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Switching from FCP
I am switching from FCP to either Adobe or Avid. I am demoing both, but I was wondering if any of you had input on Avid of things you like/dislike – especially if you have experience using FCP as a comparison?
I am a ProTools user, so any input on how well Media Composer works with it would be greatly appreciate too.
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4 Replies
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Pro Tools works incredibly well with media Composer. I use both.
media Composer does not talk to all the pro tools HD hardware though
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Works VERY well with ProTools as ProTools is an Avid company. Couldn’t be tighter.
Compositing and building effects is more difficult in Avid…but other than that, I really like it. It does prefer media be Avid media…but it can work with several formats via AMA without transcoding. There are so many small things, like MIX AND MATCH which allows for PROPER mixing of frame rates (that FCP did badly) and frame sizes…transition preservation which is AMAZING (small things are amazing)…AMA…work with cheaper hardware for output to monitor (MXO2 MINI), as well as capture and output (AJA IO EXPRESS), so you don’t need the expensive Avid hardware.
Shane
GETTING ORGANIZED WITH FINAL CUT PRO DVD…don’t miss it.
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Thanks for the great feedback.
I’m a little concerned about creative effects and transitions – I do a lot of that for promo and demo videos. i just downloaded the trial, so I’ll give it a shot.
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Effects wise, Avid is much better than FCP on the timeline (in my opinion) but not as flexible as Motion. The basic Avid effects are ok but a bit limited, so you really need to get a few plug ins (pretty much anything is available if you’re willing to pay). If you have the Production Suite you get Boris effects, which gives you loads of great things (I got that with “the deal”) and it’s rare that I find a need for anything more.
[N.B. my disagreeing with Shane about whether Avid or FCP is better for building effects on the timeline may be because I worked with Avid for a long time before moving to FCP, so I’m used to the way that Avid does some things, e.g., the ability of layering effects in filler clips on higher video layers as well as going effect over effect within the clip.]
TBH it wasn’t a difficult transition to go from Avid to FCP, so I’d expect it to be fairly easy to go the other way. Yes there’s a few things you have to learn (it’s different software, get over it), but really the things that bugged me at first were the things that are almost but not quite the same – the slider for zooming the timeline going in the opposite direction, razor blade tool (FCP is select tool-position cursor-click, Avid is position cursor-click tool), etc.
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