Re: FCP X Really Sucks

But I like this FCPX, becuase it can support MXF files nativately. Maybe you can transcode your source video to prores or apple intermedia before you import into your FCP.

That is what I have been using. I am transcoding the files in FCP7 on my older MacPro, then bringing them into my new MacPro.

Trying PP and got to say it has won me over. every freelance job that i come across now is all on PP. Fcp for the freelance world in LA is now a dinosaur and obsolete. yes i know i hear about success in europe via ronny or outliers here who have done a feature or so but i think that is the anomaly. so sad.

Peter,

Just curious: have you tried FCP X? I did try PP and wasn't crazy about it but loved the intuitive connection to other Adobe apps like Photoshop, AfterEffects, Audition, etc. But not enough to want to pay for it forever. What won you over about PP besides what you heard about other editors in LA using it?

I've been working with FCP X for a couple of months and like some features. However, I hear that more and more editors seem to be gravitating to PP. If Apple bails on another NLE, I'll feel like a chump.

Phil

For every person you've heard about leaving FCP X to move to PP, I've heard of people leaving PP to come back to FCP X.

--ken

Ken,

I think a lot of it comes down to what type of projects you do and what your workflow is.

Phil

wow phil, jordan about to start giving PP tutorials? friend of mind was working with him for awhile on x tutorials, but recently same friend told me that even though he loved x, that the writing was on the wall. My mate like others on kens site, mastered and loved x, but was like why continue when there are absolutely no jobs to be had on x. others here are much more familiar with apple mentality and plans, but again my anecdotal evidence tells me that if editors can not find jobs on x then t hey will no longer use sit and migrate to where the work is, and for me and them it is on PP or avid. Again, like you, love when get chance to work in 7, but becoming very rare. again, i really have no insight into apples thinking , but i have no idea if they knew there would be a migration to adobe once they came out with x. maybe younger generation is using if for home projects like they did i movie, i really don't know, but all i do know is i can't find a job to save my life that demands the use of x

Hey phil, i do not know much and ken and ronny and those cats know tons more then me on the success rate of x and so forth, but bottom line, pp was so intuitive and learning curve not steep at all. The features, practicality and and simplicity reminded me of the joy of working on FCP 7.

Also it motivated me to really start to learn AFX and improve my photoshop skills cause all the apps are so seamless. It reminded me how excited i got when i discovered motion years ago and it worked so seamless with fcp. i am really not a GFX cat but now encouraged because of AFX and how it works with pp.

Honestly, if i had jobs offered to me that asked for familiarity with x then i would have to learn it, but i have not been offered or tried to get any job that was using x. it was all pp and avid. I have a possible feature coming up next yr on avid so going to have to relearn avid again. So my simple logic is why spend my limited time that i do have learning a NLE that is only now a boutique app? I believe there are those who have had mad success on x and that is cool to hear but its been my exp and other freelancers i know in town, that the majority of not all the jobs being offered are now on PP or avid.

Last month had job that i was able to do on fcp 7. It was a indie horror film and man it was sooooo fun and easy to go back to FCP 7 and breeze right through everything.

Hi Peter,

Thanks for your candid input. I'm still working through FCP X and so far, have no job offers where it was required. So because at this point, I am more confident and proficient with FCP 7, I am staying with it in order to get the job done on an indie film that I started cutting a year ago. Like you mentioned, it's a breeze and a pleasure working in 7. I did test the trial version of PP and AFX and did like their connectivity. I even did some cleanup work in AFX and Audition on clips I'm using in the FCP 7 project and reimported them back into the FCP 7 project.
I still have all the Adobe apps in my computer. The only thing that's held me back from using them was the subscription/monthly CC billing plan.
I've been following Larry Jordan's tutorials to learn FCP X but I've noticed that he's soon going to begin teaching PP and other Adobe apps. So what does that say? Not only that, but at two FCP user group meetings that I attended, they had Adobe reps giving pitches for PP. They wouldn't be doing that if there wasn't an interest. I'm getting a vibe that something's in the wind. My feeling is that Apple is about the bottomline and that may editors resent this.

Phil

I want to clear up an assumption I have been making; PP is Adobe Premier? What does PP stand for?

Thanks,
Trig

Phil, just one more observation. Again, i am a pretty simple dude, but why would Apple deconstruct a NLE that was so successful with professionals and post houses, and blow it up and leave us with a NLE that some swear by, but most won't touch. From a business standpoint this seems dubious, but then again apples revenue and success derives from their phones and tablets. maybe someone here who is smarter then me can explain apples tectonic shift in thinking , what motivated them etc.

Well, Peter, all very interesting. Ronny from Belgium, has been touting FCP X as the wave of future editorial thinking with all the benefits of the "magnetic timeline" such as nothing will go out of sync plus all the great organizational metadata features ("Keywords", "Favorites", "Smart Collections", etc. It's used widely in Europe on big shows like the Tour de France documentary. Everybody talks about its speed but I know it takes several steps to do a simple audio dissolve and the "Compound Clip" (nested) and "Secondary Storyline" are tricky features that require special handling to make even simple changes in them. For simple blowups and repos, you have to enable a special feature called "Transform"and the "Ken Burns Effect". The FCP X timeline seems a bit unstable tends to jump around and sometimes a different "Library" (FCP X's word for "Project") opens than the one that I clicked. To me, it seems very efficient and quick if your cutting montage video and slapping around MOS images to the beat of a music track. For more complicated dialogue and sound effects work, it seems a bit awkward. Anything not in "Primary Storyline" is a "connected clip" which has to be disconnected in order to be manipulated. It seems like Apple is trying to create a new language that will appeal to new editors and iMovie users who may have been intimidated by the legacy format. Therefore, it's business decision on their part. However, FCP X's Keying and Masking features, particularly if used in conjunction with CoreMelt's Slice X, are excellent.
As for Larry, he is a great teacher. He has clarified a number of the features in FCP X for me. I can't read his mind but I do know he is a forward thinker and if he is getting involved in teaching and promoting Adobe after so many years of pushing Apple's NLE, he must see some kind of change in his audience's thinking. After all, he has a business to protect. I suspect he is covering his bases by getting involved and promoting Adobe.

How are you finding Apple's subscription plan? How long have you had it and how many of the Cloud features do you have?

Phil

Wow phil, just read little, cause crashing on job, on FCP 7. but sounds like a clarion call to those who have not made the switch to x to seriously consider PP especially if were in love with the legacy versions. I can't get to much into detail about my cc, except to say sometimes its monthly and sometimes i get a few favors. but think eventually will go monthly especially if more work comes in and get to work from home and am working with other editors who are on PP.
Just reading your pros and cons of X made me dizzy. I know some think it is the paradigm of the future and get it and also get its made some inroads in europe and has passionate proponents. Also get they sacrificed some of their professional share for the casual editor and are trying to create a news language. By motivation honestly is practicality. I have a big family and kids to raise and need to manage my time with great efficacy. So that being said it only makes sense to throw myself into PP since the jobs i am seeing are pretty much on PP and seem to be the new zeitgeist for storytelling.
Out with the old , in with the news i guess.
I will be finishing larry article later today and thanks for great discussion.

Good to hear your practical insight, Peter.

Stay in touch and Happy New Year.

Phil

Oddly, I had trouble importing a file tonight. Bunch of video clips on a card. They all imported fine except for one. It copied into the Library, but it would not show up in the event no matter what. Found it via "reveal in Finder" or whatever and tried to drag it back in. No dice. Tried to reimport it from the card. No dice. Opened the clip up in Quicktime 7 and transcoded it to Prores myself and THAT was finally able to be imported.

I have never seen FCPX act so strangely.

Thanks Phil,
I think the tutorial that you watched by Larry Jordan is an older one. Since then, you are supposed to be able to move items around in the Finder structure and FCPX will keep track of it.

I haven't given up. But, FCPX reminds me of when I was looking at the engine in my 1992 Buick, then looking at an engine in a 1960 car at a car show, thinking how complicated it got. I thought then that they would add a feature, then realize they needed something else to make that feature work properly, but then that messed up another feature, so another team of engineers came up with another part that need more engineers to make that work with the engineers down the hall that were making other changes.

So, what you have is a bunch of stuff that is easy to say how it works, but never tell you that this won't work like you think it would. Case in point; no one said not to cut up a compound clip on a new timeline, rather go into the detail of the clip to make those changes. Not yet sure how that works or if that is true, so I brought what I had done over to FCP7 to make the rest of my edits. Too dangerous to keep making changes in X, only to find it messed things up down the timeline. I can't keep watching a two hour show to look for anomalies.

You are right, FCP7 is rock solid.

Trig

Thanks Phil, wish I could attend those user groups out there. But, I may be the only FCPX user doing my kind of editing (shows) in the Toledo area. I have gone on Craigs List to find a FCPX editor to help me out, but found none around.

I will keep trying. And as Ronny said, I am very aggressive doing 4 camera multicam editing right off the bat. But, that is all I shoot, so have to make it work. I am sure it is the workflow that I have to get down to avoid the kinds of things that have been happening in the last couple days. Thought I had it figured out, but then it fell apart.

Trig

It's just as well that you're not going to the user group meetings, Trig. They present so many options that they get you confused. I think it's best to stay focused on your own stuff and find your own way and use forums like Ken's for advice.
As for 4 camera multicam, that is certainly ambitious. I attempted it once and that was with only two cameras in FCP 6 for a church service. It went well: two cameras on the minister's sermon lined up to a single audio track plus some cutaways of the congregation.

Phil