Hi all,

Im hoping someone could shed a little light on this issue I'm having.

So I had a transition working just fine. Then I deleted the transition temporarily to make the clip a compound clip because I had a lot going on with it and it was getting confusing. Now when I try to put the same transition back where I originally had it the little pop up that says your media isn't long enough would you like to create anyway (ripple trim) but this makes the duration longer which I don't want.

I tried changing the duration of the transition in preferences up and down but still nothing. I even made the same transition in Motion with the duration of it half of my actual clip, and saved it to override FCPX native duration and still nothing. This seams to be such a simple thing that I'm trying to do, but for some reason Apple thinks it should be a complex task. Anyone know how to fix this?

Hi Jeremiah,
When you make a compound clip from in the timeline it is created at the exact length of the section of timeline that you highlighted. It has no handles so transitions can’t be applied without rippling the timeline as you have seen. This will make the overall project shorter rather than longer as it will reduce the length of the compound.

Double click on the compound to open it in the timeline and you will see a shaded area at the start and end. If you extend the clip(s) into this dark hatched area you will create handles. Return to the original timeline by clicking on the back chevron and you should now be able to apply the transition.

Ian.

Unfortunately this only works for the tail end of the compound clip. If you try to extend the head (beginning) it will basically just slip the content and you'll have to re-adjust the IN and OUT on the actual timeline. I wish I could extend the handle on the start of a compound clip without slipping it.

Quite right. I haven't done this for a while and I seem to remember it working once upon a time. Probably not though.

How about this?...

When you make the compound select all of the primary storyline clips that you want to include and use Alt-Command + up arrow to lift the section out of the storyline. Next extend the IN of the first clip backwards by a second (or more for bigger handles) and the OUT of the last clip similarly. Select all of the items to be compounded and make the compound clip. You now have a compound that is too big for the hole that was left in the primary storyline. With snapping enabled, trim both ends to snap to the edges of the gap below and use Alt-Command + down arrow to drop it back into the primary storyline.

Transitions can now be applied. Opening the compound by double clicking will now reveal handles in the shaded areas at both ends of the compound.

Looks more fiddly than it is.

Best wishes,

Ian.

That doesn't work for me. I don't work on the primary storyline. My voiceovers go there. It's the ONLY way to make editing to voiceovers sane in FCPX (track based editing for the win). But I guess you could just extend the clip BEFORE Compound Clipping (lift it first if it's on a storyline) it and then once it's a CC adjust the in and out to where you need them to be.

Wait, why wouldn't you just attach VOs, and then group them as needed depending on what their connection point needs to be? The VOs go with the picture like normal. Not to say that VOs in the primary doesn't work, but it's really not the only sane way to do it. Also, putting sound in the primary makes it harder to move it back and forth in sub frames.

As for giving compound clips heads/tails, that method of popping it out and extending is exactly how I do it (if I need to do the head). For tails, you can just go into the compound to do it. They really should add a key modifier to enable extending the head of clips inside a compound without moving the in point.

Y'all are talking two different workflows. One, the voice is the story everything revolves around. The second is a timeline where the voice is placed according to the visual story.

When I do a :30 spot, I do the voice, it won't change, it is the foundation of the story, so I attach the visuals to it to match the voice's timing.

When I do an educational narrative for a TV show, I record the voice as attached, then blade it up into the necessary segments, then move them to where they need to be in order to match the visual process, which is the foundation of the story.

There's no set in stone way to do either, also.

Oh I agree, just do it the way you find works for you, for that particular project. I'm definitely in the camp of there being more than one sane way to do things.

Yet another way to lock down sound, for doing that :30 spot for example, is to put all the VO in a secondary, and attach that to either the first clip or a tiny gap at the head of the timeline. That way, you can use the primary as intended while also having a locked audio track. This also allows subframe positioning in the audio secondary storyline, whereas if the audio was in the primary, you can only move it by frames.

I find this method very fast for doing music videos, for example. Attach the music to a tiny gap at the head (or lift the first shot into an attached clip or make it a secondary). Then start chucking your shots into the primary, moving them and adjusting them as needed and using the magnetism to your advantage.

Yeah I edit the VO and it becomes it's own locked file, not a bunch of segmented file. And the visuals are edited to the pace of the VO. I'd do the same for music videos. Here's what one of my timelines generally looks like. Sometimes I will have to cut the VO and insert a gap to give a little space/improve the pacing.




EDIT: Today I learned the lesson of "Make sure file is JPG not PNG when posting images".

Thanks guys I opened the clip and extended the beginning and end of the clip. I got the transition in there.
Y'all are awesome!