editing compounds clip while viewing primary storyline

Question

Level 1

15 points

editing compounds clip while viewing primary storyline

Hi,

I´m working with psds objects, each in different layers, that move over my main video. I have put the similiar objects in compound clips, because I need to apply effects to them and to organize better my worksapce. But I need to reposition many of them on the go, and when I enter the compound clip, I loose the ability to see my background and the other connected clips, making it very difficult to make precise movements. Is possible to view the background (primary storyline) and other objects and compund clips, adjusting their opacity?

Sorry for my english.

Thanks,

Pablo

MacBook Pro, Mac OS X (10.7), ATI Radeon

Posted on Oct 13, 2012 8:13 AM

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Answer 1

andynick

Level 5

4,955 points

Oct 13, 2012 9:44 AM in response to Chantus

Have you tried putting the objects into Secondary Storylines, instead of Compound Clips?

That way you can edit them in the timeline (and see the background).

Select the clips and press Cmd+G to put them into a secondary.

Andy

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Answer 2

James Cude

Level 4

1,585 points

Oct 14, 2012 10:21 AM in response to andynick

There's no way to see the surrounding project from within a Compound Clip. For this reason I would suggest building complex composites as connected clips and only nesting them into Compound Clips when you have the elements lined up with the main storyline as desired.

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Answer 3

Chantus Author

Level 1

15 points

Oct 16, 2012 6:11 PM in response to andynick

Andy,

it can be a workaround in some cases. But is really limited because you can´t scale, blend or apply opacity as a group. That´s why I tend to put them in compounds clips.

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Answer 4

Chantus Author

Level 1

15 points

Oct 16, 2012 6:13 PM in response to James Cude

Would be nice to have a V button to show or hide background while working with compound clips in the next fcpx update.

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Answer 5

andynick

Level 5

4,955 points

Oct 17, 2012 4:43 AM in response to Chantus

Chantus wrote:

you can´t scale, blend or apply opacity as a group. That´s why I tend to put them in compounds clips.

You can do all those things in a Secondary Storyline (Cmd+G) - in fact as far as I know, you can do all the things with a secondary storyline that you can with a Primary Storyline.

Select the clips you want to blend, fade or whatever, and press Cmd+4, then adjust in the Inspector.

My point was that you can do these things, and still see the background - which was what you were asking about.

Andy

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Answer 6

Chantus Author

Level 1

15 points

Oct 27, 2012 11:26 AM in response to andynick

Thanks Andy, didn´t realize about this possibility. I does not work if yo do those changes to the Secondary storyline, but if you select all the individual clips inside, you can apply many behaviours. Unfourtunately, and correct me if I´m wrong, you cannot make color adjustement and either apply effects (as a group). I still think that the best way should be to view the background inside compound clips.

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Answer 7

Tom Wolsky

Level 10

151,022 points

Oct 27, 2012 11:38 AM in response to Chantus

you cannot make color adjustement and either apply effects (as a group)

Not quite sure what you mean by that, but from my understanding, you can apply effects as a group either by copying and pasting or to compounds.

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Answer 8

Chantus Author

Level 1

15 points

Oct 27, 2012 11:53 AM in response to Tom Wolsky

Aha... I was trying to apply effects to a group of selected clips inside a Secondary Storyline, by draging the effect, but that forces you to choose one of them to apply that effect. But if you double click on the effect, while having all the destination clips selected, now it works!

Thanks a lot,

Still cannot figure out how to adjust color to multiple clips inside a Secondary storyline.

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Answer 9

Tom Wolsky

Level 10

151,022 points

Oct 27, 2012 12:27 PM in response to Chantus

You either adjust the color to one and copy and paste it to the others, or you make the clips a compound clip and adjust the color of the compound clip. Generally color grading is done individually on a clip by clip basis.

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Answer 10

Chantus Author

Level 1

15 points

Oct 27, 2012 12:52 PM in response to Tom Wolsky

Thanks Tom, I know that solutions. My post was made because I was working with several PSD stills that I need to move around (and over my) video in the Primary Storyline. When I grouped all these pictures inside compound clips, for better organization in the timeline, I lost the ability to move them precisely, because inside compounds clips you cannot see the surrounding project. To copy and paste color correction is a possibility since past tuesday, thanks to 10.0.6 update; before that you was forced to copy all the settings, so not an option for me.

I was working with coloured paper cut flowers that needed to move over the main video, and change their color on the way, that´s way I would love to have a compound clip to do that. What I finally did is to work with secondary storyline to adjust size and position of each still, and once I was happy with te result, I created a compound clip to color correct them; as James Cude suggested.

Many thanks to all of you,

Pablo

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