Clip/Browser Workflow help

Hi there,

Hoping to find some guidance with my workflow. I've tried to do some searches, but I never get very far along. I'm not a video guy by any means, but enough to put together some collections of clips from my diving excursions around the globe ( vimeo.com/user40249697 www.youtube.com/channel/UCYwERWaiZfx3L7iwdj3wN_Q ).

As I get into bigger projects (from 30 clips to 400+ clips) I'm finding it frustrating in a case of "How I Think It Should Be Done" vs. "They Way You Should Do It" .... or when I want to reuse some clips from other projects.


I shoot underwater footage. In some clips, I'm able to start/stop a clip on the camera for a succinct clip that requires very little editing (in/out). Sometimes (most times), I don't have the luxury of stopping and starting again (action can go pretty fast sometimes), or I get 'lazy' and leave the camera rolling for the few seconds as I recompose the shot.

What I'd like to learn/do, is to bring my clips into FCPX (10.3.2) Trim my clips into ready to use (Trimmed, Colour Corrected, etc) material into any project. I've been playing with the "Open Clip" tool which does 99% of the things that I'd like it to do .... except for duplicate the clip so I can have 1 "clip" per "clip" ... if that makes sense.

Within "Open Clip" I can do any stabilization, edit the In/Out points, Colour Correct and add any other Effects. But if there were 2 "clips" inside that clip, I couldn't make them into 2 clips in the browser.

Coming from other editing programs (audio and photo editing), you could "Make a Copy" or "Duplicate Clip" and edit away without affecting the original, but it doesn't seem like you can in FCPX?


Thanks!

Welcome, Brad, to fcp.co

Harris wrote: …Coming from other editing programs (audio and photo editing), you could …

don't try to mimic habitual workflows.
FCPX has a slightly different and more flexible media-management.

Are you familiar with setting & using Favourites and Keywords?
(I don't know your source of tutorial learning FCPX, but it's mentioned in any)

Do not use Open Clip. That's not how you edit. Mark I/O in the browser. Make a new project. Cmd-N. Edit the clips into the project.

Pretty standard workflow:

Create a Project.
Place clips into it to do a rough edit. These are "copies" of the original.
Go back to fine tuning with trimming.
Color grade only after the edit, as each clip's coloring will spend on the other clips around it.
Clean up audio.
Mix/Master audio.

As said, NEVER work in Open Clip, you're altering the Master Clip. (and color grade after the edit in the Timeline).

Alrighty, "Open Clip" is bad ...... what is it's intent of use/purpose then?

"I shoot underwater footage. In some clips, I'm able to start/stop a clip on the camera for a succinct clip that requires very little editing (in/out). Sometimes (most times), I don't have the luxury of stopping and starting again (action can go pretty fast sometimes), or I get 'lazy' and leave the camera rolling for the few seconds as I recompose the shot."

Invest in more camera storage and just let it roll! You can never reshoot a missed shot. How long does your air tank last? Twenty minutes (I have no idea, it's not something I want to know)? Thirty minutes of 4K storage is peanuts.

It's used in exceptional circumstances, sometimes if there's an audio sync problem. It's sometimes used for long clips, like interviews, to apply a basic grade to the clip before editing pieces into a project.

Harris wrote: Alrighty, "Open Clip" is bad ...... what is it's intent of use/purpose then?

Special situations, like to cover up a mic bump, or something like that. But NOT to edit a full program into. That is what a Project is for. I highly advise courses from Ripple Training or macProVideo.com.

bogiesan wrote: Invest in more camera storage and just let it roll! You can never reshoot a missed shot. How long does your air tank last? Twenty minutes (I have no idea, it's not something I want to know)? Thirty minutes of 4K storage is peanuts.

Who said anything about resolution and storage issues?

I do have a large home server raid already inlace for RAW footage, and a smaller working drive for projects (files get copied from server to Library on the working drive).

4K, I'll shoot sometimes for static scenic elements (i.e. soft corals), but usually shoot in 1080 or 2K (due to limitations with frame rates or the camera itself in some cases) as most of my uploads are 1080 or lower anyways.

Lighting conditions in water are more than 800 times worse than on land .... the loss of colour over distance and depth, not to mention ambient light and the cost of underwater lights (and their un advertised colour temperatures ... if they even match between units!). Wide angle is usually a crapshoot at depth ... unless you are in crystal clear water on a decently overcast (or direct sunlight in some cases) skies. Macro, it's hard to find an even light (no hotspot) in a narrow enough beam ..... I usually don't dive in crystal clear water .....

Dives and Tanks can be anywhere from 5 minutes on the bottom with over an hour of decompression to a few hours floating around in mangroves just below the surface .... all depends on where I am.

Hey Harris,

I think you'll find this pretty helpful for your workflow. TPayton did a series a while back exploring clips. Check out the one on compound clips specifically (at least I think that's the one). He essentially shows a method where subclips are created to be the new clip media in the browser. If you're wanting to create clip masters before editing into a project, this is probably the workflow for you...

www.fcp.co/final-cut-pro/tutorials/1461-...orum-member-t-payton

davechap,

That's fantastic!

I was using a very early version of FCPX (10.0.3?) and this functionality wasn't quite in it until I recently upgraded to the current 10.3.2 ... big jump I know!

Compound clips seems like the ticket to appease the masses.

Now a silly question. Say I made a compound clip, Any effects that I apply, apply to the whole clip. Could I copy (or split) the compound clip if I didn't want an effect to be global?

A Compound Clip acts just like any other clip when applying effects. How would you limit an effect to only one part of any clip?

One way is to use an Adjustment Layer clip over only that section of the clip. This is simply a blank title template you place over a section of your Timeline to apply effects universally.

Another way would be to apply an effect to the CC, keyframe the "Amount" or "Mix" or whatever parameter to turn it on and off, so to speak.

" Who said anything about resolution and storage issues? "

You did not but you clearly stated you start and stop recording. It's easy to get so much wrong from the lack of information available or requested or needed in these tiny posts.

You're the expert diver and underwater shooter, not something I know anything about, clearly.

I shoot in places like mines, the underground bowels of hydroelectric plants, from cranes, helicopters, and bucket trucks. I've learned to be an expert in both my own safety and lighting situations.