Mark Morache
Forum Replies Created
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[Matt Trubac] “I grouped the clips from each camera into compound clips”
I would say that there are things you can do to minimize project bloat, but I think the correct way to think of it is that there are bad things you can do to accelerate project bloat.
Editing by sliding and dicing large compound clips is a sure way to bloat your project beyond belief, and it’s not necessary.
Each time you blade a compound clip, you effectively double the data needed to keep track of that clip. Why do that? If you have a one hour compound clip, and you use the blade to create a one-second shot in your timeline, the one-second still contains the edit data for the entire hour of footage. Having five 3-second trims of your compound clip edited together is still like having 5 one-hour clips in your timeline, because each slice of your compound clip is a different copy of the long sequence. If you open one slice of the compound clip in timeline view, and make a change to it, it doesn’t affect the other clips. They are all independent. This is why it’s a bad idea to edit by slicing and dicing compound clips.
There is no need to put ALL of your clips in a compound clip. It would be much smarter I think to put the footage in a secondary storylines.
I’ve had pretty good luck working with multiple cameras by placing each camera in it’s own secondary storyline, syncing it up, then adding edits to choose the portion of the camera clip that I want to select. I think the secret to making this work making sure you don’t remove the unwanted footage from each separate storyline, but use the V key to disable all the bits of each camera that I want to turn off, thereby keeping all the footage intact. Y
It’s awkward compared with the multicam in FCP7, but I expect the update will take care of this, and will add much joy back into our lives.
I find it’s pretty easy to run through each camera and select the portions that I want to use for sure.
You can’t see all of the camera angles at once, but if you are using the blade tool or trim tool, as you move the tool over each clip, you can see the footage in the viewer window.
Be careful with your compound clips.
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FCX. She tempts me, abuses me, beats me up, makes me feel worthless, then in the end she comes around, helps me get my work done, gives me hope and I can’t stop thinking about her.Mark Morache
Avid/Xpri/FCP7/FCX
Evening Magazine,Seattle, WA
https://fcpx.wordpress.com -
To export a compressed video from FCX try this.
Share / Export Media (CMD E)
Then under video settings, select h.264
This should export a file the same frame size as your project, but compressed to a size that’s much more manageable.
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FCX. She tempts me, abuses me, beats me up, makes me feel worthless, then in the end she comes around, helps me get my work done, gives me hope and I can’t stop thinking about her.Mark Morache
Avid/Xpri/FCP7/FCX
Evening Magazine,Seattle, WA
https://fcpx.wordpress.com -
That’s right. Nothing applies to the clips already in the timeline. That aggravated me at first, but with the power of the timeline index and a little forethought it works fine, for audio channels, audio levels, roles, keywords…
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FCX. She tempts me, abuses me, beats me up, makes me feel worthless, then in the end she comes around, helps me get my work done, gives me hope and I can’t stop thinking about her.Mark Morache
Avid/Xpri/FCP7/FCX
Evening Magazine,Seattle, WA
https://fcpx.wordpress.com -
Like Mark, I too use FCP7 to ingest my hdv footage. I can more easily rename organize files that way.
There’s an app called “a better finder rename” that I’ve been using for years that may help. You can use it to batch rename files many different ways. There’s a function that creates serial file names, like Broll_001, Broll_002… It will rename hundreds of files in a few moments.
So after you ingest your footage, you can rename the files in the finder, then re-import them with their new names. It’s an extra step, but with the hundreds of files coming off the camera cards these days, for me it’s the only way to go.
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FCX. She tempts me, abuses me, beats me up, makes me feel worthless, then in the end she comes around, helps me get my work done, gives me hope and I can’t stop thinking about her.Mark Morache
Avid/Xpri/FCP7/FCX
Evening Magazine,Seattle, WA
https://fcpx.wordpress.com -
You can also select multiple clips in the event browser or in the timeline and select the audio channels all at once.
I like to select multiple clips in he browser, and turn on the wireless channels only when I’m laying down my a-roll, then turn on the camera mic on my browser clips, and drop the audio level to -20 db to lay down my b-roll.
Works great.
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FCX. She tempts me, abuses me, beats me up, makes me feel worthless, then in the end she comes around, helps me get my work done, gives me hope and I can’t stop thinking about her.Mark Morache
Avid/Xpri/FCP7/FCX
Evening Magazine,Seattle, WA
https://fcpx.wordpress.com -
You may want to try text over a simple box or gradient. You can create the title as a template in motion, or just add a text layer over a generator layer, compound the two, then apply a crop and position it to where you want.
If you have photoshop, you can also just create the text you need in there, with boxes.
Between FCX and Motion, you can do a wealth of things.
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FCX. She tempts me, abuses me, beats me up, makes me feel worthless, then in the end she comes around, helps me get my work done, gives me hope and I can’t stop thinking about her.Mark Morache
Avid/Xpri/FCP7/FCX
Evening Magazine,Seattle, WA
https://fcpx.wordpress.com -
yes, known bug.
I sometimes have good luck hitting the A key to make sure I’m using the select tool, then tapping the spacebar to start playing, then again to stop playing. This sometimes gets me back to where I was in the timeline.
It is highly annoying, but isn’t keeping me from using FCX.
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FCX. She tempts me, abuses me, beats me up, makes me feel worthless, then in the end she comes around, helps me get my work done, gives me hope and I can’t stop thinking about her.Mark Morache
Avid/Xpri/FCP7/FCX
Evening Magazine,Seattle, WA
https://fcpx.wordpress.com -
[Oliver Peters] “I’m always keeping an eye towards the overall length”
Yes, that’s why I was thinking of compounding the clip then duplicating the audition, so you could manage several changes and not just the one clip.
[Oliver Peters] “What sort of bloat (if any) does this cause?”
Not sure. For me the bloat comes when I take a compound clip and start treating it like any other clip, cutting it up into bits. Every time you cut a compound clip, you effectively double the data. When you’re taking about versions of a 30 second spot, I don’t think the increase in project size would be unmanagable.
There are other ways to deal with the shot length change. I’ve done some crazy gymnastics to have the other needed changes all in the same audition. Basically the audition clip needs to be the length you need, then any other b-roll (or a-roll) shots need to be attached to that clip so they cycle through with the audition clip.
[Oliver Peters] “I make changes at the points where I join reels”
Well, you can modify the length of each audition clip, but if one audition uses a dissolve at the end and another uses a wipe, I can see how that can create issues. Again, that’s why auditioning a compound clip might be an effective way to go. As far as XML and OMF, it would be a simple matter of breaking apart the compound clip before you export.
My experience is that sometimes when you break the clip apart, it may execute it in unexpected ways. Tracks not being in the correct lanes for example. I wish there were a way to break a compound clip apart and FCX would remember the elements of that compound clip so that one click could put it back together along with any effects that were on top of the compound. Those effects go away when you break the clip apart.
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FCX. She tempts me, abuses me, beats me up, makes me feel worthless, then in the end she comes around, helps me get my work done, gives me hope and I can’t stop thinking about her.Mark Morache
Avid/Xpri/FCP7/FCX
Evening Magazine,Seattle, WA
https://fcpx.wordpress.com -
50-100 sequences may not be as necessary.
I’ve been using auditions with some success. Sometimes I must do some minor gymnastics in order to create variations that I can cycle through with the control-arrow keys. (Clips connected to the audition clip will cycle out of the timeline along with the clip, so sometimes I need to either connect the clips to another clip, or make copies of the connected clips and paste them to each different audition.)
For example, what if you built your scene as a project, then compounded the entire timeline into one clip. Then you duplicated the compound clip into a new audition. Couldn’t you then step into the new audition of the compound clip, create a different version, then step out and with a simple click, cycle through as many versions as you want? Who needs a library full of projects?
Likewise, when you compile the scenes into reels, you could ostensibly build your master sequence out of the individual audition compounds. This would give you a master timeline where each scene might be an audition clip with several alternatives, that you can cycle through to see different options.
I think Apple has some work to do, and this might not work as well as I would hope it would, but there might not be a need for as many sequences as we all used to use.
Meanwhile, I continue to create quite a few duplicates of my project as I work on it, then stick them in a folder, and occasionally make them go offline with Event Manager X, just so I can go back and get them if I need to.
I hate the “loading time” this new interface forces on us, and I personally want the abilty to make the filmstrip view go away in the project library, in favor of text or a thumbnail. I’m excited to see what Apple has for us in the next update.
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FCX. She tempts me, abuses me, beats me up, makes me feel worthless, then in the end she comes around, helps me get my work done, gives me hope and I can’t stop thinking about her.Mark Morache
Avid/Xpri/FCP7/FCX
Evening Magazine,Seattle, WA
https://fcpx.wordpress.com -
I’m on board with Andy’s well thought out reply.
I expect that you can continue to edit with FCP7 for years to come.
Meanwhile, the FCPX trial is freel for 30 days. It’s going to be a time commitment to get used to it. It took me a few extra days to complete my first project, but now I’ve got it running smoothly, and even with some of the bugs, it’s still faster for me, and I think it’s fun.
Stick with 7. Give X the time to really try it.
I bought Premiere 5.5 as part of the suite while it was half-price. I’ve been too busy enjoying X to start working with it.
That’s my 2 cents.
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FCX. She tempts me, abuses me, beats me up, makes me feel worthless, then in the end she comes around, helps me get my work done, gives me hope and I can’t stop thinking about her.Mark Morache
Avid/Xpri/FCP7/FCX
Evening Magazine,Seattle, WA
https://fcpx.wordpress.com