AVID – Why Not?

[Bill Davis]

Steve. I don’t personally do long form. But I’m very well connected in the global FCP X community and I know plenty of editors all over the world who work on long form – Movies, TV shows and Documentaries – day in and day out. Our own Tony West just finished a 3 year project doing a full blown documentary in X and Chuck Braverman’s team in LA just cut the two major TV Movies coming out in a couple of weeks on the OJ Simpson anniversary. I know some of the team that cut those. And my friend Jari in Finland’s been cutting hour long TV for their national networks for more than 3 years now. So it’s not like long form is unexplored territory in X. Honestly, you’re a bit late to the subject. Perfect? Nope. and all of them faced issues along the way – learned to solve them – and rather than waste time complaining or fighting the software – they all report big changes for the better in their workflow after X “clicked” for them. Its that type of evidence from real working pros with REAL experience in X that I trust. i’m not saying X doesn’t have quirks or need workarounds. I’ve just never experienced ANY software in 20 plus years of editing that hasn’t. That’s all.

Know someone who teaches video editing in elementary school, high school or college? Tell them to check out http://www.StartEditingNow.com – video editing curriculum complete with licensed practice content.

[Jeff Markgraf]

[Mike Warmels] “I can’t bear to look at it anymore.”

I used FCP-generated proxies on the RED 5k movie footage because the MacBook Pro couldn’t decode and debayer 5k in real time. 4k would have been fine. Mind you, the proxies were about 1/2 resolution, so effectively 2k. Even the DP could barely see a difference on my Flanders Scientific monitor showing a 2k picture. And since you can switch immediately from proxy to original and back, it’s a pretty seamless workflow. So…maybe rethink the proxy issue?

Good to know about the Avid backward compatibility. I have v8, and have been reluctant to use it for stuff with a facility still on 7.something.

I hear you on XD-CAM. Big bag o’ hurt. And I wish FCPX could force-optimize XD-CAM. So, you’re right – transcoding is the only way to go. That sucks. Although I will note that even Avid gets cranky with XD-CAM. and you absolutely have to transcode for layback or export. Which also sucks.

Pretty much any other format plays nice with my system. Ah, there’s that inconsistent performance issue again. Really a drag.

[Misha Aranyshev]

Because it will hurt you after a while.

[Mike Warmels]

Errr… yeah?

[James Ewart]

Sense of humour failure?

[James Ewart]

I’m fine thanks

[Jeff Markgraf]

[James Ewart] “And may I ask why do some people seem so averse to using a mouse?”

James – Michael is correct on this point. The mouse is not your wrist’s friend. That’s why I use a pen and tablet.

As far as keyboard editing, I find that more keyboard and less mouse can be much faster. I use as little mouse as possible on Avid, and now that I’m more comfortable with X, more keyboard there as well.

But, yes, X requires more mouse than Avid. Certainly not a deal breaker, though. And I find the benefits of X more than makes up for the additional mousing.

[Jeff Markgraf]

The “hurt you” post is a slightly out-of-order response to James’ “why not use a mouse” post.

The threading on this forum is not ideal. Which is why it’s a good idea to quote the post to which one is responding.

[Mike Warmels]

Hehehe… not really…

[James Ewart]

[Jeff Markgraf] “James – Michael is correct on this point. The mouse is not your wrist’s friend. That’s why I use a pen and tablet.
“
Absolutely agree on quotes. otherwise really hard to know where you are.

… happy to report after 16 years into the editing journey from a P/D background and no problems with the wrist this end. i think the problem is more to do with general posture when people have issues and not being balanced or correctly set in the chair. A good solid engaged core. Not leaning or over extending.

I hate the pen and tablet. I used a Wacom but no matter how it was set the cursor was always a but “drifty” and less accurate.

Some editors seem to feel using a mouse slows them down. I’m lucky, I’m never in that much of a hurry but found it more tactile and intuitive using a mouse.

I do understand if people are bashing out news pieces in a busy news room it could be an issue perhaps.