Is it wise to start out with FCPX?

[Josiah Graves]

At the moment, things seem to be moving towards corporate, or going into business myself. The work I have done is mostly for non-profit organizations doing work internationally. So mostly promo/doc kind of stuff. I really enjoy it and would love to take it further but of course in today’s job market you have to be prepared for anything.

[Craig Seeman]

[Josiah Graves] “Those sites you mentioned about the lack of features, could post some of those links?”

I like this one. This is from somebody who is certified and likes FCPX so he seems acutely aware of what’s missing. Great detail. What’s crossed out is what Apple has added from his original list.
https://fcpx.tv/top.html

[Josiah Graves] “Adobe seems to have made some huge steps in the latest release, and the idea of editing native just sounds heavenly.”

Although I hear the rendering on output can be hell.

[Josiah Graves]

Thanks, I’ll take a look at it.

[Craig Seeman] “Although I hear the rendering on output can be hell.
“

I guess you pay for it on one side or the other. I’m downloading the trial for FCPX right now. I’ll try it out, see how it goes. Hopefully I can get my hands on some adobe stuff and compare. I think the integration within the Adobe suite is the best thing going for it.

[Craig Seeman]

In FCPX you may want to turn off background rendering while you work.
Rendering on export has been very fast for me.
I’ve edited H.264 .mp4 and exported ProRes and the export was faster than real time.

[Eric Pautsch]

FCP 7 will be used for several years down the road as well.

I say learn and know X but dont rely on it getting you work. If it takes off in the professional world you’ll be ready.

[Dennis Radeke]

If it hasn’t already been mentioned, it makes sense for you to give an earnest try to all three in turn as they all have 30 day trials. Knowing more than one NLE is always a plus and as has been mentioned here many times, each NLE has certain strengths for particular types of projects.

Once you’ve done that, you’ll have your favorite and I hope it’ll be mine, but regardless, you have working knowledge on all three.

Good luck!

Dennis – Adobe guy

Here’s the link for the Production Premium trial https://adobe.ly/In5IR5

[Andrew Kimery]

I think Shane hit the nail on the head w/saying that different segments of the industry, as well as different geographical locations, will be using different tools. I typically work as part of a larger production so I need to know Avid & FCP 7 because that’s what the vast majority of my potential employers in LA use. If I worked all the time as a self-contained shop and all I delivered to my clients was the final product then I’d have more liberty to use whatever I wanted.

Is it wise to start out w/FCPX? Sure, why not? Just don’t think that’s the only NLE you’ll learn. I started out w/a mix of Avid Express, Premiere 6 and linear editing. I later stumbled into FCP (because it was inexpensive at only $999) and used it on my own projects while I still used Avid at work.

If it looks like potential employers will start using FCPX then I’ll start learning that too. I’m not really worried about being ‘first’ to know FCPX because I don’t see being first as really being beneficial to me as an editor. I wasn’t on board for V1 of Avid, AE, PS, FCP, etc., but that hasn’t stopped me from working w/those apps professionally.

-Andrew

[Richard Herd]

Before you get to far in your prognostications be sure to read Walter’s article at the top of this board.

https://magazine.creativecow.net/article/a-cautionary-tale-for-the-fcp-switcher

The ensuing discussion has a very important discussion on media management.

[Josiah Graves]

Thanks for the article. This is what I gather from everything you guys and the articles have said:

1. Avid is rock solid provided you are prepared to follow the very specific (and traditional) Avid workflow without deviation.
2. Premiere has the most open front end workflow but needs to work on media management and back end finishing issues.
3. FCPX is somewhat revolutionary with a high priority on metadata and ease of use but is lacking in many of the powerful and detailed tools that are present in other NLE’s.

Sound like a good summary?