Looks like no one’s replied in a while. To start the conversation again, simply ask a new question.

Final cut pro x is the worst and most horrifying software for a new user....most non - user friendly...

Working on it is just like making a castle of cards......Your entire effort just goes in thinking how to keep your clips in place,how to group ,compound and then again uncompound , make a secondary timeline then again break apart......you never know what will shift, what will get replaced , what will fall off a layer ........it seems like a video game where all bricks have to be maintained in the air one over the other without a base.......you have to keep wasting your brain power in just thinking how your clips would be unscrewed till the end of the project .....it is so ridiculous for a general film editor .........as of getting used to it....you can be made to get used to anything but ......there is no logic in kicking your brain to prove its intelligence of being able to think about the management of its clips all the time while working because there is always a possibiltiy of your data not found in the place you left it or in the shape you designed it..........specially extremely mind screwing for people who have to work with large data and not everybody has to make a documentary.......how can they even think of making a software with a thought that people will directly drag everything from the browser and bam here is your film........it is the worst software for people who go into tricky editing experimenting with layers and mix match of several effects in one window.....seeing everything available without changing timelines.........

the basic timeline of fcpx is so childish,so basic.....user friendly is something that works on human logic not something that teaches you to think in a different way.....else for people who work on several softwares their entire life would just go learning softwares.......


conclusion.....


good for people who just know , once dragged is done and once compounded is forgotton


Nightmare for people who start their work after dragging and can't compound or keep making secondary timelines till the end to painstakingly protect their delicate and intricate timelines..........everything just keeps sticking here and there.....software or a chameleon tongue.....😠

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

Posted on Feb 8, 2013 9:47 AM

Reply
58 replies

Feb 8, 2013 10:37 PM in response to Karsten Schlüter

Common by tracks you just mean a linear arrangement of clips.....

Ohh there are no tracks..????..common this is like scratching your right ear with your left hand.....of course there are tracks.....just becasue fcpx tutorials say don't call them tracks you are so happy calling them layers....

how can you work in a structure where you don't visually see your film strip ?? Ultimately everything has to shape up in a linear arrangement in a single track to be exported so why this stupid exercise about making groups here and there and being so pompous about the fact that you have figured out how to be in control of a mad horse.....

Yes Ian the problem is for people who are into a style of editing where fcpx childish video game kind of concept of just managing your data all the time sounds so funny....

why should I have gaps to edit besides my media,its like swimming in a swamp pool...workflow is just "DRAGGING/PREVENTING DISTURBING OTHER CLIPS/DRAGGING/PREVENTING DISTURBING OTHER CLIPS"

why should the clip placed somewhere decide its placement on its own ?

why primary and secondary storylines behave in different ways and have different features,limitations and advantages ?

why a cut pasted clip at one place fall at the top of your last layer ?

why even dragging a clip out or in the timeline to retime should shift the entire project wether you use position tool or select tool ?

....so keep thinking what to insert what to pull in , what to drag to maintain the structure of your edit

it is only for those who edit simpler projects where you really do not have to drag /copy paste bits a thousand times ,else you are in problem....

why do I have to even put a bit of my mind in thinking doing this will snap this,moving this will shift this , and inserting this will cut this....this is foolishness....to just impart this unnecessary concern in editing

what high are we talking about this interface ?

in all other audio or video softwares of the world what is kept at a position remains there you don't have to keep planning to do something that may keep it where it is till the end of the project.....what is easier ?

just because something is new doesn't mean it's logic is more intelligent ....it is utter non sense ....in 10 days time you can understand and get used to everything in this world but why should I learn to walk behind when my mind says it is easier to walk straight,...

We accept change for two reasons..

1 ) either there was some big problem in the logic of what we have been using or

2) there is something much more easier that what we were using




How ....just tell me in one sentence , dragging your clips speedily in overlaying layers is easier or dragging clips in a layer and it getting snapped somewhere else so then making a secondary layer , and to keep everything visually in like making a compound layer easier ?? when you know all are layers for you....


Making a storyline puts a handle at the top which changes the visually linear arrangement of clips so putting transitions become difficult....

If you detach the audio of a clip again the linear arrangement gets disturbed so you put two slugs on the top of it and put a transition to get the desired effect.....or make it a compound clip or create storyline...

I mean what is so great about making a house of floats on water.....funny...

we are here to make guinness world record or to work just concentrating on the feel of a scene , the creative stuff or putting our head in the arrangement workarounds all the time,infact that should be of least concern in a creative workflow........

so much effort just to make a linear timeline ....it is weird......

when you have already bought a thing like this and completed half of your project on such a thing I can't tell you how painful it is...

Feb 9, 2013 12:26 AM in response to Mudh Mark

Mudh Mark wrote:

.....of course there are tracks....


No.

How many 'tracks' do you notice in this scene?


User uploaded file


one, ONE single track!

ok, a few dozens layers for compositing (Hulk, New York, debris, Iron Man, steam, fire, light ....).


but one single track in editing:

the storyline.

telling the story, the Avengers stand together.


editing (=one track) is not compositing (=many layers)


the story could be a stringing together some video-clips.

but the 'fundament of your story' could be a solo audio-track too - the storyline is then 'just' a green-bar, and you're free to place your clips'n takes at any position. for instance, you're doing an interview. or a music-video.


any, ANY movie tells some sort-of 'story', even the wildest art-house project. movie is a time-based media, so any movie has a beginning, a middle, an end, any movie has some sort-of of 'drama', any movie is made to take the viewer by the hand and drag him from A to B.


FCPX is for storytelling.


And the elements for this story are free at hand: the Events and skimming allow to watch 'everything'; a smarter way is, due to the nature of movie-making (=you don't use 90% of your recordings), you pre-select the clips (before adding to any timeline). and to sort the pre-selection, you have a very mighty tool to tag and filter your material. it's one click, and you get just close-ups of singer, another click and you just see takes of hopping cars, another click and you see just backgrounds, another click and you see just ....


you can easiely automate some of this processes, e.g. multicam to synch shots.


you can even create Auditions, variations in your actual Project

to test vers#1 vs vers#2 'live'

(try to re-enact that in a track-based editor!)



Mudh Mark wrote:

....just tell me in one sentence , dragging your clips speedily in overlaying layers is easier or dragging clips in a layer and it getting snapped somewhere else


a storyline has just one track.

a compositing has many layers.


think, what your storyline is. start with that.

think different.


-bye-

Feb 9, 2013 1:18 AM in response to Karsten Schlüter

Understand this problem Karsten...even if it sounds confusing please read this......

for eg.


-1) Three overlaying layers,music is your storyline rest are connected clips in other three layers


2) if I want to add a new clip to the topest 3rd layer....I have to create a story line or make a compound clip else it will automatically snap to the story line in the first layer....where then transition wont be possible with the last clip in the third layer......


3) so ok now we make a compound clip/secondary storyline in the third layer

not to forget that I cannot change the order of the layers because of some prekeyed footage,opacity setting effects etc


4 )now I proceed with my edit


5)now if I feel in the third compound layer I want to add retiming to the first clip I will have to break it apart.....the moment I break it apart all clips fall off that layer here and there

now the way to avoid this is either you keep a base of a slug beneath it....which would be holding all the clips

which would again be balancing on the second layer.....and if I shorten the second layer or move forward the third layer they will again change position and may or may not come in the same alignment.

someone might say this falling would not happen if I keep that third layer as the first layer from the beginning but now at this stage as I said I cannot change the order....

6) if I had created a storyline in place of a compound clip ,moving the first clip in the secondary storyline would even have moved my length of the entire clip which I don't want to alter........


This is just an example .......of the hundreds of such arrangements

now if you say you shouldn't have overlaying layers ....and kept compounding ...it is not possible....and if every compound and breaking apart splits the arrangements unpredictably how on earth do you look at it....?

Feb 9, 2013 1:47 AM in response to Mudh Mark

"now if I feel in the third compound layer I want to add retiming to the first clip I will have to break it apart.."


You do not have up break it apart. Open the compound clip. Make the speed change, and return to the project.


Make everything in the stacks secondary storylines attached to the music at the head. Nothing moves vertically. Build your effects in the storyline in compounds within each storyline.


You shouldn't be using this software. You can't make it work the way you want to work.

Feb 9, 2013 7:21 AM in response to BenB

Again the same thing I have observed so many times if you show gratitude or stepback in an arguement and say ok I accept and will try again.....more people start getting rude with you........ is modesty that bad a trait...or asking your problem so insulting to people who usually don't come to help , they just come to stylishly give you a reply with all the dolby digital sound background music dhen dhen dhen in slow mo ,and those who solve my problems are so kind and patient ...funny...I'm not saying I accept I'm wrong I'm just saying I will try harder to find why can you be right....so don't underestimate my point of view and my intellect....learning workarounds in a software are different things....I look up to you all so at least look others at eye level.

Feb 9, 2013 8:54 AM in response to Mudh Mark

I assume you are fairly new to FCP X, and as it is radically different from all previous editing systems, it can be somewhat overwhelming at first.


Most of us have that reaction.


I can remember when I first got my hands on it, I wondered how the devil I would ever manage to do any editing, but after a few weeks everything dropped into place and there was no looking back.


The only problem is that I haven't done any serious editing for months and I have forgotten loads of what I knew! 😢

Feb 9, 2013 10:01 AM in response to Ian R. Brown

Yes Brown just two weeks back I saw this weird think.....Thanks ,that was a nice consolation, I know I would be able to do that...yes it does keeps you wondering in the beginning......today compound clips have become handy,as Tom told me jus double click enter a compound clip do your work and come back but still secondary timelines are a pain....I'm sure a little observation and everything should be on track,but still till today it looks more clumsy to me....lets see what I feel a couple of days later. 🙂

Feb 13, 2013 7:47 AM in response to Mudh Mark

It's been almost quite sometime understanding this software but honestly I do not see any path breaking difference with this over magnetism...its own magnetic intelligence of keeping clips stuck is more of a problem than facility and still I do not see any major facility in having a timeline with magnetic properties,much much simpler are softwares where magnatism is limited to snapping of shots...clips don't keep dancing on the place where they have to sit.....and we can turn this magnetism on and off so when you need to snap you can when you don't all is in your control no additional magnetic pulls.... ...... it is very hard on senses....like a tough video game.....clips may come back from where they shifted or disturbed the rest of the project but visually the feeling of snap snap snap is disturbing....it subconciously keeps making you feel....there is something which is out of your control....and this feeling always keeps you more alert than you should really be......a 5 minute of interview segment may have 10 cuts but a 5 min of song video has 200 cuts and bits .....you just can't use fcpx for them if all of them have to be open with an assurance that they are just lying gently to be put and lifted anytime ....but when 200 clips push and pull each other with hundreds of minor layers and cuts...you are on a wrong platform....


may be good for other professionals who have a simpler job of dragging compounding ....not for people who do most of their work in the timeline itself......it is not visually friendly and articulate ....rather than seeming visually sorted and simple it goads you...exhausts you, to be in control.....rather than a facility it is more of unecessary exercise.....


I was reading about several people disappointed in this thread

https://discussions.apple.com/thread/3131802?start=0&tstart=0


but one sentence in this is apt to describe the exact problem of this software....


"It seems all the time that your software fights to prove that it knows what you want"


and that is extreme discomfort.....

Whenever people answer to such post they often limit their response to the expectations that the other person works or creatively mix matches or finalizes or shapes up in the exact way they do......not all have to give work the next morning to the client.....so argument is waste of time but yes not impressive at all for people who mix match a lot many times to get the feel of music or mood with random shots than people who know in and out points and think making a compound clip and secondary storylines is all you need for piling your work,not for people who think they might have to shift clips a lot many times till the end...in some projects which are purely creative you just cant keep finalizing things till the end and if to shift ,drag ,replace or drop you have to think twice and be calculative...it loses its purpose.....fcpx ....not for all....AND I'm not talking about SNAP feature and POSITION tool .....I know about it.

Feb 13, 2013 8:04 AM in response to Mudh Mark

It's quite hard-going ploughing through your stream of consciousness type of narrative but I get the distinct impression that you cannot use FCP X to your satisfaction.


This could be due either to your inability to master it or (less likely) because of shortcomings in the app.


You'll always find certain people ready to decry anything and by their very nature they are inevitably more vociferous than the overwhelming masses who have no problems.


If you and the app don't suit each other, the best course of action would be to stick with FCP 7 or Adobe Premiere Pro, which will do things in a manner to whch you are accustomed.

Final cut pro x is the worst and most horrifying software for a new user....most non - user friendly...

Welcome to Apple Support Community
A forum where Apple customers help each other with their products. Get started with your Apple ID.