[Michael Paul]

I have to admit this ruins my entire plan and I already think of giving up Motion and switching back to After Effects because there are more limitations that are totally unnecessary coding wise but yet Apple decided to code it that way…it doesn’t really make much sense in all fairness.

I will try to explain what I am trying to do and maybe you can give me some advice and hits how to tackle this or the answer is „doesn’t work. The end“.

So I have an intro animation with a flexible date that can be changed in FCPX (I’ve created a generator in Motion) followed by a drop zone that animates in that introduces people. I need to edit all the footage of the introductions together. Now I thought I could simply drop a time line (aka a „Project“ in FCPX) into the drop zone that contains my entire edited material of people introducing themselves. I would also add ONE frame with a solid that fills the entire frame (connected clip) so that I can later synchronize/match my audio because Drop Zones don’t support audio. So I could have had the clip with audio underneath my generator and then matched it with the frame that contains the solid. Since Drop Zones can’t contain Projects either I seriously have NO idea how to tackle this problem at all.

So any advice, thought or solution for a work around would be welcome because at this point I really don’t know what to do which is frustrating after I have been so amazingly happy and proud about the combination of Motion and FCPX.

Thanks a lot!

[Michael Paul]

I did NOT command click. I shift clicked. THANKS A MILLION. This was driving me nuts.

[Michael Paul]

I’ve zoomed all the way in to the maximum. Still I get big jumps or steps or whatever you want to call it.

[Michael Paul]

It’s all 4K Red Footage. I have found the solution now (which I don’t really understand but I will leave it here in case anybody runs into this problem and is looking for a solution online): I can select some clips in the time line and I will get the log procession settings. Other clips in the time line don’t have the log processing- it just doesn’t show up. Solution: Shift + F = find the clip in your browser and select it in the browser. Once the clip is selected in the browser I will have log settings.

[Michael Paul]

Thanks a lot for this. I was not aware that there are special subtitle tools or simply didn’t think of looking into it because I believed FCPX would do it just fine. I thought dragging multiple things at once would not be a problem like in other programs like Avid or Premiere. I have to admit creating text is way more fun and easier in FCPX though. I do not constantly have to send it to a title tool (something I have to do both in Premiere and Avid) and than save it and all that hassle. I can just copy the clip and change the text and that’s all. Easy and simple. I have seen a lot of FCPX tutorials so far but no one ever really seems to touch editing the connected clips in detail. They all focus on the main story line. Seems like they are even afraid of connected clips and just avoid them. It also seems like for a lot of stuff you want to do you need to buy extensions to make FCPX better like Colarista (is that the name again?) for colour corrections with curves. Shame something like that isn’t build into FCPX. I will look into the free subtitle extensions once I am back at work.

[Michael Paul]

Which means that I constantly have to do the math? It’s an interview situation. I want to drag it to exactly the position where I’ve stopped with my playhead. A simple: Select both at the same time and drag them both at the same time ie Adobe Premiere style does not exist?
So my only option would be to just add a long enough number and then blade it and add a new text to the then newly created subtitle.

[Michael Paul]

Thanks a lot! That sounds great. Also I really don’t think the Match Color effect in FCPX (which isn’t an effect- I know) isn’t bad- other NLES do not seem to have this. It can save me a few minutes of work. So it is a shame that it can not be copied like an effect.

[Michael Paul]

First of all THANKS again for your replies. You guys are great.

„Sorry – no. There’s no way to copy/paste any of those automated options but you can select all the unmatched clips and then apply match colour to all of them at the same time.“

Thanks a lot! That’s a great advice and that’s also what I did in the end. Now I might need to change the CC of those clips later. The clips are already in my time line. Is there a way to tag the clips that are in my time line so the next time when I want to change the CC I just have to change it ONCE. So far if there is a change I 1) CMD click each clip that has the same CC on it 2) Click on delete CC and 3) paste the new CC on top of all still selected clips. Maybe there is a faster way of doing this with tags and labels or rolls or what not. Any idea?

Oliver:
„If you want to copy and paste, then get rid of Match Color on the first clip. Do the match strictly with the Color Board or Color Finale. Then copy and paste the resulting filters.“

Not sure if I read this correctly but basically you are telling me: Forget about the Match Color feature and do it yourself by hand using a color correction which is something that can be copied over to other clips.
Did I interpret this correctly? Or is there something like a match feature inside the color board that I am not aware of (I think not. The „match feature“ is me doing it. Like I’ve said I’ve used match to get into the right direction because it saves a lot of time with different cameras and then also did a CC. I think it’s quite a pity that there is a great feature like match color and then you can’t make total use of it and you advise me to just not use it).

[Michael Paul]

I think you understood me wrong or there is a misunderstanding so I will try to explain the situation in more detail. I have an interview filmed with 2 different camera models. 1 close up 2 wide angle shot. Now the interview jumps back and forth between those shots. Both cameras where on a tripod – it’s all static so not much variation – no sudden colour changes. So here is what I did and had to do: wide angle shot is very dark. Close up looks good. I colour match the wide angle shot with the close up – everything looks great. Now I apply a colour correction on top of both clips. Now I still have a lot of wide angle shots in my time line that are way too dark because I didn’t do a match colour on those yet. Match colour can not be copied. So I disable the colour correction of my close up “reference clip” and match the colour of all my remaining wide angle shots in the time line which are all the same (just different parts of the interview). After that I turn on my CC again and copy all my CCs to the other clips. Doing match colour over 20 times is a pain in the butt and yes I use match colour together with a colour correction. So once again: isn’t there a way to copy match colour / make my life easier?

Thanks a lot.

[Michael Paul]

Also like I’ve said renaming the audio file with the exact name of the previous audio and storing it at the same exact location still won’t trick FCPX and it will just tell me “offline”. I am curious how it detects that it is a different file and how to trick FCPX into thinking that it is exactly the same file.