OT Resolve 14

[Scott Witthaus]

Looking at this release more. Interesting, and I will certainly download a free copy, but I can’t see myself using the Fairlight page hardly ever. Or even some of the more advanced color correction tools. So you can get a $299 software but now need audio suite quality monitors and color correction monitors? No thanks, I will let the audio and color houses do that.

I don’t know. The term bloated was used in this thread and I have to agree. I was expecting to be blown away after reading the posts but not so much. Maybe if you work in multiple editor, colorist and audio projects its a big deal. And maybe that’s where BMD wants to play, but that’s not my workflow. Good to see that the performance has gotten better!

Just my humble opinion of course.

Scott Witthaus
Owner, 1708 Inc./Editorial
Managing Partner, Low Country Creative LLC
Professor, VCU Brandcenter

[Ricardo Marty]

For me the speed, price and editing toolset makes it. I think that Fairlight is much more than I need from what little I know of it.
Today I work with audition don’t know if fairlight can be a substitute. But I guess all those tools plus
it collaborative capabilities will suite many specially in the multi bay houses.

Ricardo Marty

[Michael Gissing]

What editors will find is that the Fairlight toolset spilling into the normal edit timeline will change the way you approach audio. Stacked clips on a track, once you’ve used them, is so powerful. I’ve raved before how this technique solves the classic clip overwrite problem but as a way of organising and editing, I find it very powerful. So even if you don’t venture onto the Fairlight page often, the methodology and bussing, plugin management and the way it temp groups will make basic editing much more powerful.

As to fears of bloat, excellent point. For years I have preferred stand alone software and applications on dedicated computers that don’t run email, web browsing or having too many other programs on board grabbing memory or processor cycles running in the background. But with cheap grunt, the fear of bloat is now far less than the time and interchange translation issues I have worked around for years. This new version allows me to retire a grunty PC and a server. So a little bloat delay has to be balanced against a whole lot of other issues like the need for multiple computers and the time wasted moving projects via OMF, AAF etc. I might look seriously at a Linux setup and upgrading one PC to the latest grunt CPU and GPUs. If you need to get performance out of an old laptop then sure consider other edit software.

[Andrew Kimery]

[Scott Witthaus] “So you can get a $299 software but now need audio suite quality monitors and color correction monitors? No thanks, I will let the audio and color houses do that.”

I don’t follow. If someone mixes with computer speakers and grades on a computer display how does using Resolve 14 vs Avid vs X vs PPro vs Lightworks change anything? Inaccurate monitors are inaccurate monitors regardless of NLE, right?

[Scott Witthaus] “Maybe if you work in multiple editor, colorist and audio projects its a big deal.”

And I think that’s the sticky wicket; getting the editor, the colorist and the re-recording mixer to all use Resolve. It reminds me of the old 7/SoundTrack Pro relationship (or PPro/Audition) where the weakest link wasn’t the interconnectivity but the fact that the guy doing the audio used ProTools and had no intention of switching.

To be honest, I really like the approach Adobe is taking with putting more powerful but ‘editor friendly’ audio, GFX, and color grading tools inside PPro while still having connections to stand alone programs like Audition and After Effect if you need to do more heavy lifting (SpeedGrade is kinda the failed part of this collection as it just can’t compete with a free Resolve). At first blush Resolve seems like it’s heading towards bloat-town by trying to put a fully featured NLE, fully featured DAW and fully featured color grading all into one piece of software. Time will tell though. I’ve already downloaded the Beta and I’ll mess around with it, but audio mixing isn’t my forte so having the Fairlight Page in there is a bit like casting pearls before swine in my case.

With regards to adoption rate, Apple caused a big shakeup by replacing 7 with X and that pretty much forced all 7 users to pick a new NLE (X, Avid or PPro). Now that the dust has settled I’m not sure if most users/post facilities will be open to changing their primary NLE again w/o extenuating circumstances. Lots of people have been eyeballing and talking about Resolve’s improved editing abilities over the last few years, but I still think it’s got a lot of ‘prove it’ before people will see it as a solid, standalone NLE as opposed to a color grading tool that has NLE functionality added to it.

[Scott Witthaus]

[Andrew Kimery] “I don’t follow. If someone mixes with computer speakers and grades on a computer display how does using Resolve 14 vs Avid vs X vs PPro vs Lightworks change anything?”

What I am saying is that I am an editor, who (if need be, for non-bcast material) can color a little and mix a little. For me, having to make the investment to REALLY do color and sound doesn’t make sense, no matter what software I am cutting on. That’s when I go out of house to the color and sound experts who have to make that investment in monitors, scopes, meters, etc..

[Andrew Kimery] “With regards to adoption rate, Apple caused a big shakeup by replacing 7 with X and that pretty much forced all 7 users to pick a new NLE (X, Avid or PPro).”

I disagree with this. I was cutting on Avid and Legacy when X came out. That fateful day in 2011 did nothing to force me to choose a new software right then. I continued to cut on (mostly) FCP7 until I felt X was ready for heavy-lifting editing and then made the move. But the release of X didn’t force me to do a thing

[Andrew Kimery] “Lots of people have been eyeballing and talking about Resolve’s improved editing abilities over the last few years, but I still think it’s got a lot of ‘prove it’ before people will see it as a solid, standalone NLE as opposed to a color grading tool that has NLE functionality added to it.”

Agreed. I still wonder why BMD is doing this.

Scott Witthaus
Owner, 1708 Inc./Editorial
Managing Partner, Low Country Creative LLC
Professor, VCU Brandcenter

[Andrew Kimery]

[Scott Witthaus] “What I am saying is that I am an editor, who (if need be, for non-bcast material) can color a little and mix a little. For me, having to make the investment to REALLY do color and sound doesn’t make sense, no matter what software I am cutting on.”

But you can still color a little bit and mix a little bit in Resolve just like you can in any other NLE. It’s not like Resolve won’t launch unless it detects appropriate color and sound monitoring equipment plugged into it. ; ) If you saying it doesn’t make sense for you to make the time investment to learn Resolves color grading and audio mixing features because of they are overkill for your needs, that I can totally understand (and relate to).

[Scott Witthaus] “That fateful day in 2011 did nothing to force me to choose a new software right then. “

I didn’t mean to imply it forced people to pick a new NLE exactly on that day, but it did force FCP Legend users to pick a new NLE in the subsequent years.

[Ricardo Marty]

Im sure that bmd is looking for the oneman end to end post house the ones that fell through adobes fingers. Because we dont need all that power but its great to gave it in case you do. We can also contract someone to work these specialties inhouse providing we have system capabilities. However i think bmd is looking at the mid to highend.

Bmd might well be creating a new class of
highend oneman post boutiques. With less than 20k they would be abke to compete providing they have theknow how.

Ricardo marty

[Shawn Miller]

[Ricardo Marty] “Im sure that bmd is looking for the oneman end to end post house the ones that fell through adobes fingers. Because we dont need all that power but its great to gave it in case you do. We can also contract someone to work these specialties inhouse providing we have system capabilities. However i think bmd is looking at the mid to highend.”

I think it depends on what that one person band (see what I did there) mostly focuses on. Folks who mostly edit have many more software choices than folks who mostly create motion graphics for instance. If you had watched the live stream from the Cinema 4D booth at NAB this year for example, you might have noticed that, of all the presenters who talked about the compositing side of their workflow, no one talked about using anything other than Photoshop, no one mentioned using any other vector drawing programs than Illustrator, and only a few people (I believe) talked about compositing video in anything but After Effects, even more interesting, of those folks who talked about using Nuke with C4D, not one of them did any animation in Nuke. These people ranged from individual freelance motion graphics/VFX artists to small post houses that do high end mograph/VFX for film and television. Resolve and Fusion are great, and I use them fairly often, but for my day job (a single person band for in house corporate production), the Adobe suite is just faster, easier and better integrated with the tools I use the most.

[Ricardo Marty] “Bmd might well be creating a new class of
highend oneman post boutiques. With less than 20k they would be abke to compete providing they have theknow how.”

Maybe for color or audio centric workflows… but for motion graphics/VFX centric projects, I’m not sure Resolve/Fusion will find a foothold any time soon.

Shawn

[Mike Parfit]

I agree with Ricardo.

We’ve been editing in Resolve for a couple of years and I love it. Our goal is to produce broadcast quality work, and perhaps theatrical again some day, with a large in-house component. We go out to focused talents for any part of the work when necessary and like that process (which is why we still need Resolve to deliver to Pro Tools better) but we prefer in-house control where possible. As is often said, colour is a tool to manage emotions, and for us having Resolve’s colour power one click away from the timeline makes managing colour a seamless part of editing. But I have spent a great deal of time learning Resolve’s colour tools, which I also love, so I’m not pushing any auto buttons.

If that means we’re trying to be a high-end boutique, so be it, though in looking around the edit suite, it doesn’t feel particularly boutiquey, I’m afraid.

[Simon Ubsdell]

[Shawn Miller] ” for motion graphics/VFX centric projects, I’m not sure Resolve/Fusion will find a foothold any time soon.”

I think you could be right about that (for now), but from my standpoint (which combines motion graphics plus VFX plus editing plus finishing for cinema) Resolve/Fusion represents almost exactly what I have been wanting for more than fifteen years. (Or at least everything I have been wanting at the right price point – the Studio versions of Resolve and Fusion are a very modest investment for what they earn for me.)

I still use Ae and Ps and Ai and Id a lot, as well as Motion and FCP X and Premiere and Media Composer, but increasingly Resolve/Fusion is the hub where it all comes together.

I suspect though that atypical workflow combinations like mine will become the norm in the near future and that’s where BMD are poised to take advantage.

Simon Ubsdell
tokyo productions
hawaiki