Rip Van Winkle just woke up

[Andrew Mckee]

If you require good integration with After Effects and the ability to use lots of already owned 3rd party hardware then Premiere is probably the way to go. You can possibly even open FCP5 projects, or at least XMLS from FCP. Personally, I’m an offline editor and Avid just feels the most seamless to the way I like to work. It also has the ability to dynamically trim an edit (which Premiere and FCPX do not), and I couldn’t live without it. But in terms performance and workflows, Premiere is an attractive option.

Andrew McKee
Editor/Colourist
Avid Certified Instructor – MC5.5
Apple Certified Trainer – FCP7
Pixelwizard.net

[Steve Ford]

The hardest part of this situation is the extreme lack of knowledge I’m facing. Dropping your shoulder and grinding away production for the last several years have left me out of the loop. I have no idea what you mean by dynamic trim editing so I sit like a bobble head with a blank stare. Is there a demo explaining that function so I could better understand why it’s so coveted?

Bottom line, this new system will be the one I have to live with for the next half dozen years. My current one is running on System 10.3.9 and can’t be updated so I could never update any of the software past 2007. The new system will be purchased by the end of this year so I’m looking for any insight I can get.

[Chris Harlan]

Hey Steve, I’m in a similar situation, and am migrating my own rig to Avid over the next year or so. It is a decision that makes complete sense for me in the environment I work in. In fact, I really should have brushed up on my Avid skills a few years ago, but I’ve been pretty lazy about it. For you, though, Premiere might be a better choice.

Quick questions:

What is your i/o card, what other hardware are you running, and what kind of Mac are you on? Or, I guess, what kind of hardware are you planning on upgrading to?

In your environment do you need to interact with other editors or editorial companies?

Here are some other forum threads that might be of use:

https://forums.creativecow.net/thread/3/914989

https://community.avid.com/forums/p/88537/502550.aspx

[Steve Ford]

Hey Chris
No IO card, I’ve been on the same Mac G5 for the last six years. I’ve been editing on FCP and use Firewire to digitize and deck control. The next system will be on a system built from the ground up. We have to stay on Mac and I am the only editor on staff. I have two other people on staff… one that is our web guy and the other who does graphics. We are all on mac and pass files back and forth. As of right now, we don’t work with other facilities, but that may change though I’m not hanging my hat on it.

The upgrade will be the latest mac tower, and I will update to the latest AE which is the program I live in, I’ve been using FCP to compile movies for final sweetening and export.

What I’m going to have to do is research the pros and cons about AVID and Premier.

[Chris Harlan]

Hey Steve!

I’ve been very happy with my decision to go with Avid (though I also have Premiere), but from what you’ve said, my guess is CS 5.5 is where you really want to be. You will find the editing metaphors more like FCP and the integration with AE is extremely tight. My 2 cents, anyway.

I should add that both offer free trials, tough you will need your new machine to actually test them out.

[Andrew Mckee]

Sorry, dynamic trimming isn’t all that coveted generally. Its just the ability to play a cut point and then pause to move it to the new position using JKL (so to watch in realtime whilst you adjust the cut). I was just pointing out that its only tiny things that tend to make people go one way or the other.

I would recommend you find someway of testing these out before buying. In terms of system, they both require similar things so maybe buy that first, download the trails and take 30 days to figure out the best one for you? But from what you’ve said I would expect Premiere is going to be your best option.

Andrew McKee
Editor/Colourist
Avid Certified Instructor – MC5.5
Apple Certified Trainer – FCP7
Pixelwizard.net

[Job Ter burg]

I think it’s safe to say that compositing is NOT Avid’s forte, and that it is Adobe’s.

[Steve Ford]

I am concerned that one of the complaints I’ve heard about Premier is that the editing interface is cumbersome. That is the last thing I want. How do create complicated graphics in AVID? That is the largest advantage Premier boasts, but will the trade off be a much slower editing interface?

[Mike Most]

It’s probably equally safe to say that editing is NOT Adobe’s forte, and it is Avid’s. Different companies, different histories, different perspectives, different areas of concentration.

[Chris Harlan]

To quote your initial post: I do mostly short videos or commercials and spend most of my time in After Effects and just use FCP as a compositor.

With that in mind, I would think the choice of Premiere would be relatively clear. Premiere’s editorial functionality is more like FCP than Avid. You can open old FCP files in Premiere. AND, the lion’s share of your work is in AE, which links very tightly with Premiere in the CS suite. As I’ve said, my get away is Avid, but that’s because it fits very nicely with the kind of work I do. I do, however, understand the allure, and am quite enjoying re-uping with Avid.