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thinking of switching to final cut pro
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Boy is this true! It’s like my fingers are being controled by someone else. They were making the old moves for frequent tasks before I could stop them. I’d say this was the hardest part of it, almost like learning a new language and having to translate in your head before speaking as opposed to just effortlessly speaking in your native tongue. Still, it’s nothing that practice isn’t helping. Also, I’ve refrained from cutting on my Avid until I have the shortcuts down.
G5 Quad Core, 4.5 MB RAM, Dual Dell 1905FP’s, KRK RP-5’s, DSR-11, FC Studio
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Hi,
I did a side step to incorporate FCP into the edit facility I’m at a year ago. We still have four Avids, but bought in a FCPHD system for high-def work.
70% of the interface is the same, so you’ll pick up the basics of editing almost immediately. Some of the finer controls however, take a little more examination (I was going through hell trying to navigate the timeline properly, zooming in and out to quickly etc until I came on here).
However, like others have said, FCP isn’t Avid. FCP explodes the capabilities of desktop editing into new realms as compared to a basic Media Composer. The control over the image can be incredible (especially with the right plug-ins) and you can creat a great looking programme.
However (again) as someone used to the stability of workflow on Avid (and yes, there IS actually stability) I’ve found myself wanting to set fire to my FCP suite a couple of times. Be prepared for a few gremlins for file location and recollection, be prepared for a frustrating time if you use FCP for basic audio work (pops and static clicks everywhere) and be prepared for some insanity if you go through an offline/online process (I think this is dependant on if you use subclips though – I’m about to post something about this).
As it’s still considered a ‘Pro-sumer’ application, FCP tries to cover a lot of bases for how to do things. instead of one way to do an action, there’s three or four, so if you’re used to Avid, M100, Premier – are completely new to editing, or just like the idea of copy and paste everywhere, then it’s all catered for – which is a massive pain as you’ll end up wanting to do one thing, but the system will decide you want to do something else (lift-splic being the most annoying for this).
As long as you realise it’s NOT an Avid, it’s just kinda similar, you’ll be fine. Don’t fall into the trap that I did of thinking they were the same. Avid is easier to use, there’s no doubt – as it’s not as complicated – FCP can do 1000 more things than Media Composer, but 500 of them are bloody hard to do, and the other 500 will undo themselves if you switch projects.
And don’t even start me on rendering, or the voo-doo of the realtime effects. The need to re-render effects over and over again means I lose a lot of time in onlines, and the RT thing isn’t always RT. It may be switched to play best quality etc – but that doesn’t mean it will. Render everything before mastering, don’t rely on it.
Other than that, I really enjoy working with FCP – when they iron out the gremlins, add better time-code reference (like the Avid timecode window) and a couple of other tweaks, it’ll blow Avid completely out of the market for the similar priced products.
Don’t you just love morning rants?
John
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oh and as for the ford and the chevvy…..
its more like being able to drive a chevvy in america, then having to go to New Zealand to drive a right hand drive 20 tonne truck.
The scenery is much better, you’ve got loads more space to organise yourself, and a much bigger tool kit in the back, but every time you try and change gear you bang your left hand into the door.
nick
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As far as Avid editors being passed over I know that I would much rather employ someone who grew up on Avid than someone who is self taught on FCP. One of the good things about Avid is it taught disciplines that need to be adhered to in the broadcast world. You wouldn’t believe how much work I get fixing up stuff that has been put together by kids who haven’t learnt anything about standards. Not saying they can’t cut, it varies as much as any genre of editor. I gave Avid 10 years until they upset me one too many times. Made the switch in 2001 and have been riding that wave ever since. I know can refuse Avid jobs.
All the advice here is top notch, don’t be nervous you’ll get the hang of it in no time. And like me you’ll begin to wonder why it wasn’t always done like this. Apart from media management that is. 😉 ENJOY!
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[Sean Lander] “As far as Avid editors being passed over I know that I would much rather employ someone who grew up on Avid than someone who is self taught on FCP. One of the good things about Avid is it taught disciplines that need to be adhered to in the broadcast world. You wouldn’t believe how much work I get fixing up stuff that has been put together by kids who haven’t learnt anything about standards.”
Just curious how Avid teaches standards that others don’t? Avid doesn’t magically make you a broadcast editor. Any NLE can cut to broadcast standards, it’s whether the operator knows how to work in broadcast standards that make the difference. The Avid I learned on couldn’t cut broadcast material because it didn’t have high enough resolution for broadcast. The Media 100’s I cut on for 6 years sure did, but they didn’t teach me how to conform to broadcast standards. 5 years at CNN taught me that.
Personally, I would much rather employ someone who has cut in a linear CMX style suite because in my own experience I’ve found that former linear editors are far better at editing and maintaining broadcast quality than people who grew up with NLE’s.
The argument that because you learned or work daily “on an Avid” makes you a better editor technically is simply not valid. The environment in which you learn and work will make you better or worse technically.
Walter Biscardi, Jr.
https://www.biscardicreative.com
HD Editorial & Animation for Food Network’s “Good Eats”
HD Editorial for “Assignment Earth”“I reject your reality and substitute my own!” – Adam Savage, Mythbusters
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John,
[John Steventon] “As it’s still considered a ‘Pro-sumer’ application”
Don’t think so. Have you been to NAB? Have you seen the resumes and credits of the people/companies using FCP on a daily basis to make a living? There’s nothing “prosumer” about it other than it’s origin. Could it be that your opinion of FCP is colored by the cost of the four avids you still have in your shop?
As for the “Timecode display” like an Avid… have you seen this?
https://www.digital-heaven.co.uk/bigtime/ You can make the timecode as BIG as you want.
Mark
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Well, my CMX 3600 never taught me about braodcast standards, BUT the Chief Engineer and his staff certainly did!
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Ok, I should have put ‘PRO’ in bold, as it’s now not even just a contender with Avid, it’s surpassing it, but what I mean is that the interface is still designed so that someone with very little knowledge can get up and running really quickly on FCP – that there are still a lot of design features aimed at the new user, rather than Avid, which when it first came out at least, needed a lot of knowledge to do anything other than basic editing properly.
I didn’t mean that in a bad way, just that Avid still considers itself a professional system that’s aimed only at ‘Broadcast professionals’ (if only by their ridiculous pricing schemes) whereas FCP realises there’s a bigger market out there than just the Broadcasters, and so has designed it to be user friendly for someone completely new to editing too.
Sorry if I seemed overly down on it with THAT phrase – I really thought that was the most complimentary part of my mail too…. 🙂
John
John
Success is merely a failiure to imagine more…G5 2.7Ghz, 4.5Gb ram, Blackmagic Decklink/multibridge, 5.6Tb Infortrend storage, FCP Studio 5.02, Makie MCU control, Yahama 5.1 surround, JVC DTV multi-format monitor, 2x23inch Apple monitors – and a partirdge on a pear tree.
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[John Steventon] “I didn’t mean that in a bad way, just that Avid still considers itself a professional system that’s aimed only at ‘Broadcast professionals’ (if only by their ridiculous pricing schemes) whereas FCP realises there’s a bigger market out there than just the Broadcasters, and so has designed it to be user friendly for someone completely new to editing too.”
No, I don’t think Apple has designed a product “to be user friendly for someone completely new to editing.” I think they’ve designed an interface that’s friendly for editing, period. Avid’s interface is so incredibly cluttered and there’s very little room for and editor to make their own decisions on workflow. You pretty much have to follow “the Avid way” when editing.
FCP’s interface and overall application design lets each editor tailor the app to their own particular style of working. For example, I’m working with two other broadcast editors on a series of projects right now. I’m amazed at how differently we all get the same thing done. Here I’ve been using FCP since 2001 and thought I knew all the ways to get a particular element or timeline done. And these guys just have a completely different way to get there.
My own opinion is that makes Final Cut Pro much more powerful than Avid. The application tailors itself to the user, not the other way around.
Walter Biscardi, Jr.
https://www.biscardicreative.com
HD Editorial & Animation for Food Network’s “Good Eats”
HD Editorial for “Assignment Earth”“I reject your reality and substitute my own!” – Adam Savage, Mythbusters
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They’re all 100% fantastic points, but remember, the OP was asking about the transition from Avid to FCP – and in my experience, the ’10 ways to do one thing’ that FCP offers, which as you point out, is nowhere near what Avid gives you, can be quite frustrating.
The best thing I’ve ever seen written about this transition is earlier in this thread about banging your hand off the door when changing gear on the ‘wrong side’. The most accurate description I’ve ever heard.
Like I said, there’s no doubt that FCP gives the editor a lot more control and picture manipulation and quality than a Media Composer – hands down, it’s just better – but there are still a lot of frustrations with the system, and when compounded with an Avid editing background that’s the basic for this post, the initial learning cruve, as short as it is, can feel a bit like banging your head off the wall.
If you ask me, the hardest part is going BACK to Avid. Key presses aside, I find it quite annoying that I don’t have the same control on Avid over the picture, but I still much prefer the render and audio control using Avid than FCP.
I only offer all this as a side to show that there are a lot of issues here, but none of them are insurmountable. I used to be a complete Avid dinosaur, I wouldn’t ever consider shifting systems, but now – because of the control over the picture I have, I will always push to work on the FCP online edit suite rather than any of the Media Composers in the building, but I need to give more time to make sure any of the media management or audio gremlins that I (maybe not everyone else does) experience as well as any re-render time I need to perform each time I alter a clip.
Which is good if I have a client who doesn’t know any better, and can maybe even squeeze a couple more pennies out of them – but if it’s someone who’s not used to some of the re-render times on FCP, and are used to the render ‘retainment’ that Avid has – I find I spend a lot of time apologising.
Thanks for the reply though Walter, your explanation of tailoring the interface to an editors needs opened my eyes to exactly WHY there’s 10 ways to do one thing.
Cheers.
John
John
John
Success is merely a failiure to imagine more…G5 2.7Ghz, 4.5Gb ram, Blackmagic Decklink/multibridge, 5.6Tb Infortrend storage, FCP Studio 5.02, Makie MCU control, Yahama 5.1 surround, JVC DTV multi-format monitor, 2x23inch Apple monitors – and a partirdge on a pear tree.
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