Why I love Final Cut Pro X

rdsii64 said:

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As a professional broadcast and film editor I have never been asked to post anything in FCPX. There were times when someone would just want to experiment with FCP5 or 6 or 7, and they had me cut on those systems from time to time.

The industry has always been Avid, and in second place was usually Media 100, Adobe Premiere or FCP.

Now, I say that to say this: I'd never EVER swear off an application that you feel comfortable using. I've used FCPX and I have to say that it's the fastest of the NLEs I've ever used. Once I got past that learning curve I knew why some folks like it.

Cut on what you know PERIOD. If someone is paying you to cut on something else LEARN FAST. It seems to me that you don't have any intentions on going professional with your editing, so have fun, and enjoy good software.

The timeline on FCP X is a must for me. I can't produce videos any other way now... the flexibility to move stuff around in totally unconventional ways and with custom groups and compound clips works wonders for my projects. Premiere is cool but it's not for me, the FCP 7 ways of doing things are out for me and I've had incredible results using the software. Here's a new video

vimeo.com/zwhaler/livetraxs

I come from the movie trailer industry. It's 80% FCP7, 20% avid. FCPX, while powerful, probably won't make the cut in this environment. Since the graphics dept is all adobe, my guess is when FCP7 is retired, Adobe Premiere will be the replacement.

Don't get me wrong. I like FCPX and think for a lot of people it's the best software for the money. For smaller teams that do everything in house it's a great asset. But it doesn't feel like it was designed for professional industry people, rather for the boot-strappers and the prosumers. That's a big market that no one was paying a lot of attention to. They either pony up big $$$ for software, steal it, or try to make the cheap stuff work. For $300, Apple gave them a great tool.

The bigger pros will still need their expensive software, but everyone else can compete at a fraction of the cost. Sounds like a win to me.

I use FCPX as a main editor/grader in my home studio (mostly 2K for documentary and sometimes 4K short fiction), but I can understand ppl who work in intensive collaborative enviromment who prefere Premiere (and of course, AVID), especially since Adobe put it on a pro side after almost 10 years in marge. And we got the chance to have all the CS suits works well on OSX!

Apple just get back to the roots of FCP, a software for independent and small structure. Not exactly for the core industry, but able to do the job for people who work with it.

Another good things is that all that software works great on any Apple hardware, laptop, Mini or MacPro is a difference of performance, but not reliability.

BTW, if I love the GUI of FCPX but I find it to strict. Apple should take the exemple of the keyboard configuration to give similar options for the interface, or let third-party software do it.

I have been using Primere since CS3 and am now currently on CS6. I am so used to the standard NLE work flow I am scared to make a change.

A lot of close friends who edit have expressed how quickly their workflow has picked up since moving to FCX.

I'm curious and want to try it, but I'm too comfortable with CS6 right now.

I teach. Final cut x is very intuitive for my students. It also has some deeper features that I can throw at advanced students that will give their videos extra oomph without needing a how to book.

As for me, I love the rendering in x. Not hitting apple r all the time is nice....

I am proficient in Premiere pro CS2 and up, After Effects CS5 and up, FC7, FCPX. It is personal preference they are all very powerful (the latest version of FCPX). I like to use FCPX most of the time for the magnetic timeline and the way it manages my events and projects. Platform wars need to die out already, it is the 21st century, you can almost do anything with any software. It is about the user and the footage 99% of the time.

I wasn't able to figure out a fast way to media manage my second features content in FCPX. I ended up going to Premiere. I also was syncing the audio manually, creating merged clips properly named to the clapper, etc. I started doing a similar process in FCPX and found it really complicated and a little confusing. Not sure what my problem is...but it was taking 2x as long.

I love FCPX, but haven't figured out a way to use it for a big critical project like a feature film. Most of my issues are media management driven and organization within the program.

MacOG728893 said:

I have been using Primere since CS3 and am now currently on CS6. I am so used to the standard NLE work flow I am scared to make a change.

A lot of close friends who edit have expressed how quickly their workflow has picked up since moving to FCX.

I'm curious and want to try it, but I'm too comfortable with CS6 right now.

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Stay with what is comfy for you, when you have some downtime try out FCPX but at the end of the day it is all personal preference so if you are really comfortable with Premiere you probably won't want to learn FCPX (not that it takes more than 10 minutes to learn )

I use Adobe Premiere CS6 right now. I am ready to move on I always wanted to try Final Cut Pro X, don't know where to start need some tutorials to start me off any one point me in the right directions youtube is good but most of them use keyboard short cuts in audio but i am deaf and can't hear the audios.

Books might offer what you need

As I recall, the media from the Apple Pro Training Series books (Basic and Advanced) do not have "instructional videos." You work through the exercises as described in the text using the media provided on the DVD.

Good luck.

I'm in love with FCPX. Having said that, i've never used track based editing software for video work, and I hated tracks when I did audio work in the past. I just really enjoy how quickly and easily I can lay down projects with FCPX. I'm sure for very pro level work like big budget movies and the like, tracks may still be better. For smaller projects or ones that have a tight schedule, I think FCPX works very well. (specially internet projects, which there's alot of these days)

I love premiere. Premiere and After Effects do everything I ask them to do on 4Gbs of ram in my Mac mini, without a crappy timeline. I liked FCP7 a good bit, but the timeline and the fact that if you pass 5 minutes in video it just becomes clunky just make me want to use adobe more.

darthraige said:

I was die hard FCP until X came out, then I made the jump to Adobe Premiere and haven't regretted it one bit.

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Back in 1999 when the Mac were beige I used to use Premiere, it was the best software out there. Even in OS 9, Premiere was able to import different kind of footage into the timeline and render on the fly.

Final Cut Pro came out but no one was using it until OSX came out as well and FCP was the only software ready and super stable even it lacked from lots of features Premiere had like animated transitions and effects.

Any way, Premiere is an amazing software that was on a side for a long time, is fully compatible with After Effects too.

I have seen FCP X and even it looks nice still... I do not know... under developed and feels like a kids toy. It does not have the "industry" label on it.

I am using FCP 7 and if I have to jump I would do it to Premiere.

DeafRaiders said:

I use Adobe Premiere CS6 right now. I am ready to move on I always wanted to try Final Cut Pro X, don't know where to start need some tutorials to start me off any one point me in the right directions youtube is good but most of them use keyboard short cuts in audio but i am deaf and can't hear the audios.

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musique said:

As I recall, the media from the Apple Pro Training Series books (Basic and Advanced) do not have "instructional videos." You work through the exercises as described in the text using the media provided on the DVD.

Good luck.

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Hello DeafRaiders. I'm deaf too, but I haven't edited video for a long time. You seem like a visual learner, not a book learner. Lynda.com has a lot of instructional videos with subtitles. Some are free, but most you have to become a member. It costs about $25 (£18) - $37 (£28) a month but I think you can join just for 1 month.

There's several video courses on FCPX and all seem to have subtitles

Basic training course: http://www.lynda.com/Final-Cut-Pro-tutorials/Final-Cut-Pro-X-Essential-Training/117532-2.html

Some of the clips can be watched for free without paying so you can see what it's like.

Other courses on FCPX: http://www.lynda.com/Final-Cut-Pro-training-tutorials/201-0.html?category=x_960

ALSO

WFA Media in Manchester *may* sometimes have media short courses open to deaf people (only about once or twice a year) with BSL interpreters. Contact them and ask. I know some deaf people who have been on their courses and learnt a lot.

http://www.wfamedia.co.uk/wfatraining.html

Good luck!

RedTomato said:

Hello DeafRaiders. I'm deaf too, but I haven't edited video for a long time. You seem like a visual learner, not a book learner. Lynda.com has a lot of instructional videos with subtitles. Some are free, but most you have to become a member. It costs about $25 (£18) - $37 (£28) a month but I think you can join just for 1 month.

There's several video courses on FCPX and all seem to have subtitles

Basic training course: http://www.lynda.com/Final-Cut-Pro-tutorials/Final-Cut-Pro-X-Essential-Training/117532-2.html

Some of the clips can be watched for free without paying so you can see what it's like.

Other courses on FCPX: http://www.lynda.com/Final-Cut-Pro-training-tutorials/201-0.html?category=x_960

ALSO

WFA Media in Manchester *may* sometimes have media short courses open to deaf people (only about once or twice a year) with BSL interpreters. Contact them and ask. I know some deaf people who have been on their courses and learnt a lot.

http://www.wfamedia.co.uk/wfatraining.html

Good luck!

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I live in Scotland and I am pretty much done at college. I work in an IT department. So learning video is a hobby for now then maybe when i learn more and improve my skill i may move into the video department.

Thanks for the info. Visual is the best way for Deaf people has read is not very good for most of us.

yoak said:

So tiered of people dismissing FCPX as a toy. ..

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It seems like a toy because children are playing with it. It should be called Final Cut X as it's now for everyone, not just pros.

And a first impression is a lasting one. First, they released it prematurely, causing it to have an iMovie Pro rep. Now, there's a significant update that only those with the Mavericks OS system can take advantage of.

I do like FCP X, but will keep my copy of 7 around.

Out of Love with Editing

To be honest (void my real name), I was getting tired of video editing. In fact, I don't really like doing it, but it's what pays me.

Then I tried FCP X. The media management, speed, thumbnail views, keywords, background rendering, lack of round-tripping, plugins and more made me excited about editing again.

Mine crashes a lot, but that may be because I have loaded it with a ton of plugins and am using an older (2008) Mac Pro. The great part is that it restarts where I left off.

If I can get back to a fast workflow in it and export files that FCP 7 users can access, then I'm all for it.

Just bummed that the best features can only be used on Mavericks. Lame.

Chad3eleven said:

If you love it, and it works, good for you.

But keep in mind, in some studios, including the one I work in, FCPX isnt going to fit.

When it comes to sharing projects, XML exchanges, opening legacy projects, working with assistants and so on, FCPX doesnt fit in our workflow.

I can speak for most of the editing facilities in the Detroit area by saying a standard NLE like Avid, Premiere and even FCP7 works well, and trying to push or shift the staff to work on FCPX is down right impossible.

I've tooled around in it and it seems kida cool, but when you pass off huge 900gb+ project from studio to studio, interjecting FCPX is almost suicidal, unless its a self contained project that does not need to be shared internally, or externally.

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Exactly. And that's what seems overlooked.

I was a freelancer for years, and using industry standard software kept me afloat. That software also required an investment in education, money, time and study. So there was some pride and reward in knowing professional, advanced level software.

To reduce it initially to iMovie and expect professionals to be thrilled is unrealistic, I don't care how many self-proclaimed pros working at home with huge clients there are. I too have huge clients, but I also work in a huge company and have to hand off files as you mentioned.

And even now that my mind has changed and I love FCP X personally, the initial bad impression is lasting on many. Apple will have to do something drastic to convince high level professionals and production houses.

Version 10.1 may be the change, but it only works on an OS system that doesn't run most third party essential software. Oh well.

ChocolateApple said:

...Version 10.1 may be the change, but it only works on an OS system that doesn't run most third party essential software. Oh well.

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Believe me, that will change soon.

ChocolateApple said:

To be honest (void my real name), I was getting tired of video editing. In fact, I don't really like doing it, but it's what pays me.

Then I tried FCP X. The media management, speed, thumbnail views, keywords, background rendering, lack of round-tripping, plugins and more made me excited about editing again.

Mine crashes a lot, but that may be because I have loaded it with a ton of plugins and am using an older (2008) Mac Pro. The great part is that it restarts where I left off.

If I can get back to a fast workflow in it and export files that FCP 7 users can access, then I'm all for it.

Just bummed that the best features can only be used on Mavericks. Lame.

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I agree with everything you just said, especially the part in bold and I'm using 10.1. For this very reason, I'll be sticking with PP CS6. Open CL is slow and clunky with my 780m in FCX. PP CS6 is blazing fast with its CUDA acceleration. Not a single crash or freeze as compared to the dozen or so I've had in FCX 10.1. Hopefully this will change and so might my opinion on it.

I haven´t had any crashes on 10.1, but I don´t have any plugins installed, nor have a done big project on it. So that could be the reason. I haven´t tried it on my old 2008 MP, only a MBP and an Air though

4God said:

Believe me, that will change soon.

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How do you figure?

darthraige said:

I was die hard FCP until X came out, then I made the jump to Adobe Premiere and haven't regretted it one bit.

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I also was die hard until FCPX and then switched to premiere and I've never felt more sad. Premiere is clunky as *%$@ and feel like I went 5 years backwards. I've only been using it because I already had the Adobe master suite and needed to edit .mts files. I can't try FCPX fast enough. Just need a week off to download and try it out.

stabsteer said:

I also was die hard until FCPX and then switched to premiere and I've never felt more sad. Premiere is clunky as *%$@ and feel like I went 5 years backwards. I've only been using it because I already had the Adobe master suite and needed to edit .mts files. I can't try FCPX fast enough. Just need a week off to download and try it out.

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That seems strange coming from FCP7. The editing workflow is pretty much exactly the same and Adobe had lept far beyond FCP7s capabilities by that point.