[David Lawrence]

[Petros Kolyvas] “I’ve found similar issues; I can’t export ProRes or DNxHD with Maximum Render Quality checked. Opacity and multiple layers involving transparency don’t render out properly.

This is a carry-over issue from CS5.5 and seems to affect Quicktime-wrapped destination media.”

Wow, really? This is a huge problem if true. Is this documented anywhere?

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David Lawrence
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[David Lawrence]

[Tero Ahlfors] “Do you require the maximum render quality tab to be checked eg. do you have any resizing or scaling in the video?”

No scaling, but I am transcoding from XDCAM EX to ProRes for the master. I notice that the video looks grainier if maximum render quality is unchecked. With it on, it looks better. The difference is subtle, but I see it and I want to give my clients the best quality I can.

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David Lawrence
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[David Lawrence]

[Erik Lindahl] “Is it just a file-viewing problem? I.e. do the exported elements look different if viewed on an externa monitor through Premier or After Effects?”

I don’t have an external monitor. These files are for all digital delivery and distribution (web, and mobile devices) so I use my monitor as a reference and so far no complaints from the client ever.

The maximum quality rendered file looks wrong in any application I play it back in.

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[David Lawrence]

[tony west] “No matter how good you are it’s still a 32 bit program right David.

Are you overlooking that slow render?”

No, I’m working in ProRes and keeping my renders times minimal. If they’re gonna be long, I take a break. 64-bit is better, but I’ve been managing without. I don’t like the fact that FCP is 32-bit, but I’m living with it until I leave FCP completely.

That said, I recently did a project in Premiere that would have been virtually impossible in FCP. It used adjustment layers to create a palette of effects that were be mixed, matched, tweaked and previewed in real-time with no rendering. Having 64-bit performance was great, but Premiere’s adjustment layers were what really made a difference.

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David Lawrence
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[David Lawrence]

[Richard Herd] “I cut a shiton of dialogue, j-cuts, l-cuts–you know the drill. X is better than Legend for that, without question.”

So do I. That’s why I have a dedicated mouse button for toggling the linked selection button on the timeline.

I make j and l cuts in Legend as easily as you can in X. I would never make them the way the FCP7 manual describes. X is good but it isn’t necessarily better if you know what you’re doing in Legend.

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[David Lawrence]

[tony west] “It’s an interesting topic David.

but I can’t help but wonder how you approached editing before NLE’s came out.

It’s not like people were not cutting great things before on their CMX tc monitors.

All we looked at were a bunch of numbers on the screen and you got it done.

Sunset Blv. NOT cut on AVID. I still prefer to watch it over much of this stuff that’s out now : )”

Glad you’re enjoying it Tony.

Before NLE’s I edited linear tape and hated it. I first started in my senior year of high school in the late 70’s. We were shooting with with Sony portapacks, like the Sony AV-3400. We edited on the same type of reel-to-reel machines. No machine control, just a grease pencil to mark reels, a stopwatch to count, and manually hitting insert on the record deck at just the right time. If you were lucky, you might get what you wanted. I dreamed of frame accuracy.

In college, 3/4″ and VHS cassette. Machine control made frame accuracy possible; but of course, changing anything once you laid it down was a hassle. Or changing something in the middle of a piece? Forget it!

At Lucasfilm, I got to dream about the kind editor I always wanted, something fluid and all digital, totally freed from the constraints of physical media. The actual system we built was limited by the technologies of the late 80’s and was too early to create a market. Plus, George wasn’t interested in pursuing it as a business. But what we made was the groundwork for what I knew would become an industry. It only took another twenty years or so for the technologies to catch up.

But to your point, I agree. Some of the best films ever made were made the old fashioned way, or with tools way more primitive than the free media stuff given away on new computers. A great film is much more that just the sum of its tools.

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[David Lawrence]

[Walter Soyka] “Where do you think it falls apart? What behavior is inconsistent?”

I find that when moving primary clips, the stacking order of connected clips when the timeline reflows is unpredictable. I’m never completely sure which clip will wind up on top or why.

Here’s a video I made last year to demonstrate why you might want to connect a clip to a gap object. It also proves (despite the insistence of some) that the position tool does not turn off ripple (reflow) via a destructive bug. Apple fixed this bug in version 10.0.4.

Pay attention to the connected clip on the left. Also pay attention to the two connected audio clips.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=72Pc56peq98&feature=g-upl
Can you explain why in one case the left connected clip reflows to bottom, and the other it’s on top? And why the short audio clip always reflows below the longer? I find no rhyme or reason in stacking order. Maybe I’m holding it wrong.

[Walter Soyka] “This would let you work inside a group, but this gives you a different kind of inheritance than FCPX.

Since Premiere’s groups are based on an open timeline, direct object selection within the group would make changes relative to external time.”

Yes. I think that’s a good thing.

[Walter Soyka] “The critical difference as I see it is that in FCP7, a synchronized replace edit is an instantaneous operation. The connection only exists in the editor’s mind at the moment it is made. FCP7 itself cannot store or use that implied connection for anything other than the replace edit. With FCPX, connections are persistent (but mutable), and impact more than the one operation.”

Agreed. But if that sync relationship is important, a synchronized replace edit makes it possible. If the editor wants to lock the relationship between the clips, grouping makes that possible.

I guess where I get lost is in understanding why I would benefit from my NLE knowing anything more about these specific relationships. Especially given all the other relationships that are in my mind that it *doesn’t* know about. I realize that in FCPX this *is* the model, but what does the model add beyond what I can get through groups if groups had some additional UI affordances?

[Walter Soyka] “I agree here. I have argued before that FCPX assumes (or maybe imposes?) a certain approach to editing. I think that the data model was designed to implement nonlinear A/B editorial.”

Agreed.

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[David Lawrence]

[Tero Ahlfors] “Have you checked your prores codec setting? The gamma correction should be turned off. It’s on by default.”

Hi Tero,

In my screen shots above, the ProRes codec settings are identical. The only difference is the Use Maximum Render Quality setting.

The ProRes gamma setting makes no difference. I tried the test again making sure to specify that gamma was set to none and had the same results.

_______________________
David Lawrence
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[David Lawrence]

[Jeremy Garchow] “Also, I forgot my manners, thank you David Lawrence for putting the original post together.”

Jeremy, you’re welcome. I’m really enjoying everyone’s posts.

And speaking of manners, Steve, apologies for the my flippant response above. I was just reacting to “you’re wrong”. I do understand where you’re coming from.

_______________________
David Lawrence
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[David Lawrence]

[Steve Connor] “Seriously, you people are talking as if all the possibilities of an edit aren’t there for you when you use FCPX, if that’s your suggestion then might I humbly add you are completely wrong”

_______________________
David Lawrence
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