FCP X dead for Professionals?

I'm actually hoping for better interoperability between Avid and After Effects. Then it's all sweet- PPro for shortform, Avid on long form and both are good for the in betweens.



www.strypesinpost.com

Hi Craig - yes on 10.0.2 - works on everything BUT titles -- are they a special case? And is there a simple title tool somewhere that doesn't sing and dance but just types on the screen?

Titles work fine for me. Add Title as Connected Clip, select it, Command T and transition is added and Title becomes Secondary Storyline. Select end of Title and Transition is added there. Select entire title and Transition is added on both ends. Same as Connected Clips.

Craig are you just using a dissolve? - try it with any of the stock transitions - it doesn't work

A dissolve is the stock transition. Command T is add cross dissolve and I believe that default can't be changed (as of yet).

I have no problem dragging any of the transitions on to a title clip though. Drag it over the title and when the green plus appears it's good to go. This method puts the transition at both sides. You'd then delete on the side you don't want if that's your objective. Otherwise you can add the dissolve at either end and then replace the transition.

Titles are somehow fine in FCPX as long as there are only a few. I like that they can travel with the clips, I also like that you can create your own in Motion or modify an existing one. And I like the find and replace for text in the titles.

What I (and many of my customers) don't like is the fact that you can't import titles or better said subtitles coming from a translation bureau or similar.

With Avid you can use EBU STL, DS Caption or an EDL with rendered subtitles where latter do have the disadvantage that you can't change the the text (depending on the way the titles are rendered).
With PPro you only got scc / mcc or EDL with rendered subtitles where latter do have the disadvantage that you can't change the the text (depending on the way the titles are rendered).
With FCPX there is no way.

Now for the export
With Avid you can use EBU STL, DS Caption - but you will lose several of the settings you may have supplied to the (sub)titles. You can also use EDL but it can be a tedious work to change them.
With PPro you may can use EDL.
With FCPX no way.

But wait - there is XML.
For Avid, I don't know how their XML format looks like and what settings it does transport and how it will do it.
For PPro you can use the legacy FCP XML, but titles will be exported as slates - so nothing. If you did import rendered (sub)titles you can use them.
For FCPX you got FCPXML, but you loose all your settings - which makes it a kind of senseless.

So all of these apps do have some disadvantages when it comes to collaborative worklflows or global changes.
That's where the third party apps come in. MacCaption is nice and expensive, Belle Nuit is a good tool and affordable, but makes no sense with FCPX, same is SubBits and there are several other ones like those I did.

My TitleExchange comes with some additional free tools, one of it is called psTitles, but you need Adobe PhotoShop for it - and it's slow. The advantage is that the rendered (sub)titles are always editable. It creates both an STL with graphics and an EDL, so some of the above problems could be solved for those apps which can import/export EDL.
TitleExchange itself allows to convert quite a lot of subtitle formats into others - so even with the free version you can go and convert to Spruce STL and then use the psTitles to create rendered titles for those apps with can import/export EDL.

Last weeks I had a look at this poor XML implementation in FCPX and also the Motion XML (which unfortunately is not documented at all). But I succeeded to get a pretty good (sub)title exporter called XTE. Due to the poor FCPXML special custom changes to titles can't be retrieved as they are not there in the FCPXML, but the app retrieves some basic settings from the Motion template. It creates a Spruce STL and from there you can go to many other apps - even to DCP. Many FCPX newbies like me really should get familiar with roles, which can help a lot in case of (sub)titles and audio as well.
I also succeeded to create a subtitle importer for FCPX called XTI - which is very basic at the moment. But it works.

Problem with titles is the trackless behavior of FCPX - or better FCPX is not trackless but uses lanes and the lane handling is not consistent with FXPXML. Another problem as mentioned before is that all your fine tuning for whatever is lost with a FCPXML export - but that's all the NLEs I know more or less have in common, except FCP 7.0.3.

Sync stuff is another issue, especially with FCPX...
... as FCPX does not support TC in the old QT way. With our dual sound and multitrack BWAVs FCPX fails in about 70 to 80 percent - you can always adjust the tracks manually, but that costs time. If the original video doesn't have sound you are are lost and are back to FCP 1.
In theory you can use the old fashioned LTC which is supported by Avid to sync clips - for other NLEs you can use third party apps. Devices like the Lockit or LancLogger are not that expensive and on rental they are very cheap. BTW the the GoPro people announced cam sync via WiFi (up to 24 cams) - sounds cool.
With any version of FCP I preferred creating either referenced of self-contained synched clips with metadata (with my own software) - they are reliable and stable. With legacy versions of FCP you also were able to use the timecode options to create multiclips if needed. Maybe I should update my ancient sync app (very old and very bad movie here [www.spherico.com]). It was created way before Mr. Murch figured out how to handle double sound But he is a great guy and brought to all of us a big part of development and ideas for FCP.

So here my conclusion for FCPX:
Learn roles and keywords, make titles in Motion for every special project (makes it bit complicated, but you got the search function), turn Auto-Render off if you got a lot of subtitles (turn it on if you go to sleep or a bar, best is not to use subtitling in FCPX), do not rely on XML import/export - they will make you unhappy. Wait for the next release. Learn about the new way of editing and as I said earlier in another post there is Christmas and New Year which are much closer then a new version of FCPX.

Andreas

Andreas,
You have written many times here about various issues regarding subtitles.
You ought to use your detailed knowledge to write up a tutorial on subtitles and all the issues surrounding
them with FCP, Avid and Premier. I would certainly pay for that.

Maybe that's a good idea.
I will take some time over Christmas till New Year and put together the basics.

Andreas

All right,...first off i am not making chevy ads with tons of layers and effects...nor am I producing "House" for FOX...I make short 10-15 minute corporate communications and training videos and documentaries...I do the sound mix and music mixs myself.

I have just finished cutting a 13 minute corp video with 7 roll-in segments (edited on fcpx)...and I am just floored by how fast the editing goes when i do not have to "Target Tracks" as in FCP 7 ( and i was very fast in 7 having taught it and used it since the start). The students I teach are getting it faster then 7....and I find the biggest hurdle is understanding how to use gesture controls on the trackpad to use the Skimmer and Range tool.

The range tool's ability to lay down 4 audio key frames at once has made my final music mixes move so quick I can't believe I am done so fast!.

Been cutting video since reel to reel B&W.....Loved the old FCP ....I think the haters out there are not taking the time to learn and use this software....it's not for everyone.....but in reality it is.

Aron Ranen [www.DVworkshops.com]

> Been cutting video since reel to reel
> B&W.....Loved the old FCP ....I think the haters
> out there are not taking the time to learn and use
> this software....it's not for everyone.....but in
> reality it is.
>
> Aron Ranen [www.DVworkshops.com]

It's not for everyone at all. You found a great example of a workflow that works. Short projects, self contained within the application.

In our situation, 9 edit suites, ProTools workflow, After Effects / motion graphics, etc..., the application doesn't work.

The software will work for certain situations, not all. FCP 7, Avid, Premiere Pro can pretty much work in all situations. That's the difference right now.

Walter Biscardi, Jr.
Biscardi Creative Media
biscardicreative.com

Even if FCPX did meet my needs, it's not stable enough to be relied upon. Take a casual glance around the Apple forums and you'll see many crashes and lots of people losing hours or even days of work. I'm confident Apple will eventually fix the stability issues but until then I can't even consider it.

My software:
Pro Maintenance Tools - Tools to keep Final Cut Studio, Final Cut Pro X, Avid Media Composer and Adobe Premiere Pro running smoothly and fix problems when they arise
Pro Media Tools - Edit QuickTime chapters and metadata, detect gamma shifts, edit markers, watch renders and more
More tools...

I like FCP X and Motion 5, but they crash all the time. PPro, AE and Encore, well, they never crashed on me. I like not being interrupted while I work. Yeah, lets hope Apple fixes the stability issues.

Quote
Russ Blaise said:
I like FCP X and Motion 5, but they crash all the time.

...sorry...you like crashing all the time? Not me. Just received my Media Composer 6 upgrade on Christmas Eve and have knowledge of the upcoming Production Premium CS6 having a "Secret Weapon" for Compositors that will blow your mind (NDA - sorry).

When life gives you dilemmas...make dilemmanade.

Quote
...sorry...you like crashing all the time?

I think you misunderstood what I was saying. Which is, even though I like FCP X and Motion 5 features, (No, I don't like the crashing), I moved to PPro, AE and Encore. I am looking forward to CS 6 and their "Secret Weapon". I did here back a few months ago that Adobe bought a Color Grading program that might be added to the Production Premium suite. That would be pretty cool!

grafixjoe Wrote:
-------------------------------------------------------
> > I like FCP X and Motion 5, but they crash all
> the time.
>
>
> ...sorry...you like crashing all the time? Not me.
> Just received my Media Composer 6 upgrade on
> Christmas Eve and have knowledge of the upcoming
> Production Premium CS6 having a "Secret Weapon"
> for Compositors that will blow your mind (NDA -
> sorry).

"Secret Weapon?" You mean like Dynamic Linking getting even better as the product line matures? Like SpeedGrade starting out with a simplistic workflow with CS6 and then most likely getting much better as the Adobe and IRIDAS team work together without any thought of throwing away the team and just keeping bits of the software? (Actually how those two will work together right off the bat is quite smart)

It's not so much mind blowing as it is improving upon years of building a stable and mature product that gives your end users more functionality, better efficiency, yet still retains the basics of a workflow used and shared by professionals worldwide. It's recognizing that the professional market is different than the consumer market and while there is overlap, how each segment uses the product will be different.

No, not mind blowing so much, as piece of mind.

Walter Biscardi, Jr.
Biscardi Creative Media
biscardicreative.com

I just can't let that one go...
I think you meant "peace of mind" Walter.
Since "piece" of mind is what you get after having your "mind blown"

You are correct sir, that's what happens when you type during the holidays after a few glasses of wine....

Walter Biscardi, Jr.
Biscardi Creative Media
biscardicreative.com

Walter Murch has some interesting thoughts [www.macvideo.tv] . I think by the time FCP 7 goes completely EOL, which I think will be quite a long while, X will be ready for the "Pros". Though I personally don't like the new interface.

No Walter...there's more (not allowed to talk about it)...and it's mind blowing (it is for me, anyway). Just gonna have to wait & see

When life gives you dilemmas...make dilemmanade.

Production Premium CS6 sounds promising. I might be glad that I just bought CS 5.5. I really like After Effects and Encore.