FCPX is so completely weird, it makes Motion look sane. And no one will hire you by the hour for either of them.

[Marcus Moore]

Holy shit! You DON’T like FCPX…? Has the world turned upside down? My mind is blown by this brand new information!

* PS I’m hired at least 40hrs every week to do exactly what you say no one does.

[Don Scioli]

You know, I would have agreed with you on versions 1-4, but with version10.05, I jumped in with both feet, editing a promo video for a large medical company, 2 political spots for California state candidates with buy budgets over 200K, and our latest feature doc, with many hours of field footage….and it performed magnificently…and fast as hell and no crashes…all this on a early 2008 Mac Pro 3.2 GHZ.

I was blind but now I see.

I was an earlier disbeliever, a ridiculer, I dissed FCPX with the best, but now it is the future. Even ESPN uses it, and they are cutting edge.

As way of background, I have an MA from USC Cinema, won an Academy Award, learned to edit on a Moviola, then Steenbeck, then CMX, then Avid, then Cinestream, then FCP1-7 now X, and it is the best so far…. but you have to bite the bullet and learn it and use it for a paying project, no dicking around, as i did earlier. Is it weird, yes, in the beginning, but after doing an online course and plowing in, it’s now very familiar. There is no way I could have done a rough cut of a 60 minute doc in one week the old way…skimming though the footage in FCPX is fast, powerful and very useful for keeping track of scenes and talent.

Beware of the analogy but it is the Ginshu knife of editorial, I have FCP7, Premiere , Avid 6 and I prefer X to all of them. Sure there are a few rough edges like sound and titles, but one can work around these issues. I suppose if you are working in a traditional post house environment, there may be some pushback to new unproved products, but hey, I don’t have to, and for indy producers, this is a great way to go. Just give it a shot.

[Aindreas Gallagher]

[Marcus Moore] “You DON’T like FCPX…?”

incorrect marcus – I simply don’t respect it as software.

[Marcus Moore] “‘Im hired at least 40hrs every week to do exactly what you say no one… “

Well done. I get paid too.

https://vimeo.com/user1590967/videos http://www.ogallchoir.net promo producer/editor.grading/motion graphics

[Bill Davis]

Appears that BB King is STILL the only human being who can play the same single note over and over and over again and still be entertaining.

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.

[Aindreas Gallagher]

[Bill Davis] “Appears that BB King is STILL the only human being who can play the same single note over and over and over again and still be entertaining.
“

you are, god love us both, one to talk.

https://vimeo.com/user1590967/videos http://www.ogallchoir.net promo producer/editor.grading/motion graphics

[Marcus Moore]

The point is your assertion is simply wrong. I get paid using software you say noone gets paid to use. And I’m not the only one, as many, MANY people on this board have attested in the past.

We can agree it doesn’t have wide-spread support in the industry. But that entirely another thing from saying no one gets paid to use it. You’re flat wrong. And if that’s what you’re telling people, then that’s a misrepresentation I don’t appreciate.

[Bill Davis]

[Aindreas Gallagher] “you are, god love us both, one to talk.”

I am, aren’t I!

Of course, after many months neither of us has bent a bit.

The difference from my perspective, is that I’m relentlessly arguing FOR something while you’re equally relentlessly arguing AGAINST it.

Anyone can tear down anything. It’s easy. Building stuff? Not so much.

I’m therefore totally fine with my relative position in the discussion.

Oh, and for HEAVENS SAKE whatever else you do, don’t read Mr. Scioli’s post above. Your head will likely explode.

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.

[David Powell]

I decided to jump in head first and am using it on a paying job (because I have to) I went through both LJ and Ripple training, before and while cutting the project. Coming from Avid (my preference) and Legacy which I know inside and out, I can’t see how this workflow speeds me up after I’ve laid down footage on the timeline.

Mainly, it seems as magnetic timeline forces me to do everything in several steps that should only take one. This is specifically regarding trimming. I am open to learning of course, but it seems that without tracks and patching I have to go to the mouse to select every trim thats not on the primary story line. There doesn’t seem to be an extend edit function or dynamic trimming (avid’s is awesome) either that I can find, which saves a huge amount of time. Though I like the way the multi clip function works, the fact that I can’t match frame to the source angle or overwrite on top of audio makes it a real chore.

And speaking of match framing, I hate that it doesn’t work unless I have the event selected at top level. All these little things and the excessive mouse use on the TL take the joy out of editing for me Of course I’ve always thought that legacy’s trim sucked and many FCP users are mouse jockeys anyway, but I don’t understand why proficient avid users would like this program.

I’m really hoping that these problems are just gaps in my knowledge as there are some things I do like about the program, but if Avid ever got bg transcode, I don’t see what advantage this program would ever have other than the $300 entry price.

[Nathan Adam]

Long time lurker. FCP 3-7. Bought and love PP CS6/FCP 8.
I was here the that fateful morning in June ’11….then logged in again every day for a year just to enjoy Aindreas rants.

But…once 10.0.5 came out…and the whole thing started working reasonably well…I have to admit, editing a multicamera weekly music show, X just smokes 7.

Definitely still some changes I’m hoping to see…but geez if editing this kind of a show isn’t waaayyy faster in X. It’s night and day. And, yes, they still pay me well to do it.

[Bob Woodhead]

From what I’ve heard, admitting your problem is the first step of the 12 Steps. Only thing is, I’m not looking to kick the habit (yet).

So yes, this is my first public admission of using FCPX for paying work. In fact, it’s been pretty much paying the mortgage, kids’ college, car loan, and beer addiction since 10.0.5 came out. I do try to close the laptop lid when I’m editing afield, and someone walks past (I tell them I’m on carpal tunnel break), or just get my fix in the privacy of my suite. But I can only hide my guilt for so long, so I’m coming out of the tape closet.

Here’s my decision tree:

– Legacy is dead. Nail. Coffin. Pushing up daisies. Ex-parrot.

– Smoke ’13. Gave it some test runs, and while I’m sure the tools are superb for “finishing”, I can’t see being happy in it’s interface for the range of projects I do.

– PPro. Man, did I have HUGE hopes for NAB this year. I wanted Adobe to come of the gate, and knock ’em flat. Instead, while a very good showing, I had to stifle a bit of a yawn. Honestly, my #1 gripe are the lack of transitions (and yes, I’ve dithered some with Red integration, but find it still too cumbersome and I have not-so-fond memories of Boris flakiness in the past). Dynamic linking is pretty good, and I’ve been on AFX since the days of CoSA. But publishing custom effects through Motion can really streamline repeating themes, without the need to open an AFX project, find what you need, copy/paste/yadda/yadda to use it in this here other PPro timeline. If I’m doing a big gfx job, I just fire up AFX anyway & render out. PPro still track based audio. ugh. Not that FCPX is any better at audio at this point. And I’m sorry, but rendering EVERY TIME for output just don’t fly.

– Avid. Well, I was on Avid for about 5 years after my Quantel days. Faster n’ a greased snake through a waterfall for basic editing. Hated compositing in it. I have to admit to an irrational dislike for Avid. I fully respect it, and while I’m sure it’s in the top 2 or 3, I just don’t want to use it. And I can decide what I want to use. Yea.

– FCPX. Weird. Like driving a left-handed car on a right-hand road, backwards, and you steer with the gearshift and shift with a wheel. But once I came to grips with the connect-the-dotty-magnets edit style, I found I could push pixels pretty quickly. Sure, I’d MUCH RATHER be on FCP 8.0, but that ain’t gonna happen. Apple’s got more cash than God, the plugin folks seem to be pretty interested in dev for it, and you have to admit, love it or hate it, the database part of it really kicks ass & takes no prisoners.

So since Avid & Smoke are non-starters for different reasons, and PPro still ain’t there yet, I might as well get pretty damn good on X until someone delivers something I’d rather work on. Now, EVERYONE HAS DIFFERENT NEEDS & CONSTRAINTS. So what’s good for me may make Aindreas convulse until he’s taken away for a calming electroshock session. If I was working in LA cutting episodic, I’m damn sure I’d be whistling while working on Avid. If I was doing agency work, and wanted to baffle the clients while they nosh on kibble, I’d be flying through Smoke screens, until their eyes glazed over with diamond displays (while making sure their markup was preserved). If I didn’t have to worry about tossing shiny baubles onscreen every few transitions, and had time to re-render for version xx output, well, I’d be dynamically pushing links from PPro to AFX, and thinking cloud-like thoughts.

So call me…. Still Waiting for the Better NLE.

“Constituo, ergo sum”

Bob Woodhead / Atlanta
CMX-Quantel-Avid-FCP-Premiere-3D-AFX-Crayola
“What a long strange trip it’s been….”