Comments on: What we like about FCP

By: Kerry Soloway

Kerry Soloway — Thu, 15 Mar 2007 00:46:44 +0000

When I first purchased Final Cut Pro, I came to the realization that just the added functionality that LiveType gives added so much value. With it, one can generate all sorts of animated backgrounds. With Motion that ability is enhanced even further.

Some people have paid almost the same amount for animated background libraries that it now costs to purchase Final Cut Studio. For that price you not only have infinite customizable backgrounds but animated character generation (LiveType and Motion), sophisticated audio editing and mixing (Soundtrack Pro), DVD authoring (DVD Studio Pro), media encoding (Compressor), compositing (Final Cut Pro and Motion) and, oh yeah, video editing (Final Cut Pro).

It sure seems like a great deal to me.

By: Rui Barros

Rui Barros — Thu, 15 Mar 2007 18:32:48 +0000

The best thing about Final Cut Pro is that is runs on Mac.
Stable and solid, we can work long hours without having those error messages.
Not only it saves time but also it gives a good impression to the directors and costumers.
From 9h00 to 16h00 i work with FCP and from 16h30 until 0h00 on a Avid Adrenaline HD, OS Windows. I can tell that there is a biiiiiggg difference…

By: JJ

JJ — Thu, 15 Mar 2007 22:03:38 +0000

I agree with all the above except maybe “Resolution independent - import high resolution graphic files and use directly in the timeline.” When ever I used that feature and did any basic 2D moves, it looked really bad so I ended up replicating this in After Effects.
One thing that Avid has is it’s responsiveness with really large projects. I have seen FCP slow to a crawl, really snail slow on semi long projects where as the Avid was still really responsive.

By: JJ

JJ — Thu, 15 Mar 2007 22:07:21 +0000

And please don’t get me wrong, I really like FCP and wished that Avid was cheaper and could catch up with modern editing system like FCP. I favor Macs over PCs but in the end when I am editing it all comes down to stability and if you follow Avids specs, they can be rock solid. With FCP same thing, don’t rush on any updates to any Edit Systems, ever. Way for the guinea pigs to figure it out and only update when you really need it and only between projects.

Cheers,

By: fungible

fungible — Fri, 16 Mar 2007 03:01:38 +0000

JJ: I thought I was having the same problem with graphic files and putting them into FCP, but it turns out it’s not so. Thing is: you have to render them, and in order to render them you have to check the “Preview” row in the Render All menu.

It also may be one of the reasons why it’s so slow - with all those undrendered files in the timeline, it gets a little frantic preparing to play all that video. Still, I sympathize: I just cut a movie on a machine with only 1GB of RAM, and it was rather painful. I wish I could’ve upgraded it, but it wasn’t my machine.

I agree with you that the best thing about FCP is that it’s on Mac, though. Most places I work on Avid (Windows or Mac), they can’t update the OS software ever or it will break Avid. If you’re on Windows machines, this means they prefer that you never go on the internet. In fact, most places won’t even hook it up.

Which of course, is ridiculous. How am I supposed to download files from my graphics guys’ FTP site? How am I going to send my director rough cuts over AIM? This is 2007, the internet is crucial for this stuff.

By: Stuart Mannion

Stuart Mannion — Fri, 16 Mar 2007 06:48:02 +0000

No JJ is correct, even when rendered, moving images in FCP will never be as smooth as After Effects. It’s not quite there yet for proper animated graphic onlines. Also when a project reaches 10 or 15 mins long it will often slow down even with a fairly simple timeline.

By: CHL

CHL — Fri, 16 Mar 2007 15:28:55 +0000

I’ve cut numerous hour long docs and a 90 minute feature film on FCP and I’ve never experience a slow down timeline.

THAT IS A MISCONCEPTION!

It may take a while (meaning one whole minute to 90 seconds) to open up but timeline and trimming navigation is not slow down after the project is open.

The only sole exception I’ve seen one particular update made certain system’s timeline trimming slow down but that was a isolated situation.

CHL

By: not u

not u — Sat, 17 Mar 2007 00:47:13 +0000

CHL - please. “may take a while to open up”???
i don’t know you’re editing background or skills, but you’re the reason i have a hard time crossing over to FCP…you’re all fanboys, not editors.

By: Sven

Sven — Sat, 17 Mar 2007 07:40:56 +0000

I know of only one way FCP being slow, is that when you have multiple sequences nested in one sequence and they all are opened in the timeline. When you change something, like an effect in de nested sequence, on the background it will change this as well in the original sequence. Then you really have to wait long! Is my many years of experience with FCP as a user and teacher, it has only been slow for that reason.

By: Kerry Soloway

Kerry Soloway — Sat, 17 Mar 2007 12:39:53 +0000

JJ,

I’d like to know which Avids you work on. While it is true that a hardware-based editing system like the Avid Meridien products are rock solid, I find that the newer software products, like Adrenaline, have the same problems as FCP, another software product.

As far as incorporating large stills into the timeline is concerned, have you tried using Motion? I find that that can make a difference. If not Motion, what about Shake? You can add Shake to the mix for about 1/2 of what After Effects Pro costs.

By: Oliver Peters

Oliver Peters — Mon, 19 Mar 2007 19:49:44 +0000

Kerry,

I also am not a fan of FCP’s scaling engine with hi-res stills, however, this appears to be mainly an issue with SD and not HD. In other words, I’ve been quite happy with cam-style moves on stills in HD projects. The problem isn’t one of the scaling engine’s math but rather the lack of sub-pixel filtering and anti-aliasing. The moves are simply too accurate and therefore don’t look good when tiny lines and textures “beat” against the pixels of most displays.

I have tried Motion, but when I compare Motion or FCP to Boris Red, Adobe After Effects or Canopus Imaginate (PC-only), Motion and FCP are not as good. Of course, IMHO, none of these methods is as nice as a real human camera operator doing moves on actual photographs.

Sincerely,
Oliver

By: DSguy

DSguy — Tue, 20 Mar 2007 20:40:57 +0000

# Final Cut Pro is a single piece of software to learn. No missing features because you only chose the entry level product.
# From DV to HD, your system can grow with you. Add low cost third party hardware for uncompressed SD, HD and 2K input/output capabilities.

Doesn’t the second statement contradict the first statement?

By: avid2fcp

avid2fcp — Tue, 20 Mar 2007 20:51:43 +0000

DSguy

Yep. I’ve updated it so now it reads “No missing software features…”

Thanks for pointing that out.

By: James Miller

James Miller — Wed, 21 Mar 2007 08:35:53 +0000

If you don’t like what FCP does on still moves, try lyric’s “Pan Zoom Pro”. Does what it says on the tin, just as good as AE. Also, swith the motion filtering tab to “best”.

By: Oliver Peters

Oliver Peters — Wed, 11 Apr 2007 13:16:16 +0000

A few more things to like:

A vibrant develop community with a wide assortment of low cost and even free utilities and plug-ins that are truly useful and not just glitzy.

Efficient Send To functions for LiveType, Motion and SoundTrack Pro.

Easy-to-move custom keyboard and window layouts that don’t affect (corrupt) the project itself.

Availability of control surfaces for hardware audio mixing control.

Ability to mix timelines and media of different project formats and frame rates. This is still a good thing in spite of the required rendering.

Availability of useful compressed SD and HD codecs in DVCPRO50 and DVCPROHD (DV100). Note, that I think this is still better in Avid, but if you compare to other NLEs that only do uncompressed or very highly compressed, this is a big plus.

Availability of a choice of 3rd party hardware for I/O (AJA, BMD, Matrox).

Sincerely,
Oliver

By: jcotter

jcotter — Tue, 17 Apr 2007 02:27:46 +0000

>>you’re all fanboys, not editors.

By: jcotter

jcotter — Tue, 17 Apr 2007 02:28:22 +0000

‘not u’ said : you’re all fanboys, not editors.

“not u”, this is not a place to bash either FCP or AVID, or FCP users or Avid users. We’d appreciate it if users could please respect this rule.