Scrolling Timeline in FCP - Hack???
by Jake Hawkes
on
Jun 3, 2008 at 4:20:16 pm
I have a very skilled editor that would just feel that everything is right in the world if his timeline updated with his play head. I realize why this was probably removed (processing power), but from the perspective of a Autodesk editor coming into the Final Cut fold this feature, or lack there of, is drivng him crazy...
Does anyone know of a hack/plugin that will allow his timeline to update to the play head?
Re: Scrolling Timeline in FCP - Hack??? by Steve Eisen on Jun 3, 2008 at 4:25:16 pm
You will have to wait for a future update to have this feature in FCP. This is a frequent request. You too can contribute and send your your feedback to Apple via FCP menu.
Steve Eisen
Eisen Video Productions
Board of Directors
Chicago Final Cut Pro Users Group
Re: Scrolling Timeline in FCP - Hack??? by David Roth Weiss on Jun 3, 2008 at 5:28:06 pm
[Kevin Monahan]"Must not be all that possible with the existing code, as I think they should've figured this out by now."
Kevin,
As I recall, Larry Jordan adressed this at meeting of the LAFCPUG several months back. According to Larry, the rapid graphics updating required to display the scrolling timeline is such a resource hog that it would compromize realtime performance.
As you have probably noticed, in version 6, the Apple engineeers took particular pains to optimize realtime capabilities. A scrolling timeline would significantly degrade that realtime performance, and as I seem to remember, Larry explained it was ultimately thought to be a step backward rather than an enhancement.
David
David Roth Weiss
Director/Editor
David Weiss Productions, Inc.
Los Angeles
POST-PRODUCTION WITHOUT THE USUAL INSANITY ™
A forum host of Creative COW's Apple Final Cut Pro, Business & Marketing, and Indie Film & Documentary forums.
Re: Scrolling Timeline in FCP - Hack??? by Tom Wolsky on Jun 3, 2008 at 5:42:54 pm
This is a canard. Things can be done to mitigate graphics overhead, especially in these days of large amounts of available RAM. Many applications could do this in days when RAM was less, processor power was much slower, and graphics card had nowhere near the capabilities they have now. Bottom line appears to be that Apple just doesn't seem to think this is a significant enhancement. They continue to come up other "features" what no one requested, which they feel are more important. BTW, even Premiere can do this today, and there is nothing in their timeline interface that is less complex than FCP's, in fact it's more complex.
All the best,
Tom
Class on Demand DVDs "Complete Training for FCP6," "Basic Training for FCS2" and "Final Cut Express Made Easy"
Author: "Final Cut Pro 5 Editing Essentials" and "Final Cut Express 3.5 HD Editing Workshop"
Re: Scrolling Timeline in FCP - Hack??? by Sean ONeil on Jun 3, 2008 at 9:30:21 pm
[Tom Wolsky]"Bottom line appears to be that Apple just doesn't seem to think this is a significant enhancement. "
Tom's right. They could easily make this work without causing even a hiccup in performance.
That said, I never understood what the big deal is. I missed it at first. Not for any logical reason - just because I was used to it. Right now I can't really think of any actual benefit it would provide. When you pause playback, it jumps to the spot in the timeline where the playhead is. That's all that really matters.
Re: Scrolling Timeline in FCP - Hack??? by Tom Wolsky on Jun 3, 2008 at 10:00:42 pm
Apple put a real-time, keyframable audio mixer in the application. It even has MIDI interface to hardware controls. That's really hard to do on a program of any length if the timeline doesn't scroll with you.
All the best,
Tom
Class on Demand DVDs "Complete Training for FCP6," "Basic Training for FCS2" and "Final Cut Express Made Easy"
Author: "Final Cut Pro 5 Editing Essentials" and "Final Cut Express 3.5 HD Editing Workshop"
Re: Scrolling Timeline in FCP - Hack??? by Kevin Monahan on Jun 3, 2008 at 6:01:33 pm
Yes David, I agree that it would take extra resources to pull this off. But who cares? I want a button I can turn on or off that does this. Macs are much more powerful these days and can handle a stream or two with this feature on.
If other software packages can do it, why not FCP? Avid Media Composer runs w/o hardware these days and their playhead scrolls. That is why I still think it's not possible with the current code.
Re: Scrolling Timeline in FCP - Hack??? by Michael Aranyshev on Jun 3, 2008 at 8:48:10 pm
I don't think the problem is to redraw timeline. I think the problem is to redraw audio waveform. The size of cache FCP keeps waveform in is quite small and reading from there isn't that fast. I used to put onto the RAM disk back under System 9 and still felt it is slow.
Re: Scrolling Timeline in FCP - Hack??? by Dylan Reeve on Jun 4, 2008 at 4:41:27 am
[David Roth Weiss]"According to Larry, the rapid graphics updating required to display the scrolling timeline is such a resource hog that it would compromize realtime performance."
I call BS on that. I have a scrolling timeline in Avid Media Composer on the same computer with no impact on realtime performance at all. I'm not using it right now, but I believe the timeline isn't completely redrawn as it scrolls, some things are left off, but the clips are clearly evident as are effects and other useful bits.
Re: Scrolling Timeline in FCP - Hack??? by Dylan Reeve on Jun 4, 2008 at 8:01:40 am
[David Roth Weiss]"Don't cut off my head, I'm just the messenger, I didn't create the message..."
Sorry David, of course I understand that. Seems like a bit of a cop out to me, that's all. There's no shortage of computing power in these modern boxes.
Re: Scrolling Timeline in FCP - Hack??? by Ed Dooley on Jun 3, 2008 at 5:11:37 pm
You mean this feature in FCP 6.0.2?
>>Scroll to Playhead: Horizontally scrolls the Timeline so that the playhead is centered in the window.<<<
[Jake Hawkes]"I realize why this was probably removed (processing power), but from the perspective of a Autodesk editor coming into the Final Cut fold this feature, or lack there of, is drivng him crazy...
"
Re: Scrolling Timeline in FCP - Hack??? by Kevin Monahan on Jun 3, 2008 at 5:21:11 pm
Well, Scroll to Playhead is only a temporary state. When you invoke it, the playhead stops. That's good for finding your playhead in the middle of your timeline but it won't stay there when you press play once more. You can tap the page up key, but most editors coming from Avid want this automated.
Re: Scrolling Timeline in FCP - Hack??? by Zak Mussig on Jun 3, 2008 at 6:01:40 pm
It may not seem quite as elegant, but you can manually scroll the timeline during playback by holding shift and using your mouse wheel. Depending on how far out you're zoomed, you may not need to do it so often. I use this all the time, since you can usually see the issue and know immediately what you need to change if you can see the edit while watching it.
Re: Scrolling Timeline in FCP - Hack??? by todd reid on Jun 3, 2008 at 6:36:43 pm
With a mighty mouse, I've been able to scroll timelines (left/right & up/down) as I see fit.
In my opinion, this would be a luxury.
I would not want it at the expense of something else, like realtime-ness.
I can think of many things I'd rather have, but that may be due to the might mouse making this feature unnecessary.
Re: Scrolling Timeline in FCP - Hack??? by Jake Hawkes on Jun 4, 2008 at 2:02:24 pm
Thanks for all the input...
This is and should not be alot of overhead in the most simple timeline viewer. Vector graphics take up so low of an overhead and make them animate is a very simple formula.
Re: Scrolling Timeline in FCP - Hack??? by Jake Hawkes on Jun 4, 2008 at 6:05:02 pm
Sorry, I just don't buy into that. I am not saying that it should or should not be there...it isn't which is fine, but on face value it seems to me to be a simple implimentation and takes up very little overhead. I realize it is a feature that has many implications on other components, but hopefully it is on the Apple Pro Apps radar.
I write code all day long and while I don't have the time or expereience in Apple Application frameworks which you may have, the fact is that vector graphics take up very little in the way of process (CPU/GPU) even if they are animated, and the function for determining the current state and updating via call backs is pretty well documented and straight forward.
The reason I don't buy it is because Apple does indeed ROCK! When I found out that they had a X86 OS the entire time they were developing for Micro PC I realized right then and there that Apple is love...
Re: Scrolling Timeline in FCP - Hack??? by Rick Dolishny on Jun 4, 2008 at 7:00:29 pm
I'm surprised no one uses this trick. I guess I get today's FCP sticker.
While playing, just hit the zoom in or out and the screen will update. I typically use '-' more than '+' to give me a better idea of what's coming up. Playback will not stop. It's not real time but gives you a really dynamic idea of what's coming up.
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Rick Dolishny
Discrete Editors COW Leader
www.thecreativeprocess.ca
Re: Scrolling Timeline in FCP - Hack??? by Rick Dolishny on Jun 4, 2008 at 7:09:34 pm
...BTW that whole timeline grinding to a halt is so lame. Avid is the worst, FCP kinda fixed it a bit with adding the mixer for audio tweaks ... but the absolute hands down winner is Vegas.
sidebar
If you haven't seen it, it's pretty amazing. You can drag ins and outs while a clip is playing, you can set a looped play on a region and grab sound effects or video cutaways from a bin and drag them to the timeline WHILE IT'S PLAYING, and not skipping a beat. You can also slip and slide a clip like a sound effect while it's looping to perfectly sync an effect. While a clip is playing, you can even right click drag to copy a lower third if a guy is talking a long time, all without stopping playback. The TLC only stops when you press the spacebar.
/sidebar
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Rick Dolishny
Discrete Editors COW Leader
www.thecreativeprocess.ca
Re: Scrolling Timeline in FCP - Hack??? by Michael Aranyshev on Jun 4, 2008 at 7:21:57 pm
While you can slip, slide, roll and ripple without stopping playback in FCP the development team must finally get a simple idea that playback must absolutely not stop unless an editor hits stop.
