FCPX Third Party Tool Belt

One of the biggest complaints about Final Cut Pro X when it was first released was a lack of professional features that had been built into FCP Legacy for years. It appears when Apple re-wrote the program they tagged some features as "niche use." Why write in a feature that only a small segment of your customer base needs when the market has shifted toward editors who don't need those features?

That's certainly a discussion for another post, but as a result, many perceived holes in FCPX have been filled by third party developers. When you decide to embark on a long form project using FCPX, With FCPX having been around now for 2+ years, many third party programs have become reliable additions to a "third party tool belt."

But how much will it cost to fill gaps that other NLEs fill internally? Let's take a look at programs that I think are must haves when you are readying your feature film workflow on FCPX.

FCPX to Pro Tools (for sound editing/mixing)

In post, you always want to build your workflow from the end backwards. Before I began editing the doc feature, one of my biggest concerns was how we would get our soundscape out to Pro Tools for editing and mixing once we lock picture. One of the holes in FCPX is that there is no native export to OMF or AAF file formats.

There are two (maybe three) ways to get your sound out of FCPX and into Pro Tools:

1) Use X2Pro to export your sound edits as an AAF. How does this happen in a trackless work space? FCPX uses a feature called Roles to tag sound elements. X2Pro translates those Roles into tracks. There is a light version and a pro version.

X2Pro: $149.99

X2Pro LE: $59.99

2) Use Xto7 to convert your FCPX project back to Final Cut Pro 7 (or even to Premiere, I think). From there you export your sound to Pro Tools like you're used to. But this is the method we'd like to avoid since it involves an intermediary step to get our work to Pro Tools.

Xto7: $49.99

Syncing in FCPX

The native syncing feature in FCPX is great. It operates very similar to Plural Eyes. However, syncing multiple clips at once has been hit and miss in my experience. It handles clips one-by-one great, but batch syncing hasn't been perfected yet (at least as far as I can tell, even in 10.1).

So we have to rely on a couple of old stand-bys.

Plural Eyes analyzes the waveforms in both camera audio and external audio files. It syncs those elements together within the app, then allows you to easily export those synced clips to FCPX as Compound Clips. It's a fairly straightforward process, though I have run into a few issues here and there. It's quick and you can sync many, many clips at once.

I have not used Sync N Lync but I have read that it has been used on some higher end productions. Would love to hear from anyone who has used both and which they prefer.

Both apps get the job done at a price of $199.

Autosave

One of the much-needed features that arrived in 10.1 was a built in auto-save function for backing up your Final Cut database. This doesn't back up media. It backs up the references and edits to your media.

In 10.0.9, this feature had not been released yet. The 3rd party plug-in I turned to is called Backups For Final Cut Pro which essentially does the same thing. It saves your database in a bundle.

Backups still differs in a couple of ways from X that may make you keep it around while using 10.1. You can set Backups to save at whichever interval you desire. You can also opt to have it back up media files, aliases, backup files, shared items. Be forewarned, though, that your backup will balloon if your project is large.

I'm backing up the databases, the FCPX backup files, and aliases. It's already come in handy once.

Backups For Final Cut Pro: $17.99

Exporting Marker Information

You generate tons of metadata as you build your FCPX database. All the information you use to organize and tag media is searchable within the app, but sometimes you need to get this information out of FCPX (you know, like for a control-freak producer ;).

One way is to utilize Producer's Best Friend for $99.99. I haven't used this app yet, but I see myself adding it to the tool belt in the future. It generates a lot of information that would be useful on paper or quickly viewable on an iPad.

For a lower budget production that just needs to export markers (for such situations as marked up interviews where the markers serve as a quasi transcript), here's a link to a script that Kevin Rockwood created from scratch. In a future post, I'll explain how I used this on the feature doc.

Another app you may want to consider purchasing if its in your budget is Change List X ($199). This app specifically aids you when you've locked picture, entered other phases of post, but then decide to unlock picture on last time (or many last times). You'll need to compare and conform your timelines. Change List X aids in this, but at a hundred bucks less than FCPX itself, that's a bit pricey.

Don't forget...

Apple also offers Compressor ($50) and Motion ($50) via the App Store. I haven't used Motion much, but Compressor comes in handy from time to time, though you can almost as easily get by with MPEG Streamclip, which is offered for free by Squared 5. The advantage with Compressor is its integration with FCPX, batch exports, and the ability to create custom export settings for FCPX.

I don't think you need all of these apps together to survive a FCPX feature, but you do need some combination of them. Not including the price of FCPX, you could spend up to $450 more on the low end, and up to $750 on the high end. If you start accumulating plug-ins for effects or titles, that amount goes higher (though I don't see that happening as much on a feature).

I'm also not counting the price of a Resolve suite. That's usually provided by your colorist. If you plan on coloring yourself, you might be able to get by on Resolve Lite (but hire a colorist, yo!). Same goes for Pro Tools. But again, most directors/editors are going to higher someone to handle color and sound, respectively.

That's still not a terrible price tag when compared to Final Cut Studio, which began at $999.

It's not cheap by any means either. Some of the features we just glossed over I expected to be included by now. We'll see if Apple continues to add features similar to those developed by third party developers.

X2Pro: $149.99

X2Pro LE: $59.99

Backups For Final Cut Pro ($17.99) (optional)

Compressor $50 (optional)

Motion $50 (optional)

Sync N Lync ($199) or Plural Eyes ($199)

Producer's Best Friend ($99)

Change List X ($199) optional

Xto7 ($49.99) (maybe need this)

7toX ($9.99)