I have Premier, but would Final Cut X be easier for my situation?

Hi guys,

TL;DR version: Which is easier to learn in your opinion, Premier or Final Cut X?


Long version:
Let me start off by saying I am not a video editor, the only thing I will be doing is making a few visual effects shots for fun/learning purposes. They'll be basic shots with something being tracked, and a 3D mesh match moved into the scene.

I have Maya, Composite, Matchmover, and After Effects for these things and those will be used to make the shot. Premier or Final Cut X will just be used to string these clips together and add sound. I know iMovie can do that but I really want to learn something more advanced than iMovie. I know oodles of other software so I'd like to add video editing software to my knowledge as well.

That being said I have Premier as part of my Adobe Production Suite, but Final Cut X looks more user friendly IMO (I could be wrong). That being said for my uses which do you think would be a better fit? (Again, no iMovie, I want to learn all kinds of new tools). I also am not worried about price as I will have licenses to either available to me through work.

simsaladimbamba said:

As you already have Premiere Pro, go with that, and as you are used to AE, it should be easy to learn. Just make sure to take a look at all the available keyboard shortcuts and how trimming is done in Premiere Pro.

I started with Premiere (when it was still version 4 or 5 and not Pro), migrated to Avid Media Composer and then even used FCP.

And as PP is also part of the production suite, sending sequences/compositions to one another should be simpler than using FCP X.

If Premiere Pro does not satisfy your needs, though it should satisfy them, as you want some simple tasks done, you can still migrate to FCP X.

PS: I don't know, what format your audio will be in, but when I used Premiere (up to 6.5) I always had problems with compressed audio, which might be not a problem anymore, but nonetheless, I recommend using uncompressed audio like .wav or .aiff.

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Thanks so much for the input!

My needs are VERY basic and After Effects will take care of the grading and things. I know how to use Maya, I know enough of After Effects to get around, Composite will be new to me but I've watched a slew of training videos and will be shooting some video with markers later as a test.

Premiere (nice catch on my misspelling ;P) will be simply for putting clips together to music for fun once the shots are out of After Effects. I know its over kill and iMovie can do it but I'd like to start learning a video editing software since I'll have to support the video editors at work now (since my entire department except for me got let go ).

simsaladimbamba said:

It's a common misspelling, thus I am used to it.


But Premiere will allow you to use the rendered/exported video with the codec you export in (Cineform, DNxHD or ProRes), iMovie will transcode video upon import into Apple Intermediate Codec encoded .mov files, if it even can read the codec from the AE rendered video.

Video Compression
Why It Matters & How To Make The Most Of It

which includes the following sections:

• GOPs, Macroblocks & Wavelets
• Acquisition Formats
• Editing & Post Formats
• Final Cut Pro
• Avid Media Composer
• Adobe Premiere Pro
• Which Codec Should I Edit With?
• Conclusion
• Camera Codec Summary
• Apple ProRes Variations
• Avid DNxHD Codecs

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Thanks for the links and info! I'll be sure to look through them.

LethalWolfe said:

If you are going to interface w/existing editors you should probably become familiar with whatever software they are using.

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They actually for some ungodly reason use Avid, Premiere and Final Cut X*. Why they are allowed all three is beyond me. I didn't even know the three can interface together personally but I've never supported that department before and know nothing about video editing.

I usually support 3D apps which involve Maya, Soft Image, Mari, Realflow, Photoshop, ZBrush, Mudbox, Shave and a Haircut and Renderman. Those apps all serve specific purposes so maybe all three video editing softwares serve a specific purpose, but somehow I don't think thats the case...

*Perhaps the illogical sounding workflow is why their IT guy lost his position. It just doesn't make sense to me that three video editing programs should be in use. Please correct me if I'm wrong.

simsaladimbamba said:

Maybe they give the editors the freedom, to use whatever application they are comfortable with or which is best for the job.

FCP X can be used for a quick/short and dirty edit, Avid MC can be used for longer ones and Premiere for the ones in between?

Anyway, the production houses I worked with were solely Avid based, thus am probably way off with that reasoning.

PS: Maya and Softimage are 3D modelling & animation tools and Mari and ZBrush are 3D painting tools and to the untrained eye, one would ask, why use both of them, while one is cheaper than the other.

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That could be the case. The 3D artists get what they want so perhaps its the same with the video editors. I have a lot to learn in this area, I really got thrown into this.

As for Maya vs Soft Image, Soft Image has ICE (I'm not an expert in that area yet) and its supposedly the new sexy as far as 3D animation goes. Maya is used because its compatible with a ridiculous amount of plugins the artists use. They hop between the two quite frequently.

As for Mari and ZBrush, ZBrush is more of a sculpting app (although Polypainting is possible) and Mari is an AMAZING texture painting program (the best in my experience) and can handle ridiculously large data sets. Usually they'll scuplt something in ZBrush, export a lower res version of it to Mari (since ZBrush can handle more polys than any app out there) and paint in Mari.