Kat Caverly

Calling all FCPx editors

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"garbage XML" can you be more specific? Sounds like that project was a nightmare but is that really all due to FCPx. I only work on my own projects, so I don't deal with compatibility issues I cannot solve myself. I convert fcpxml to Adobe compatible files with XtoCC (Audition) and there is an XtoPro tool for ProTools.

I guess I thought that conforming could to be done in Resolve?? I love working in FCPx + Resolve + Audition. And I don't see any problem with fcpxml files.

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On 2/6/2019 at 12:14 PM, dermot.shane said:

appearing in Resolve with -99.00.00.00 timecode and media offline

appearing in Resolve with 00.00.00.00 timecode and media ofline

appearing in Resolve with wrong media

appearing in Resolve with black

appearing in Resolve with the correct media, but out of sync

correct but showing what i know are r3d files as 1920x1080 with no access to the raw tab

could be any one of the above seemingly randomly

so yea, compound/mutilcam clips come into Resolve, Nucoda, Pp, FC7...

they come in with all the issues listed above

mutiple software tried

mutiple finishing artists / online editors tried

no one could get anything but garbage out of the XML

the editor could not get it any better

even importing the XML into a diffrent FCX install failed to link to the cam orig.... like really.... it can't even open it's own XML.. smart folks tried

i asked the editor to write me a cheat sheet for future FCX editors, but they only this he would write is "don't use FCX"

again , really, literaly the best cheat sheet he could come up with is not to use it, and he's the one driveing it

no idea what version of FCX he had

we tried current Pp, Nucoda 2018.2 and Resolve 15.2.2

the network's post sup and crew tried Pp, Resolve 15.2.3, FC7 and a seperate current FCX they keep around for times like this

the editor tried current Pp and FC7

all failed

a perfect 100% fail rate

this one is now gone to QC

i'm thrilled if a great show appears cut on FCX, it's a great show then be happy the editor had the tools they wanted and did great work, i'm pretty offline edit agnostic

would be great to have some real world probelem sorting, not yet another boring, tired, basic  "geee wizz kidz, this is how you export an xml...." bumph

and there is loads of resources should Avid or Pp project go off the rails, the resources for sorting FCX trainwrecks is thin on the ground... and that seems to be  a weakness of the FCX community,

the editor asked anyone and everyone he could, i also asked the smart folks here... i really appreacate the help offered here, and i passed it on to the editor who tried every suggestion

but wowzers, one more basic, boring, out of touch with reality tutorial on clicking a button is prolly not how i want to use the time i have

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

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What a nightmare! I would be on the phone with Apple for sure, something just ain't right with that project. If I was the editor all of those problems would make my head spin, and I want (need) to know why??? This is NOT the way Final Cut is suppose to work.

Thank you for sharing the details.

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we tired that, but unfortunatly garbage in ( the XML) = garbage out, it did the same job as exporting an EDL from Resolve or Nucoda, all avenues we could think of were tried,  and personaly i was not hopeful on that one anyway, so not disapointed 😉

and many thanks to you, Brad, Thomas, and everyone else who tried to help

moveing forward, if there is ever a bullet proof FCX editor's cheat sheet floating around ti would be loverly to have access to that, so "issues" could be headed off before they become "issues"...

something beyond the endless "press this button to make an XML, and everything will be perfect" drivel spread everywhere on the interwebs, it seems to be a disservice to spread the message that it works when in reality it is far from working beyond a very simple demo timeline

i really was hopeing for some thoughts from the editor, but he's done with FCX, not interested in touching it again, so has zero intrest in sorting the weak links for future use, and has his hands full catching up on all the stuff he dropped to sort this in the last two weeks, he did not budget his time for this either

the issues center on not being able to de-compose the mutlicam, and de-composing compund clips did not actualy de-compose all the clips, only some, and when it did de-compose, it did it incorrectly... all this is about FCX and not about creating the XML or any system that injests the XML not intrepreting it correctly

Apple support was somewhere just slightly less than zero, he got a canned reply and that's all...

on the good side this film is going to get some visability, opening night gala film at a rather well known festival in the fall, so i'm kinda reluctant to mention the name and have it turn up in a google search.. and the editor did an awesome job crafting the story

the only failing was not allowing time and budget to get a clean turnover, the sched was pushed back from gradeing just after Christmas to piclok on Feb10, but the hard deadline was still Feb 20 to hand over my CTM to finishing....

would be possiable without drama with Pp, MC on and on...  was barely possiable, and at that only with massive drama for both sound and picture

 

 

 

 

Edited by dermot.shane
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thnx Brian,

that link is very VERY basic, and was all followed to the letter in the first place, as it could be lifted from my decades old cheat sheet that i send to any editor

basic good clean workflows are needed, but really no one involved in this is a beginner, the network's online editor was a scanner op in 2006, we worked on projects together back then i was gradeing his scans, one example of the depth the crew involved have under their collective belt

i've been conforming shows since the days of 2" machines with an Ampex ACE, and convergent s90 used for offline, read the late 1970's....

it takes a fair bit to screw up something that i can't un-screw up by now, we even got this sorted, mainly by eyematching with the editors help as he could read out the correct tc/file name from FCX, shot-by-shot... all 90 min

it really comes back to FCX, and the lack of support -or- information on what the weak links are, how to sort or avoid

far beyond the basic's

but that's a solid document, well worth haveing peak if you are not used to doing a handover to sound and picture, every union assist are super solid on this file, and that's who i normaly get handover from

 

 

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not really what we had to deal with, but thanX

the XML's we tried would show the same issues even when opened in another FCX

as noted above Nucoda, FC7 and Pp were also tried, with the same resualt

we did try X-2-7 to get the XML into 7, no joy

i have since conformed three more features in Resolve with out any issues, two from MC, one from Pp

this is more like the kinda typical workflow in 2019

my machines are not an issue either, unlike the trashcan in the BMD thread, i run HP workstations with dual Xeons, Dual GPU's, 128gig sys ram, 64Tb NAS on 10gigE + 32Tb  each SAS local storage....  solid and supported machines

 

 

Edited by dermot.shane
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Adding myself to this thread as I've been working in FCPX for over 10 years now and still never looked back - the only thing that would tempt me away from editing in FCP is Resolve and not having to deal with any sort of conform is obviously very appealing!

I'm working at a high-end commercial offline edit house and all our editors use FCPX. We turn over to all the big post houses in London out of FCPX using EDL-X and XtoPro (occasionally X2CC if someone requests a legacy XML) with a very high success rate. I've also done some complex conforms using FCPXMLs straight from Final Cut direct into Resolve and Baselight Student/Look with minimal issues. 

Something worth noting, and maybe if we're lucky Apple will listen and sort this out soon, is FCPX does not let you flatten Multicam clips in the timeline. Very annoying. If you run an FCPXML through EDL-X it basically will do it for you though in the EDL it spits out. Also Resolve will take the and rebuild the Multicam but it will create a compound clip for each clip within the Multicam. Same thing happens with speed changes. The best way I've worked out to deal with these is to set a filter in the colour page for Multicam and compound, then go step back and forth between the edit and colour page following these steps for each clip:

- Right Click > Flatten Multicam

- Locate the correct source clip in the media pool

- Right click > Conform lock with Media Pool Clip

9 times out 10 this will conform the compound clip back to correct source clip while maintaining speed changes, transforms, scaling, etc 

 

Also as discussed some on this page, it is best to simplify the timeline as much as possible before exporting XMLs from FCP. Bringing everything down to one video layer (primary storyline), deleting disabled/inactive clips, breaking apart compound clips, etc. I also will detach and delete the audio from all clips if I'm only prepping for the grade (or resupply this way if there are issues in the conform) as sometimes linked audio has caused issues with timecode. Hope this helps some of you out there! 

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almost three years later!

thanks Matthew

i have not seen another FCX project since that one,  in the three years since the show from hell  i've graded 30+ features, all but two from MC, and the outliers were Pp

i've cut-n-pasted your notes to a word doc, along with links to EDL-X  and  X2CC  - could be super helpful to have them at hand

typcialy,  i do the conform,  and typicaly it's problem free,  if there's any significant issues i'll send the project on to an assist to take on the compound clip -> media pool -> conform clip shuffle

in the last three years i've mothballed the DS  stations,  parked the Flame, hae not had a reason to turn it on in over a year, and am mainly working in Resolve, with two shows done in Baselight

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