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Why do users say FCP X is fast? Some new numbers.
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[Pete Hickerson] “I think this says it all… A marriage between software and hardware is a wonderful thing.
https://www.fcp.co/final-cut-pro/articles/1710-final-cut-pro-x-v-adobe-premi...”
That’s the link which Bill used to start this thread so judging by the discussion it obviously does not ‘say it all.’ 😉
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[Andrew Kimery] “That’s the link which Bill used to start this thread so judging by the discussion it obviously does not ‘say it all.’ 😉
“Well, really all we’re going to see here is something like this…
“I don’t use it but it can’t be THAT fast.”
“Well, I use it and it is.”
“Well clearly your work isn’t like mine – on the kind of work I do everyday it definitely won’t be that much faster.”
“Maybe. But if you don’t really know how the whole X system actually works, you’ll simply never know whether or not it will be significantly faster for you. You can’t escape the fact that you have to learn it to fairly judge it.”
Then it goes round and round.
The working editors here who have a solid foot in multiple software camps, Oliver, Charlie, and others, – it’s instructive to note that NONE of them have remained in the original X is stupid juvenile crap camp.
The only people stuck there are those who decided definitely NOT to use it.
And it certainly hasn’t gotten stuck with the wedding folks or the YouTubers. It’s in multi-multi million dollar facilities earning it’s keep.
So the question isn’t is it good. The question is now “just how good is it?” And these posts help shed a little bit of light on that.
Nothing more.
Know someone who teaches video editing in elementary school, high school or college? Tell them to check out http://www.StartEditingNow.com – video editing curriculum complete with licensed practice content.
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[Bill Davis] “So the question isn’t is it good. The question is now “just how good is it?” And these posts help shed a little bit of light on that.
They do, I just don’t think you should expect to influence anyone that’s already made their mind up one way or the other. For the people that have already decided that X sucks or Avid sucks or Ford sucks or the PS4 sucks (pick your flame war) there’s nothing anyone can say/do to change their mind.
Back in the day I used to defend FCP Legend around belligerent Avid users and defend Avid around belligerent and it was largely a waste of time (and still is) because the loving of one thing and the hating of another was subjective and the discussions inevitably circular. If someone has genuine/legit questions/concerns I’ll comment but if the person is just ranting away I’ll pass on by because there is no point in engaging that person. I know you’ve spent four years evangelizing X but there’s never going to be a light at the end of that tunnel. If you do it because it brings you joy then, by all means, keep going, but if you do it because you want to change minds then I’d maybe find a different hobby before you drive yourself batty (or at least be very selective about your battles).
With regards to Aindreas, he spent years bashing Adobe and now he’s using CC so I wouldn’t brand him a hater for life just yet.
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Yes, that’s true really – it does boil down to liking or disliking it at a basic level – if you dislike it you see the stuff you dislike over the things there are to like. If you like it instinctively then you see the things you like over the things there are to dislike (beachballs as has been pointed out.)
the only thing I’d wonder is if there isn’t a chicken and egg problem with that. I didn’t go into it expecting to dislike it – They’d been working on it so long, it was apple, etc. But I found things to dislike. I don’t think the timeline and its restrictive metaphors are up to snuff and that’s a pretty core thing to dislike about an editing system: the timeline. Also any time I’d get mildly excited about a major feature update 12-18 months in the making – you’d get the library architecture and bugger all else. Or, hilariously, you’d get a ridiculously over the top 3D text engine, top of everyone’s list, and bugger all else. Some things I initially disliked sort of got fixed (or there were weird bodges like the white dot and temporarily de-activating connections) but the way Apple treated the update cycle left me kind of not respecting it as software. But, yes, basically I dislike it, but I’d argue it didn’t come out of the blue. I haven’t really argued about X in aeons anyway – it’s just that Bill was it his old saw that it’s software from the future that the uninitiated don’t understand. That’s as a stale as five year old bread….
https://vimeo.com/user1590967/videos http://www.ogallchoir.net promo producer/editor.grading/motion graphics
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[Aindreas Gallagher] “f you like it instinctively then you see the things you like over the things there are to dislike (beachballs as has been pointed out.)
“I think that beachballs are much reduced since the latest updates, well they certainly are for me!
[Aindreas Gallagher] “Also any time I’d get mildly excited about a major feature update 12-18 months in the making – you’d get the library architecture and bugger all else. Or, hilariously, you’d get a ridiculously over the top 3D text engine, top of everyone’s list, and bugger all else”
I love FCPX and the work Apple have done on stability is fantastic but I do wish we’d get more useful feature updates
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[Andrew Kimery] “They do, I just don’t think you should expect to influence anyone that’s already made their mind up one way or the other. For the people that have already decided that X sucks or Avid sucks or Ford sucks or the PS4 sucks (pick your flame war) there’s nothing anyone can say/do to change their mind.”
I agree. But that presumes that the class of “editors who have already made up their minds” is the audience I care about. I don’t really.
I’ve said before that a LOT of people simply lurk here trying to get valid information. So after years and legions of people “knee-jerking” on-line about how horrible X was (or still is in some cases!) I’m simply going to stay around to argue for the other point of view. .
I know I won’t change the opinions of those who simply won’t consider a change. But for every one of them, I suspect there are hundreds or maybe even thousands of editors who might.
I think like this because I’ve actually met or communicated with quite a few of them over the past few years – telling me that they would have never considered X if it weren’t for voices like mine running against the “conventional wisdom” in the early days.
And they’re often the people who now have 3 years of solid experience in X and it’s gratifying to see that X is often doing the same thing for them that it’s done for me. (make their editing much easier and much more enjoyable!).
That’s enough for me.
Know someone who teaches video editing in elementary school, high school or college? Tell them to check out http://www.StartEditingNow.com – video editing curriculum complete with licensed practice content.
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[Bill Davis] “I agree. But that presumes that the class of “editors who have already made up their minds” is the audience I care about. I don’t really. “
I don’t presume that that the’s the audience you care about (I think it’s the people you mention later in your post), but you seem to to engage with ‘made up their mind’ crowd on a regular basis. And, as you mentioned in your previous post, the arguments usually follow a predictable pattern so why keep having the same argument (with possibly many of the same people) over, and over and over again?
I put people in basically three buckets:
1. Those I’m fine engaging with.
2. Those I’m weary about engaging with but will under certain circumstances.
3. Those that I won’t touch with a 10ft pole. No matter what they say I’m not going to engage with them because it would be utterly pointless.Some people in groups 2 and 3 I might actually be somewhat in agreement with but I find their attitude so repulsive that I still don’t want to associate with them.
X has been in the wild a few years now, and there’s a lot of good resources online too, so I don’t think you need to worry about beating out every negative brushfire for fear that a ‘middle of the road’ editor would get lost in the fray.
Just my 2 cents.
-Andrew
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[Charlie Austin] “Those are all areas where X can definitely use more work/functionality. ganging I’m on the fence about,”
I mostly can’t use ganging if it isn’t 50×50. When versioning an online I have to equally get pixel by pixel besides each other. If it is just referencing or you need them to play together, it’s better the way you do indeed. As to this realtime play problem, in MC you can forward ten frames rapidly by pressing “2” on the keyboard and both move along. That’s one thing that shines in MC, its standard keyboard layout, the only thing I change when working on it are the next edit-previous edit buttons. It’s so simple and effective that I have that incorporated in Premiere, as some operations are now similar. In FCPX and 7 though I use theirs defaults. I usually try to learn the application way, but in Premiere it works almost perfectly with Avid’s and like I said it is the most effective. I wouldn’t use MC keyboard on FCPX but I could use a lot of things from Avid there, like the user interface rendering of the timeline itself. I mean the square blocks of the clips and how they are displayed, and no it’s not just tracks where you arrange the elements accordingly, I’m talking about when one expands a timeline in MC (like shift+z to you FCP people) you can spot a needle in a haystack, I mean in a glance you actually see single frame bits in a several minute long timeline. I wish FCPX would let me control more the appearance of the timeline and clips, not to behave like MC but to be more effective in displaying its timeline. Like you said, Charlie; FCPX could use more functionality. I know you don’t think it’s perfect. Should you and other users strive for perfection? Maybe not exactly that, but it wouldn’t hurt if we ask for some improvements. The thing is sometimes the inspiration it’s right next door, just saying!
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[Aindreas Gallagher] “it does boil down to liking or disliking it at a basic level”
I’m not clear. You don’t like it because of the poor launch way back? You don’t like it because it doesn’t suit you and the way you work? Or you don’t like it because it’s “poorly designed”.
Is it really so poorly designed?
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[Christian Schumacher] ” Like you said, Charlie; FCPX could use more functionality. I know you don’t think it’s perfect. Should you and other users strive for perfection? Maybe not exactly that, but it wouldn’t hurt if we ask for some improvements. The thing is sometimes the inspiration it’s right next door, just saying!”
True. And you’ll just have to take this on faith, but believe me, I ask. Often. 🙂
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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”~
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