We are an FCP7 production company and happy there at the moment, but our tapeless workflow and delivery to web often means that FCPX is looking like a good upgrade in the future for us...
At the moment with FCP7, we have a RAID which is shared as an AFP volume that any other editing station can access and edit over Gigabit ethernet and it works really well for two editors (not working on the same project but being able to access the same stock footage or media if required).
I know in FCPX you can add a SAN location and work from that, but it looks like only one person at a time can work off it.
I am wondering if anyone above has had experience of using FCPX like this? Can it work off an AFP volume?
We are an FCP7 production company and happy there at the moment, but our tapeless workflow and delivery to web often means that FCPX is looking like a good upgrade in the future for us...
At the moment with FCP7, we have a RAID which is shared as an AFP volume that any other editing station can access and edit over Gigabit ethernet and it works really well for two editors (not working on the same project but being able to access the same stock footage or media if required).
I know in FCPX you can add a SAN location and work from that, but it looks like only one person at a time can work off it.
I am wondering if anyone above has had experience of using FCPX like this? Can it work off an AFP volume?
I don't have a shared RAID, so I can't duplicate your environment...
But, I have used FCP X to access/import/share media that resides on my iDisk.
So, I assume anything you can see in the Finder can be accessed* by FCP X without using ay SAN setup.
* copy files from the iDisk or just reference the files on iDisk in an event
You can see for yourself, by downloading a FCP X free trial:
I believe that the reason for the focus on events rather than clips is the metadata and the ability to quickly categorize, find and reference the clips -- among other things, eliminating the need to copy/bury the same clip in several bins in several projects.
It doesn't need to encapsulate the media though. Metadata exists in the Finder but it doesn't prevent you from editing files in any app you choose. If you replace the content from an FCPX event using any other app, FCPX thinks you have broken the event. This gives the metadata a higher importance than the source footage.
Separating the metadata from the media doesn't affect the universal media bin.
I don't really see why they couldn't have had a setup where metadata tagging was simply an offset from the source start time. This way if you open the source in another app, it retains the offset on a modified, possibly replaced clip. It can warn the user of the change by the timestamp and ask to regenerate proxies if needed, otherwise update the timestamps.
Quote:
Originally Posted by Dick Applebaum
As I understand the collaborative environment, the media clips reside on a central store -- wouldn't moving/changing clips disrupt collaboration? In any case, in FCP X the events as well as the clips are on a central store for collaboration.
Changing clips on a central store wouldn't necessarily disrupt anything, FCP 7 just pulled in the new version of the clip or asked you to locate it. FCPX would just say the file is gone if any change was made with an overly horrible and worrying warning symbol.
Media isn't always located centrally, you could have the exact same copy of source footage in two countries where it's not feasible to have a networked share. In this scenario, you just need to be able to exchange edits. In all cases, you need to be able to edit footage outside of FCPX and you can't edit Events outside FCPX at the Finder level.
In a shared environment, you don't know if someone is going to edit a sequence in AE and drop out a flattened ProRes file that you insert into an FCP edit. If you do that, correct it and their edit changes, how do you replace the edit? You have to relink the Event media, which is possible in 10.0.3 but it's more cumbersome than it used to be (it used to be transparent).
Quote:
Originally Posted by Dick Applebaum
you can open project A, then open project B, go back <--, copy (any or all), go forward -->, paste... I think it is easier to incorporate and rearrange the clips in the combined FCP X project that it is in the FCP 7 project -- using the magnetic timeline, absolute positioning, either or both.
I think it's faster to jump between tabs but I agree FCPX makes it easier to push things around. You can't view two sequences at the same time though.
Quote:
Originally Posted by Dick Applebaum
In FCPX you can duplicate a project in the same location (project view) or Duplicate and move (place) it in a different location. Or, you can just move the project to somewhere else -- either way can be used to hand off a project to another editor or computer,
When you have to find workarounds, that's when you know Apple has done it wrong. The disk image idea is not feasible because render files go in beside the project so it will fill up the sparse image pretty quick and you can't free up the space easily again when you flush it out. The project duplication/backup can be done manually in the Finder but Apple chose not to do it in the app, where it used to be. Even if they had snapshots like Time Machine, it would be something tangible without clutter.
Quote:
Originally Posted by Dick Applebaum
I believe that this is in the master plan. One of the advantages that FCP X has is an SQL database as part of every project and every event -- in the future, I can see these individual dbs being incorporated into a master shared SQL DB on a central store for collaboration.
In this way, editors could check out projects/events/clips/edits down to whatever level that makes sense, e.g. editor 1 does color, editor 2 does sound, editor 3 does titles... on the same edited clip segment at the same time.
They could do something like that, like you get for collaborative word processing apps where someone makes a change and you can see the history of non-linear edits and decide which version to go with in the master version. Comments would be handy too e.g this part needs colour-corrected, this part needs a title, this footage is too shaky whatever monkey shot this is fired.
Comments
At the moment with FCP7, we have a RAID which is shared as an AFP volume that any other editing station can access and edit over Gigabit ethernet and it works really well for two editors (not working on the same project but being able to access the same stock footage or media if required).
I know in FCPX you can add a SAN location and work from that, but it looks like only one person at a time can work off it.
I am wondering if anyone above has had experience of using FCPX like this? Can it work off an AFP volume?
We are an FCP7 production company and happy there at the moment, but our tapeless workflow and delivery to web often means that FCPX is looking like a good upgrade in the future for us...
At the moment with FCP7, we have a RAID which is shared as an AFP volume that any other editing station can access and edit over Gigabit ethernet and it works really well for two editors (not working on the same project but being able to access the same stock footage or media if required).
I know in FCPX you can add a SAN location and work from that, but it looks like only one person at a time can work off it.
I am wondering if anyone above has had experience of using FCPX like this? Can it work off an AFP volume?
I don't have a shared RAID, so I can't duplicate your environment...
But, I have used FCP X to access/import/share media that resides on my iDisk.
So, I assume anything you can see in the Finder can be accessed* by FCP X without using ay SAN setup.
* copy files from the iDisk or just reference the files on iDisk in an event
You can see for yourself, by downloading a FCP X free trial:
Final Cut Pro X Free Trial
I believe that the reason for the focus on events rather than clips is the metadata and the ability to quickly categorize, find and reference the clips -- among other things, eliminating the need to copy/bury the same clip in several bins in several projects.
It doesn't need to encapsulate the media though. Metadata exists in the Finder but it doesn't prevent you from editing files in any app you choose. If you replace the content from an FCPX event using any other app, FCPX thinks you have broken the event. This gives the metadata a higher importance than the source footage.
Separating the metadata from the media doesn't affect the universal media bin.
I don't really see why they couldn't have had a setup where metadata tagging was simply an offset from the source start time. This way if you open the source in another app, it retains the offset on a modified, possibly replaced clip. It can warn the user of the change by the timestamp and ask to regenerate proxies if needed, otherwise update the timestamps.
As I understand the collaborative environment, the media clips reside on a central store -- wouldn't moving/changing clips disrupt collaboration? In any case, in FCP X the events as well as the clips are on a central store for collaboration.
Changing clips on a central store wouldn't necessarily disrupt anything, FCP 7 just pulled in the new version of the clip or asked you to locate it. FCPX would just say the file is gone if any change was made with an overly horrible and worrying warning symbol.
Media isn't always located centrally, you could have the exact same copy of source footage in two countries where it's not feasible to have a networked share. In this scenario, you just need to be able to exchange edits. In all cases, you need to be able to edit footage outside of FCPX and you can't edit Events outside FCPX at the Finder level.
In a shared environment, you don't know if someone is going to edit a sequence in AE and drop out a flattened ProRes file that you insert into an FCP edit. If you do that, correct it and their edit changes, how do you replace the edit? You have to relink the Event media, which is possible in 10.0.3 but it's more cumbersome than it used to be (it used to be transparent).
you can open project A, then open project B, go back <--, copy (any or all), go forward -->, paste... I think it is easier to incorporate and rearrange the clips in the combined FCP X project that it is in the FCP 7 project -- using the magnetic timeline, absolute positioning, either or both.
I think it's faster to jump between tabs but I agree FCPX makes it easier to push things around. You can't view two sequences at the same time though.
In FCPX you can duplicate a project in the same location (project view) or Duplicate and move (place) it in a different location. Or, you can just move the project to somewhere else -- either way can be used to hand off a project to another editor or computer,
Here's one way that looks pretty good:
Managing Your FCP X Events & Projects using Disk Images
When you have to find workarounds, that's when you know Apple has done it wrong. The disk image idea is not feasible because render files go in beside the project so it will fill up the sparse image pretty quick and you can't free up the space easily again when you flush it out. The project duplication/backup can be done manually in the Finder but Apple chose not to do it in the app, where it used to be. Even if they had snapshots like Time Machine, it would be something tangible without clutter.
I believe that this is in the master plan. One of the advantages that FCP X has is an SQL database as part of every project and every event -- in the future, I can see these individual dbs being incorporated into a master shared SQL DB on a central store for collaboration.
In this way, editors could check out projects/events/clips/edits down to whatever level that makes sense, e.g. editor 1 does color, editor 2 does sound, editor 3 does titles... on the same edited clip segment at the same time.
They could do something like that, like you get for collaborative word processing apps where someone makes a change and you can see the history of non-linear edits and decide which version to go with in the master version. Comments would be handy too e.g this part needs colour-corrected, this part needs a title, this footage is too shaky whatever monkey shot this is fired.