[Mac Mcdougal]

Finally! Thank you Jeremy. The answer to the question is not “look at this button or that button.” The answer is that “flopping” is a type of Transform, hence can be accomplished using the Transform button.

FYI, for the benefit of any Apple folks who keep track of UX, the Help section on the Transform effect does not, repeat not, mention that you can use it to flop the footage, flip it horizontally, or any other indication of being able to create a mirror image using FCPX. Way to go!

[Mac Mcdougal]

Hi John,

I agree with your conclusion that the UI has achieved the dubious distinction of being both sleeker and less usable. More than somewhat. I wish Apple would listen to you.

Unfortunately for me, your advice . . .

“You’ll notice there is a little arrow on the single left-hand button on the less buttoned newer fcpx version, if you click on that you can select options that give you the same functionality. Play around with that for awhile and I am sure you’ll work it all out”

. . . is a masterpiece of post-modern “instruction.” I have no idea which “little arrow” or “button” you’re referring to. By my count, there are 12 buttons with “little arrows” on the interface, and “playing around with” them for awhile reveals NO function for mirroring, flopping, or flipping horizontally a given video clip. Nor does the so-called Help document recognize the term “flopping,” which was the category term I finally used to find this function a couple of years ago.

Request to Community: If anybody has time to be specific, could they please describe where this button is with respect to other landmarks? (e.g., it’s under the Browser, under the Canvas, under the Timeline, it’s right next to a button with a Magic Wand, it’s four buttons to the left of a button with a key icon, etc.)

Not that anybody cares, but on a personal note, the abandonment of FCP7 was a blow. The continual changes to the FCPX UI in the context of a Help document that cannot even recognize search terms identical with UI widgets and the LACK OF A COMPREHENSIVE AND CONTINUALLY UPDATED SET OF INSTRUCTIONAL VIDEOS PROVIDED BY APPLE has already taken years off my life. It’s been great for Larry Jordan. For the rest of us, not so much.

[Mac Mcdougal]

I have exactly the same issue. Did anyone ever help you? I got the “Apple decided to remove unimportant buttons” from that one user, and the “They’re in a dropdown menu” from another (BTW, I can find no drop down with the “flip horizontal” function that used to be there for all to see, gosh darn it). Please let me know if anyone said anything even approaching usefulness.

[Mac Mcdougal]

Thanks Mark, this works like a champ.

[Mac Mcdougal]

Hi All,

When FCP 7 shakes its finger at me saying I don’t have enough media to make the transition between two clips with identical properties, shot on the same shoot with the same camera, each of which is more than two minutes long, somehow, I don’t think this is user error. If members of this Forum don’t know a workaround for this obvious design flaw, then why not say so? We’re not in class here–at least, I’m not. I’m trying to solve a problem that is killing my productivity. Due to this “insufficient media” issue, I’m having to have to use Motion to do manual “dip to color” ersatz dissolves. What a pain.

[Mac Mcdougal]

Very helpful Shane. Thanks! I hope you feel better now. I’m on Lion 10.7.3. When I try to open FCP7, or projects completed in FCP7 on OS X 10.6.whatthehell, I get the beachball of death. Anybody out there who can provide an answer other than “It’s working for me, what’s your problem?”

[Mac Mcdougal]

Thx Daniel, You’re right! How in the world that button got pushed is a mystery.

Thanks David for your advice to trash prefs.

Finally, thanks Steve Eisen for telling me about Digital Rebellion.

[Mac Mcdougal]

Hi Joe, Thanks for the help. I actually already did this. I’m just hoping I don’t have to do it for every edited clip in this four hour online course. BTW, FCP7 seems to “lose” clips at random. I don’t move any media, but if I save a project and then log back in the next day, I’ll get the dreaded “X clips and N render files are missing”. Is this a known issue, or am I just uniquely incompetent?

[Mac Mcdougal]

Hi David,

Sorry to be so gosh-darn ignorant, but “have you tried trashing preferences” is not detailed enough for me. There are six tabs in the Prefs window, with multiple dropdowns/radio buttons/text fields on each one. The only way I can think of to “trash preferences” is to take my stinking Macintosh, climb to the top of a tall building, and re-do Galileo’s famous experiment. Actually, I’m on my way out of FCP hell; it keeps “losing” render files, something on the order of 200 in the present project–and given its rendering inefficiencies, having to do these tasks over and over has finally pushed me out of the fold. Hello, Avid.

[Mac Mcdougal]

Hi Brandon, I don’t have a similar issue.

Big project. The Timeline looks normal, with no red “render me” bars. I put the cursor in the Timeline and hit the spacebar– the audio plays, but the Canvas shows nothing but black interrupted by the beginning of clip/end of clip markers on a black background when the cursor passes over an edit.

I’m getting X clips and Y render files have gone offline dialogs, also, but have moved nothing.

System Info:

FCP7
OS X 10.6.8
Mac Pro, 2.66 GHz Quad-Core Intel Xeon, 3GB 1066 MHz DDR3.