I too was surprised in a puzzling way when a few weeks ago my undo selection under my edit menu was greyed out, and even more so when I closed and re-opened my project and found that the auto save feature did not auto save. There should be a manual way of saving. I later discovered that this bug raised its head when doing certain text edits. Also text features would sometimes change themselves from one type of text feature to another (such as Assembler to Scrolling Credits), while working. There was also a time when I had 4 layers of video that disappeared, and another time when my "original medial" folder lost all clips. I always have a back up but losing all that work was a frustration. I have so far been able to avoid repeated mishaps by doing all text work in another application (such as motion) and importing it into FCPX as a quicktime file, exporting the project as a single mov file and then importing the project into fcp7 for text edits. I don't like the latter option but it works.
Before purchasing FCPx I was already aware of many of FCPX limitations. I thought that if I need FCP7 features for an edit then I would simply use FCP7 for that project. I was especially interested in trying out the new color match feature and the audio sync feature.
Color Match was far from what I expected. I seldom got a close match, so I worked on getting the cameras matching as close as possible, using Cine Color Profiles, and became extra careful about exposure and white balance during the shoot. The linear color editing system is still taking me a while to get used to.
There is not a lot of talking in my dog training videos and so there is not enough understandable audio to use the sync audio feature. Perhaps I should try interviewing the dogs.
Auto Save is a bugger. I would like to have full control over when the app saves so I can, if necessary, close the app and open a previously saved good copy.
Auto Render: It is nice that I can work on a file while it is rendering, but would like the opportunity to hold off all renders until I have finished with a procedure. If I have multiple layers of video, and I stop and start editing while it is rendering, FCPx sometimes crashes. Also, my render files become bulky. After editing a project I would often delete all render files, then restart the app and let it auto render everything. The newly created render directory is a lot smaller.
[Command] + [7] opens the Wave Forms, Vectorscopes, and Histograms. I like to use the RGB Parade and Luma most of the time, and I like it to be open all the time. After the charts involuntarily disappear, I hit [Command] + [7] and I am back to the default Histogram/RGB Overlay. I would like to find a way to customise my workspace.
Scopes show results in 25 unit increments. I would like to be able to measure a precise color/light level as in fcp7. It is difficult to see 86 for example.
I don't recall seeing YUV curves. Maybe I haven't looked hard enough, but then I prefer almost any other program for correcting color. The linear editor does not seem natural.
I am hopeful that mac fix up the probs with fcpx, and do not fail to ignore editors who want an application for serious work/business. I'm taking another look at Avid, Grass Valley and Adobe products.
