Keni
Beepster
I should probably read the whole thread (I'm attempting to make dinner though) but AFAIK they seem to be trying to make splitting a thing of the past with the whole swipe/promote/auto crossfade stuff but I always just use S or use the function keys or HUD to get at the split tool. Is that not working?
Yeah... I should read the thread. I'm obviously missing something.
Yup... I've used that too, but it's too slow and clumsy when doing a lot of editing... When you read the htread and get to the few posts just prior to where your first post appears you'll see that I found some ways to deal with the issue and they won't be too bad... Hopefully they will implement my FR or something like it to give alt-click type immediacy to an isolated split (I'm not sure what to call it ;-))...
Now I'm finding I can work with the other features and they are extremely helpful for getting some things done quickly...
I don't often use auto crossfades and prefer to draw my own as I wish them to be... I haven't tried this aspect yet and I am curious to see what happens...
Here I go! ;-)
Keni
I am also very hesitant to use any type of auto crossfades because I'm the type of weirdo who looks and listens to every single fade in/out on every single clip of every single track and tries the various curves and adjusts the lengths until they are just right. For that reason the fast comping probably won't be such a great tool for me when actually editing but for trying out different parts and stuff it looks cool.
To me it sounds like you are doing bulk editing and want to slam through it as quickly as possible but as Craig has said that shouldn't be a problem. Just a matter of getting used to things which you already are. I think this is all about growing pains and hopefully (and some may not like this) Cake will finally settle down with a procedure and stick to it. For things like this that need to be done over and over and over again it is really irksome to have things change because not only do you have to relearn everything there is a certain level of muscle memory involved for hard ass pros. Like asking a seasoned receptionist to switch from a QWERTY keyboard to a Dvorak.
That said I haven't really dug into the new lanes but I did think the idea was good when X2 came out and found them far more usable and convenient than layers. However I hadn't become very entrenched or invested in layers so it's an outsiders perspective and being presented with TWO new ways of doing something instead of having a way that I had used and become accustomed to over years of usage and then having something new thrust upon me.
Now there is a third way of doing things and when I tried to just jump right in I was having problems because I simply didn't know what the heck was going on. After a bit of poking around the manual I found my problem and I will have to do a full relearn of Lanes which is... well a little annoying but there were definitely problems with the X2 incarnation and the new stuff seems a little more refined and flexible. There does however have to come a point where they lock down the basic procedures and work around those so we aren't learning something new with each release. I don't think that is where we're at here though. One more set of refinements just to make absolutely sure everything is ergonomic and makes sense then lock that shiz down and only add extra functionality by way of sub menu options, modifiers, extra buttons, etc.
They are doing something very unique and special here I think and I do like it very much but it's like coming up with a new... oh let's say way to build the foundation of a house. You have your prototype (X2) then you build a few houses and see what happens then correct unforeseen engineering issues and build another house (X3). A good structural engineer at that point should see the last little fundamental problems and how things might screw up in the field and eliminate them. Now you have a tried and true method that all contractors can apply across the board and THEN you start adding flourishes and ways to manipulate the foundation in interesting ways like say... returning back to our little program here... make lanes behave like layers a bit more easily without actually reverting back to layers or having to code in a completely different subset of fancy computer whatchamacallits.
As far as zooming... I just use the drag zoom on the ruler now. Another addition to X2 that I thought was just astounding and I don't bother with anything else it's so bloody easy with my trackball... and I'm the type of dude who uses my keyboard whenever I can so that's saying something.
WHY they did not remove the lane height limitation I do not know. I'm also not sure what the deal is with editing in the collapsed parent track but I wasn't too happy with how that was working in X2. I'd rather be able to get my comp together then edit the parent tracks without having to open the lanes or bounce to clips or whatever but I THINK X3 allows that type of editing a bit. Ideally we should be able to comp and lock... meaning you get in, comp the lanes to parent the track and lock it and then the parent track is your editable version. That would cause problems if you ever opened the lanes again but you could just make it so that if you DO decide to open the lanes again you lose whatever ever post comp editing you have done AND you get a dialog that gives you the option to take the current parent track that has been edited and clone it BEFORE reopening the lanes and returning to the comp session.
But whatevs... that's just rambling and pontification about this that and the other as I contemplate what the next piece of apartment grime I'll attack next so I'll just wish you luck in your endeavors and say perhaps look at the new tools in a fresh new light now that X3 is in your hands instead of the through the tainted glass of your X2 experience. It may end up just working out for the better. It is hard look beyond things that have been persistent annoyances even when things improve (lord I know as I'm dealing with some in the meatworld here) but sometimes we screw ourselves over with those perspectives and overlook how good things have actually gotten.
Whether editing in X3 has gotten to that point I have yet to fully test myself but so far I have been impressed (and editing was a MAJOR beef for me), the videos look good, the methodology and engineering seems solid and really most seem quite happy after they get over the growing pains. You seem to be even getting a little bit happier about all this.