What can FCP do that vegas can't?

[rackdude]

I'd like to know for when I'm picking software

:)

[J.R. Hudson]

Are you using a PC or a Mac ?

Will the NLE determine your OS ?

[David Jimerson]

Is that even a serious question? Seems like troll bait to me.

[pcascio]

I'm not sure if that was troll bait, but if someone has a serious answer I would enjoy reading it. I use Vegas and am happy, but I was wondering what I'm missing out on by not using Final Cut Pro.

[David Jimerson]

Aside from native support for DVCPRO, not a whole lot.

[taormina]

Vegas can't use Twixtor which pisses me off to no end. No one seems to have any better suggestions for achieving the kind of slomo I'm looking for in Vegas. Short of renting a 120fps camera, I have to use software to achieve my look. Vegas does not support the Twixtor plugin.

I'm PC based, so I was thinking of buying Avid just to use Twixtor. Yes, I know Avid costs $5K.

[J.R. Hudson]

Use an HVX ?

Can't one use After Effects w/ it and save some ducket's ?

[David Jimerson]

Even with Twixtor, you're not going to get the results you really want. There's only so much you can do with the number of motion samples you have to work with.

[taormina]

Sorry to Hijack - and I know the problem I have is not only Vegas's fault. I do have an HVX and love it. I may consider going the AE route and then importing the clip. I really do like using Vegas - it's a great product

[Barry_Green]

Vegas runs on the Windows system, FCP runs on the MacOS platform. That's a huge difference.

Vegas is basically a standalone app that doesn't have a "suite" of products around it. FCP is sold in a "suite". FCP has many more plugins available for it. But Vegas has basically its own "suite" in and of itself -- it has far more powerful audio capabilities than any NLE I know of; it has some compositing and even 3-D compositing capabilities, etc.

But using FCP means that you can likely someday get hired in a post facility (if that matters to you). Using Vegas, that's much less likely. Every post house has an FCP suite, few post houses have Vegas suites.

Plus, Vegas appears to be heading more and more Sony-centric. So if you use Sony products (like XDCAM or Sony HDV camcorders) and want to work with other Sony hardware (like the PS3 or Playstation Portable) then Vegas is going to have the best integration and the best support for those products. But if that's not your main focus, and you want to work with footage from Canon or Panasonic equipment, the current trend is that FCP is going to be more compatible. Hopefully Vegas will stop its bend towards proprietary-ness, but if they don't, I wouldn't recommend someone getting into editing to adopt Vegas unless they plan on working primarily with Sony equipment.

[Eastside Parkway]

What can FCP do that vegas can't?


It's not just what it can do... it's also how it does it. Just something to consider.

[David Jimerson]

Well, that's true. FCP tends to take 2-3 steps to do something that Vegas does in one.

But unfortunately, Barry is quite correct about the Sony-centrism. It's getting to the point where they don't really even deny it anymore.

[TheMacB]

It seems like Vegas needs very little horse-power to run. For example, Photoshop seems to bog down my computer way more than Vegas.

[Hectorxd]

Hey
I use Vegas at home and FCP at work. I have been using FCP for a year now every day at work and I hate to say it but I am starting to like FCP more. Here are some of the differences that I have run into.
1. Working with multiple layer photoshop documents. You can take a PSD into FCP and work with all the layers right there on the timeline. If you wanted to do this in Vegas you would have to save each layer individually and than bring it into Vegas. This issue doesnt come up alot but when I was working on graphics and lower thirds for a TV show it came in handy.
2. One thing I like about FCP is how you can just grab a whole section of clips and easily drag whatever is highlighted. I know this can be done in Vegas holding shift and highlighting all the clips needed but it just doesnt work as well in Vegas. It seems to take more steps.
3. Another advantage to me is having the two windows on FCP where you modify the effects or the size of the clip. In FCP its right there, in vegas you have to open up a new window which might not be a big deal if you have two monitors and you have it set to stay over there.
4. Rendering, Rendering, Rendering. At first when I started working with FCP I hated the render times but I was using an older G4 and it took alot longer than it does on G5's and especially the newer quads and dual quads. What I like about the rendering is once you render something with a bunch of layers or effects thrown on you can watch it. This might be just my computer but Vegas slows down when I start adding layers and especially effects. And from what I can tell I cant render parts of the timeline while Im working on a project in Vegas.
5. In FCP you can work on multiple projects and multiple timelines for each project all at the same time. Again, I might be missing something but I havent found a way to do this in vegas without opening up vegas several times.
6. What I like about Vegas is that you can see the audio levels on the timeline which is a huge help when you are trying to edit to the music. I think someone told me that you can do this in FCP but it took a long time or wasnt worth it or something like that...
7. I really like working with effects in vegas or choosing them because you can see how they are going to look on that little thumbnail with the eye. But I like the 3 way color corector in FCP to work with footage that the white balance was off a little.
8. Keyframing. Im not sure about this but I believe you can keyframe more things in FCP. Drop shadow, cropping...
9. I have an easier time shrinking or expanding an image in FCP. I can just grab the corner right in the viewer and shrink it or expand it and it stays proportional and you can move it around easier. I dont know if that came across right because its easier to show than to explain.
10. I can use the 3d compositor easier in Vegas.
11. I dont know how to compare the two but in Vegas the audio level for a clip is at 0 and cant go higher unless you modify the level for the whole track. In FCP the level starts at 0 but you can modify each clips volume to go all the way to +12. If you have a quiet clip you can nest that part and put it back in the timeline and raise the volume even more.
12. Slow or fast motion. In FCP you can set the specific speed and make it higher than 4 times as fast or slower than vegas does. I know you can take a clip and speed it up to 4 times in vegas and than render it out to avi and bring it back in and speed it up again till you get the desired effect but that seems to take alot more steps.
13. In vegas you can play the footage and modify stuff on the fly without the video stopping, in FCP it stops as soon as you click on anything.

I think what others have said about choosing a platform is correct. These issues arent enough for me to run out and sink thousands into a new mac system, but I like using it at work. And as someone mentioned before FCP looks better on a resume. There are still alot of people that havent even heard of Vegas.
I like both and will continue to use both. Hopefully you can find some more differences online without getting biased reviews.

[Barry_Green]

This might be just my computer but Vegas slows down when I start adding layers and especially effects. And from what I can tell I cant render parts of the timeline while Im working on a project in Vegas.

Of course you can. Just tell it to "selectively pre-render video".

[David Jimerson]

Some very good points here. I do want to clarify a few things, though:

4) Try "selectively pre-render video" under Tools, or "Build Dynamic RAM preview."

7) In Vegas's three-wheel CC, click the little eyedropper to the immediate left of one of the wheels (usually the middle one), then go to the preview screen and click on something that's supposed to be white. It'll do the balance for you.

8) You can keyframe those things in Vegas, too, along with pretty much everything else.

9) Not exactly sure what you mean, but you can do that in pan/crop, too.

12) You can speed things up up to 12x; 4x in the playback rate settings; 3x with a velocity envelope.

[Hectorxd]

Hey
Interesting. I have seen the selectively prerender video before and clicked on it but it seemed like it wanted to render it out to an avi file. Is that what it does. I will try that later to see if it works.
I see the color corrector now. I guess I was looking for a button that said 3 way color corrector. I think I have seen this before but forgot.
9) Maybe Im doing something wrong but I cant manipulate the pan crop nearly as easily as with FCP. Im not saying it cant be done or that you cant do it, its just it seems to take me longer to get to what Im trying to do.
I havent tried to do the speed and velocity together. Thanks for that tip.

Thanks for clearing some things up David. I dont use vegas as much and forgot about some stuff. Dont get me wrong I like Vegas and will defend it to anyone who says its not professional software, I was just pointing out some stuff I have come across.

[David Jimerson]

It renders out to a temporary AVI file, but every other NLE does the same sort of thing with its prerenders, too. That much info can't be kept in RAM.

[MotionFx]

I'm going to Vegas in September. I love blackjack.

JK, FCS2 has sooooo much that I will never need another piece of software. mostly because it will take a lifetime to learn it all. LOL.

Brian