Break Apart Clip Items?

Question

Break Apart Clip Items?

I'm stuck with a timeline full of synced clips (compound clips) created after upgrading to 10.0.6. For the type of video I'm working on, my normal workflow used to be: Sync > Synced Compound Clips go into timeline > minor adjustments for overall length of video > break apart compound clips > major edits. But now, I can't break apart the clip items. And double-clicking on the compound clips won't open them in the timeline. I'm assuming this is because of the new "live compound clips" feature, but I still feel like I'm missing something... Shouldn't I be able to break apart the clip items still? And shouldn't double-clicking on the compound clips (whether in the Event library or the timeline) open the CC in the timeline?

Thanks in advance for any help!

Final Cut Pro X, OS X Mountain Lion (10.8.2)

Posted on Oct 30, 2012 7:21 AM

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Answer 1

Tom Wolsky

Level 10

150,986 points

Oct 30, 2012 7:59 AM in response to stembridgemill

Double click isn't working on compounds. You have to right click and select open in timeline. Rather than break apart, would expand audio components be more useful? Break apart is broken and requires you to break apart twice. One to detach basically and again to break apart.

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Answer 2

Oct 30, 2012 9:21 AM in response to Tom Wolsky

Expanding audio components isn't what I'm looking for. I use compounds in the timeline to temporarily organize and trim no-action spots from synced compounds (two angles + separate audio for informational workshop videos). Later I break them apart for the main edits. I'd use multicam, but found that it's faster (or was) to edit out speakers' pauses and mistakes by not using multicam.

"Break Apart Clip Items" under the Clip menu is grayed out for me, so I can't even try breaking the clip apart twice.

Sounds like this is a 10.0.6 bug? I suppose I could use copy/paste to get the clips out of the compounds for now...

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Answer 3

Tom Wolsky

Level 10

150,986 points

Oct 30, 2012 9:26 AM in response to stembridgemill

Break apart is not grayed out for me with compound clips, either in its own timeline or in the project.

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Answer 4

Oct 30, 2012 9:37 AM in response to Tom Wolsky

It's not grayed out for me in the compound clip's own timeline, but is in the project timeline (where I need it).

Guess I'll just figure out a workaround for now. Thanks for your replies, Tom!

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Answer 5

Tom Wolsky

Level 10

150,986 points

Oct 30, 2012 9:43 AM in response to stembridgemill

That clips alrady in a project. I thought you were opening the compound in the timeline? Very strange. This is what I get in a project.

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Answer 6

Oct 30, 2012 9:54 AM in response to Tom Wolsky

Weird. Yeah, I'm trying to break apart in the project, not compound's timeline — sorry for being vague about that.

I've read some stuff about compound clips from pre-10.0.6 not working correctly, but all of the ones I'm working with here were created after the update.

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Answer 7

Oct 30, 2012 4:23 PM in response to stembridgemill

Apparently my original workaround idea to copy/paste out of sync compound clips into the project timeline is a no-go... Whenever I paste into the timeline, the audio's out of sync and seems to drift. It's not an audio rate issue, as everything's 44.1 kHz. If I pull the whole compound clip into the project timeline, the audio's perfectly in sync. So much strangeness...

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Answer 8

Tom Wolsky

Level 10

150,986 points

Oct 30, 2012 4:26 PM in response to stembridgemill

as everything's 44.1 kHz

That shouldn't be. The video standard is 48k. I didn't see what camera you're using buit there are very few that shoot 44.1, which the audio CD standard.

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Answer 9

Oct 30, 2012 4:40 PM in response to Tom Wolsky

I currently shoot on Canon dSLRs, which record audio at 44.1, and a Zoom H4n for external audio, also at 44.1.

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Answer 10

Tom Wolsky

Level 10

150,986 points

Oct 30, 2012 5:10 PM in response to stembridgemill

Which Canon DSLR exactly? Most of them are now 48k.

FCP projects are never at 44.1.

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Answer 11

Oct 30, 2012 5:52 PM in response to Tom Wolsky

60D. But woah... When did they change that? Here I've been thinking for two years it was 44.1... Time to switch the Zoom back to 48! Thanks for point that out.

That aside, this is the first time I've experience audio drift since switching to FCP X last year (and I've edited close to a hundred projects since then). Audio's in sync when the compound clip is in the project timeline, and when opening the compound in its own timeline... It's just when I copy/paste the clips from the compound's timeline into the project's timeline that it unsyncs/drifts. Totally weird... Guess I'll try multicam next.

Thanks for your help, Tom!

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Answer 12

Tom Wolsky

Level 10

150,986 points

Oct 30, 2012 5:58 PM in response to stembridgemill

The application will behave differently if you put in a compound clip or if you copy and paste, where it treats each item independently.

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Answer 13

Dec 2, 2013 10:23 AM in response to stembridgemill

Did you find a reason solution for this? I have the same problem. I have a group of clips in my project timelinethat were synced together in the event browser. Now they will not break apart at all. FCP X 10.0.9.

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Answer 14

Dec 3, 2013 5:51 AM in response to colinfromcan

Sounds like you had the clips in the timeline, then synced them — did you bring in the synced clip into the timeline again?

I've had no issues lately with trying to break apart clip items in projects; not sure what changed.

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Answer 15

Oct 25, 2014 10:57 AM in response to stembridgemill

I've had this problem before, and I just had it again. You have to just start over with a new project.

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