[Lance Moody]

As I mentioned, the magnetic timeline can’t really be a showstopper for an actual editor. Yes, it handles the timeline differently than the old FCP but editing functions all work more or less as we have come to expect, even if in a different package (and I started before CMX3600>AVID>FCP1.0).

I will tell you what the real showstopper for many folks here is:

Learning how to use the new software.

I was frustrated as hell on the first FCPX project. But I was frustrated as hell on the first Avid project as well.

But as I worked in X (and I chose a somewhat complex project that I could take my time with), the better things got and the easier they got. I can look at that timeline and see my own clunky misunderstanding in the early portion of my work and then I can see how things began to click the longer I worked.

I came to really love the way it worked. There were still horrible problems then but they almost all have been cleared up in this latest release. And yes, I should acknowledge that there are still a few issues remaining, not everything got fixed. I am looking forward to using X in the future.

Best,

Lance

[Lance Moody]

And, then again, it might be exactly that.

I actually used the software and (even prior to this update) most of the complaints about it (particularly the magnetic timeline) are ridiculous–it edits just like an any editor edits. Now with the update, which addressed ALL of the major complaints, we see piddling new complaints that have magically become the NEW showstoppers.

Thank God that there will be no quality decrease in THE KARDASIANS due to waiting a month for the software to be updated AS PROMISED.

Lance

[Lance Moody]

Thanks Jeremy,

I believe we have always at least been able to manually RECONNECT to changed media. This is not even an option in X and that sucks.

Lance

[Lance Moody]

While I am certainly growing to love X, I have to say that the way metadata is handled is CAUSING what I consider to be the biggest problem with X.

By apparently writing the metadata to the actual file, X chokes if the file is changed in ANY way.

This causes a myriad of problems by making stuff become unlinked (and worse, unlinkable).

I am not interested in doing any motion graphics or compositing inside FCP since the tools are always lackluster. So when I take a rendered item from After Effects and need to revise it, it is absurd that I can’t just render the changed file again without having the changed file become an unrecoverable orphan and having to painfully import the rerendered file and replace the clips throughout the timeline.

This all worked fine and magically in FCP7.

Lance

[Lance Moody]

Yes, this may well be the answer. And it’s kinda damning. I have noticed that despite the much ballyhooed new 64-bit engine, that the app can be quite sluggish when renders (or background tasks) are cued up, even on the best equipment with plenty of RAM.

This is an example of a function that just doesn’t work when it should and it is rather embarrassing. After all, I think I may be MOST likely to rename a project immediately after duplicating. This is plain old terrible UI.

Lance

[Lance Moody]

Thanks Oliver!

This is a working alternative to the official method.

I’m still wondering if others are seeing the same unreliable results using the click and change method.

Best,

Lance

[Lance Moody]

Hi Mark,

I agree with many of your comments.

While tackling a large first project on FCPX, I certainly felt the pain of not being able to do things as I wished, as I was used to doing them.

But as I worked I began to realize that things like choosing what is the primary storyline is really not that important a decision. I doesn’t matter that much…you can switch stuff in and out of the primary and I began to see that having everything magnetic really made sense.

Looking over that first timeline, I see lots of mistakes I made at first (like creating compound clips instead of secondaries) but then began to avoid as the workflow became more and more second nature while I continued to work.

Anyway, don’t know if this helps or contributes but I am looking forward to working more and more with X.

Lance

[Lance Moody]

Is there another workflow that I may be missing?

Thanks,

Lance

[Lance Moody]

I believe I have tested this and it doesn’t work. Would love to have someone confirm

Thanks,

Lance

[Lance Moody]

“audio is a craft that is way more complex than video editing”

Really?

The craft services guy told me he thought his job was the most complex one. Man, I am slipping down the ladder fast!

Lance