[Brianlaz]

Thanks for the reply.
I should be more frank: is anyone on here interested in something like that?

[Brianlaz]

FWIW I run it on my 2013 iMac 21 inch which I put and ssd into. It runs great!
If you don’t have an ssd in your iMac, get one in there. It’s scary to open up the glass but sooooo worth it.

[Brianlaz]

Oh. My. God.
That is IT!!
So brilliant. I had an alpha channel so I did silhouette alpha for the blend of the lower clip. Worked perfectly.
I’m assuming (fingers crossed) I can do the same with compound clips so I can have multiple layers going on in each space. But so far, that TOTALLY nailed it, thank you so much.
Curious, which did you see first, my post or the video? It’s amazing because his video isn’t even about this technique, it’s tangential to using all the shutterstock stuff.
Thanks again!
I’m also assuming (fingers crossed again) that it’s the same kind of deal in Motion. When I have time later I’ll mess around.

[Brianlaz]

Thanks for the thought, no dumb questions here.
The thing is the color of the keys is not really the problem. I can output clips that have alpha channels (the faces/space are transparent, period) so I don’t even have to key anything. The issue is being able to stack them. I just got that plugin to work, and it ALMOST does it, but for some reason it had a big effect on the part it wasn’t masking. Super weird.
I’d rather have groups (in Motion) that I can see all at once than mess with the compound clips, which to me can get confusing (even though they are awesome).
I will try again in motion using these masks and see if I can be more specific about exactly what’s going wrong and maybe that will make it easier for someone to help me.

[Brianlaz]

Thanks for your response.
Yes, compound clips is where I started in FCPX, but the problem is that no matter what, when you add a luma key it’s going to affect everything.
I downloaded a cool plugin where you can tell FCP you want a mask, it asks you what shape you want to use, and you can direct it to an alpha channel version of the faces/space in between the faces. This seemed promising, but the plugin stopped working.
You can do the same in Motion, so I tried it, with groups instead of compound clips but I just couldn’t get it to work. Once I started stacking them I would lose one of the alpha channels or the other.
I will keep trying. The vibe seems to export two animated masks: one with the faces transparent, the other with the space transparent. Then I can use one mask and have a bunch of stuff in the faces, then make a new group and apply the other mask, so that stuff will come up in the space between them. Conceptually I more or less have it but it hasn’t worked.

[Brianlaz]

[Bret Williams] “You don’t need the trim tool unless you want to roll, slip, or slide. “

I am rolling, so as not to lose sync. In other words, a double sided trim, which afaik can only be done with trim tool

[Bret Williams] “Either way you need to also have the audio expanded with ctrl+s.”

I have that as well, though I’m not sure it’s necessary since it’s a separate audio track to begin with.

I can trim the video with no problem, but when I go to the audio it just won’t budge.
Maybe I should start a new thread?

[Brianlaz]

I do appreciate your help.

I don’t know if this is bad form, but can I ask you a question about something else?
I can’t seem to trim my audio. It’s a separate audio track, not part of the video primary story line. I go to trim tool, and try to drag the edges and they go nowhere. No problem on the video portion. Grrrr!

[Brianlaz]

>Well, in X instead of pressing in, hit blade all.

Yes, and to avoid the annoying reach of Shift Command B I could remap those to something easier. But man, in and out points, when you’re editing fast those get hit without thinking. Bummer to have a whole other thing you gotta hit.

>Now all you have to do is select the clip on the primary and you have the same two options as legacy.

True enough, but you’ve already had to use alternate keys, and select something with a mouse. But yes, that sounds like the best solution.

Don’t get me wrong, I never looked back, but there are some things in X I really don’t get why they made more difficult. Like editing.

[Brianlaz]

Another thing along these lines that bugs me to no end is in studio you could set an in, an out, and hit delete and it would create a gap that cut though ALL tracks. Or shift delete and it would delete everything and close the gap. Have fun with that in X. Blade was something that i thought would become obsolete because it’s so clunky, now in 2018 it’s being touted as the thing to use for what used to be a simple edit. Go figure.
But we are totally in Legacy vs. X Debates forum territory here!
In this case Legacy definitely wins. Changing all your connection points to make an edit???

[Brianlaz]

All clips split and stayed in sync. All i did was set an in, and out, and then did an insert. It is the default setting like I said.

if i can add a video i’d be glad to show you a screen movie. works like a charm