Zen and the Art of FCPX Understanding

True FCPX is missing a HUGE number of features . . . even beyond the big ones like FCP import, XML, etc.
But I'm finding if you throw out preconceptions (unlearn) it works very well. I can easily see editing faster in it.

I know it's hard to come from a position of unlearning. To a lesser extent it reminds me of the first time I used FCP in 2001 after having used Avid from 1989. Of course the "paradigm shift" is much more extensive.

FCPX really isn't horrible. It's just 1.0.

REPEAT, it is missing a lot of stuff but what it does it does well and it seems there was a lot of thought done to speed the editing process itself.

I agree.
The actual editing process is easier. Just look at the new trimming tools. They are genius.
The whole workflow is faster.

I wonder what's coming next.

Can't wait what Red Giant is going to announce on Monday.

That's good for you Craig...but it doesn't open previous projects well...which is an initial need of most Pros who have steady return clients (IMHO). You cannot "unlearn" revisions from a client. You need to be able to access previous projects.

When life gives you dilemmas...make dilemmanade.

Having been an Avid editor from 1989 and an FCP editor from 2001, FCP7(2009) still had clunky trimming compared to Avid by 2001. FCPX finally has a good model for fast and flexible trimming. It's what timeline trimming should have been. Apple finally got it right.

Joe, as I said it's missing a HUGE amount of stuff. Right now if you want any of those features FCPX is pointless.

I'm looking at what IT DOES HAVE and does that "thinking" improve workflow. Personally I think as they expand the Event/Project concept, you will have a complete database of past projects and media at your finger tips. If/when that works well with servers/shared storage it will a great feature. Obviously not there yet but it's the database foundation for it.

I'm analyzing the FOUNDATION. When you look at the foundation and the ground it's built on, arguing about how the furniture is going to fit in the bedroom is a futile exercise. Right now FCPX is JUST A FOUNDATION.

Of course the bedroom and living room and kitchen are missing. There's no door either. It's just a foundation. The database and metadata handling are solid and have great potential. What is doable in the Storyline is great. What it doesn't do has to come later.

I do not move my family in to a foundation. I move them into a house. There's no house yet so there's no point to discussing that IMHO. What I can see, discuss, analyze is the foundation and see that it can support a mansion or skyscraper. It's not going to be a hut.

Basically what Apple released is a training tool to learn the new foundation. It's by no means ready for most heavy environments beyond self contained file based projects.

Apple's big mistake was pulling FCS2009 since FCPX is probably 6 months to a year away from being close to feature competitive to it. Apple's other big mistake is end user and developer relations. The should have acknowledged it's a future foundation and foster developer support for it.

Can you explain to me how you keep your place in what you're doing if you're working on a clip that's more than a few seconds long though? I've been trying to clip up a 15 minute interview and every time I leave the 'viewer' version, my in and out points disappear when I click back on the window. So I have to start from scratch each time to find out where I was up to. And try skimming a long interview. You can't zoom in enough to get any kind of fine control as far as I can see yet.

Like I said, great for getting rough dumps of your ten second clips one after another on a timeline, as all the tutorials show. Not so great for any kind of precision on the kind of real world stuff that comes in from a pro shoot.

I'm not done exploring yet, but so far this has been one of the most frustrating NLEs I've ever had to grapple with. I'm a serial early adopter, an FCP expert, an Apple product evangelist since my first Apple IIe. And I'm not happy.

I just don't get why folks are having so much trouble.
Make a Project called Selects (or whaterver)
Mark a clip in and out, hit E.
Clip appends to the project. Hit shift F.
You match frame bact to the clip, right where u left off.
So instead of a Bin full of useless sub clips, u now have a project that u can actually use to trim and cut.
When u like it, select all, make it a compound clip, copy and patse it into your actual project. Oh yeah, make it it's own storyline so if u add music or other cutaways later, they all stay together when u move the stoyline around.
So far, I really like FCPX and where it is headed. It is way faster that FCP7.

What if you go to another interview, then have to go back to the first interview? Do you have to find the first interview on the storyline and match frame back to find your old out point? Is that really a functional way to work?

I should point out that this is nothing new; Apple did exactly the same thing when it released iMovie 08. It was the radical departure from iMovie HD, which was right on the cusp of being a decent consumer editing application. The replacement was the mortar of the foundation we're now talking about, and that version, iMovie 08, was a similar radical departure that was completely unfinished. Some of the functions that were supposed to work in it simply didn't. The audio was so ridiculous that Pogue's missing manual left blank pages for the chapter on audio. The current version iMovie '11 is the foundation FCPX sits on, and which, using your analogy Craig, is a completely unfinished house.

All the best,

Tom

Absolutely. Very fast and easy. Much more so than creating a bunch of subclips that have to be cut into a sequnce, that then has to be fixed every time u make a change. I bet I have saved a half a day on my current FCPX project just because I never have to "close gap" and do all the tweaks needed to get the damn thing to close and then fix what now doen't work.
Look, my workflow might not work for you or anybody else. The point is, stop trying to make this software behave like FCP7, be creative and u might find that you are cutting much faster and might actually have the time to put that professional editor's vision that you have in the show, rather than just trying to meet the deadline. I have.

I think you're trying to make it work like FCP7. You're thinking in terms of compound clips and projects acting as sequences, rather than in terms of making selects with keywords and using keyword collections and smart collections to organize your material. You keyword a selection and it goes into the collection. You don't have to do anything. You don't have to put it anywhere, assemble anything; it's already assembled for you in the collection. Select the collection and skim your selects in the browser. That's the way the application is designed to work.

All the best,

Tom

Agreed. But I didn't assign keywords to clips. I just started cutting to see how it worked and got hooked. I see the metadata as doing a lot more than I am now using it (or not) for. Keywords, or metadata could and I think will be used to do things like assign audio outs. Why tracks? Just have the clips route themselves. I just started cutting yesterday and as I get further into it, I am finding a lot of things I will do next time that will speed things up even more, as you suggest.

Jude Cotter Wrote:
-------------------------------------------------------
> Can you explain to me how you keep your place in
> what you're doing if you're working on a clip
> that's more than a few seconds long though? I've
> been trying to clip up a 15 minute interview and
> every time I leave the 'viewer' version, my in and
> out points disappear when I click back on the
> window. So I have to start from scratch each time
> to find out where I was up to. And try skimming a
> long interview. You can't zoom in enough to get
> any kind of fine control as far as I can see yet.

Yes, it's missing a lot of features but there's a lot people are missing. In and out points aren't remembered but Markers are. Hitting the M key is an extra step but it works until they have I/O that sticks. Of course you could keyword your I/O as well but that also has an awkward aspect. When you're done with it just Delete Keyword Collection and the subclip goes away.

Skimming can be rough but you can go into play mode by hitting L or multiple Ls to speed forward. Same goes for J and going backwards. When skimming in the Clips area I've been able to grab the slider on the lower right, take from ALL and bring it down to 1/2s per "frame" (FCPX really needs a glossary). That gives me very fine skimming control. BTW I leave skimming off so it doesn't drive me nuts as I work and hold down the S key to use it.

Craig,

All due respect...you talk about the "foundation is there" (excellent analogy, BTW), but look how annoying it is to accomplish simple tasks Pros use every minute of every day. That's not a FOUNDATION. A FOUNDATION is THE BASICS...THE FUNDAMENTALS...and you build on it from there. FCP X is supposed to be an NLE FIRST. You don't launch an NLE without the fundamentals of editing in it. I/O points aren't remembered?? Is that a joke? This app is only a few days in public hands and (Pro) folks are so flabbergasted they blew $300 that they are trying to justify the purchase by doing workarounds and saying "it's not so bad". IT'S BAD. IT'S VERY BAD. Who has the time for Apple to build this (using your analogy - modified) "unfinished house" (total drag) into a 6 bedroom / 5 bath mansion with a pool (speedy MONEY MAKING TOOL)? I surely don't. I need fast and efficient. I will pay extra for that. I knew the price was too low when they announced it.

There is a petition that just started circulating called "Final Cut Pro X is Not a Professional Application". It may be a bit drastic, but people who have invested years of their time and money based around this app are terrified and justifiably very upset. They do not know what to do and cannot sit around hedging their bets on workarounds for a non-professional app.

[www.petitiononline.com]

When life gives you dilemmas...make dilemmanade.

Joe, you and I admittedly have a different view of what a foundation is. As I mentioned before there are a number of things that are missing.
Foundation is something in which features can be added.
Foundation does not mean, to me, that all the fundamentals are there yet.

Let's take, for example, the problem of a trackless NLE and assigned audio track function to a DAW. Superficially there is nothing at all for even the simplest track export, correct?

Click on a Clip so that it's info appears in the Inspector. On the top where it says Video Audio Info, click on Info. On the bottom right where it says Basic View, change the pull down to General View or Extended View. Scroll down until you see Audio Role, It'll probably default to Dialogue. You'll find the pull down also has Reset To Default, Multiple, Music, Effects. Ah, so they do have the basic metadata so eventually one will be able to export tracks in groupings needed for DAW mixing sweetening. It's still limited though. They should allow for custom fields and, of course, export of such track organizational metadata.

Basically there's much that's incomplete. Elsewhere I've called this Final Cut Pro X Training. It's a release so that one has time to learn the new thinking so one can get up to speed while Apple adds features.

Dumb things like losing the I/O on clips in the event browser will probably be fixed along with a lot of other missing basics, let extending more advanced features, like numeric entry in Color Balance fields. Yes A LOT is missing. I made that very clear in my first post.

When I look at the foundation I look at where they are heading with the design and function. I/O will be fixed, numeric entry will be added, track assignments through metadata tags will be output for DAW work.

Foundation is the capability to complex project organization through metadata. Eventually the Event Library should make it easy to hook into server and shared storage workflow. Having that metadata control is a Foundation even if all the controls are not there yet.

Foundation is AV Foundation to handle non Quicktime formats during background and/or proxy transcoding.

Remembering I/O is a feature, or lack thereof, not a foundation, by my definition which may well be different than yours.

We have a skeleton with some muscle and organs to give it life. The hands don't have fingers yet.

The foundation is solid. It looks like the design for the plumbing and electrical system seem good. The wires and pipes haven't been hooked up to everything yet. We're living in an unfinished basement. There's no latch on the door to hold it shut because it hasn't been installed yet. That doesn't mean the latch is broken, it's just not there yet.

People are complaining about the lack of latches on the doors or maybe that there are no doors yet. If the look closely, the frames are sturdy and it'll hold a good solid door once they're installed.

Why Apple released FCPX in this state is certainly subject to serious debate. That FCS2009 was pulled from the market is poor judgment. Don't confuse the bonehead marketing, end user relationship, developer relationship, with poor programming.

I think Apple's FCPX/S developers have a fine work in progress . . . but that's all it is. Unfortunately Apple's management presents it as "complete" so people critique as such.

>>creating a bunch of subclips that have to be cut into a sequnce, that then has to be fixed every time u make a change<<

I think your original workflow was the problem. I never cut like that in the first place. I'm going to keep trying on this though. Resorting to doing the cutting actually in the storyline.

>>Click on a Clip so that it's info appears in the Inspector. On the top where it says Video Audio Info, click on Info. On the bottom right where it says Basic View, change the pull down to General View or Extended View. Scroll down until you see Audio Role, It'll probably default to Dialogue. You'll find the pull down also has Reset To Default, Multiple, Music, Effects. Ah, so they do have the basic metadata so eventually one will be able to export tracks in groupings needed for DAW mixing sweetening.<<

And that's obviously much easier than just putting things on the tracks you want them to go on as you edit by putting them on assigned audio lines. (not) Does that actually define the track the audio goes out on? And if so, do you have to do that to every clip you add to the timeline? I haven't got that far yet, so it's a genuine question.

Staying civil and polite here, but regards the initial couple of posts i simply cannot agree, and i know a dozen editors, friends, working professionally who also concur that FCP has been 'bombed back to the stone age' if it was april fools i'd understand but . . .

It's not about "hey it's only version 1.0" it's about them scraping and dismantling an excellent piece of software and replacing it with something that the majority find not only insulting but incompatible with a professional, truly creative workflow.

Don't get me wrong it's not all bad - if your thing is cobbling together home videos like 'billy at the beach' and posting it to Facebook you'll be pleased as punch. As a stronger addition i really do feel as though the overly-positive posts here smack of Apple PR, and i say that in the most politically sensitive, gentle fashion.

Apple needs to sew on the arms and legs of FCP, take the head out the dumpster and attempt some kind of re-animation. then i guess that's what the petition is for. if they were to give two hoots about it.

Regards,
Bluey,

Jude Cotter Wrote:

> And that's obviously much easier than just putting
> things on the tracks you want them to go on as you
> edit by putting them on assigned audio lines.
> (not) Does that actually define the track the
> audio goes out on? And if so, do you have to do
> that to every clip you add to the timeline? I
> haven't got that far yet, so it's a genuine
> question.

Quote
so they do have the basic metadata so [u][b]eventually[/b][/u] one will be able to export tracks in groupings

Foundation - because there is a hot water heater, that does not mean you have to run down to the basement to turn the hot water faucet to take a shower in the master bathroom not yet built.

The metadata is there. People keep complaining there's no way to export assigned tracks. There will be. It'll likely be as simple as tagging anything else in FCPX. Create smart folders called music, fx, etc. and drag the clips in and they all get tagged.

FCPX is a database driven by metadata in which keyword tagging is made simple.

If you look in the Inspector Info window at the bottom right gear and bottom left Settings View pulldowns, it points to the workings of a very customizable database. Parts will be brought out to the front end. The whole system may eventually tie in to a server that may replace Final Cut Server.

Sorry craig, I didn't see the 'eventually' before.