FCPX You May Hate but You Still Come Here to Congregate!

[Craig Seeman]

[Bobby Mosca] “the beasts that are left are on the way out.”

MacPro is on the way out.
That’s not the only form a beast can take.
Apple hasn’t pulled the MacPro for a reason. Its demise will be timed to what Apple deems is a replacement. It isn’t likely to be a tower though.

[Gary Slickman]

[Shawn Miller] “Sooo… is the concern that too many former FCP users are curious or excited to try the CS6 release, or are you disappointed that there isn’t enough debate on the Premiere Pro and Smoke forums? “

This is such a passionate, evocative forum that stimulates thinking about a myriad of pertinent topics on so many levels. Marketing strategy of the hardware/software providers, editing techniques and philosophies, technical issues that delve deep into the inner workings of the “man behind the curtain”, adversarial relationships are only a few of the themes that have led to high energy, enlightening and entertaining, exchanges.

Whether they are right, wrong or misunderstood, no company gets the juices flowing like Apple. They are innovators and instigators.

My technical knowledge of hardware is pretty shallow compared to most of the contributors. CUDA tell you much about Open GL acceleration, the Optix or Mercury engines or whether Thunderbolt is a true “super hero” solution? No.

But I gain so much benefit, useful information and ideas from the willing or should I say driven, participation of the thought leaders of our community to go head to head in heated debate.

I was merely lamenting the day when the Smoke clears and there is less Avid discussion about Apple’s core values. It just won’t be a Premiere day in my professional life…;)

[Shawn Miller]

[Gary Slickman] “This is such a passionate, evocative forum that stimulates thinking about a myriad of pertinent topics on so many levels. Marketing strategy of the hardware/software providers, editing techniques and philosophies, technical issues that delve deep into the inner workings of the “man behind the curtain”, adversarial relationships are only a few of the themes that have led to high energy, enlightening and entertaining, exchanges.”

Yes, I wholeheartedly agree here. But that seems to be the purpose of a debate forum, no? The other Cow forums you mentioned aren’t.

[Gary Slickman] “Whether they are right, wrong or misunderstood, no company gets the juices flowing like Apple.”

Now this, I have to disagree with. IMO, it may be more fair to say “no company gets MY juices flowing like Apple.” I’ve felt for a long time that FCP users (and Mac users in general) have needed to ‘get out’ a bit more and understand the wider world of post production. Apple certainly is innovative, but no moreso than Autodesk, Avid, Adobe, Pixologic, Nextlimit, Maxon, Triple Squid Software Design, Anderson Technologies or any of the few thousand other hardware and software vendors that service the creative community. Want to see passion, debate and theater? Go to reduser.net and suggest that The Epic X is a desperate attempt make a true digital cinema camera that can compete with Arri’s Alexa. 🙂

Shawn

[Bill Davis]

[Shawn Miller] “I’ve felt for a long time that FCP users (and Mac users in general) have needed to ‘get out’ a bit more and understand the wider world of post production. Apple certainly is innovative, but no moreso than Autodesk, Avid, Adobe, Pixologic, Nextlimit, Maxon, Triple Squid Software Design, Anderson Technologies or any of the few thousand other hardware and software vendors that service the creative community. “

I will quietly and respectfully note that this is *you’re* definition of what Mac users need. Mine is decidedly different.

I actually think that for most working editors, all they really want to do is decide the platform – then start down the long, long road to gaining mastery of it.

The central truth of editing, is that it really doesn’t start to pay off until your tools disappear from your conscious thought and you can work instinctively – paying careful attention to the flow of your program and hardly any to “how do I make the software do function A.”

The people who need to fully understand all the editing programs you note above are the decision makers in the shop/workflow/hardware managerial class – and system integrators.

This thinking brings to mind another thing that’s always surprised me…

I’ve known quite a few professional writers in my time. A fact that’s alwsy surprised me is that someone who’s superb at writing advertising copy, or screenplays, or novels, or technical manuals – is hardly ever at that same level writing in any other genres. They can be competent – but very seldom are they really excellent.

A few outliers can do really well in multiple even somewhat closely associated areas of professional work – but just a few.

I think it’s the same with editing software operation.

You can certainly be competent with with quite a few. But it’s hard to excel above the pack if you’re always trying to be a “jack of all trades.”

Those who disagree, feel free to make your case.

“Before speaking out ask yourself whether your words are true, whether they are respectful and whether they are needed in our civil discussions.”-Justice O’Connor

[Shawn Miller]

[Bill Davis] “I will quietly and respectfully note that this is *you’re* definition of what Mac users need. Mine is decidedly different.”

I think you may have misunderstood what I said, Bill. I’m not trying to tell you what Mac users need. I was responding to Gary’s statement “no company gets the juices flowing like Apple.” I simply disagree with that notion… there are a lot of great companies doing innovative work, and some of them inspire the same kind of passionate debate and discussion that we were talking about earlier. I just don’t think the world of post production revolves around Apple.

[Bill Davis] “The people who need to fully understand all the editing programs you note above are the decision makers in the shop/workflow/hardware managerial class – and system integrators.”

First, not all of the companies I listed develop NLE software – perhaps if you got out more… just kidding. If you go back and read what I wrote, you may note that I listed software companies that have products and technologies which are every bit as innovative as Apple’s… though I never named any specific applications. Second, I never said anything about needing to understand a bunch of editing programs. I just think it’s (generally) a good practice to get outside of your comfort zone once in a while, and see what other tools, processes and platforms other people are using in their day to day work.

[Bill Davis] “This thinking brings to mind another thing that’s always surprised me…

I’ve known quite a few professional writers in my time. A fact that’s alwsy surprised me is that someone who’s superb at writing advertising copy, or screenplays, or novels, or technical manuals – is hardly ever at that same level writing in any other genres. They can be competent – but very seldom are they really excellent.”

You seem to be responding to something I never said, or implied. Where did I express any opinions about being a specialist as opposed to being a generalist? Again, I was just making the point that there are a lot of companies providing innovative products and technologies for creative professionals… companies that spark lively discussion and heated debate… companies that aren’t Apple.

[Bill Davis] “You can certainly be competent with with quite a few. But it’s hard to excel above the pack if you’re always trying to be a “jack of all trades.”

Those who disagree, feel free to make your case.”

Okay, I’ll bite…. but for the record, this is NOT what we were originally talking about. I seem to remember you having an exchange with Walter Soyka on this subject a while ago. Being a generalist myself, I tend to agree with Walter’s comments in the thread below.

https://forums.creativecow.net/readpost/335/25161

[Walter Soyka]“Gathering skills that span disciplines, though — like an editor learning compositing — that’s the foundation of being a generalist. The fact that software developers sell suites instead of products, and that every editor here knows how to pull a key speaks to how generalized our industry has become.

Editorial, compositing, audio, color grading, motion graphics — these are all areas of specialty, with room for high degrees of expertise and nuanced expression out of the reach of anyone other than a specialist — and they are all practiced by generalists such as yourself and most of us here.

Everyone knows the first half of the saying, but the second half is rarely heard. It seems apropos to emphasize here:

Jack of all trades,
Master of none,
But ofttimes better
Than master of one.”