Final Cut Pro X initial observations

[jetpack_monkey]

Out of the box, Final Cut Pro X has one *huge* strike against it as a potential vidding platform. It does not support importing DivX/xvid files.

I'll repeat that. It does not support DivX/xvid.

For me, this means the majority of source I've acquired over the years is worthless without conversion. Pretty much the only files that I can work with are the ones that I've created myself by ripping and then converting to H.264 or DV.

Just poking around, the interface is weirdly iMovie-esque, but I am already in love with the ability to tag my clips within an "event". Conceivably, I can add tags for "left-to-right motion" , "blue", "close-up", and "long shot". Although to be perfectly frank, I'm still trying to wrap my head around events, clips, and collections, the three elements of organizing source within FCPX. Also, I still haven't worked out how to break up "clips" (which in this case are the complete media files that I've imported) into, well, clips.

I'm confused by the interface, but I'm slowly finding my way around. I don't actually consider this a strike against the program. It's an all new interface and it's going to take time to find stuff.

I'm going to work on recreating one of my older vids in the program, just to get a feel for the tools and options available to me. I'll post more when there is more.
 

Comments

[elipie.livejournal.com]

What program do you normally use again? I heard X is kind of a nightmare compared to the older versions, but hey, it might work better for some people than others. Hopefully it works out for you!

[jetpack-monkey.livejournal.com]

I usually use Final Cut Express 4 (the cheaper version of Final Cut Pro 7).

I don't know if I'll be sticking with FCPX, but I haven't seen a lot of reports on it from a vidding perspective and I thought I'd be helpful like that. I may end up loving it and keeping. Who knows?

[elipie.livejournal.com]

Well thank you for posting your thoughts! I'm planning to get FCE4 as well, but I think I'll wait to see more of your reporting. :D

[bironic.livejournal.com]

Interesting. I have heard not-good things about FCPX. Doesn't it not support nonlinear editing?

[jetpack-monkey.livejournal.com]

It is nonlinear, but you kind of have to hack it to make it work for vidding. If you're say, starting a project, and you know that the first clip you want to lay down is at 1:27 into your song, well, you can't just drag the clip to the timeline. It will "helpfully" align itself with the beginning of the timeline. You have to create either a gap clip or a placeholder clip of 1:27 in length in order to put your clip where you want.

The good news is that once you have that gap clip down, you can place clips on the track above it any point. So one solution for vidders might be to put down a gap clip the length of your song on the primary track and then vid on the tracks above.

[bironic.livejournal.com]

Ah, I see. Inelegant, but good to know that there are two video tracks and that forcing a nonlinear editing process is possible!

[rhipowered.livejournal.com]

I've found it easier just to convert everything to MOV before I start working in an earlier FCP/FCE version, in general, but that's very interesting to know, cheers.