Deselect Clips for importing

I usually use the filmstrip view in the import window to be able to select just the range of a clip that I want to import.

I wonder if it is possible to DESELECT clips for importing. Of course I understand that I can chose certain clips for importing using the command key - that gives me the possibility to skip clips I don't want to import. But just one false click and the selection is lost - which is really annoying if you are working through 100 clips or so.

Is there a possibility to mark clips in the import window to definitely deselect them for importing?

There are no options to MARK clips you don't want in the import window. As you know you can COMMAND click to select them randomly. Likewise, COMMAND click on a selected clip to deselect it. This would be a good feature request to be able to mark from a list of clips those that are not needed to be imported, but currently FCPX does not do that. I can see the advantage of scrolling thru a long list and being able to mark "Yes" or "No" before hitting the import button.

dgwvideo wrote: … to be able to mark from a list of clips those that are not needed to be imported…

cmd-a to select all
then
cmd-click those you don't want to be imported
perhaps?

Many thanks to both of you. To select the clips via cmd would be an option... but there's a risk if you are working through 100+ clips, one false click and the selection is gone.

An option to MARK the clips is a feature I would absolutely appreciate! Hopefully, FCPX will provide this someday!

A column of check boxes for what you want to import and not would be helpful when you're dealign with that much media from one location. I run in to this occasionally, but I don't have the erroneous click issue. Even so, it would be a neat feature. Feedback page time!

For now, try doing it in small batches.

I had the same issue selecting multiple marks within a clip the the browser, so started using favorites. If you could use favorites in the capture wouldn't this solve the problem?

Afraid I don't understand, do you mean to mark clips as favorite after importing?

No. I was just thinking it would be nice to be able to mark favorites in the capture window. They can't be accidentally de selected.
So might not be called favorites but same priciple. So only given parts of the clip are captured. more of a future request based on my experiences.
Hope that makes sense?

Nice idea!

Jommnn wrote: To select the clips via cmd would be an option... but there's a risk if you are working through 100+ clips, one false click and the selection is gone.

FCPX.guru wrote: For now, try doing it in small batches.

Exactly. I always "import in badges". To clarify this: in the lower right corner of the import window is a checkbox reading Close window after starting import. If you uncheck it, you can afterwards hit import (or just Return), and while you are still selecting clips from the card, the clips you already chose are being copied, analyzed, transcoded, whatever. You commence reviewing further clips, and when you're done, so is FCP (some seconds remain for the last batch, but you can for instance start to favorite the first badge).

Yes. I work the same way. But this is still just selecting whole clips as opposed to being able to make multiple selections within one clip while still in capture.

PO wrote: Yes. I work the same way. But this is still just selecting whole clips as opposed to being able to make multiple selections within one clip while still in capture.

Why?

You can make multiple selections from *one* clip: with camera card structure, they will be imported individually, as separate movs, that's the only occasion where FCP ever uses 'smart rendering'. Of course, at the end of that clip you should hit return. The selected portions get copied ("captured"? you are not talking about tape, are you?) to the library (or the destination you specified) in the background.

Example of use would be a lengthy speech of which you already know that only three or four sentences are useable. Like, you need twenty seconds, but the guy blathered two hours ...

There are reasons not to pick shots prior to hitting 'Import'. Let's discuss them:
1. disk space is so ridiculously cheap, why should I worry about a few extra clips? I can Hide rejected, and every clip I don't want vanishes as if it never existed.
2. preview in import window is small. I can judge focus, artifacts or the like better in full resolution - and that means later.
3. I hesitate to reject clips or parts of clips too soon. Many shots don't look good if you take them out of context. Forgot to bookmark a NoFilmSchool article about that. A sequence that works has to contain weak shots. Review the Psycho shower scene. As Walter Murch points out, there are not only "bad" (actually bold) cuts in it, there are also shots that are so abortive (too dark, oof, too much motion blur) that you can recognise shit. They are almost abstract. Not in Saul Bass' storyboard, they were 'found' by the editor. And they are essential for the sequence as a whole.
4. I can always archive a consolidated version of my Library, where only the used stuff gets copied.

I totally agree with everything you say. I would never try to thin visual material. However some doco work I do has interviews that run for whole cards and paper edits show only tiny clips being used. That can change, but easy enough to pick up at a later date. It's not a matter of disk space, I use Edit Ready to transcode all my footage to Pro Res before it is ingested. This works for me because doco footage can come from so many different formats and transcoding it makes it much more accessable for everyone involved in the production. Obviously I can't select portions of these clips in capture because they are linked to, so just appear in fcp. Only if the clips required transcoding by fcp itself would I be able to select potions of a clip.
So I guess what I am saying is if the input codec was a user choice, I would transcode to Pro Res on import, therefor giving me the opertunity to make selects on import ( All original camera footage held in card structure on seperate drives x2) I never intend to go back to camera originals but instead keep 2 running copies of the whole job using carbon copy clone and relin
king.
One copy travels home with me each night. This works for me and although my main working drive is a Pegasus raid, the job runs well enough on a MBP and my backup, a G force 6 TB. If the jobs get bigger could always get 8 TB backup.
So in summary
It would be nice to be able to choose input codec
It would be nice to be able to use selection tool select favorites in capture

PO wrote: I use Edit Ready to transcode all my footage to Pro Res before it is ingested. This works for me because doco footage can come from so many different formats and transcoding it makes it much more accessable for everyone involved in the production. Obviously I can't select portions of these clips in capture because they are linked to, so just appear in fcp.

I don't get this part. You use EditReady to transcode various codecs to ProRes. I have Kyno for over a year now. This allows to preview 4k clips at full resolution and subclip them (wrap and/or transcode, rename, tag, send to FCP). My reasoning was that though I am a one man band (weddings), I didn't like the idea of having a proprietary Library which Resolve and AAE have to access. However, as it turned out, I never actually used Kyno for the intended purpose. No problem to XML stuff to either of the secondary apps, which in my case is rewrapped (by FCP's import) H.264.

EditReady/Kyno rewrap or transcode, both things that FCP does by it's own devices. It only doesn't throw away interframe originals. And if you don't intend to do that from the start, backups included, for what reason ever, then I don't see any advantage in using those apps.

PO wrote: Only if the clips required transcoding by fcp itself would I be able to select potions of a clip.

Again: why?
With a card structure (recognised by FCP as "camera"), you can make multiple selections in one clip. Either:
1. hold down cmd while you draw an additional range
2. make the first selection with i+o, any additional one with shift+cmd+i and shift+cmd+o

Then, as described, you better hit return before you jump to the next clip. If you later show in Finder, you are guided to the Original Media, which are self-contained movs, one for each selection.

Hello Axel. Thanks for you very useful tips on selecting portions of clips by using the enter key to start render process. But for me transcoding before import still seems to be my best option. I'm more than happy to throw away inter in favour of intra, including for achive. For me this gives better performance in FCPX and much faster renders/mastering. So for me no point in storing both in my working folders. But there are some jobs where obviously this is an un necessary step. The production companies I work with always keep the camera originals but the government archive seems happy with my transcoded files. I use a mac pro late 2013 which is another reason pro res works better than H264.