FCP switcher -how do you like Premiere? Some frustrations.

[Kell Smith]

So I'm going to learn both Premiere and Avid - figured the quickest learn was Premiere so have been working in CS5.5 for a couple of days now, checking out online tuts and such. I'm starting to get comfortable in it but keep running into issues. Worked through learning how it handled mono/stereo tracks yesterday (thankfully before doing any major editing). Today, I see that while trying to add a transition with a keyboard shortcut, it works if the commands are set to the Premiere set in the prefs, but once under 'custom,' I've mapped (and re-mapped) the same transition command but it doesn't work. Dragging it works fine, but not practical...
If anyone has a solution for that, great...please post! ...
Also the marker functionality in CS5.5 is pretty nil... I need to mark a lot of interviews... but it looks like that might have been corrected in later versions with a markers tab. Subclips labeled with the dialog is another option, but it's a pain to deal with transitions on a sub clip because of end of clip limitations. It also takes a lot longer.

But mostly I'm feeling sort of annoyed with Premiere although it does seem to have some rockin' features.
I'm also a bit disturbed about the CC subscription - I don't want to switch to a program that will hold me hostage to a subscription in the future.
Wondering what other switchers think about Premiere as a program. It seems difficult to work with although I'm sure a large bit of that is just the usual learning curve. I miss FCP like an old flame.
Thoughts? General impressions? Solution for the transition issue?
Do you like Avid better?

Thx folks =)

[Kevin Monahan]

Hi,
If you are a FCP Switcher, you've got to at least try Premiere Pro CC. It's a lot closer to FCP 7 than CS5.5 is. There is a 30 day trial available. There are "soft" sub clips so you can use a transition on them now. Markers are working as you'd expect too.

As to the question of the subscription, that'd be up to you. It's less than $50 per month. I wouldn't consider that a huge cost if I was freelancing again. Again, your call on that. I'd say that most people on CC are very happy with it.

Thanks,
Kevin

[Harm Millaard]

Due to the ridiculous Adobe pricing strategy it is more than $ 86 per month here. I'm very glad not having gone the CC route, since it saved me over $ 1000 this first year alone. Every month not on a subscription saves me $ 86. Best investment ever NOT GOING THE SUBSCRIPTION PATH.

[Kell Smith]

Frustrating, I just drafted a whole reply and the board logged me out for the second time in ten minutes. Argh.

I'll give that trial a whirl. I can see situations where the subscription model would be useful, and others where it would be a hindrance. I personally don't want to be bound to a subscription but would still be open to considering the benefits down the road. I think Adobe should offer the subscription as an option and not as a mandatory thing. It may come back to bite them.

Like the idea of soft subclips and am glad they fixed the marker issue in later versions. I don't really have a workflow that includes subclips for the most part, and was trying to work out a system to log some interviews. In light of the limited marker functionality, subclips with a synopsis of the dialogue looked like an option but it took a long time. And you still have to rework them in the timeline anyway. I eventually ended up just marking them at major points and cutting up in the timeline, since they were fairly brief interviews - but that's just a fix for now since they're not really logged or labeled.

Do PP later versions offer smart bins or keywording? Just curious.

Right now I'm just trying to get fluent in PP since it's one of the industry standards - plan to do that with Avid as well.

BTW I'm enjoying your videos Kevin, thank you.

Oh, I fixed the transition issue - it would map 'add transition' but not 'add default transition.' Works for now.

VENT- won't go to markers without highlighting the clip! Grrr.

[Andrew Kimery]

PP CC is much more feature rich than PP 5.5. The autosync and multicam features built into PP CC are amazing (assuming you need those sorts of things). I started using PP CC late last year (I've have many years of FCP and Avid MC under my belt) and I enjoy it for the most part. The subscription only route isn't my favorite but I'm making more money with right now it than I would be without it so I'm not going to complain too hard.

Between PP and Avid... it really depends on what type of work you do. Most gigs I do are on Avid and for big projects (like reality shows) I couldn't see myself using anything else. But Avid MC is still an offline editor at it's heart so effects work, finishing, fine audio mixing, etc., is better done in other programs. PP, like FCP, has a bit broader base of functionality than Avid does and with the creative cloud subscription you also get all the other Adobe programs so if you are a smaller shop or one-man-band then Avid might not be versatile enough for you.

I would also keep my eyes on Resolve 11 when it becomes available (as it has many NLE features in it now) as well as the Mac Lightworks beta which should come out early June.

[Tim Kolb]

Yes, I also think there is room in the market for multiple right answers to the NLE question...

On the 5.5 to CC jump...if nothing else, the marker functionality has been one of the faster advancing features, so you might encounter a bit less frustration there.

[Kell Smith]

I'm enjoying parts of working with it - but I found a nifty tutorial which had some timeline trimming keyboard techniques, most of which appear able to be done only in CS6.
But as a program it's pretty cool . It's a little odd because I'm used to being able to fly through FCP, but I"m getting more comfortable and able to get around in it.
Love that still export feature - beats having to export via QT Conversion. Drove me nuts.

[Robert Turchick]

Was a FCP user for many years and made the jump to PP CS when Apple "screwed the pooch" with X. Setting up the keyboard to function like FCP7 was a piece of cake and I haven't looked back. It's nice to have the full inter-application functionality since I use AE, PS and AI quite a bit.
PP has one thing that used to annoy me but not any more…title generation. It's a bit bulkier to deal with than FCP but once you set up some keyboard shortcuts it's really nice. Did a project that had 200 3-5min vids with 30-40 title cards in each last year. My intern got tasked with building them and got really speedy at it! The render queue feature is a life saver!
Very happy with the whole Adobe suite and unless they do something stupid like Apple did, I will continue to rely on it!!

[Kell Smith]

Tim and Robert, have you edited on Avid as well? If so, what do you see as the advantages/disadvantages of each?

[Todd Clark]

Avid announced they are going to the "rental" route so I'm looking forward to the next release of Resolve which will be version 11. It looks like it's taking the NLE seriously and not to mention they have a free version which is really robust!

[Kell Smith]

Ugg. "Rental." Really? I hadn't heard that.
This is a good opening for someone to come along and fill the gap with a program that is not 'rental' and pick up a place in the industry.'

[Todd Clark]

"This is a good opening for someone to come along and fill the gap with a program that is not 'rental' and pick up a place in the industry"


Blackmagic Resolve! :-)

[Erick Munari]

I've been on a good relationship with Premiere CS6 until recently. Computer crashes, due to overheat(!?! on a iMac 4 core 3.4Ghz i7, 32 Gb RAM, 2Gb Nvidia GPU) editing out of a USB3 drive...Somehow the last few copies of Auto- Save were not saved, where did it go? Lost an hour of work or so, (see article below)

Computer shuts down while using GPU intensive applications

Also, sometimes I have to work on my laptop, when I open the project from the iMac on it, it takes forever as the project has to be 're-indexed' each time. I moved from FCP7 a few years ago, tried FCPX but that too was frustrating. Not willing to go on subscription either. I edit Avid at a TV station occasionally, do not like it either, am I hard to please?
I'll try Resolve, I'll try Vegas or Edius as long as it is stable and fast. This tread has valid info on this discussion:
http://www.dvinfo.net/forum/general-...had-adobe.html

I wish I didn't have these issues as I do like Premiere as it is so intuitive for me, but I'll be kicking its bucket any time soon.

[Andrew Kimery]

Originally Posted by Kell Smith

Ugg. "Rental." Really? I hadn't heard that.
This is a good opening for someone to come along and fill the gap with a program that is not 'rental' and pick up a place in the industry.'

Avid didn't go subscription-only like Adobe did. Avid offers a pure subscription model, a traditional perpetual license model and a 'hybrid model'. With the hybrid model you pay full price for the program once, then pay $299 a year for upgrades. If you stop paying the $299 you keep your current version of Avid 'as is' but you don't access to any more upgrades. If you later decide you want a new version of Avid then you have to pay full price again (no upgrade discounts). Basically they've gotten rid of the upgrade discount and replaced it with a $299 annual fee.

There's a couple other wrinkles but that's it in a nut shell.

[Kell Smith]

Hmmm... no shutting down problems on this end... hope that gets resolved for you. That's frustrating.
I had a friend who edited on Edius and loved it.
Someday I'll have to try all those other programs out just to see how they work. Right now I"m trying to get literate in the industry standard programs -- after that I can have a little more freedom of choice.

Regarding the Avid models, I think that's fine - at least they give you an option and don't take you hostage. It would depend what the end cost of each would be.

Liking Premiere so far - except I don't see a way in this version to save a custom transition but can copy/paste for now if need be.
The keyboard shortcuts are buggy - not crazy about that - hopefully they fixed that. Any changes you make results in a 'custom' keyboard setting spread - but sometimes it saves them and sometimes they dump out. Flighty. Grrr.
I'm starting to edit with the trim window though - it's a different way of editing for me but it's kind of cool. I'm starting to move around and get used to some of the shortcuts in the trim window and the timeline. Some of these methods may be more efficient than my previous way of editing.
Premiere does have some nice features to it, I'm warming up to it.

I read part of the Adobe thread the other day - still plan to read more. Love this though:

Hitler learns about Adobe's new Creative Cloud model. - YouTube