FCP to Avid

[Dom Silverio]

First you must understand that Avid is not keyboard based. Avid excels when you use keyboard shortcuts. It is much faster. Avid is not a ‘drag and drop’ based application. Yes it can do certain tasks using drag and drop or click and drag, but the majority of its tasks can be accomplished by pressing couple of keyboard strokes.

Your Avid should have came with a basic tutorial. Check it out. It may help you get over the initial hump.

[John Grote, jr.]

SyntaxJO,

I have been an AVID editor for 13 years and what I did when I went to final cut was I mapped the fcp keyboard as I have my AVID keyboard mapped. This helped me out a lot in transitioning from one to the other. It will take you some time, but this could be very valuable in that you will learn what AVID uses for Insert or Over right edits. One thing though, there is no superimpose as an edit option, you have to apply an effect from the effect pallet to accomplish this.

It use to be that most linear keyboards were set up very similar, but not the non-linear keyboards. AVID and FCP are quite similar, but you need to take the time to find out what the AVID calls a key/action to what FCP calls a key/action.

As for the AVID manual, it will help you out a little, but not much. It should have a guide to what keys do what.

This should help for now.

John

[Tae]

[i]
First you must understand that Avid is not keyboard based. Avid excels when you use keyboard shortcuts.[/i]

I think you mean Avid [b]IS[/b] keyboard based, to which I agree. I also think it’s a much more efficient way of doing things. In FCP’s defense, it is perfectly CAPABLE of keyboard operation, but for some reason, people want to use the mouse for everything, which is amazingly inefficient.

So, learn the keyboard. Map it however you are most comfortable with it. Make Avid your bitch, and you will be much faster AND happier for it.

[Alessandro Capitani]

[Tae] “In FCP’s defense, it is perfectly CAPABLE of keyboard operation, but for some reason, people want to use the mouse for everything, which is amazingly inefficient.”

If only people read Final Cut Pro User’s Manual!
FCP keyboard has *hundreds* of shortcuts that allows users to access literally every function – thanks to modifier keys, not to mention that a lot of FCP actions/features can be accessed directly in the timeline.
My editors say they couldn’t be faster; I think this is a trustworthy comment since they just switched from Symphony.

My 2 cents.
Ale.

[Paul Harb]

People use the mouse as the quickest, most intuative way to get editing right away….makes sense….keyboard shortcuts, while much more efficient, are harder and take longer to master….but when you do…..watch out….its a whole new way to fly….

[Oliver Peters]

Syntax,

The best way is to hire a knowledgeable freelancer for a day or two who is familiar with both apps to show you the differences. Also how about a training course?

You might also take a look at the Flash tutorials on Avid.com for the AvidFree software. These are fairly simplistic but are the same functions as you move up the product line. This might give you a good idea of how it all works.

Sincerely,
Oliver

Oliver Peters
Post-Production & Interactive Media
Orlando, FL
http://www.oliverpeters.com

[John Wong]

ive been using the AVID Adrenaline and Xpress Pro for almost a year now and i must say that i work alot faster in terms of cutting and splicing individual segments. i came from a seven-year straight use of premiere and mediastudio pro. i use the keyboard shortcuts quite often; i even taught my students to specialize using their left hand as a keyboard tool.

recently, i tried learning and editing my network plugs in an fcp system; honestly, it took me two hours to do a thirty minute task on an avid. the mouse is completely overused. i dont appreciate the fact that you have to drag the clips into the timeline without pushing it down to hard/quickly or else you’ll get the clips you initially laid down pushed to the right when you insert new edits. one thing i’ve noticed in an avid is the fact that you can completely cut, cue and place the clip into the timeline using only the keyboard. hey, i even tried editing an mtv WITH transitions (dissolves and dips) using only the keyboard.

admittedly, fcp’s color correction is a bit better than the avid. but with proper tweaking, it’ll come out just the same.

i love the avid and i like the fcp; but i’d rather take the bread than the butter. 🙂

Rage is a response, never a solution.

[Oliver Peters]

[drmwvrjohn] “honestly, it took me two hours to do a thirty minute task on an avid. ….. i’ve noticed in an avid is the fact that you can completely cut, cue and place the clip into the timeline using only the keyboard. hey, i even tried editing an mtv WITH transitions (dissolves and dips) using only the keyboard.
admittedly, fcp’s color correction is a bit better than the avid. but with proper tweaking, it’ll come out just the same.”

Hi,

Whatever you are doing, you are doing it wrong. I too do both and still feel a bit faster on Avid but there is no 4-to-1 difference. You really need to go back over the manual. I’m not trying to be snide, but all the SAME functions are there. You can be just as keyboard-oriented in FCP as in Avid. Dragging-dropping to the TL is a bad way to work if you want speed. FCP works the same, mark in/out, then insert (F9) or overwrite (F10). The main thing to remember is that timeline ripple function rules are based on the status of: linking, track patching, track auto-selection and locking. A lot like editing with sync locks on in Avid. Learn those things and you’ll be fine.

On the other hand, I can’t possibly see how you think FCP’s color-correction is better. To get the same functionality in FCP as I have in Avid’s CC tools requires that I use 3 or 4 different CC filters in FCP.

Sincerely,
Oliver

Oliver Peters
Post-Production & Interactive Media
Orlando, FL
http://www.oliverpeters.com