How hard is it to learn a new editor?

D

Dheorl

Member
I'm looking at really trying to learn from top to bottom an decent NLE. Due to current financial reasons I'm looking at using FCPX. I do however not expect my next laptop to be a mac so would obviously at some point have to swap over to Premiere.

Will I essentially be relearning from scratch and I would save myself a lot of frustration by finding the money to pay for Premiere for the next few years, or once I've learnt FCPX will learning premiere at a later date be easier?

The other thing that is making me hesitate is I have a Surface pro 3 which I use when travelling. Obviously this can't run FCPX whereas it could run Premiere. Could I however actually edit anything on Premiere using my Surface or is it just not worth taking into consideration for this decision?

Thanks for any advice you can give.
 
The FCPX X edit paradigm is different than most every other editor.

You might as well learn Premiere as it is cross platform.
 
mcgeedigital said:
The FCPX X edit paradigm is different than most every other editor.

You might as well learn Premiere as it is cross platform.
Click to expand...

Thats pretty good advice. From FC7 to premiere it took me all of about 10 minutes to dig in and pretty much get a handle on everything. FCPX is a bit of a different animal.
 
Premiere Pro requires a graphics card that utilizes CUDA (Nvidia) or OpenGL (ATi). As far as I know Surface tablets at this point don't have eith CUDA or OpenGL capability, in fact many laptops don't. You will also have storage issues on the Surface when working with video. Really you will.

You should probably spend some time getting familiar with laptops that a capable of handling video editing, paricularly one's that have decent graphics cards and several hard drive/SSD bays. Doing video editing on Windows is NOT cheaper than doing it on a Mac particularly if you require one with a higher end built in graphics card. You are / will be dealing with higher end laptops.


You probably know this but it should be stated that you will be tethered to Adobe's cloud subscription monthly/yearly fees as long as you edit on your own system.

Premiere Pro does now have fairly wide adoption now in professional circles.
 
Thanks for the replies so far.

Does Premiere actually requite that or is it just recommended? Resolve said it required it but it seemed to work fine without. As for storage I'm happy to regularly achieve footage I'm not currently using on an external drive, and the internal drive is big enough for the small projects I'll be doing.

Windows would be cheaper from a hardware POV for my next laptop, but I don't suspect my mac to die for another few years, and over those next few years a CC subscription will end up costing me a lot more than a copy of FCPX. I'm just worried about learning a program over 3 years which I'm then not likely to use again and won't give me any transferrable knowledge.

What about plugins between the two? I'm likely going to buy a copy of Filmconvert and maybe Magicbullet. Do these work the same on both programs? I guess at least I might then not be left completely at square one again.
 
I'm using both, PP and FCPX. FCP X ( not 7) because of the new paradigm, allows to cut time approximately two times (at least in my experience). Because of this, unless I need animation, motion, VFX - anything that requires Adobe AE - I use FCPX. But PP shines when you need to work with other Adobe software.
 
It will run but is the compromise acceptable. It certainly isn't to me and all the people I know who edit in it.

With Film Convert you can buy a package version that will play in the common NLEs, VFX apps, etc. Get on their mailing list. They often send out discount/sale notices.
 
So you think I'd only be able to reasonably edit on my MBP anyway, and not my surface. Well that eliminates one consideration so that's good to know.

Thanks
 
Another nod for a move to Premiere... I came from years of editing FCP7 for daily and long format news broadcast deadlines.
 
Premiere if you had to choose. Editing in the two programs is completely different and you will be starting from scratch if you learn FCPX first.

But if you are planning on editing, don't get a surface tablet. Like others said you need a dedicated Nvidia card to get the most from premiere. Surface uses a very weak GPU.

You wouldn't expect FCPX to run on iPAD either, so put the idea of a tablet for video editing out of your mind.
 
geffyb said:
Premiere if you had to choose. Editing in the two programs is completely different and you will be starting from scratch if you learn FCPX first.

But if you are planning on editing, don't get a surface tablet. Like others said you need a dedicated Nvidia card to get the most from premiere. Surface uses a very weak GPU.

You wouldn't expect FCPX to run on iPAD either, so put the idea of a tablet for video editing out of your mind.
Click to expand...

The surface tablet is something I already have for photo editing whilst travelling. Was merely wondering if it could handle video editing but I guess if it can't I don't need to worry about getting something that can work on both my systems so much.
 
Everyone has an opinion, but it's good if people give the reasons for their opinion, so you can be the judge of how much that applies to your situation. My opinion, fwiw, is that you should get what you can afford now, not wait until you can get some kind of ideal software - there is no perfect nle out there. I also disagree fundamentally with your premise of wanting to learn to edit on one particular nle. That, IMHO is a mistake. Editing is all about judgment, and the nle is just a tool. The tool is the least part of that process. Learning editing starts when you edit, so the sooner you do it, the better, and if you can afford FCPX first, then that's what you should go with.

Learn FCPX and you can start editing right off the bat. If one day you need to switch to Premiere, so be it, but meanwhile you're editing all this time. Don't worry about what will happen on your next laptop (unless you're getting a new laptop within just a few months) - it'll happen when it will happen. The thing about FCPX is that you are not tied to it. You can buy it, work on it, and leave it and then go back to it - and you own it lock stock and barrel. If you go with Premiere, you are stuck with paying as long as you are using, month in and month out, year in and year out in perpetuity. If you stop, you own nothing. With FCPX, you still own it.

If you learn FCPX, it will not help you work with Premiere - it's a different paradigm. But the converse is also true - if you learn Premiere, it won't help you with FCPX. But so what? It's like learning a programming language - programmers constantly learn new languages and that's fine, because the essence is programming, not the language. Learning to edit is learning to edit, and the software is immaterial as long as it allows you to edit fully (early FCPX was crippled). So go learn FCPX and start editing immediately without delay - and if one day you buy a PC and want to edit on Premiere, whelp, you'll just learn Premiere, so what, no biggie... meanwhile you'll be familiar with two platforms FCPX and Premiere, not just one. And while FCPX today is off most professional editing machines compared to FCP7, the fact is that FCPX is not standing still and is constantly growing in capabilities, and may one day yet get back to that status. Of course, if you are going to be working as an editor for your profession, you'll have a leg up learning Premiere as that will always be a player on account of the integration with other Adobe products.

Bottom line: if I were in your position, I'd go with FCPX and the current mac laptop you have, and if one day you need to switch to a PC then you can look to learn Premiere, but it makes no sense to make that decision today, as much can change by the time you're ready for your next laptop... who knows, you may buy another mac or be gifted one, so why anticipate - it's too far off into the future... living in the present with a horizon of a few months ahead makes the most sense, seems to me, and that means FCPX. YMMV.
 
Though I agree most with the comments above I want to state my opinion about the Premiere/adobe licensing model: It's not as bad as some people say it is here.

Yes it's a monthly subscription, but you can cancel and renew any time, so you are not tied to it forever. If you quit the subscription and for some reason need to open a project a year later, you can simply pay $20 to rent it one month, or easier, take a free one month trial with a different email address. And Premiere Pro CC can open older Premiere projects. FCPX can't. And you can't even buy FCP 7 anymore, so unless you still have your copy, you are screwed with older projects. Some day I am sure FCP7 won't be supported on new macs, and you won't have any way to open an FCP7 project unless you keep an entire working older computer with old operating system. I'd say Premiere is more future proof. I'd rather have my projects secured than my software.

Since you take photos too I assume there is a good chance you need other Adobe apps like Photoshop/Lightroom anyway. And if you work with vector logos you probably want illustrator anyway, same goes for After effects if you want to do some simple motion graphics (or complex ones of course).
Bottom line is that you will probably want creative cloud anyway. So you'll have Premiere regardless.

And who cares if you "own" your software in a few years, when it will be unusable anyway.

As for which software is better I'd say Premiere is more compatible and easy to use if you want to do ANYTHING except straight basic editing, in which case FCPX shines.

I wish I could use FCPX, because it's nice, quick and smooth, but I would run into trouble almost daily when dealing with different file formats, more complex editing, or sharing projects and managing files.

I will say FCPX crashes less often on a slow system.

And yes, they are both very different, I would pick one to avoid confusion when switching.
 
For years even though I had it, I resisted photoshop. I found it very tricky and not that intuitive. One project came in that my existing image software just couldn't do, so I had to learn. It took two full days of effort to unlearn the old and get comfy with the new. I am now nowhere near fully competent, but I would now hate to go back. Most issues people have with new software is simply the loss of speed and effectiveness when you first start the new software. I used to be an avid user, I now use adobe on mac and PC and find the subscription model quite workable, and frankly, now upgrades are hundreds of pounds, I find keeping up to date not such an issue.
 
OldCorpse said:
Editing is all about judgment, and the nle is just a tool. The tool is the least part of that process. Learning editing starts when you edit, so the sooner you do it, the better, and if you can afford FCPX first, then that's what you should go with.
Click to expand...
This is great advice. Listen to it.

Also, what is your real goal? Are you looking to work on your own projects, or do you want to freelance for other people?

I'm a journeyman film editor. I most often work on site for a client on their gear. That means that I need to be able to sit down in front of whatever my client has invested in and be expected to use it like an expert. Even if they're the only shop in town that uses it. That said, my clients typically want me to park myself is in front of either Avid or an FCP "classic". The one job I've done on FCP-x was a multi camera shoot. I think it's a great tool, and if that's what you have, use it!

Editing is an art, a skill, a process. It happens in the mind of the editor, not in the tool that you use. If you're looking to become a freelancer, then the choice of tools may not be yours, anyway.
 
zwarte_kat said:
...Premiere Pro CC can open older Premiere projects. FCPX can't. And you can't even buy FCP 7 anymore, so unless you still have your copy, you are screwed with older projects. Some day I am sure FCP7 won't be supported on new macs, and you won't have any way to open an FCP7 project unless you keep an entire working older computer with old operating system. ...
Click to expand...

Not exactly true. 7toX will convert FCP7 projects via XML to FCPX http://assistedediting.intelligentassistance.com/7toX/ and they also make a X to 7 converter too.
 
Another option entirely, and I have to admit that I haven't had the time to really dig into it, is using Davinci Resolve Lite as an editor. It's free.
 
Thanks for all the replies guys.

Although I'm not that bothered about the idea of a subscription service the price of it does bother me. Assuming this laptop, and therefore whatever program I buy now, will last me say 3 more years, FCP will cost £220, premiere will cost closer to £600. The only other CC program I really use is Lightroom, and I already own a full copy of that. What some people have said thinking about it as learning to edit rather than learning the program does make sense, and reflects some articles I've read online since asking the original question.

I did also consider Resolve Lite and downloaded it to try. It's not bad, and some of the colour correction tools are obviously very nice, but I'd like to be able to use some of the plugins you can with the more mainstream editors.

I think in the end I'll go with FCPX and see how I get on. Thanks for all the advice.
 
You must log in or register to reply here.
Back
Top