[Craig Alan]

Thanks Oliver, I get it now.

Mac Pro, macbook pro, Imacs (i7); Canon 5D Mark III/70D, Panasonic AG-HPX170/AG-HPX250P, Canon HV40, Sony Z7U/VX2000/PD170; FCP 6 certified; FCP X write professionally for a variety of media; teach video production in L.A.

[Craig Alan]

You are not dragging a clip into a window. You are dragging it to a target in the timeline within the window. E appends the timeline not the window it’s in. I was thinking though that a timeline could be an empty timeline as a fixed container that is filled with a project (a particular sequence). However FC does not by default have an empty timeline open. It’s only when you create a project that the empty timeline appears. The whole idea of creating a project makes no sense. It’s as if preproduction does not exist. Truth is the project exists with or without FC.

The one way that a “project” is different than a timeline is that the project file is a small file that holds the edits and references to the media. But that’s a “project file” and not just the project. It’s already unergonomic to rename something for which there is already an industry standard term, It’s incredibly unergonomic to give it a name that is already used for a different aspect of the work. If we call the timeline a timeline no one has a problem with it in FCP X and every other NLE. So far so good. The problem arises when we refer to our “project.” Do you mean timeline or the overall job, assignment, film, etc. If using FC you need to then clarify – which is an on-going annoyance and lacks a certain professionalism. Pros may dummy things down for non-pros but feel no need to do so when communicating with another pro. Pros like the comradery of talking industry speak. Now this can evolve with time and new technology. But IMO FCP X is not really that different than other NLE in terms of the function of the different parts of the program. It has more in common with other NLE than it has differences.
But in version 1, it did use the library as a master folder that contained all your “projects” And that is where the terminology began. It was mistake for technical reasons. Apple corrected it. The “project” was put in an event because otherwise it would not be organized as part of a single “project”. But now that many people use a library for each project (film) they are working on, it does not make sense to store the project (timeline) in a single event.

It’s kind of like the his and her of grammatical correctness. Someone come up with a gender neutral term for his and her. I don’t think anyone would have a problem with “project file” being what it is. But calling the timeline or even the space where the timeline resides a project is a poor naming convention.

Mac Pro, macbook pro, Imacs (i7); Canon 5D Mark III/70D, Panasonic AG-HPX170/AG-HPX250P, Canon HV40, Sony Z7U/VX2000/PD170; FCP 6 certified; FCP X write professionally for a variety of media; teach video production in L.A.

[Craig Alan]

So the only correct use of open in timeline would be a permanent change to a clip in the browser? Sinc those same changes can b applied in timeline I’m not sure of the point of the feature?

Mac Pro, macbook pro, Imacs (i7); Canon 5D Mark III/70D, Panasonic AG-HPX170/AG-HPX250P, Canon HV40, Sony Z7U/VX2000/PD170; FCP 6 certified; FCP X write professionally for a variety of media; teach video production in L.A.

[Craig Alan]

No assumption made. I’m had in the past set my media drives for media only to find cases in which the library got full of huge files. Currently thAt is not happening on my system.

Mac Pro, macbook pro, Imacs (i7); Canon 5D Mark III/70D, Panasonic AG-HPX170/AG-HPX250P, Canon HV40, Sony Z7U/VX2000/PD170; FCP 6 certified; FCP X write professionally for a variety of media; teach video production in L.A.

[Craig Alan]

https://eshop.macsales.com/item/OWC/TB2SRKIT0GB/

why not try one of these just to see. you can put your drive in here and test it. extra drives never hurt for back ups even if it fails the test. Thunderbolt daisy chains more effectively than usb.

Mac Pro, macbook pro, Imacs (i7); Canon 5D Mark III/70D, Panasonic AG-HPX170/AG-HPX250P, Canon HV40, Sony Z7U/VX2000/PD170; FCP 6 certified; FCP X write professionally for a variety of media; teach video production in L.A.

[Craig Alan]

Have you checked the contents of the library to make sure all the media in the library are aliases and not actual media. I’ve been surprised with older versions of FCP X when it was populated with huge files even though I set it up as otherwise in the inspector. Also what is your overhead on all your drives. Hit 80% full and all bets are off.

Mac Pro, macbook pro, Imacs (i7); Canon 5D Mark III/70D, Panasonic AG-HPX170/AG-HPX250P, Canon HV40, Sony Z7U/VX2000/PD170; FCP 6 certified; FCP X write professionally for a variety of media; teach video production in L.A.

[Craig Alan]

Copy your cards to labeled folders in the finder. This gives you a back up of all your media which can be stored on a separate drive. Then import the cards. Check Keywords by folder in the import window. In the browser you can use the gear to group clips by camera name which should then create groups in the browser based on the folder names in the finder.

Mac Pro, macbook pro, Imacs (i7); Canon 5D Mark III/70D, Panasonic AG-HPX170/AG-HPX250P, Canon HV40, Sony Z7U/VX2000/PD170; FCP 6 certified; FCP X write professionally for a variety of media; teach video production in L.A.

[Craig Alan]

[Oliver Peters] “You mean you don’t create Projects (sequences) that you edit in? “

Of course I do. I was just experimenting with opening a clip in its own timeline, just to see what purpose it would serve, creating a sequence from a clip as a kind of pre-edited sequence. When I got done playing around. I deleted it cause I really didn’t need it. Wasn’t aware the original clip would be gone from the browser. When I delete a clip from a regular timeline, the original clip is still in the browser. In fact, I can delete an entire timeline and all the original clips are still in the browser. I figured it would work the same way. So was just wondering if I wanted to experiment with this feature, can I just dupe the original and create a new timeline that way. Was wondering if by creating a series of small sequences, I could then assemble them in a regular timeline. Obviously you’re suggesting this is a misguided use of the feature and not its intent.

Mac Pro, macbook pro, Imacs (i7); Canon 5D Mark III/70D, Panasonic AG-HPX170/AG-HPX250P, Canon HV40, Sony Z7U/VX2000/PD170; FCP 6 certified; FCP X write professionally for a variety of media; teach video production in L.A.

[Craig Alan]

select the clip in the project and see what the inspector sees it as.

Mac Pro, macbook pro, Imacs (i7); Canon 5D Mark III/70D, Panasonic AG-HPX170/AG-HPX250P, Canon HV40, Sony Z7U/VX2000/PD170; FCP 6 certified; FCP X write professionally for a variety of media; teach video production in L.A.

[Craig Alan]

Noah, without asking for a huge tutorial could you list some techniques that are a better use of FC’s features than compounding? Or an example of using a different function instead of a compound.

Just curious what you meant by this.

Mac Pro, macbook pro, Imacs (i7); Canon 5D Mark III/70D, Panasonic AG-HPX170/AG-HPX250P, Canon HV40, Sony Z7U/VX2000/PD170; FCP 6 certified; FCP X write professionally for a variety of media; teach video production in L.A.