[Joseph Owens]

Yes, track mode is massively powerful… can you build alt versions of a look in that? I hadn’t even thought of it until this thread. I mostly use it as a somewhat dynamic LUT.

jPo

“I always pass on free advice — its never of any use to me” Oscar Wilde.

[Joseph Owens]

Is FCX the application running on the MacBook on the new retina display Apple broadcast ads? Or is it iMovie? Can’t tell while all the glitzy stock footage of somebody’s family vacation is being edited by an ADD person on bennies… Hmmm… shooting curls in iceberg alley, a little shopping run to get some blankets up at Macchu Picchu, and a few shots of the Aurora Borealis… probably just grabbed with the iPhone. Yeah, pretty ordinary weekend for me, can’t think why I’d have to edit a big deal YouTube video of it though. But definitely something I’d want to use Final Cut X for! Lot of data to relationalize to have it make that much sense.

jPo

“I always pass on free advice — its never of any use to me” Oscar Wilde.

[Joseph Owens]

Is this a plugin thing? You might need to install a Canon plugin for L&T, depending on your source.

jPo

“I always pass on free advice — its never of any use to me” Oscar Wilde.

[Joseph Owens]

[Nicole Elmer] “So, after getting to rough cut on a feature, we recently discovered that our imbecile DP shot our film at 29.97 frames per second, not the 24 fps we thought we had.”

First: OMG. Somebody is getting away with calling a DP an imbecile? The other part is probably not news, though.
Second: Even when the communication is perfect, we don’t always know where a property is going to end up. Example: broadcast documentary, destined for NTSC, all shot 29.97 –so far everybody is doing their job.

Wait a minute, the European distributor wants a PAL version. The domestic distributor wants a theatrical (means 24 fps).

Now we’re in three frame rates, but this time for valid reasons. The only real solution is the consensus — finish it in the source format, then do the conversions. Hey, Blackmagic is selling the all-in-one Teranex now for a couple grand. You don’t need a facility if you are going to pay that much (probably more) for someone else to do it… And if you really have no budget but scads of time, export the master to compressor, use the “Better” conversion, and (a feature) might pop out a couple of days later. (I have always had to split long shows into 3 or 4 acts for this to work)… but it does, and I do this several times a year now, because lately everyone seems to need everything in every format, several versions, several languages.

Uhh.. I know its tempting to try the “Best” setting. Choose that and add a zero to the render time, whatever the “better” was, which is still massive. But the difference between “better” and “best” is much smaller than the difference between “good” and “better”. Not ten times, that is for sure. Budget about an hour/minute for “Better”, on an 8-core MacPro.

As far as audio sync problems across frame rates goes, though…. As stated, audio has a clock time based on a frequency standard, in this case 48 kHz. It will always be 48k. What FCP does, though is arbitrarily assign timecode to a .wav file (or whatever) that matches the default easy setup for your system. This causes even bigger problems than FCP itself has transcoding between frame rates and recalculating trim points based on 2:3 pulldown or sequence framebase changes (which it also does extremely poorly). You will get the easily predictable 1000/1001 difference if you go from say 29.97 (fractional) to 25, or even 24 (whole frames). You do have to reset the FCP Audio/Video preferences, exit, and restart.

jPo

“I always pass on free advice — its never of any use to me” Oscar Wilde.

[Joseph Owens]

There is also a semi-superstition that “re-packing” the tape by fast forward/rewinding it from end to end helps with pre-conditioning the cassette for mastering, but modern manufacturing methods make this a dubious practice. You can actually induce bridges and skewed winding if the machine itself isn’t perfectly aligned. Not saying a casual rental machine is a bad choice… I’m pretty sure nobody has dropped it lately…

Assemble editing used to be a nightmare for keeping the recorded tracks phased and synchronized properly, but today’s digital decks are more like data recorders than old style flying-head analog VTRs.

The operating system remains identical, though, and there still is a need for continuous Control Track, Time Code, and a well-aligned mechanical tape path so there will be no issues with machine interchange. The easiest way to achieve that was to lay down a continuous recording, the “pre-stripe” to essentially plow the road for the actual program material to be inserted later. It really does lay all the ground work for revision inserts, technical corrections, audio laybacks, and all the rest of the insertion process…. and really helps guarantee that the tape will play back elsewhere.

However, laying down a minute of black that establishes the starting time code and then assembling on the program is not significantly different anymore from inserting the material on a continuously pre-recorded tape.

Saying an “out” on an assemble edit is “dirty” doesn’t completely cover what is really going on. During assemble editing, new control track and time code is being generated — and even if there is existing control track and TC on the tape, it will be erased as the tape progresses. This makes “stripping” the tape prior to an “assemble” even more redundant.

So be extremely careful when selecting “Assemble/Insert” with your edit controller, because coming “out” of an assemble leaves a gap with no CT or TC. It isn’t fixable. But everybody makes this error at least once, or you can’t call yourself a seasoned professional tape operator.

jPo

“I always pass on free advice — its never of any use to me” Oscar Wilde.

[Joseph Owens]

[Peter Gosens] ” I just want to know what this 2-way FCP grader actually calculates underneath.”

So assuming that Apple isn’t going to email you the algorithm…

Why don’t you load a standard test signal (color bars, maybe, although a graduated stairstep or ramp would be better) and dial in a correction. See where it goes, Do the math.

jPo

“I always pass on free advice — its never of any use to me” Oscar Wilde.

[Joseph Owens]

Is this a free service? Or is it for the 1%? Do you have to book it, or just “show up”?

Its a whole new universe! Its a whole new paradigm! Wait for it… Wait for it….This changes EVERYTHING! .
Even Schrodinger’s relational database couldn’t have predicted this! I’ve used up all my exclamation marks for this week (if you have one extra, can you put one in here?) Isn’t it GR8 that we even HAVE exclamation marks on keyboards now? It changed EVERYTHING (dang, need another one.)

And so on.

Wonder how many times EVERYTHING can change until we’re back where we started?

A centralized studio? It changes EVERYTHING! <– out on loan from next week. I pledge to use one less exclamation mark next week.

jPo

“I always pass on free advice — its never of any use to me” Oscar Wilde.

[Joseph Owens]

[Brooks Tomlinson] “What can I say. For laying in the first cut, and playing around with your edit fcp x is a powerful tool, and I think it is unmatched.”

[Brooks Tomlinson] ” Edit in track mode!!! So you can throw down your first cut in “first cut mode” then finish the edit in “track” mode.”

I’m officially a broken record. X will become universally useful when it becomes FCP8. Heard that before?

Re: recent discussion about “B”-roll editing workflow. Its the newsroom. Standup. Voice Over. Support footage. Unscripted. Throw on a super. Done. Upload/Air. It is where X lives, but, unfortunately, as far as its creators can see. As pointed out, its unfair to lump this standard professional workflow to the auteur You-Tube, vanity, home movie market, but as sophisticated and annoyingly “helpful” the Apple AI is, it is still a very small boat in a very big ocean.

jPo

“I always pass on free advice — its never of any use to me” Oscar Wilde.

[Joseph Owens]

[Kristian Skogen] “Autocue T-Series 24″ Monitor”

Does this monitor support Dual Link? Its not the cables.

jPo

“I always pass on free advice — its never of any use to me” Oscar Wilde.

[Joseph Owens]

Wondering if you have an RGB / legal video scaling issue. It would be obvious on a scope. Blacks crushed, Whites don’t get past 90 IRE and gamma is wonked. Most of the time its an import/export issue.

jPo

“I always pass on free advice — its never of any use to me” Oscar Wilde.