the other shoe drops – Adobe Anywhere goes software only

[Andrew Kimery]

I’ve been waiting for this to happen but I don’t know if it’s really a knife between Avid’s ribs unless you can seamlessly have multiple people working (and saving their work) inside the same Premiere Pro project at the same time. The ability to have everyone in the same project concurrently is really what separates Avid from every other NLE when it comes to multi-user environments. Also, being able to modify Avid projects via the Finder is huge for multi-user environments too.

For example, let’s say you’re working on a TV show where each episode has its own project. Pretty common setup, right? Now, an updated GFX package comes in and has to be added to each project. If you are using X or PPro or Legacy you have to open each project individually and bring in the new GFX. In Avid you just have to import the GFX package into one project (typically the assistant editor’s project) and then you go to the Finder and copy/paste the updated bin from that one project into all the other projects. Quick, simple, and it can even be done if someone is working in the project.

[Oliver Peters]

[Andrew Kimery] “but I don’t know if it’s really a knife between Avid’s ribs unless you can seamlessly have multiple people working (and saving their work) inside the same Premiere Pro project at the same time.”

The way Anywhere has worked is that different users can work on multiple versions of the project file (which lives on the Anywhere server), by using a check out/check in process. So discrepancies between the two versions have to be reconciled in an accept/reject dialogue. I’m not totally sure how this new implementation works differently.

– Oliver

Oliver Peters Post Production Services, LLC
Orlando, FL
http://www.oliverpeters.com

[Aindreas Gallagher]

[Andrew Kimery] ” unless you can seamlessly have multiple people working (and saving their work) inside the same Premiere Pro project at the same time. The ability to have everyone in the same project concurrently is really what separates Avid from every other NLE when it comes to multi-user environments. “

yep. that’s anywhere. It’s a production and you all sign into the same project/production – the only thing you can’t do is simultaneously work on the same timeline. Adobe could have done it – they engineered the hell out of it – but they thought that would get too barmy. But you, me, Billy Tom and the two assistant editors can all be in the same project/production working away and sharing assets, we all see the updated GFX when they’re imported we can all source the same stuff, I can pull from your timeline in a read only state, you can source in real time from my timeline in a read only state – it’s extremely powerful really – unless I got all of the above wrong, it’s been a while since I read up on it – but bar exposing bins in the finder ala avid, it’s every bit a match for avid – supersedes it handily if you throw in the proprietary instant streaming of assets anywhere for remote editing. With the hardware setup Billy and Tom can check into the production from half a continent away and start editing with live encoded streams. The demos of that are utterly bonkers..

https://vimeo.com/user1590967/videos http://www.ogallchoir.net promo producer/editor.grading/motion graphics

[Michael Phillips]

Thus Avid’s strategy to support Adobe and Apple on ISIS… if nothing else, you can still sell storage into these workgroup environments. ISIS is a solid shared storage solution, albeit more expensive than similar offerings. For those of you in non-Avid Media Composer (as a client) environments, would you consider ISIS as a storage solution for multiple editors? If not, what would be your choice?

Michael

[Andrew Kimery]

It might be the lack of nuance available on the Internet, but to me it sounds like Oliver and Aindreas are saying two different things. Oliver’s check in/check out makes it sound like people work in different versions of the project and then the differences in those versions have to be reconciled at some point back into a single project file. Aindreas makes it almost sound like a spread sheet in Google Docs where anyone can make any modification at any time except for in a cell that’s currently ‘occupied’ by someone else. In Adobe Anywhere are the project files always ‘saving’ (kinda like FCP X)? What happens if two people try and type in the comment field of the same clip at the same time?

Avid gets around this by doing the saving at the bin level as opposed to the project level. Anyone can be in a project but the first person to open a bin is the one that gets read/write access to that bin. Everyone else just gets read access and if they make changes they are prompted to do a Save As to create a new bin (or chose not to and lose the changes they made).

[Bob Zelin]

this is a reply to Michael Phillips –

since every other shared storage company offers a full 10G solution (let’s take Facilis as one of many companies that offer a full 10G solution) – why would I ever consider AVID as a shared storage solution ? Certainly the AVID ISIS 1000 is attractive for a small Media Composer workgroup – but isn’t the Facilis 8D for less money ?
Does Facilis have terrible support ? Does Facilis know what they are doing, or are they a bunch of idiots ? I am only using them as an example for this reply, but if you are using Adobe CC (or Davinci Resolve, etc.) aren’t ALL the other shared storage solutions excellent solutions ? Are you aware of even one that is a terrible solution, that is “blown away” by AVID ISIS 5500 ?

Bob Zelin

Bob Zelin
Rescue 1, Inc.
bobzelin@icloud.com

[Michael Phillips]

That is why I ask the question. My work with production is one layer up from the shared storage solution being used. I only make the point that Avid’s qualification of PPro and FCPx is about selling shared storage and just seeing what the choices were out there in non Media Composer environments.

Michael

[Aindreas Gallagher]

so I googled for fun –

In the below video the two demonstrators seem to be checking in and out of the same timeline – observe:

“now notice that we’ve been working on the same timeline and the same assets”

https://tv.adobe.com/watch/adobe-anywhere/introducing-adobe-anywhere-for-video/

that’s two people, to my understanding limited by light speed for real time editing response. Adobe anywhere can’t operate past a continental land mass for slap stop real time response. At a hardware level it’s operating on a light speed limit. But they’re both in a single production bashing away at a timeline though.

edit – none of this applies in the new local software only version of course. But adobe pulled some serious god level stuff with the hardware incarnation. the project sharing matches avid as far as I understand it.

https://vimeo.com/user1590967/videos http://www.ogallchoir.net promo producer/editor.grading/motion graphics

[Andrew Kimery]

[Michael Phillips] “I only make the point that Avid’s qualification of PPro and FCPx is about selling shared storage and just seeing what the choices were out there in non Media Composer environments. “

I agree it’s about selling shared storage, but I think it’s focused on selling shared storage to a subset of users (Avid shops that also have PPro, X, etc.,.). I see it as Avid trying to lower barriers so that people can easily run other NLEs along side Avid as opposed to customers being in an ‘either stay with Avid/ ISIS or we switch to XYZ NLE on ABC storage’ and possibly choosing to ditch Avid/ISIS for other vendors.

To Bob’s point, and I’m not a shared storage guru by any stretch, there isn’t a compelling reason to go with Avid storage if you aren’t running Avid software.

[Andrew Kimery]

[Aindreas Gallagher] “that’s two people, to my understanding limited by light speed for real time editing response. Adobe anywhere can’t operate past a continental land mass for slap stop real time response. At a hardware level it’s operating on a light speed limit. But they’re both in a single production bashing away at a timeline though.”

Thanks for the link, Aindreas. So if you were already working on timeline XYZ and I tried to open it on my machine would I get a message saying that it’s already in use or something like that? I guess I’m trying to figure out how it handles multiple users trying to modify the same timeline, media (adding markers, comments, etc.), or even folder at the same time.