Dean Neal
Forum Replies Created
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[Erik Lindahl] “Sadly that’s a no-go since we use Resolve.”
Blackmagic devices… a mix of pleasure and PAIN.
Dean Neal…
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[Bill Davis] “I’m confused about one thing Oliver.
Seems to me the vast majority of my cuts in dialog driven clips will almost universally be made at natural stopping points or pauses in the dialog. I seldom cut to something else mid word unless I’m doing something like franken-byting.
In that context, what’s the point of a 2 frame audio only dissolve for normal dialog editing? Is it because of some issue with the signal to noise ratio of the audio recording where you’re trying to smooth out the sound of the background at the transition points?”
This has been actually for a change in this group – a beneficial debate (discussion).
Bill you have had some great points so far, but when you hear clicks and pops within FCP X in straight multi camera video only switches with Audio (some say its to do with Audio ‘cycles’ etc.) and frankly pops and clicks are inevitable IMHO when cutting dialogue anywhere except in perfect background silence… and even then the pickup points could still be dirty and need smoothing out.
Let’s not forget as well – those umms and ahhhhs that we hope the Producer dealt with on the shoot but are still there and are butted tightly against some amazing line of dialogue we must incorporate in the final cut. ☺
This latest update to X has us closer than ever to a fully rounded platform for audio. One thing I would suggest would fix this is enabling standard cross dissolves between clips in the new ‘Audio Lanes’ timeline view.
Of the 100+ Long Form TV shows I have now Produced/Edited using ‘X’ – I can tell you I have used the ‘Sound Only’ dissolve in 99% of them. The problem is… it IS true – it is a kludge.
The New ‘Add Fades’ is nice but it doesn’t give you the default overlap you may need between sound clips.
One thing I will say however – Give me the lack of having to repeatedly revisit Clip Collisions and Audio Track Assignments in other NLE’s….
However, some smoothing out (pardon the pun) of the Audio paradigm would be the final slam dunk for X…
Dean Neal…
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[Mike Warmels] “It would certainly help directors who forget to shoot coverage! ;-)”
Liking the update so far…particularly the development of Roles and Lanes.
It isn’t just pseudo-tracks – imagine on content import in PPro or MC you can assign audio track numbers (eg. A5 and A6)…on IMPORT.
Thats what this version of X offers when importing media.
It keeps the enjoyment and fluidity of the magnetic timeline paradigm intact.
I like a lot of things about PPro… but after undertaking work in it this week, it confirms to me FCP X’s strongest suit – Media Management.
Simply being able to have the same Media Files in multiple ‘soft’ bins (Keyword Collections) is brilliant.
As for the lack of B-Roll (coverage) – people can also re-zoom shots on the cut… particularly if shooting in 4K… gives a nice Camera reposition effect without the need of any morph-cuts etc.
Dean Neal…
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[Shane Ross] “#3…NO CUDA. INTEL IRIS GPU…and from the looks of it, and underpowered one.”
Ah, not entirely true. The 15inch models come with Radeon Pro 450/455/460 Graphics with up to 4GB Memory.
Dean Neal…
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[Robin S. Kurz] “I’m curious… what would your improved interface look like? What would be where? Because outside of maybe the scopes being in the same window as the viewer, I can’t think of a single thing I would change that would be better than the way it is with the various shortcuts and fly in/out palettes etc. Maybe savable workspaces. But other than that…”
Yes, I meant more saveable workspaces. I would also love now for the project timeline to follow the playhead more fluidly.
I agree, most of the fundamentals of the GUI are good, however would like a bit more flexibility in the arrangement of the workspace.
[Robin S. Kurz] “I use X in a 12 seat edit suite very happily. What does more “serious” mean? “
Yes, there are some third party solutions out there – (eg. SNS EVO) however is the inherent, FCPX Library model truly, inherently ‘multi-user’ friendly? Databases are seldom *just* one user to much data. It should support many (users) to many (data). Not just relying on third party solutions. Maybe I ask for too much. 🙂
The library model and the metadata foundations of X are brilliant, but it would be even better if it supported multi-users in a more fluid, autonomous way.
Dean Neal…
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[Craig Seeman] “Some NLEs waltz in 3/4 time. Others rock in 4/4. FCPX is free jazz.”
Quote of the year Craig! 🙂
As someone else has said on this thread, the Timeline Index is amazing. Say you need to fix in your project timeline an incorrect transition that you have applied hundreds of times in the project? Search for the transition in the index and then drag and drop ONCE onto all instances – job done.
I sense the original post was a superficial trawling…almost trolling style thread… there’s plenty of great YouTube clips from Ripple Training etc.
You seriously ask a question like that in here without any real digging? lol
Summary: FCPX is built in the digital media mindset, not the telecine ones of the other NLEs.
FCPX is fast, its fun and I have now delivered hundreds of episodic TV shows using it.
The non-destructive database (library) structure of it is brilliant. Media management was the whole basis for the software in the first place and it delivers this in spades.
X is also far from perfect, it needs more freedom of layout in the Interface, needs a Roles Mixer too – and also tends to chew memory and slow down over prolonged use. Waveform generation is not there yet, particularly with growing (EVS) files. If FCPX really wants to wear the ‘digital bandleader hat’ – it needs to be able to deal with EVS!
Also needs to get serious about multi-user environments. They could smash the other NLEs with its digital hierarchy… if Apple progresses this properly in the next update.
I worry when I try and use some hardware (Blackmagic) that still encounter glitches within the FCPX environment.
They need to embed a ‘sound only’ transition. We still have Alex4D for the one we use, now.
October shapes up as FCP X’s Zenith, one way or the other… with the rumoured updates.
Dean Neal…
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[Francois Jean] “I am using 10.4.3 for my BMD device without any trouble (usual configuration in FCPX ) OSX 10.10.5 , FCPX 10.2.3
FRANCOIS”
Me too with my Ultrastudio Express… I use this unit to play content out to Giant Video Screens at major events, using content assembled in FCP X…
You can imagine how much fun it was to be playing content in front of thousands of people to then see X crash on playback…. or even when you play content through a broadcast monitor to one of your clients…
Yet again, Blackmagic needs to sharpen up with their product support and bug fixes.
Dean…
Dean Neal…
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[Walter Soyka] “I’ve been pretty critical of BMD’s practices, but the thing that impressed me most about 12.5 was it seemed there was some real attention paid to solving some actual user issues. Do you feel that’s not the case?”
One rain shower does not fill a dam…
I haven’t really tested the latest version of Resolve yet, to stress test the reported improvements and enhancements…
I am curious to see how it performs as a genuine ‘NLE’ now… as for me, it was always very slow and sluggish – even on high-end Mac hardware…
That said, its core feature set for color grading has always been excellent, but that is as much as the legacy of the software that BMD acquired in the first place.
As an Australian… and seeing as BMD are an Australian company – I really hope they can up the ante on their post product release maintenance and support.
There’s a lot of cool stuff to be sure, but they could be sooo much better.
Dean Neal…
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[Phil Lowe] “o if there are any X developers reading this, PLEASE give us a bona fide audio mixer instead of the garbage pan & volume slider in the inspector!
“I agree FCPX’s Audio automation is one of its challenges, however using the Range Selection (R) tool with audio on the project timeline is more than adequate IMHO.
Then with keyboard shortcuts in the project timeline, you can make tweaks to audio as you need.
Knowing how simple News Edits (and the software used by them) is often very basic – I am surprised you need anything that elaborate.
Network TEN in Australia for example – use Vizrt EasyCut and it is very simplistic indeed.
What I would like to see however in ‘X’ is a baked in quick audio-only dissolve (I use one thats a hack now) and also would like to see a ROLES based mixer for more complex edits and projects.
Dean Neal…
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Classical Blackmagic…
Keep adding features… introduce cool stuff, yet still do not really fix core issues.
Case in point – their Ultrastudio Software playing content out from FCPX will randomly just crash the software. Have to install an older version (12 months ago) to stabilise things…
A client wont care that its just ‘Blackmagic glitches’ that cause their content to suddenly disappear off a Video Monitor… they will just think we are using unstable software.
Then lets look at their camera range and the myriad of issues there.
I really like Blackmagic and Resolve is an amazing Color Grading solution… but they need to concentrate more on fixing things than rather just adding bells and whistles….
Dean Neal…