FCPX loses focus on the timeline....

I've got an odd one that while relatively minor is 'bugging me' a little and I wondered if anyone else was seeing it.

When I add Neat Video to a clip, enter Neat Video UI, set up the NR parameters then come back out to the timeline, within a few seconds FCPX no longer shows any footage from the timeline in the viewer, no matter what you do with the playhead.

You have to go back to the event and select the project again. Once you do that everything is normal, but I can't figure out what could be causing it.

Anyone else seeing this? 10.1.1.

Don't use Neat, but I've seen it a couple of times, where the viewer just seems to lose the plot and not show anything. Usually select a clip in the browser to wake it back up.

Yeah, I have the issue too, unrelated to Neat, it's just a bug that I always assumed had to do with multiple displays. Even with mavericks and 10.1 FCPX still has issues going back and forth between windows or losing the timeline until you just start aggressively clicking on every part of the UI. this is a really annoying bug that's hard to report, I wish we could submit screen recordings to apple.

Don't even need dual monitors.

I agree, not related to dual monitors and not only to FCPX for that matter. We had similar issues with FCP7 and with Avid where the timeline window would not be active anymore after working in the Viewer (or in an external plugin UI), and just pressing Play or clicking in the timeline would not activate it automatically.

So I have created single-key shortcuts on all our systems to quickly jump between windows, and this works perfectly. Whenever you lose the timeline after working in another window you just press its shortcut to activate it.

- Ronny

Thanks for the replies.

Despite lots of random clicking on things, I have found that the only way to get this timeline back is actually to click on this project in the event browser, then it comes back instantly. Clicking on anything else does nothing for me. That's why it's a pain - I have to go find it again!

Choose Final Cut Pro > Command > Customize to open the Command editor.

Select "Windows" in the Command List, then in the top-right search field, enter "go to timeline". This will reveal the default keyboard shortcut for switching to the Timeline (I think the default is CMD+F2, which IMO is far too complicated for such a basic action). Drag the Go To Timeline Command onto any free key on the virtual keyboard you feel appropriate to create a single-key keyboard shortcut for this command. Save your settings.

Now whenever you have this problem you just press the key you have associated to Go To Timeline to make the Timeline instantly active again.

- Ronny

The default switch to timeline is Cmd-2. Browser is Cmd-1. Losing focus of the timeline is not quite the right description. The viewer loses focus completely. You skim across the interface and it doesn't load anything. I find I have to actively select an object, click on a clip for instance, before the viewer becomes active again.

I see what you mean, and you are correct that it isn't the same thing. To do this using the default keyboard you would have to press CMD-2 to active the Timeline, then CMD-3 to activate the Viewer. Not acceptable.

- Ronny

I noticed that having the Event Viewer open this behavior of the main viewer losing timeline focus has disappeared.

Robbert-Jan

Yep i have the same problem and it is a total pain. I am editing in 6 foreign languages and it happens on all most every blade cut on my mulitcam clips. i then lose the internation in my head while i get the viewer back. Editing on a macbook pro with 10.1.1.

Could you explain exactly what you're doing and what's happening. The problem described earlier appeared to be fixed in the current version.

Sure...

In the time line working on a multicamera clip.

Using the blade tool to cut out pauses in my first pass rough cut.

I tend to blade the incoming and then blade the out going and I delete between the two cuts. I then go back and sort the pictures and finesse the audio once I've laid up my cutaways.

Almost every time (almost) the picture in the viewer disappears and displays the title of my project.

The only way to get the picture back is to click on the project or if I have my transitions window open I can mouse over a transition and then back to the time line and this seems to wake up the project.

I am using the most recent fcp x a new MacBook Pro with retina screen maxed out on everything. My library is sitting on a thunderbolt drive. My project is 7 minutes long. The only clip in the time line is the multicamera clip consisting of just 2 cameras.

Jg

Thanks very much for the detail. I'm not seeing that. Are you using two monitors? What panels are open, and what panels on which monitor?

Nope just on the macbook, i am mobile at the moment. I thought it was the second screen when i was in the office but when i went mobile exactly the same.

Weird. This is what I see. I did the same as you I think. Two cameras, blading inside the multicam clip.

www.fcpxbook.com/Blading2CamMulticam-SD_480p.mov

Yep Thats almost what i am doing, i only have one camera showing in my viewer and i cut the other way around marking the incoming and then the out before the delete. I will try to post a video

I just had this problem again, though it went away as quickly as it came!

Multicam edits, 3 cameras, 2 of which had dual mono and one stereo audio, plus an extra angle of stereo audio.

This was two acts of a live production, so edited in two different M/C projects. Everything cut fine.

Then is comes time to merge them, so created an 'All' project, copied the parts I needed from Act 1 to the All project and proceeded to cut down the curtain down times (curtain comes down, cut the wait to the curtain going up again) and BAM! Every time I blade I lose focus and have to click on the project in the browser again. Really annoying!

The repeat for Act 2 - copy from Act 2 to All and paste on the end of the cut down Act 1 and .... wait, it's not losing focus any more, it's working fine. So.... err.... I'm confused.

I am noticing as I edit that on blading the viewer flicks to a blank screen with the project name, sometimes it flicks back to my project video and some times it sticks on the blank screen requiring me to click on the project for the pictures to come back up.

That's what used to happen in 10.1. Seems like it's still around in some form.