How essential is being a mac user to getting in the industry?

sheeep

sheeep

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Recently I went to a little tour of a magazine company, of which over the course of a few hours I saw enough macs to make me think I was actually in some sort of parallel universe.

I'm a pc user, through and through. I build my computers, I tweak my computers, I've gone through linux phases and still nothing beats windows for me. And yes, I have worked on macs.

On this interview, I made the mistake of making a "haha, this is scary for me cause I'm a pc user joke."...

... As if I was in an apple ad the background seemed to go to an overexposed white and I was assaulted with stories of conversion to the light side.

So honestly, how important is it? The colleges I've applied to are all mac enthusiasts to say the least, and the only use of a PC editing program that I've heard of is Avid. Is there no love for the Premiere using Bill Gates loving film makers out there?

Thanks a bunch, please don't turn this into a flame argument, I meant no disrespect to the Mac society nor the Linux society nor the PC using society in any of this.
 
It is a necessity. Mac is good to edit on because of FCP. But I edit on a PC and it doesn't bother me one bit. A lot of people say that it is the only way to go but it isn't needed.

I would say if you have 3,000 bucks laying around go for it and get a mac and FCP otherwise, your fine with your PC and Avid.
 
Depends on your situation. Working for yourself, for consumers? Use whatever you want, the client won't care.

Working for yourself, for professional clients? Could go either way, but they may require stuff in Final Cut formats.

Working for others in the industry or in another organization? MAC is pretty much the standard platform. You'll need a MAC.

I too have built, tweaked, etc. countless PCs. I got into Mac thanks to project OSx86. I'm sure you've "worked on a Mac", and Linux is not really the same.

I'm not officially recommending this, but if you like tweaking comps, I dare you to try project osx86 and FCP for 6 months without using the PC... then you'll see the light :)

I own all Macs now! (of course I still have my old homebuilt PCs, too)
 
When I worked at an ad agency all the designers used Macs. Microsoft was our number one client so we designed all of Microsoft's ads and packaging on a Mac.

Sweet irony. :)
 
PCs are every bit as capable of working with video, stills, and anything else as Macs are. But the Mac bias is very prevalent and you're absolutely going to run into it. At a school I was teaching at a few months ago, I was literally the *only* Windows guy in the place, everyone else (from the founders down through the instructors down through all the students) were 100% Mac.

So, you will be assimilated. I refuse to be assimilated; I'll use it when it's "better" but I won't use it just because everyone else uses it! :) (of course, if your job relies on interchanging files, that's a very good reason as to why you actually SHOULD use it just because everyone else does!)
 
Avid on Windows is extremely prominent in the industry . . . and lot of VFX and CGI work is done on Windows.

(One of my personal favorite BTS moments was Peter Jackson sitting in front of a nice Apple widescreen cinema display . . . with the Windows XP logo screen saver popping up on it.)

It's a very good idea to be familiar with Macs (and all knowledge is useful), but as Barry says, those who say you absolutely MUST be working on a Mac are misinformed or drowning in the Kool-Aid.
 
While dual boot is okay, I still don't like the idea of running two different OS', even on separate partitions or different hard drives. I just think the likelihood for error or crashing increases.

I dual-booted Windows XP and Mac OS X and found that the Windows parition slowed my computer down greatly (using a Macbook Pro, Intel Core 2 Duo...the works, not a slow machine by any means). I thought it was the fact that it was the partitioned and booted from an external hard drive. It worked better, but I still felt uncomfortable having two totally different OS' one machine.

Just my opinion,

Kegan
 
as a freelance editor who has worked at a ton of different post houses in L.A., my experience is that it's about 50/50 between Avid and FCP out there. and only one of them was PC/Avid -- The Ant Farm.

that being said, i've never been hired based on what platform i'm most comfortable on.
 
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The cult of MAC is strong. If you prefer PC than stay PC. There is no unwritten code that says your not an artist if you don't have MAC. Use what you like and what you are most effective on.

Develop your craft not your NLE street cred.

A quote comes to mind.

You laugh because I am different.I laugh because you're all the same.

They are both more than capable platforms.
 
PK Gillock said:
When I worked at an ad agency all the designers used Macs. Microsoft was our number one client so we designed all of Microsoft's ads and packaging on a Mac.

Sweet irony. :)
Click to expand...

Not really, one of Microsoft's biggest divisions is the one that makes software for Apple.
 
Macs are only about 8-10% of the total market. Are you sure one of their biggest divisions would be for a market that small?

:)
 
Kegan Sant said:
While dual boot is okay, I still don't like the idea of running two different OS', even on separate partitions or different hard drives. I just think the likelihood for error or crashing increases.

I dual-booted Windows XP and Mac OS X and found that the Windows parition slowed my computer down greatly (using a Macbook Pro, Intel Core 2 Duo...the works, not a slow machine by any means). I thought it was the fact that it was the partitioned and booted from an external hard drive. It worked better, but I still felt uncomfortable having two totally different OS' one machine.

Just my opinion,

Kegan
Click to expand...

That is completely bogus! If it is on a seperate physical HDD there is NO effect on anything else! Same partition, you could run into some issues. I've built and worked on PCs almost my whole life, and dual/triple/quad booted for YEARS, and run numerous Mac/PC dual boots.

If you had an issue, it was nothing to do with dual booting from two different physical drives.
 
Barry_Green said:
PCs are every bit as capable of working with video, stills, and anything else as Macs are. But the Mac bias is very prevalent and you're absolutely going to run into it. At a school I was teaching at a few months ago, I was literally the *only* Windows guy in the place, everyone else (from the founders down through the instructors down through all the students) were 100% Mac.

So, you will be assimilated. I refuse to be assimilated; I'll use it when it's "better" but I won't use it just because everyone else uses it! :) (of course, if your job relies on interchanging files, that's a very good reason as to why you actually SHOULD use it just because everyone else does!)
Click to expand...

I love this.

I refuse to be assimilated too.

I have operated outside the box for a long time. It's why I became a filmmaker: an outsider looking in. I ain't joining no club, no religion, and no political party that anyone tells me I have to join.

I am not buying a mac.

Period.

I feel free to work my own way, with the hardware I want, how I want.

I'm willfully refusing to process Red footage on a Mac too. Who's the rebel now?
 
All I can tell you is that it is possible to go eighteen years as a feature/tv digital artist, illustrator, set designer and art director, without need of a mac.

Although I will use one if I have to. Once had a prospective employer insist that I sit down at one of his macs to use Lightwave, rather than bring in one of my own workstations, because...

...well, because he was technically illiterate. Best to be prepared for that sort of thing.

If you want to maximize your competitiveness, be ready to work with whatever OS/software tools you feel you are likely to encounter. It sucks to miss out on a show, because you are a master with Software Package /OS A, but the company is only giving consideration to people who operate Software Package/OS B.
 
Macs are hugely disproportionately represented in the entertainment industry.

Possibly in other industries where people fancy themselves 'creative,' too.
 
mcgeedigital said:
Yes I'm sure.
Click to expand...

Microsoft does have a large division set aside for creating software for mac, but it is by no means their largest division. However, except for apple, Microsoft is the largest devoloper for the Mac OS, meaning they create the most software for the Mac OS outside of apple themselves.
 
If your work is good it shouldn't matter what platform you use. The art school where I am is all Mac (and forgive me, but they are almost all computer illiterate which I find to the case among most mac users I have run into) and it is almost like a religion. When talking about artists or designers, some of the first questions out of the graphic design student's mouths where "did they do their work on a mac?"



'Cause you know, photoshop for on a Mac is like another world.
 
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