Is it possible to create handles?

I think handles on all clips would be better (thus creating separate clips). Anything to make the final AAF file smaller.

I used to export OMFs in FCP7 and send them to sound guys. I rarely had a problem (although I know of some people who did) I never really knew what the sound guys got, since I couldn't open the file. I would assume they just got individual clips with handles.

Exporting the OMF didn't take that long to create. I know nothing of programming, but just curious - what are the challenges when dealing with the fcpxml file?

Thanks for the comment 5thwall. We are currently in the early stages of development of the next version of X2Pro. We are looking into trimming media to handles before embedding it and also referencing media rather than embedding it. We have a little research to do on that second feature, so cannot guarantee that it goes in.
I would like to ask you folks out there about trimming. An issue is that if you use multiple segments from a piece of media, should it embed those segments separately, or the as much as needed from the first to the last clip? The second option would be not helpful if you included the first and last few seconds of a 2 hour file as you would still get the whole file. The first option is difficult because we would have to create new media rather than just a trimmed version of the existing one.
Any ideas or comments?

Hi Chris,

I've already voted - but figured I'd try again :). I've got an edit coming up where we need to ftp the aaf files to the sound mixer. Having full files makes them too large. So, if there's any way to get the aafs to have handles, that would be awesome.

Thanks again for the work you've put in on the software.

Another vote for the handles. As mentioned in a previous post, for promo creation we are dealing with full episodes of source footage, it would be totally impossible to have the full audio of each and every episode used to be embedded in the AAF. This is the main thing holding me back from recommending it to my company even for testing. Would you be able to even provide a estimate of when handle functionality will be introduced. Much appreciated.

Thanks for the suggestion Alan.
It would only be possible if we were to transcode the media when we copy it into the AAF. One of the reasons for copying the whole media into the AAF was to ensure that it was all there and "unadulterated" - there was little we could do to mess it up in some way.
When we get around to trimming the included media, we'll look at whether this is possible.

If its possible, it would be great to conform everything to one sample-rate on .aaf creation. For instance, setting everything to 48 or 96 kHz.

That may not be a thing that's even possible? Maybe?

hi chris
i purchased the software today, so once i've had some more time to work with it, i'll be sure to let you know if there's anything else i'd like to see.
thanks for the product

Thanks for the input Malcolm. It is on our roadmap.
You mention a "few preferences" - anything else that you would like to be able to control?

i have to agree that it is imperative that handles be introduced. i appreciate that this is a young product, but for the price, i would expect it to be a professional piece of software, which it almost is, which offers me a few preferences to toggle. for network promo production for MTV Nickelodeon and Comedy Central, 3 gb AAF files for each 30" promo is not a realistic workflow. since automatic duck has sunk support for fcp x, your product really has the potential to fill the gaping gaps fcp x has.

please implement this sooner rather than later.

Chris,

I'l give you an incentive to fast-track handles. We're a small creative shop based in Austin and evaluating FCP X. Your plugin is a crucial piece of the puzzle for us. We also generally have our mixes done off-site via upload/download. But forget about us. We used to be creative directors and senior editors at Spike TV and Nickelodeon and MTV before that all in New York City. We employed the same workflow there.

Handles are VITAL to the broadcast workflow. In reality TV, you're pulling from routinely large takes, so your source file lengths are going to be very big and the needed-size to total-size ratio will be nuts. Also, for network promos, which has been a big user of FCP and a big potential market for your product, you're dealing with an even more intense ratio. A promo may be 30 seconds, but it's pulling audio from a full 1 hour set of show episode splits. Add in the intense turn-around time and you have a desperate need to keep those upload/download AAFs reasonable. Taking 2 hours to upload a 1gig AAF for a :30 second spot isn't going to work. It's a veto factor for your otherwise excellent product.

This used to be less of a problem since producers would typically go to the audio session in town (NYC) and would thus be able to bring the files on a drive. Those days are over for many networks and shops. Even local audio is still being handled remotely because the output demands on producers and editors have risen with the new distribution platforms. So now you're uploading your picture reference and OMF/AAF for the mix even if the audio house is three blocks away, because you're moving on to cut the web version and the integrated marketing cut in time for the air date.

Our company, Emergent Order, is excited to deploy FCPX and will be frequent users of X2Pro. We're happy to provide any other feedback you need.

Thanks for the vote - always really helpful in informing our plans.

Hi, I just purchased X2Pro last night. Tried it with pro tools and it seems to work fine. Thanks for making the app.

I vote for the ability to create handles in the file. One of my main reasons is file size. I upload OMFs to my sound mixer quite often. I need to keep the file size to a minimum.

Last night I tested the same sequence in FCP7 and the OMF came out to 250MB. While in X, it was over 1GB. This was for a 5-minute piece.

So, if it's possible it would be a great option to have! Thanks.

@Vikt: If you would like, I can create a sample AAF containing a section of a clip so that you can see how the "infinite handles" feature works in Pro Tools. Let me know if you would like to try this.

Hi, Chris, thanks for your quick reply. Now I can only try how it works.

Hi Vikt,
Thanks for you comments.

What you see in Pro Tools when you load the AAF that X2Pro has created is just the segments of audio that were visible in the timeline in FCP-X. We transfer the whole audio clips, but they are trimmed in the Pro Tools timeline (what some folks call "infinite handles").
We then sort by role name from FCP-X and pack segments with the same role name as tightly as we can onto the minimum number of tracks. So, you get a number of "Dialogue" tracks, then a number of "Music" tracks. You can see this in the two screenshots from FCP-X and Pro Tools we included on the App Store.
You certainly should not get a huge number of tracks. Feedback so far from the audio guys has been very positive.

I do accept that in some cases having the whole media is not ideal and that for some, referenced or trimmed media would be better. We'll look at that soon, but felt that for a first version this was the most universally useful way to do it as it allows the whole project to be transferred in a single file.