Final Cut / Motion roundtripping

< repost from FCP forum - had meant to put it here >

Ok... I've been using FCP on and off for about a year, and although I have mostly avoided the situation, I'm getting to the point here where I KNOW there should be some "good" (familiar, convenient) way to use Final Cut and Motion. This is a really basic workflow issue that I haven't come up with a solution for.

I've been on an Avid using the Boris RED plugin for about 9 years now and I'm pretty happy with the workflow. Stack up tracks in the Avid timeline, apply Boris on or above the top track. Launch Boris and everthing's there... composite and effect my heart out, exit back to Avid to render. The effect is still on the top track all the source clips are still there below, and replacing or adjusting something is as easy as making the change and re-rendering.

Seems like Motion should work similarly, but Send To Motion returns me to a timeline where all my source tracks are gone - the motion project has replaced that chunk of my sequence. What gives??

Am I supposed to make duplicate timelines every time I wish to use Motion? What if I want to replace a source clip or re-time something? This seems crazy convenient the first time around, but revisions are a nightmare.

Thanks for any hints,

-Adam


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Video Photographer / Avid & Final Cut Editor