Reference Frame + Scopes

G

Gary Huff

Carbonite Member
Am I correct in assuming that if I want to have a reference frame with scopes to match two shots that there's no way to do this within FCPX? That I would have to "brute force" a solution by taking a screenshot of the interface while I have the shot up I want to match to and then continually check back and forth between the screenshot and the shot I'm tweaking in order to get a match? It doesn't seem very elegant, but I can't figure out the alternative at the moment.

And please no suggestions of "Match Color" because it's not accurately matching.
 
dustylense said:
nope, you are incorrect.
Click to expand...

Yes, I am incorrect because I didn't explain my dilemma very well. I want to do this with two clips that are already in the Primary Storyline. There's no way to do that. I have to match the shots ungraded first, one from the event viewer to one in the primary storyline, then copy the color correction to it and see it if it matches.
 
Last edited:
You can't do precisely what you want but there plenty of ways to trick your way into what you want. For example you could partially crop one shot and then place the reference frame under or over it on another track in the timeline. Then you'll see both at the same time- or at least a portion of both like the old Frame viewer from FCP7.

-Noah
 
All I can think of is to - assuming your ref clip has some sort of grading already applied, export your reference shot ( I just found out you can export a clip from a time line using range selection). Re import this ref clip back into the browser and use the dual screen dual scopes to match
 
Vultch said:
All I can think of is to - assuming your ref clip has some sort of grading already applied, export your reference shot ( I just found out you can export a clip from a time line using range selection). Re import this ref clip back into the browser and use the dual screen dual scopes to match
Click to expand...
Thats one way..

Or, you can do it without eating up your hard drive space while saving duplicates of your timeline as you progress an edit.
Try this Gary,
1: select all clips in the timeline you're editing and make a compound clip.
2: it will ask you to name the compound, so name it "color reference 1" or name it "project version 1", whatever suits you. The compound clip will be saved to your event library. You've just saved your version one edits and grades.
3: In the *timeline*, UN-compound the compound clip you just saved. You have to do this with the shortcut control/shift/G. Now you have your compound in the event browser and your timeline as it was so you can continue your edits
4: To match clips using scopes, open your "event browser viewer" (command/control/3). Click the compound clip in the event browser so it reads on t event viewer, open its scope/waveform/ect. Then in the timeline view, open scopes and place the play head over each clip you want to see in the timeline and in the event browser.

Take all of less 30 secs to set this all up.

Now, because you saved a compound clip, you also have just saved a draft version of your edit as well. As you continue editing in the timeline, make new compound clips as you go. It takes up zero additional space and you can delete all "event browser" compound copies that you wish, or just file them in a keyword collection or new folder. Whatever suits you.
 
Gary Huff said:
Yes, that works out very well. Thanks, Chris!
Click to expand...
Glad I could help. When you start getting used to compound clips you start seeing other advantages to them. Also look at "export ranges" as well if you have repeating sequences for like web series things or such. I also highly recommend learning the power of the event organization.

Also, to speed up FCPX make sure to close things like the audio meters and waveforms when not using them, make your events are in list view when you can so the program does not waste video ram on generating previews. But I've also found that even though the NLE can edit native footage from DSLR's and such, still transcode your footage. FCPX loves prores. I rarely turn on the "better performance" feature anymore and am able to play through unrendered footage at full quality because of prores transcodes.

Not sure what your hardware is and how much RAM you pack, but I have a memory freer program on my laptop. It puts an icon up top in the menu bar of the OS and will tell me when the memory is filled up. Once it gets close, I use the program to free up the memory and I go about editing smoothly. I use the program called "memoryfreer" which you can find on the app store.

Then the last thing is to use "event manager" to open events that you are working on and have events that you're not working on be moved into a separate folder (helps in boot time for FCPX).
 
Chris's solution is much more elegant than mine, I agree I will have to look at compound clips more closely.
 
You must log in or register to reply here.
Back
Top