billfromvoorhees

Q: Since 10.1.2 Drop zone cause last frame to be a still

Since 10.1.2 Update, I was trying fill a drop zone in FCPX with video from an Event and the last frame ends up showing as a still.  This happens to be with a generator that I made in Motion and I have used this Generator twice a week, the same way since last september and on multiple different macs.  It seems like every few updates, drop zones tend to work differently.  I'm Level 2 Certified and well versed in in FCPX, but I've been racking my brain!

Here are some other steps I've tried and I still have the same problem.

I've Opened a Copy of the Generator in the newest version of Motion and re-saved it, went back to FCPX and still it didn't work.

I've added the clip to timeline and tried to fill it from there, no luck.

I've made a compound clip of the original clip, both in the Event and in the project, and tried to fill it. Still no luck.

I've gotten a clip that is longer than the drop zone, no luck

I've gotten a clip that is the exact same length as the drop zone, no luck

I've gotten a clip that was shorter, and for sure, that didn't work.

Anyone have any ideas?

Posted on Jul 3, 2014 3:55 PM

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Q: Since 10.1.2 Drop zone cause last frame to be a still

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  • by Tom Wolsky,

    Tom Wolsky Tom Wolsky Jul 3, 2014 4:05 PM in response to billfromvoorhees
    Level 10 (118,252 points)
    Apple TV
    Jul 3, 2014 4:05 PM in response to billfromvoorhees

    Just a freeze frame of the last frame of video?

     

    I'm not seeing that in the drop zone titles like Bold Fin.

  • by billfromvoorhees,

    billfromvoorhees billfromvoorhees Jul 3, 2014 4:09 PM in response to Tom Wolsky
    Level 1 (0 points)
    Jul 3, 2014 4:09 PM in response to Tom Wolsky

    Yes, just a freeze frame of the last frame of video. It appears to be happening only on some of my user created generators.  The Apple one are fine. I haven't had this issue before.

  • by fox_m,

    fox_m fox_m Jul 3, 2014 9:44 PM in response to billfromvoorhees
    Level 5 (5,532 points)
    Video
    Jul 3, 2014 9:44 PM in response to billfromvoorhees

    Yes, drop zones have changed... and I think they have changed again in 10.1.2 (slightly). I think you can now drag out an effect with a drop zone and the video dropped will play at the proper speed for as long as the drop zone is in effect (and the video is longer than the effect in question.) I'm fairly sure I remember video being trimmed to the designed length of the effect in Motion and ending with a freeze frame.  [Drop zones drive me crazy and I have not designed for them in quite awhile.]

     

    When you apply a clip to a drop zone, you click on the drop zone in the inspector, then usually you go to a clip in an Event... When mousing over the clip in the event, the cursor changes to a pointed finger (or it should!).  There should be a "2-up" display while you're mousing over the clip to be dropped. That's actually a way to choose the first frame to be included in the drop zone. So if your clip is longer than the drop zone and you're clicking near the middle to end of the dropped clip, you're only including about half the clip. You need to click very near the beginning of the event clip to include all (or most) of it in the drop zone.

     

    I like this feature of drop zones, but it is not very intuitive and often difficult to actually successfully grab the first frame of a clip. (You have to maneuver the cursor while watching the playhead indicator in the viewer... it displays which frame you are currently hovering over.)

     

    HTH

  • by billfromvoorhees,

    billfromvoorhees billfromvoorhees Jul 7, 2014 7:22 AM in response to fox_m
    Level 1 (0 points)
    Jul 7, 2014 7:22 AM in response to fox_m

    Thanks HTH, but that's what I have been doing and it isn't working... I'll mouse over the clip I want and I'll see a 2-up display and I'll see the frame I want to click on, and once I click on it. it then defaults to the last frame of the video. I'm going to redo the motion project at this point. It worked fine all year until 10.1.2 update. I guess i'll see what happens.

  • by fox_m,

    fox_m fox_m Jul 7, 2014 2:14 PM in response to billfromvoorhees
    Level 5 (5,532 points)
    Video
    Jul 7, 2014 2:14 PM in response to billfromvoorhees

    I have the 10.1.2 update and everything is working fine for me... so much so that I've considered building effects with drop zones again (in general, I have hated them with a passion, until this release.)  However, for the types of bugs I've had to deal with in FCPX, especially on my 09 iMac i7 (ATI Radeon 4850) particularly after the "rewrite" for the New Mac Pro (FCPX 10.1.1) and multiple GPUs, I have the feeling that Apple hasn't quite polished the code to work on all "supported" mac platforms...  The wait was so long from the last update that I capitulated and bought the latest iMac i7 (late 2013) model and received it about a week before the 10.1.2 update. This update fixed most of the problems I was having on the older machine. (I've been wondering if it was a ploy to get a bunch of us to upgrade hardware... but I'll give them the benefit of the doubt.)

     

    If I may ask: what are the hardware specs of your system? You can reset preferences by holding down command + option when starting up FCPX 10.1.2 -- does that fix the problem? I had occasion once where a complete reinstall of FCPX solved a lot of issues I was having (IF you decide to try this method, you must first trash all preferences, and, you have to find all related .plist files and trash those too along with the application [Final Cut Pro X 10.1: How to remove and reinstall Final Cut Pro X go to the section "Removing Final Cut Pro X in OS X 10.9 Mavericks"] -- you're going for an absolutely clean install of the software. After trashing everything and before downloading, I recommend repairing permissions with Disk Utility.)

     

    One more thing to check on before reinstalling: If you have backed up FCPX (or Motion) on an external drive (or "some other" location) -- this last time, the App Store found and replaced the backup on the external drive and did not update the version in the Applications folder. For a couple of days there, I thought I was running the current software until I started having some of my same old problems. I tried trashing the app again and the App Store would not let me upgrade - it showed the current version was installed. I think it took me over an hour to figure out that my backup had been upgraded and the App Store was seeing the external location for the install. Color me surprised. (Moral of the story, check the startup dialog to make sure you're running the version you think you are!)

  • by jel111,

    jel111 jel111 Sep 26, 2014 11:19 AM in response to fox_m
    Level 1 (0 points)
    Sep 26, 2014 11:19 AM in response to fox_m

    I was starting to think the same thing that the latest update was a ploy to get us to upgrade. Then my friend got the new tower and he is having a lot of issues as well and we were told to reinstall which did help out most of the issues. I have a force quit thing going on quite frequently and I have to reboot. I have been waiting for a good opportunity to reinstall but haven't found the time yet. I am thinking it is the OS I need to redo and that's a total pain in the wazoo.

    I am ready to move to Adobe because of the new dumbed down versions of everything I am getting to the point that I may switch to a cheaper machine (Microsoft). I mean what is the point? The reason I have a Mac is so all these issues do not happen. That is why we pay the premium prices is it not?

  • by deysonortiz,

    deysonortiz deysonortiz Oct 20, 2014 9:34 AM in response to billfromvoorhees
    Level 1 (4 points)
    Oct 20, 2014 9:34 AM in response to billfromvoorhees

    Hello and good day.

    I also just discovered this bug.  This is something that was fixed as it occurred before.

    The workaround I found is to create a compound clip of the video you want to add.  Then add a Gap to the start to offset the amount of time you need before the drop zone starts.  When you add your video to the drop zone make sure to click at the first frame in the browser.  If you click anywhere else it will offset it by that time.

     

    Here is a quick video that explains the workaround with a template I made:  http://quick.as/aljtzvx

    I hope Apple fixes this soon as it worked fine before syncing the timeline marker and wherever we we click in the browser.


    Have an amazing day!

  • by C.Corpa,

    C.Corpa C.Corpa Dec 2, 2014 8:34 AM in response to deysonortiz
    Level 1 (0 points)
    Dec 2, 2014 8:34 AM in response to deysonortiz

    Thank you Deyson, I am a completely new to FCPX and I was able to sort out my issue using your fix, video made it easy cheers.