[Mark Dobson]

[Marcus Moore] “Well, so far my theory is holding… “

Yes – looks like you are on the money!

And if not then, when?

It will soon be Christmas

[Mark Dobson]

Hi Baz,

I’d say that, yes, you were definitely old fashioned.

But that’s not to say that’s a bad thing. You are obviously a highly skilled editor with many different editing packages on your hard drive and if, like many others, you are still happy with FCP7 there’s no problem at the moment.

But in a couple of years that might well not be the case.

I just feel that by sidestepping FCPX you are missing out on using a superb piece of highly sophisticated software, albeit one with quite a few flaws that hopefully will be sorted out in the next upgrade ( this month? ) At each of the 3 stages of editing FCPX performs really well, ingest – with the Event library enabling files to be organised super quick, editing – once you get used to the trackless timeline it is a really flexible and fast tool, and export – literally one click to export or share your master file or sections of it.

Our production company has benefitted greatly through embracing this new software, tough at first, very problematic, but on a modern Mac it now runs as smooth as butter. With a Canon C300 and FCPX I really feel we have an amazing high quality production set up. Stanley Kubrick would have just loved it. ( If Kubrick had access to a C300 or C500 when he shot the candlelit scenes in Barry Lyndon he would have found the task a lot easier)

With the new update imminent and with the new mac pro about to hit the shelves I feel that many editors will be re-assessing FCPX.

[Mark Dobson]

[Ronny Courtens] “Open in Motion is indeed disabled in the FCPX Effects browser for some effects, but you can always open these effects inside the Motion Templates folder to change them and save new custom versions.”

Unfortunately many of the FXfactory and Ripple plugins are locked. It is not possible to open them in Motion.

I took this issue up with both FXfactory and Mark Spencer directly and received pretty unconvincing reasons as to why these FX are not editable.

Mark Spencer said that once his FX are part of the FXfactory package they are not editable and Gabe from Noise Industrys said:

” We are targeting our products based on Motion Templates to Final Cut Pro X users only. Although proficient Motion users may not have the ability to customize the effect, we designed the software with a different goal: no matter which system you run our software on, you are guaranteed that you can reopen a project without running into compatibility problems.

This cannot be said of customized effects: if you were to modify a version of Callouts, the project could not be moved to a different system without installing your version of Callouts. Similarly, users who do not backup their systems regularly, or who just upgraded to a different system, may be asking why a modified effect is not available again after re-installation”

The one line summary is: we traded some flexibility in order to gain predictability and reliability.”

Now this just doesn’t seem to make a lot of sense to me and some of the FXFactory FX are editable – maybe they just haven’t got round to locking them up.

[Mark Dobson]

The idea that one can open up a plugin in Motion and save it out under a different name is a good one where that’s possible.

However this is not possible for many of the plugins published by Ripple Training or FXFactory where Open in Motion is disabled, possibly to stop people ripping off the ideas wrapped up in the plugins. So slightly strange to see this technique being demonstrated by Mark Spencer.

[Mark Dobson]

Hi Sasha,

I can feel your frustration.

I’ve requested changes in the FX Browser, which to me is the most, dare I say it, iMovie feature within FCPX.

I would like a total split between Audio and Video FX and also the ability within the application of disabling / removing all the guff that I will never use or havel already used and won’t ever again.

I’m just wondering whether Digital Rebellion’s ‘Pro Maintenance Tools’ might be able to fulfil some of these functions as it has a plugin manager which as it says

” Plugin Manager
Allows you to quickly and easily organize your editing system plugins. You can group them together, install new plugins and selectively enable and disable them – all without having to worry about where the plugins are physically located on disk.

Supports Final Cut Studio, Final Cut Pro X, Avid Media Composer, Avid Symphony and Adobe Premiere Pro”

It costs $139.

Alternatively one could physically remove unwanted plugins from the various Motion Templates Folders and place them in a temporary folder outside of the Movies Folder.

[Mark Dobson]

I used to work as a freelance producer and director which involved hiring talent, facilities and technicians for each and every project I was involved with.

But these days I’m a one man band, in that, I film and edit everything that our company produces and rarely if ever have to go out of house (sic) to have any post production tasks carried out for me.

Whilst this results in a far less collaborative and stimulating workflow it produces a far higher income.

For me editing is predominately an intellectual and creative challenge, an exercise not dissimilar to a solving a jigsaw puzzle, quite often with several bits missing, so the tools I work with need to assist, not hinder me.

FCPX has been a huge asset to me and the fact that with a bit of manipulation I can produce all the programme graphic components within the App really speeds things up and I find that the titling and text tools are really superb and easy to work with. ( remember the Aston? )

FCPX in it’s present form is a stable, fast and fun program to work with and time is saved at loads of different points within the editing cycle from using the event browser to quickly sort clips into a coherent and accessible structure, through to using component clips to either edit sections of the program or tie up complex edit structures. And after a lot of time using it I find the color board perfectly sufficient for my type of work which is largely a documentary style.

And getting your work out of FCPX has been improved dramatically since it’s launch, the share function is really easy to use. I normally export a master file out and then do any transcoding or different versions in either Episode or Compressor.

But as many others have pointed out all the various NLEs basically do the same job. I just happen to think that FCPX has improved exponentially since it’s launch and whilst there are still loads of irritating faults with it, such as no batch export, I really look forward to the next update and continuing to improve the quality of the work we produce.

[Mark Dobson]

Congratulations to Bill and the AZFCPUG on a really slick presentation. Here in the UK it rolled out at 4am and I think I stayed awake.

Look forward to further episodes that drill a bit deeper into FCPX

[Mark Dobson]

[Michael Phillips] “Buy the new MacPro and get FCPx for free. “

I’d like to see that turned round!

Apple want to get people hooked on their software, I’m hooked and an active member of AA (Apple Anonymous), it would just be too much hassle to switch to another platform now whether that’s my phone or my iMac or the new MacPro.

[Mark Dobson]

[Mathieu Ghekiere] “Now let’s just hope Apple has a lot to show with their big FCPX update. It’s been a year since there was a big feature update, and it’s been more then 2 years since FCPX’s release. I really hope they don’t dissapoint. The bad reputation FCPX had at the start is slowly fading away, and Adobe got a lot of customers against them with their renting options being the only one going further. Apple should really take advantage of that.”

In a strange way I don’t think that Apple would be that bothered by what Adobe are doing with their CC and specifically with PP. Apple left that type of train set behind with Final Cut Studio.

FCPX is a much lighter footed piece of software and possibly more aligned to our times, to the future and the way that the younger generation work where many of the conventions of post production simply don’t apply any more. I’m really interested to see where Apple will take FCPX and having spent a solid amount of time delving into Logic Pro X I’m looking to see similar innovations they have bought to that application transferred to editing workflows. Specifically their development of Smart Controls, which within a video editing environment would allow bundled tools and controls to be developed by the user and applied to multiple clips within a project.

They have really honed in on simplifying the GUI, on looking at the application from the point of view of the user and enabling them to concentrate on their music making skills rather than having to become full time techies in order to fulfil their creative vision. But all of the detail is still there under the hood for those with the mindset to grapple with it.

[Mark Dobson]

Hi Anita,

Yes, as others have pointed out unfortunately there is not way to color code clips in either the Event Library or within a project.

However, and I know this uses words, if you edit a clip into project time line and have the Time line Index open ( which you open up either by clicking the ‘File symbol’ on the left beneath the project window, on the pulldown window menu on the top bar or by the keyboard command Shift/Command/2 )

You will then notice that every time you slice or cut the clip that instance is reflected in the Timeline Index and that you can add a note against any note worthy sections or clips.

If you then want to find that cut or section within the Event Browser, click on it and prose Shift F and it will appear in or Event Browser Window.

An alternative solution would be to create compound clips of any sections you want to use again. These will be stored in the Event Browser and you can create a smart collection to easily group them together.

I have attached an image showing a sliced clip in the timeline and corresponding notes against some of the new clips in the TimeLine Index