner.In post, the take before the HERO tag is ALL you have to initially look at. Everything else gets added to the reject bucket.
That alone can save you beaucoup time in post.
Metadata field tagging doesn’t have to be either comprehensive or perfect to be HUGELY useful. It just has to be used with understanding.
My 2 cents.
Creator of XinTwo – https://www.xintwo.com
The shortest path to FCP X mastery. -
[Oliver Peters] “Well… Speaking as the editor, I typically ignore all of that. I prefer my own organizational methods.”
In your and my time, that’s how it typically went.
The editor did ALL the organization “by hand.”
I just suspect that the kids coming up will be accustomed to utilizing all the generated metadata their files will carry into the edit by default, even if we weren’t as much used to that process.
Time will tell.
Creator of XinTwo – https://www.xintwo.com
The shortest path to FCP X mastery. -
[Oliver Peters] “However, if a quick turnaround trial edit is needed, then X would be the better choice, because of editing speed.”
Also, possibly, as more and more crews improve metadata collection during the shooting phase, it makes sense to look at whats happening with tools like Lumberjack et al, to capture scene, take, and keyword metadata at the same time the cameras are rolling.
Having an active NLE system running on set should allow better field metadata collection and proofing – and used smartly, assistants for the director, DP and LD, scripty, sound and other departments could conceivably be logging notes on tablets and or smart phones during a shoot – and feeding all that metadata into a cohesive central collection system.
Maybe that’s just the data wrangler on a small shoot just doing overall notes for the gig – but on a big shoot, the departments could be generating their own data and feeding it all into an on-set portable server in real time.
Time is still money and the idea that at the end of a shooting day – all of everyone’s notes could be centralized and coordinated could conceivably not only save a TON of time – but increase data integrity and security for the whole production.
I suspect on-set data wrangling will change a ton over the coming few years.
Just dreaming out loud.
Creator of XinTwo – https://www.xintwo.com
The shortest path to FCP X mastery. -
[Oliver Peters] “Not to mention, the price tag is fine for a DIT, where there’s less price sensitivity than in the greater FCPX world. After all, a DIT cart alone is a lot more money than this software.
“That makes sense, Oliver.
Thanks for the clarification.
Creator of XinTwo – https://www.xintwo.com
The shortest path to FCP X mastery. -
Those look like the temp files X makes during it’s optimizing and proxy processing process. (say that three times fast!)
They should be auto-deleting when the transcode is complete.
Are you force quitting out of some of your transcodes before they are finished?
It’s important to let X finish background processes, so you might want to develop the habit of keeping the Render Manager open when you’re importing, optimizing or transcoding so you know when the work is complete.
One way this “suddenly starts happening” is when you hit Command Shift Period when you’re looking for a different keyboard command. That combination toggles Show/Hide hidden files on and off.
My off the cuff guess, anyway.
Creator of XinTwo – https://www.xintwo.com
The shortest path to FCP X mastery. -
Considering the names involved behind this – it looks like some major players are betting that the penetration of FCP X into ever larger facility workflows will continue.
Plus, the thing itself looks like it’s something a highly skilled colorist could easily toss (with a dependable OLED or FSI flat panel monitor) into a carryon bag and go knock out high end grades as, when, and where needed.
It’s a crazy new world out there.
Creator of XinTwo – https://www.xintwo.com
The shortest path to FCP X mastery. -
[Michael Gissing] “To be fair I’m talking to people other than Bill who use a range of software on various hardware. Forgive me reminding Bill that this forum is for all of us users, not just a single FCPX user on an NLE debate forum.”
So, maybe you’re trying to talk to folks like my friends Mads and Ryan in Copenhagen running multiple broadcast TV programs with dozens upon dozens of iMacs and MacBook Pros – in largely collaborative configurations pumping out shows that feed a major market 24/7/365?
I get pretty regular posts from them with pictures of them receiving new shipments of 20 or more iMacs and iMac Pros – and have been seeing that for more than 5 years now.
You may consider *my* needs as beneath your considerations, but how do you dismiss theirs?
I’m sure it makes you feel more comfortable to hold onto the fantasy that X is just for guys like me.
But while your doing that, the industry keeps evolving.
The productivity boost that some of us are experiencing may not mean anything to you – and in fact, you may never experience it for yourself given your consistent attitude here. But that doesn’t mean some of us don’t see it as real – and are happy to invest in bringing it into our working lives.
To each their own.
As it should be.
Creator of XinTwo – https://www.xintwo.com
The shortest path to FCP X mastery. -
[Michael Gissing] “To then slow that down with hardware and pay more for that inefficiency, “
What slowdown?
Most of the internet benchmarks seem to show that running FCP X on an off-th-shelf “turnkey system” iMac Pro – equals or exceeds the productivity of ANY comparable build to suit system out there.
That may not be achievable via Premiere or AVID – but That’s what the literature suggests for editors who think like me.
So far I haven’t heard about any Hacintosh editors achieving productivity gains OR effectively saving any money via BTO options – so it’s not relevant to me.
If or when that changes, I’ll reconsider.
I will say I truly don’t miss the constant study required to know which building block components represented the best bang for the buck in do-it-yourself computing.
Maybe some of that will return with whatever “modularized” MacPro replacement is on the horizon – but I kinda hope they do “packaged” pre-tuned system’s even in that space.
As I noted up top – my interest in DYI “hot rodding” is history.
Creator of XinTwo – https://www.xintwo.com
The shortest path to FCP X mastery.