Re: macbook air and fcpx- the new portable edit suite

[Jeremy Garchow] "This means no matter how the timeline is sorted vertically that it will play as intended without the 'top layer' being necessarily on top, however the timeline is sorted visually. Time (I think) would be the only constant of the visual timeline (or I guess it doesn't have to be with the timeline index). Why else would there be a transfer mode that layers clips with alpha channel information "on top" when the alpha clip is actually underneath the clip you are trying to composite over? Down is now up. It might also explain why horizontal clip relationships are now user denied instead of track defined."

This sounds completely unusable to me. Maybe something like this makes sense in a nodal compositing system but I don't see any value in a time-based system. What would the benefit be? How would editors be able to share projects and have any idea what they're looking at?

[Jeremy Garchow] "All of that is pretty damn complex, and also does not resemble any Apple app that I am aware of. It also attempts to explain a trackless timeline, and the parent/child relationship in the new XML. If all of this is what is ultimately intended by Apple there is probably really good reason that Apple did not unleash this level of complexity at once."

I agree that it's complex. I think that's one of the main reasons it's difficult to use. But I'm not so sure there's a grand yet-to-be-revealed plan. A simpler explanation is that it's just bad design. Remember, Apple doesn't always hit home runs (Ping, MobileMe, hockey-puck shaped mouse, etc.) Keep in mind the team that brought us this UI is now apparently having heated debates on whether persistent in/out points are a good idea.

I mean seriously -- they're debating the value of persistent in/out points in a professional NLE... and we're supposed to believe they've got a well-thought out plan for this thing? Seems like quite a stretch to me. I'd love to be proven wrong.

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David Lawrence
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