The Question – An Update On My Choices In NLEs

[David Lawrence]

[Chris Harlan] “And the Source Timeline–that’s probably my favorite Avid exclusive. In fact, yes, that’s the thing I miss when I’m using Pr.”

Have a tasty pancake! 😉

_______________________
David Lawrence
art~media~design~research
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[Chris Harlan]

[David Lawrence] “Have a tasty pancake! ;)”

Oh dear! I feel scorned–and yet eloquently so.

[Charlie Austin]

[David Lawrence] “[Chris Harlan] “And the Source Timeline–that’s probably my favorite Avid exclusive. In fact, yes, that’s the thing I miss when I’m using Pr.”

Have a tasty pancake! 😉
“

So, just to be clear… In FCP X, if I create a compound clip rough cut of all my selects, and use that as the source… Isn’t that essentially the same thing as a source timeline (MC) or pancake timeline (Pr). I guess I can’t drag clips from one sequence to another. And at some point I have to break the clips apart. Other than that, what’s the diff? 3 NLE’s, 3 different ways to accomplish the same thing.

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~ My FCPX Babbling blog ~
~”It is a poor craftsman who blames his tools.”~
~”The function you just attempted is not yet implemented”~

[Walter Soyka]

ProRes is great, but if you got to wave a magic wand and choose a standard for our entire industry to use to store our moving images on disk, would you really pick a closed and largely platform-specific codec if there were a comparable and more open one available?

Apple wields ProRes like a weapon. First they have chosen to basically disallow PC encoding to ProRes (a few niche packages excepted). Now, with AV Foundation not currently allowing third-party codecs (does this change in Yosemite?), they are strongly discouraging Mac encoding to anything else… 1990s Microsoft would approve!

[Jeremy Garchow] “But what does Cineform as VC-5 truly get me? And by me, I mean us.”

You can freely encode it on systems other than Macs. (It’s available on Windows and Mac. There’s no current Linux software implementation, but there is a Linux SDK.)

CineForm offers many of the same perks as ProRes — different bitrates, YUV and RGB pixel formats, alpha support, and resolution independence.

It also does a few things that ProRes doesn’t. I’m sure no one here cares that it has brilliant native stereoscopic support, but because it’s wavelet (not DCT-based), it can kind of self-proxy, saving cycles by decoding a lower-resolution version of the original frame.

Most germane to this conversation that touches on acquisition: CineForm does 12-bit color filter array Bayer RAW compression.

Walter Soyka
Designer & Mad Scientist at Keen Live [link]
Motion Graphics, Widescreen Events, Presentation Design, and Consulting
@keenlive   |   RenderBreak [blog]   |   Profile [LinkedIn]

[Jeremy Garchow]

[Charlie Austin] “Other than that, what’s the diff? 3 NLE’s, 3 different ways to accomplish the same thing.”

I’m so glad someone else said this, because I’m not seeing a huge difference, either.

Also, making Auditions out of separate takes (for narrative) makes X so much faster. And even if you want to make changes later, or check out a different take when someone else is in the room, it’s so easy and it’s all right there stored in your current timeline. There’s no hunting, pecking, duplicating, and completely rearranging your timeline to make room for a new take, simply select the next Auditioned clip, and go.

I have not found any action that is similar or is as easy as X to do this type of editing.

[Steve Connor]

[David Lawrence] “[Chris Harlan] “And the Source Timeline–that’s probably my favorite Avid exclusive. In fact, yes, that’s the thing I miss when I’m using Pr.”

Have a tasty pancake! ;)”

I’m am happily pancaking on CC2014 as we speak, very useful!

[Charlie Austin]

[Jeremy Garchow] “makes X so much faster”

Choose your words carefully Jeremy. If you use terms like “faster” or “better”, you will be attacked from one camp. Words like “destroying” or “killing” will provoke attack from another. Best not to use any adjectives or verbs at all when discussing FCP X. 😉

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~ My FCPX Babbling blog ~
~”It is a poor craftsman who blames his tools.”~
~”The function you just attempted is not yet implemented”~

[Bret Williams]

By far the slowest part about editing is decision making. Assembly is a breeze. Trying to find a shot amongst thousands can be the culprit, or indecision. So often the first cut goes quickly, but changes, approvals and general red tape can take twice as long. I’d definitely rather have skimming at my disposal when looking for a clip vs the old “load into viewer, scrub, repeat” method.

[David Lawrence]

[Walter Soyka] “I’m sure no one here cares that it has brilliant native stereoscopic support, but because it’s wavelet (not DCT-based), it can kind of self-proxy, saving cycles by decoding a lower-resolution version of the original frame.”

I’m currently posting a 3D-stereoscopic short and this is exactly what we’re using CineForm for. CineForm’s active metadata for stereo is an elegant and powerful way to work with 3D. In fact, CineForm active metadata is just great in general. I haven’t used it for grading yet but it does that too.

It’s not all rainbows and unicorns. The actual CineForm software is really buggy on the Mac. I can crash it just looking at it the wrong way. Converting our files from native .mts to CineForm FS1 was a huge challenge that involved hours of tech support and many hoops jumped. But once I had all the masters converted, it’s been nothing but smooth sailing. I don’t think this project would be possible on my system without it. I hope it continues to grow and gets more vendor support.

_______________________
David Lawrence
art~media~design~research
propaganda.com
publicmattersgroup.com
https://lnkd.in/Cfz92F
facebook.com/dlawrence
twitter.com/dhl
vimeo.com/dlawrence/albums

[Mark Raudonis]

[Richard Herd] “Are they putting clauses in the contract that say: here is the footage. Deliver an Avid project file. I”

Yes, that is EXACTLY what can happen. Look at some of the delivery requirements from just about any network, and you’ll find that there are are specific references to AVID project files, preferred codecs etc.

Network delivery specs are usually YEARS behind technological developments. For example, their references to LTO archives often ask for “TAR” format… something that is being eclipsed by NTFS used by many vendors to create a “NAS on a tape”.

Trying to swim against the tide of “accepted” Post technology is never easy, but it can be done. Pick the best tool for YOU, and make it work.