[Simon Ubsdell]

You still haven’t said what behavior you are using which makes it hard to advise.

Edit: I see from a previous post that you are using Audio Behaviors here, is that right?

In which case, I don’t think what you want to do will be possible for reasons of logic. The Audio behavior generates a value that increases from zero as the amplitude of the audio track increases – it doesn’t create oscillating values (ie, it doesn’t go above and below zero, it only goes above zero). If you think about it, your audio can’t go negative – it can only be silent or more or less loud. It cannot be negatively loud. Therefore you can’t have an oscillating result.

If you choose Add it will add the varying value (generated by the increasing amplitude) to your current value. If you choose Subtract it will subtract it from your current value. If you choose Multiply, it will multiply it by your current value. But in each case your animation will only move in one direction from zero (or rather it’s current value), driven by the increasing value of the audio’s amplitude. It won’t go below zero.

I don’t know why Apple have given the option of Add and Subtract because it makes no sense, and is a logical impossibility. I presume it’s mistakenly left in there because it’s in other similar behaviors. It doesn’t do anything different from Add.

(There’s one scenario where you would achieve the oscillating result you want and that’s if you had an audio track that oscillated perfectly around a central value – but that’s not often going to happen to say the least.)

Simon Ubsdell
tokyo productions
hawaiki

[Simon Ubsdell]

[Terry Maloney] “In behavior I set a parameter for the x value and set it for Apply Mode “Add & Subtract””

Which specific behavior are you using?

Simon Ubsdell
tokyo productions
hawaiki

[Simon Ubsdell]

Add and Subtract adds and subtracts a value from the current value.

In certain circumstances this is not necessarily going to give you the result you might expect. If you are using it on opacity, for example, and your current value is zero, the the behavior can only Add since there is no such thing as negative opacity. Equally if your current value is 100% Opacity, the behavior can only subtract and you will see no Adding.

Simon Ubsdell
tokyo productions
hawaiki

[Simon Ubsdell]

[Terry Maloney] “There are no behaviors in the layers list.”

That’s because you have disabled the Show Behaviors button at the bottom of the Layers panel:

Turn it back on to see your behaviors in the Layers Panel where you will be able to rename them.

Simon Ubsdell
tokyo productions
hawaiki

[Simon Ubsdell]

[Bill Davis] ” less “on-topic” content won’t build the brand very efficiently.”

I’m intrigued to know what exactly you mean by “the brand” here.

Are you talking about the COW brand (which seems to be taking care of itself pretty nicely from what I can tell)?

Or are you talking about the Apple/FCP X brand? In which case why do you think this forum is in the business of building that brand?

Simon Ubsdell
tokyo productions
hawaiki

[Simon Ubsdell]

[Bill Davis] “ALL the threads (like a few weeks back) are about Anything and Everything except FCP X.
“

Maybe all it would take is for FCP X itself to start being novel and newsworthy again? I’m sure I’m not alone in starting to find it just a little bit stale and in need of refreshment.

It’s up to Apple to give us something new to talk about – manufactured excitement about something that’s not terribly exciting any more is hard to sustain.

Meanwhile over in Blackmagic World and elsewhere quite a lot is happening that is genuinely newsworthy.

Perhaps it’s not altogether surprising that conversation gravitates more towards the new and exciting …

Simon Ubsdell
tokyo productions
hawaiki

[Simon Ubsdell]

[Andrew Kimery] “I guess saying “I’m applying a LUT” sounds more impressive than “I’m applying a preset”.
“

And of course “developers” can charge a lot more more for a “LUT” than for a “preset” …

Simon Ubsdell
tokyo productions
hawaiki

[Simon Ubsdell]

[Steve Connor] “Well if you REALLY learned how to use FCPX…….. :)”

But I’m not sure I can afford the cost of XinTwo.

Simon Ubsdell
tokyo productions
hawaiki

[Simon Ubsdell]

[Oliver Peters] “Often, you do not want perfect white balance.”

This is a good point.

Which is why in Hawaiki AutoGrade, a product that I am no longer commercially connected with but which I was lucky enough to be involved in developing, we decided that the user needed a means of not merely dialling back (or up) the amount of white balance (i.e. a simple mix of the result with the untreated source) but actually “recalibrating” the process up or down.

With products that offer you a one-click white balance with no over-ride options, you can sometimes get lucky, but if you don’t get lucky you’re stuck with resorting to doing the whole thing manually.

I have to say, from having studied the colour science of white balancing just a little bit (I most certainly wasn’t the technical expert on this project even though I came to feel I was on first name terms with Johannes von Kries …), it’s quite a lot more complicated than one might think, and it’s fair to say that a definitive method doesn’t yet exist, despite some examples of it being done extremely well.

And this is a relatively “simple” example of “automated grading” … from which I think we can reasonably conclude that a fully automated grading process (even if such a thing were conceptually imaginable and I’m not sure it is) is a very long way off.

Simon Ubsdell
tokyo productions
hawaiki

[Simon Ubsdell]

[Steve Connor] “I’m sure most of us here would be very interested to hear a little more detail on that Simon and as you’ve mentioned FCPX then you’ll be allowed to post it”

I think I’m going to pass on that. Not sure I want to run the risk of being labelled “clueless”.

😉

Simon Ubsdell
tokyo productions
hawaiki