[Mike Warmels]

The issues I mentioned ARE reproducible. I know a dozen editors who run into these issues.

And I’m not going to start up an ancient FCP7 project to show you how I used a trick in an NLE no one should be using anymore. That’s just downright silly. And I never said that it was faster than FCPX, it could be done faster than it was in that clip. So FCPX wins. As it does on some other counts. Again, some of you think criticism is an attack on you as an editor. All I am saying is that not everything about FCPX is divine.

So, do I see value in the concept of collapsed clips? To be totally honest: I dunno. In FCPX it has value because if I work with several storylines (music, fx, voice over, graphics, secondary storylines etc etc) I prefer to see my timeline in one glance. So by using collapsed clips I can do that. And in fact, it’s the only way, since I am very limited in determining the look of my timeline, when it comes to the sizes of the clips. (Yes, there are five presets, I know… that’s what I call LIMITED).
It gets even more challenging when you add a dissolve or something to clips that are originally rather small, like titles: suddenly the clip in the timeline doubles in size!

So collapsed clips help to keep the timeline rather viewable. But… I find it rather tiresome to a) keep all of my timeline in view and b) open and close clips for very simple split edits. I could expand them all, but then I’d be scrolling up and down my timeline all the time. That doesn’t help much. Plus, I’d like to keep the tracks together while making a split edit and not drag every individual track (sometimes 8) underneath a clip before or after that. It’s just means more work.

And honestly, using CTRL-S or double click makes no difference at all. For one method you use one hand, for the other two… time wise it’s just personal preference. You still have to open and close it. (at least, I like it closed to prevent the timeline from looking messy – my preference.)

[Mike Warmels]

Oh wow… thanks Oliver. It’s not just me then…. about the graphics… or about the running of two NLE’s on one machine. I’ve always had that, for well over ten years. With no problems whatsoever. So glad to hear it’s not me thinking that would be weird.

I am on a late 2013 MacPro. I would expect that to run FCPX properly. I have just a very few plugins installed from FX Factory.

[Mike Warmels]

Hey Robin, thanks for the input. However… and I don’t mean any disrespect. This happens to me a lot. People say: you’re not using it right, show or tell me how and then I see video’s like that or their advice and… that’s EXACTLY how I am using it.

And I see all the little niceties, like the swapping around (never had much trouble with that in FCP7 or AVID, I just used a different, faster trick than in that clip your posted)… but I also experience the downside of it.

Like the audio display. When it comes to audio only tracks (like music) the waveform in the browser doesn’t match the music or sound when you get to the end of the track (in the single clip browser video). Or… levels on clips vary greatly in the display hone you zoom in or out. I find the graphics nice looking, but often a little dodgy when changing views.

Like when you are in browser with a single clip, which is quite long, I switch to the thumbnail view and… where is it? It’s not directly visible, it’s somewhere below or up. So I end up looking for it by scrolling.

And I certainly don’t hope having two NLE’s installed causes problems. Because I cannot afford another $6000 machine from Apple just to run another NLE. The authorised reseller says it’s fine. Plus… I work with a lot FCPX users that only have FCPX installed on the same MacPro’s in an editing bay, having the exact same issues. So I doubt it.

I like FCPX best when I start on a new project. Then it’s fast and snappy. After a few days, as the Library grows, new cuts are made, graphics get added it gets worse and worse.

I said this before: I like a lot of things about FCPX. I think some things are very fast and clever (like swapping, the keywords, the direct way to add a clip to a second storyline ), some things are kinda stupid (like the constant opening and closing of clips (CTRL-S) before you make do a split edit, how features that work nice and fast on the main storyline don’t work on the others, the Inspector interface where you constantly have to swap from menu to menu to check out the specs).

But, I keep saying this: I am disappointed in its performance. Now, I gathered a lot of work arounds this week from a lot of great posters here. But… they are still work arounds. And for me, that’s what makes FCPX disappointing, gives it an unfinished feel, it promises a lot but when it comes down to it, it often doesn’t deliver. Especially when suddenly my skimmer stops working, or clips on the browser suddenly stop displaying while the project still show picture. Then I know it’s time to restart FCPX again… or even the entire computer. And that several times a day.

[Mike Warmels]

Well, I never works with compounds so I don’t need any link. I didn’t even know they were linked.

So snapshot it is. And indeed, it’s easier to make a snapshot and make that one the previous version and continue to work on the same project.

[Mike Warmels]

Okay, well… I’ll start working with these work arounds then.

And your experience in working with larger projects kinda supports my feeling that FCPX seems to suit smaller projects a lot better. Although some say that’s not true. Ah well…

[Mike Warmels]

One more question. If I use a Library per episode, the question of having multiple versions of a Project still stands. I’ve had instances where I had well up to 9-10 versions of a cut. Would you recommend only using Duplicate as Snapshot?

[Mike Warmels]

Fair enough. I never do this in MC myself. Simply because you can’t instantly switch between projects. But MC is not giving any performance issues,

So what you suggest is to make a Media Library and then a Library per episode? In case of a six part series, I’d have seven Library files.

How does working in multiple Libraries affect FCPX performance? The couplle of times I had several Libraries open for copying Library files or projects, it seemed to slow down.

And personally I don’t find Library files so small. Otften they get into the range of 30MB-800MB.

Plus consolidating is something I don’t like to do, since FCPX doesn’t use handle lengths ( as far as I know). If I use a few quotes from a 20 minute interview, the entire 20-minute clip is included in the ‘consolidation’. In quotation marks because I don’t consider that real consolidation. Turns consolidated Libraries into HUGE files, up into THE 30-40GB range. That’s not really workable, especially when I have to send them over via internet.

So, working in multiple Libraries simultaneously. That’s the preferred work around? Because FCPX doesn’t seem to be designed that way. It always warns me if I edit between Libraries.

[Mike Warmels]

What? Really? A new Library per episode?

That’s…. Pretty bizarre. These episodes have to be finalised in a different location. That would mean:

A) That I have to import (while leaving them in place as I always do) the media in every Library
B) Bring all these libaries to the online location en relink every Library again

Sounds like a ridiculous amount of extra work!

From now on I’ll use the snapshot duplicate. But a Library per episode, man… I find that hard to accept for a ‘Pro’ NLE… I need to catch my breath for a moment. How did they ever cut a feature film with it?

[Mike Warmels]

Okay, you have to explain this to me then. Because the versions ARE different. And STAY different. (and why are they linked??) What is the link then?

And then: why is the problem gone when the projects are moved to a different event within the Library?

I thought snapshots were used to freeze a project in time, nice and handy to preserve old version of compound clips. I don’t use compound clips…

[Mike Warmels]

Okay, you have to explain this to me then. Because the versions ARE different. And STAY different. (and why are they linked??) What is the link then?

And then: why is the problem gone when the projects are moved to a different event within the Library.