Sony Vegas Monitor Issue

[Tim Neighbors]

John,

Sorry to lose you. ????
If you don’t mind, I’m curious to hear from a long-time Vegas expert who has switched to FCP, how was that transition? Do you recommend others make the switch? I’ve only dabbled in FCP, but wanted to pull my hair out with how slow it seemed to be, though in all fairness, that was FCP7 and I probably just needed to get used to it. Not being able to tweak things on the timeline without stopping playback would slow me down a lot.

[John Rofrano]

[Tim Neighbors] “If you don’t mind, I’m curious to hear from a long-time Vegas expert who has switched to FCP, how was that transition?”

The transition was extremely easy coming from Vegas Pro because FCP X lets you work in pretty much the same way. I mostly drag stuff to the timeline and manipulate it there and FCP X lets you do that with the same ease as Vegas Pro. It’s not picky about 3-point editing, or conforming to a certain frame rate or resolution or format or any of that. You just drop stuff on the timeline and it works. FCP 7 was NOT like that. FCP X is a LOT like Vegas Pro in that regard.

[Tim Neighbors] “Do you recommend others make the switch?”

Only if you want to buy a Mac! ???? You see I switched to the Mac first and then continued to use Vegas Pro in VMware Fusion and then got tired of the limitation of no GPU hardware support and started looking for a native Mac solution which is when I started using Final Cut Pro X. So I did not switch to FCP X as much as I switched to the Mac and then started using FCP X and left Vegas Pro behind. It was more organic than deliberate.

To answer your question: Yes, I would recommend that anyone who owns a Mac check out FCP X instead of trying to get Vegas Pro to work in a VM. FCP X is a far more creative experience with it’s “magnetic timeline” and has more capabilities than Vegas Pro has (in addition to some gorgeous broadcast quality generated media that makes Vegas Pro look amateurish by comparison) Many things that require plug-ins in Vegas Pro are built into FCP X like syncing external audio with video, 3D Titles, particles, and audio noise reduction to name a few. Effects like chroma key are light-years ahead of what Vegas Pro has. Let’s face it, Vegas Pro effects are based on 10 year old technology and it shows. The tight integration that FCP X has with Apple Motion is a powerful combination for using customized Motion Graphics in FCP X. There are also many more plug-ins to choose from for FCP X than for Vegas Pro. It just has a richer ecosystem supporting it.

[Tim Neighbors] “I’ve only dabbled in FCP, but wanted to pull my hair out with how slow it seemed to be, though in all fairness, that was FCP7 and I probably just needed to get used to it.”

FCP 7 was a completely different program. No comparison. FCP 7 required you to conform all of your video to the same resolution and frame rate, it did not allow you to edit many native formats so you had to convert everything to Apple ProRes 422, etc. There is simply no comparison between FCP 7 and FCP X. They don’t look the same, they don’t behave the same, they are not remotely the same.

FCP X is video editing re-imagined… actually, it’s “story telling with video” re-imagined. There are no tracks. There is a Primary Storyline that is “magnetic” (i.e., clips stick together without gaps) with Secondary Storylines that are magnetically anchored to the primary clips. As you move clips on the primary storyline, any secondary clips or entire secondary storylines move with them and there are never any gaps or clips overlaying each other or hiding behind other clips like in Vegas Pro because there are no tracks to get in the way. It’s a very creative and productive way to work. I could never go back to editing video with tracks again. Not in any program.

[Tim Neighbors] “Not being able to tweak things on the timeline without stopping playback would slow me down a lot.”

FCP X allows you to do this. Just set up a playback loop and continue to manipulate and trim clips on the timeline while playback is still going. Like I said, FCP X is nothing like FCP 7 and a lot like Vegas Pro in some regards. I found the transition very easy.

~jr

http://www.johnrofrano.com
http://www.vasstsoftware.com

[Tim Neighbors]

John, thanks for the info. You’ve given me a lot to think about. I was planning to switch to Premiere, but after your post, I’m downloading a trial of FCPX to try it out.
It’s hard for me to imagine editing without tracks – Layering multiple composite layers and mixing multiple audio sources, etc. But I guess I’ll understand a bit better after checking out the trial.
Thanks again, and thanks for all of the Vegas help over the years.

Maybe I’ll end up following you to the Mac/FCP world. We’ll see.

[John Rofrano]

[Tim Neighbors] “It’s hard for me to imagine editing without tracks – Layering multiple composite layers and mixing multiple audio sources, etc. But I guess I’ll understand a bit better after checking out the trial. “

You will need to have it explained to you because as an existing “track based” NLE user, you have a lot to Unlearn! It’s not going to be familiar so you really need some training. It’s a whole new approach. I highly recommend Ripple Training I’ve bought a LOT of their training material and it is top notch! They have a lot of free stuff as well. There are some hour long tutorials on YouTube from others like David A. Cox that are good. Just search for “fcpx training”. It’s worth it to sit and watch and get the concepts and then you’ll have a much easier time of it. Good luck!

~jr

http://www.johnrofrano.com
http://www.vasstsoftware.com