color grading

I do a lot of long-form doc work and more often than not, I need to color grade my interviews. I also typically have the same people popping up at various times over the course of my projects. Ideally, I would grade my interviews in the browser and then when I bring down the interview selects, they would already be graded. Unfortunately, I can only grade in the timeline (unless I'm overlooking something). That means every time I apply a grade to an interview, I need to copy that grade from clip to clip which is very time-consuming (and I typically have many people interviewed so it becomes exponential after a while). I can save my grades as presets and apply them that way, but it's still a nuisance. I like the Hawaiki color correcting plug-in, but I can't save any of their grades as a preset and have to copy those grades individually as well. Does anyone have any suggestions? Should I grade my interviews before bringing them into X with a third-party app? Thanks.

Well, it is possible to grade with your clips, just with a small work-around, or seperate command:

Right-Click on the clips in the Event Browser, choose: Open In Timeline.

Now you get a timeline which has the raw video file. There you can grade.

If you now use the clip in your project, it will already be graded.

Another possibility is first put it in a compound clip, grade that, and then use it in a project.

The disadvantage of the second option is that you have all these compound clips which in a way are unneccessary.
The advantage of the second option is, that if you make an adjustment in the Compound Clip, it will riple trough to every instance where you use that clip, which will not be the case if you make the first option. I mean, once it's already edited down in a timeline.

Thanks. That works to a point. I find working from clips in the browser problematic even without opening in timeline. For some reason, I can no longer actually play back my clips in the browser at all. I have to open in the timeline to even play them back. Then if I grade in the open timeline, I would have to cut & paste the clips to the timeline rather than just hitting Q or W or E fromn the browser because I can't play the clip in the browser. I may just have too many interview clips in my browser for FCPX to handle. Many of them are multicam which might be adding stress to the system. I'll try working with smaller projects and even limiting clips in any one event. thx

Hey Parker,

maybe there is a misunderstanding going on here? If you colorgrade the clips in their own timeline you do not have to copy and paste. You can still edit with Q, E and W like before - only will it then already be graded when it goes into the project timeline.

No idea why you are experiencing trouble with the browser. Did you try the usual stuff like trashing preferences, restarting system, maybe re-installing FCPX?

I managed to fix the problem with playback by going through all the steps you mentioned. So, you're right, that seems to be the best way to handle the grading. I can't do it with my present project because I have all the clips on the timeline already, but next time! Thanks.

You should watch the last MacBreakStudio episode on using the timeline index. That way you can identify clips easily and then paste attributes to them (CMD-SHIFT-V). That might help with your workflow.

Good luck!

Good idea - I'll check into it. Thx