Chris Harlan
Forum Replies Created
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[John Godwin] “Yeah, but then there’ll be another massive argument about whether the Prozac is actually “Pro”…
Best,
John
“I’m a fully licensed professional, and I am able to tell you officially that that is funny!
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[Walter Soyka] “And superior is really hard to define. Are you talking about ease of use? Workflow? Performance? Depth or breadth of tool set?
“Oh, I know. By throwing that question out there, I’m just looking for scatter-shot reaction. Sort of just thinking aloud, trying to figure out which way is up. How’s that for the mother superior of mixed metaphors?
[Walter Soyka] “[Chris Harlan] “My quandary, as I look at these things arrayed, is that I can reasonably budget this year for, say, Symphony and CS6, or Smoke for Mac, but not for all three, without just being stupid about it.”
What are your workflows like today?
“Well, when I’m working on a big sizzle, I do a lot of compositing. Over the last few years, I’ve been using a combo of AE and Motion. That 2.5 D tool of Motion’s has been very useful, btw. I’ve enjoyed using the cameras and lights to quickly create some nice compositions and effects. I use the tracking tools, and especially the masking tools to do things like remove distracting actors or objects from a shot. I really like the way I’ve been able to do this in FCP 6-7 from my timeline, straight into the comp. Round tripping–depending on how a version or use of a particular CODEC broke it–often sucked for return, and had to be worked around with renders, but the source in the timeline was always very useful. Hence, my extreme interest in Smoke. But, I can’t help wonder if the price tag (and all of the “Hey, look how cool it works on an iMac) is actually an acknowledgment of the end of the upper end on the Mac platform. The Smoke tools look to me to be a worthy investment, but will I be happy–a year from now–that I’m not using them on an eight or twelve core?
Now, the other side of the coin is that I do A LOT of editing that does not involve compositing. I’ve been enjoying my sojourn back to Avid-land with its seven billion ways to make a trim. And, I suppose I could get used to AE only workflow for compositing. I’m a one-man band that floats around–jelly fish-like–with a lot of other one man bands, and I need to be able to orchestrate with them when production ramps. Avid has been the mantra for the last year, with a few peeps of CS6 (principally from gfx designers, since it would make their lives easier, and editors are just editors anyway.) Since most of these fellow jellyfish parts tend to be a bit more off-line than I, I’m guessing that the siren of Avid will continue (unless Craig is right, and ancient gods from Baal rise up and pull the company whole into the bowels of the earth.)
So, I sit between these two thinking “Great compositing with limited power on my 2008 8 core or a new iMac? or a full commitment to Avid and CS6 on a Dell or HP workstation?” I don’t think there will be Smoke for Windows, as that would undercut Autodesk’s IRIX line, whereas iSmoke acts as a great introduction to it. I’d be happy to be wrong about this, btw. And, maybe Craig is right that there will be some sort of modified iWorkbeast, but my money would go on “not happening.”
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Yeah, but totally, totally thanks. Dang that was good.
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[Bret Williams] “I thought they announced this last week? OpenCL that is. It was on their website.
“I was under the impression that they had simply announced for the current MacBook Pros, but hey–if Jeremy hadn’t posted it, I still wouldn’t know next week.
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[Jeremy Garchow] “https://blogs.amd.com/fusion/2012/04/16/adobe-and-amd-bring-opencl-powered-r…
Collective sigh of relief?
Jeremy
“Well, the dance party just keeps going!
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[Aindreas Gallagher] “I adore the series.
the fact that he is an utter geek who can reference nuke and shake.. I throw my hands up.
“Me too, man. And, lets throw in the fact that the actor who plays the dean just one an Oscar for best adapted screenplay on one of my favorite films last year. Totally great show.
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[Aindreas Gallagher] “I see some hands. “
I watch Troy and Abed in the Morning nearly every day.
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[Eric Mc Guire] “It’s not XLR but it’s ok. Personnally, I don’t hear much of a difference.
“There shouldn’t be any difference, other than to the degree they stay clamped into the socket, which XLRs are better at. 1/4″ Balanced is perfectly acceptable.
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[Steve Connor] “That doesn’t really happen on here anymore.”
While I agree that that is mostly the case, it does erupt from time to time like a nasty cold sore virus. Of course, the antithesis flares up with about the same rapidity and fervor. Sort of like old warriors striving to forget:
https://www.myspace.com/video/kornstalx/fawlty-towers-the-germans-clip/22575815
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[Walter Soyka] “[Chris Harlan] “I’m curious what you think of the Symphony cross-grade in the light of this.”
What do I think of Symphony versus Smoke? I guess it depends on your workflow and needs. I don’t think they really compete as they don’t really have overlapping feature sets.”
I guess, Walter, what I’m really asking about is where they do overlap–say, in color correction, and whether Symphony’s would be–to your knowledge– superior to the new Smoke for Mac’s.
[Walter Soyka] “Symphony is a steal at $999 if you have an Avid workflow and want to color in the context of your edit, or want if you want to get the bundled Boris Continuum effects for less than the Boris bundle’s standalone price, but other finishing tasks like paint and compositing would clearly go to Smoke.”
My understanding–and I could be quite wrong about this–is that Smoke fits fairly well into the Avid workflow, PLUS it has the other finishing and composite tools. So, I guess I’m back to wondering if Symphony’s 100% compatibility with MC projects and its Color tools have enough of an edge to makeup for not gaining the compositing tools? I’m also wondering the degree to which Smoke for Mac will always be Smoke-lite because of the potential lack of Sizzle core beasts. I can’t help but wonder if this isn’t part of Autodesk’s pricing strategy as well. As for the Boris bundle, I do like it and plan to upgrade, but the upgrade price–unless I am misunderstanding something–is much cheeper than the price of Symphony.
[Walter Soyka] “DS would be Avid’s competitor to Smoke, and Dermot could talk a lot more about that. From my outsider’s perspective on DS, I’d be nervous about investing in it today. Avid doesn’t seem to be paying it a whole lot of attention.”
I have no interest in DS; I think its the walking Dead. My quandary, as I look at these things arrayed, is that I can reasonably budget this year for, say, Symphony and CS6, or Smoke for Mac, but not for all three, without just being stupid about it. The Symphony upgrade ends about the time the Smoke for Mac trial is set to begin. So, I’m trying to juggle this all in my head–Smoke has tools I crave, and may be the NLE I’ve been looking for, but will also maybe/probably be limited/hobbled to iMac and and Macbook Pro use. Both Symphony and CS6 can be put on future workstations that will have the guts to do some of the compositing I like, but without the neat-o tools I’ve been dreaming of for some time. Oh, for a new Mac Pro, which the coming of 2013 Smoke for Mac has convinced me–oddly–we shall not see.