Avid tutorials at DVinfo.net

March 25th, 2008, 11:48 AM

I wonder if we can have a sticky for all the free online Avid tutorials. Here are two links I found. They look similar.

http://www.avid.com/community/tutorials/index.asp

http://learn.avid.com/content/tutorials/

March 25th, 2008, 10:03 PM

As I was going through some of the tutorials listed in my post above, it seemed like the Avid FX plugins are from Boris products? The interface looks exactly like Boris Red or Boris FX. Is Boris owned by Avid?

Doug Okamoto · March 26th, 2008, 02:36 AM

No, Boris is not owned by Avid. Boris Continuum is included with Media Composer.

Doug Okamoto

March 26th, 2008, 07:22 AM

I see. So the it's not really "Avid FX" but rather "Boris Continuum". So another word, without the Boris Continuum plugin, there really no Avid FX then, correct?

Richard Alvarez · March 26th, 2008, 08:05 AM

Are you reffering to the AVID FX suite or simply 'effects' within Avid?

Avid AXP and MC come with their own suite of effects.If you don't buy Boris, you still have chroma keys, and wipes and blend and all sorts of effects that come insie Avid. Additionally, Avid works natively with other third party plug-ins such as Boris.

Just like FCP. Just Like Vegas. Just like Premiere.

What's your point?

March 26th, 2008, 09:21 AM

I don't have MC so I can't really say what MC has or has not but according to those videos tutorials, it seemed like Avid MC doesn't have much for FX within that price range. And undoubtedly Avid MC is very strong in other points but as far as FX, I'm not sure I see much in MC without the Boris plugin. Any cheap programs off the shelf will have wipes, dissolve, and blend. Now granted that many other programs like Premiere, Vegas, or FCP does require other third party plugins for good FX, they're not in that $2,500 price range.

As to my point, I don't have a point. I'm just trying to learn Avid and evaluating my options. That is why I like others to post any free online tutorials of Avid NLE in this thread so any Avid newbie can learn and know the strengths of what Avid can do.

Thanks for replying though.

Richard Alvarez · March 26th, 2008, 09:33 AM

Avid MC has some VERY powerfull effects native to it. Boris adds more. But since Boris is PART of the package, and included in the price. (You could spend over a grand for Boris alone) its a wash, isn't it? Take a look at the third party prices for all of the bundled software.

March 26th, 2008, 10:42 AM

Will you name of of those "VERY" powerful effects native to Avid? According to videoguys.com, BCC 5 AVX cost $850 but I believed what's included in MC is BCC 4 which is $750. So here's what I figured.

BCC 4 = $750
Sonicfire Pro 4 Filmmaker Edition = $375
Squeeze Compression Suite 4.X = $400
DVDit Pro 6 = $300

Total: $1,825

Avid MC: $2,500 - $1,825 = $675

So in actuality, Avid MC is only $675? It's hard to believe. Another hard to believe is, I don't expect Avid MC will be selling at $675 any time soon without those third party software attached.

I got the perspective now.

Richard Alvarez · March 26th, 2008, 11:48 AM

No, as you pointed out AVID MC is selling for $2500, all those extra apps are simply 'free'. I don't think Boris will be selling BCC for free any time soon.

What are you currently editing on? What was the cost of your NLE and all the third party apps that are included, or you have purchased seperately? What features are you looking for, that you cannot get with the solution you have right now?

March 26th, 2008, 12:39 PM

I have learned early in my years that there is no such thing as "free". So saying that those extra third party software are "free" is hard to believe.

I'm not after a particular effects or features. I was just wondering what the differences are.

I really like Avid MC but in the process of acquiring MC, I like to know more about it and perhaps justify why I would need MC versus Premiere, Vegas or FCP. I know that for media management and stability Avid is no doubt the very best, but I was very surprise that when I watched a couple of those videos, the effect name says Advid FX but it's actually a Boris product FX. To me, it's a bit misleading.

Larry Price · March 27th, 2008, 05:05 AM

I'm sure Richard will correct me if I have this wrong. BCC is bundled with MC. AvidFX, which is part of Studio Toolkit and not MC, is essentially a rebranded version of Boris Red. The two are virtually identical. Avid and Boris have been collaborators for many years. Regardless of whether they call it AvidFX or Boris Red, it's a great product! I agree that it's confusing for someone not familiar with the Avid product lineup (like me a year ago). My problem now is finding the time to learn to use all of these amazing tools!

March 27th, 2008, 08:05 AM

Larry, I agreed. It's quite confusing for someone new like me trying to find out what exactly does Avid MC has. And I think you're right in that Boris and Avid are collaborators, and that's why Avid is able to call Boris Red Avid FX. I don't believed in the idea that all those third party software which worth thousands of dollars are "free" when purchasing Avid MC. I believed those third party software company will not be in business for long if their products are "free". Having said that, I'm curious how much then is Avid MC really worth without those third party add-ons.

And yes, I totally agree that finding the time to learn all those wonderful tools in Avid MC is difficult. And I don't like reading...it puts me to sleep. So that's why I started this thread for mostly video tutorials so I can see the interface and how it's done.

Thanks for replying.

Richard Alvarez · March 27th, 2008, 08:42 AM

The video tutorials only cover a few aspects of the program.

MC has powerful motion tracking, and 3d effects and compositing independent of Boris. The MARQUEE titling program, is probably the best native titling program of any NLE. And yes, Titles are 'effects'. Listen to the VEGAS people complain about the poor titling within Vegas, and how they use Graffitti for instance.

All NLE's rely on third party supplemental applications to round out their performance. Every. Single. One. Of. Them Does that mean they are not really worth the price you pay?

BORIS Red and Boris CC are slightly different packages. BORIS Red being a larger package, I think it encompases the 'graffitti' package as well, but you can visit Boris homepage for a complete listing of all the packages and how they compare. BORIS alters its packages for different NLE's so that it will open and be accessable within the interface. BORIS for AVID will not run on FCP. BORIS for FCP will not run on VEGAS. Boris for VEGAS will not run on AVID. Is that important to you? Knowing that BORIS is a company that makes a product, and then customizes that product for various NLE's? Does it bother you that other NLE's rely on third parties to supply FX packages, or compression packages or DVD authoring packages or ... ?

As to pricing - only you can determine if a product is 'worth its price' for you. AVID MCA has been selling for double it's price for quite a while now. They've reduced its price by about half, and it's probably still too expensive for your needs. Nothing is 'free' but the volume arrangement and licensing agreement that AVID has with Boris, allows them both to profit from the agreement, or it wouldn't exist. Consider that the 'product' you are buying is only a few cents worth of plastic disc, and a couple of dollars worth of paper manuals - the profit for software is subject to the cost of the research and development. The expense is not in the 'manufacturing' its in the development, marketing and support.

AVID MCA is the 'industry standard' for broadcast/film applications. Final Cut Pro has the larger share of the indy/boutique market. The NLE with the widest distribution is PREMIERE, because it shipped with so many computers.

You have never defined what your needs are. Perhaps MCA is not the right editor for you, at even half its current price.

How much is AVID MC 'really worth'? It's worth whatever someone is willing to pay for it. If it's too much for you, it's not worth it.

Doug Okamoto · March 30th, 2008, 02:40 AM

[QUOTE=Richard Alvarez;849314]The video tutorials only cover a few aspects of the program.

As to pricing - only you can determine if a product is 'worth its price' for you. AVID MCA has been selling for double it's price for quite a while now. They've reduced its price by about half, and it's probably still too expensive for your needs. Nothing is 'free' but the volume arrangement and licensing agreement that AVID has with Boris, allows them both to profit from the agreement, or it wouldn't exist. Consider that the 'product' you are buying is only a few cents worth of plastic disc, and a couple of dollars worth of paper manuals - the profit for software is subject to the cost of the research and development. The expense is not in the 'manufacturing' its in the development, marketing and support.
==========================================================

Also take into consideration that Avid did not pay the street price Boris charges for their software (or any other manufacturer for that matter). It was probably pennies on the dollar. Most third party manufacturers want to be bundled with a major application, less marketing but higher distribution.

Most software prices are generated by market conditions, how many X amount of customers will pay Y amount of dollars for software for the company to make a profit? That is why Avid can sell Media Composer (software version) now for about half what it was a year ago and now offer upgrade paths for Xpress Pro users for less than $500. They have already made their profit and need to roll in the customers that own software that Avid will discontinue development on.

Richard Alvarez · March 30th, 2008, 08:15 AM

Right. Neither Avid nor Boris is 'giving away a free lunch' with these upgrades. It's a win-win for them, and as it happens - it works out great for me and I suspect a lot of other Avid users.

Many people will wait to upgrade, and that's great too. The upgrade is permanment, it's not a limited time offer.

Avid will save development money by focussing their staff on only one version of the software - Media Composer. They'll make up the discount priceing and go head to head with the other suites, while offering THE EXACT INTERFACE used in Film/Broadcast markets.

Their student pricing is brilliant too. Hopefully, they'll get the penetration back in the schools that has fallen off to FCP.

Not 'bashing' FCP - I'll get a copy for my new MAC BOOK Pro when that comes to it - The more you can do, the more you will do.

March 25th, 2008, 11:48 AM	#1
Chong Lor Posts: n/a	Avid tutorials I wonder if we can have a sticky for all the free online Avid tutorials. Here are two links I found. They look similar. http://www.avid.com/community/tutorials/index.asp http://learn.avid.com/content/tutorials/

March 26th, 2008, 02:36 AM	#3
Doug Okamoto Regular Crew Join Date: Jan 2004 Location: Bellevue, Washington Posts: 145	Avid Tutorials No, Boris is not owned by Avid. Boris Continuum is included with Media Composer. Doug Okamoto

March 25th, 2008, 10:03 PM	#2
Chong Lor Posts: n/a	As I was going through some of the tutorials listed in my post above, it seemed like the Avid FX plugins are from Boris products? The interface looks exactly like Boris Red or Boris FX. Is Boris owned by Avid?

March 26th, 2008, 07:22 AM	#4
Chong Lor Posts: n/a	I see. So the it's not really "Avid FX" but rather "Boris Continuum". So another word, without the Boris Continuum plugin, there really no Avid FX then, correct?

March 26th, 2008, 08:05 AM	#5
Richard Alvarez Inner Circle Join Date: Sep 2002 Location: San Mateo, CA Posts: 3,840	Are you reffering to the AVID FX suite or simply 'effects' within Avid? Avid AXP and MC come with their own suite of effects.If you don't buy Boris, you still have chroma keys, and wipes and blend and all sorts of effects that come insie Avid. Additionally, Avid works natively with other third party plug-ins such as Boris. Just like FCP. Just Like Vegas. Just like Premiere. What's your point?

March 26th, 2008, 09:21 AM	#6
Chong Lor Posts: n/a	I don't have MC so I can't really say what MC has or has not but according to those videos tutorials, it seemed like Avid MC doesn't have much for FX within that price range. And undoubtedly Avid MC is very strong in other points but as far as FX, I'm not sure I see much in MC without the Boris plugin. Any cheap programs off the shelf will have wipes, dissolve, and blend. Now granted that many other programs like Premiere, Vegas, or FCP does require other third party plugins for good FX, they're not in that $2,500 price range. As to my point, I don't have a point. I'm just trying to learn Avid and evaluating my options. That is why I like others to post any free online tutorials of Avid NLE in this thread so any Avid newbie can learn and know the strengths of what Avid can do. Thanks for replying though.

March 26th, 2008, 09:33 AM	#7
Richard Alvarez Inner Circle Join Date: Sep 2002 Location: San Mateo, CA Posts: 3,840	Avid MC has some VERY powerfull effects native to it. Boris adds more. But since Boris is PART of the package, and included in the price. (You could spend over a grand for Boris alone) its a wash, isn't it? Take a look at the third party prices for all of the bundled software.

March 26th, 2008, 10:42 AM	#8
Chong Lor Posts: n/a	Will you name of of those "VERY" powerful effects native to Avid? According to videoguys.com, BCC 5 AVX cost $850 but I believed what's included in MC is BCC 4 which is $750. So here's what I figured. BCC 4 = $750 Sonicfire Pro 4 Filmmaker Edition = $375 Squeeze Compression Suite 4.X = $400 DVDit Pro 6 = $300 Total: $1,825 Avid MC: $2,500 - $1,825 = $675 So in actuality, Avid MC is only $675? It's hard to believe. Another hard to believe is, I don't expect Avid MC will be selling at $675 any time soon without those third party software attached. I got the perspective now.

March 26th, 2008, 11:48 AM	#9
Richard Alvarez Inner Circle Join Date: Sep 2002 Location: San Mateo, CA Posts: 3,840	No, as you pointed out AVID MC is selling for $2500, all those extra apps are simply 'free'. I don't think Boris will be selling BCC for free any time soon. What are you currently editing on? What was the cost of your NLE and all the third party apps that are included, or you have purchased seperately? What features are you looking for, that you cannot get with the solution you have right now?

March 26th, 2008, 12:39 PM	#10
Chong Lor Posts: n/a	I have learned early in my years that there is no such thing as "free". So saying that those extra third party software are "free" is hard to believe. I'm not after a particular effects or features. I was just wondering what the differences are. I really like Avid MC but in the process of acquiring MC, I like to know more about it and perhaps justify why I would need MC versus Premiere, Vegas or FCP. I know that for media management and stability Avid is no doubt the very best, but I was very surprise that when I watched a couple of those videos, the effect name says Advid FX but it's actually a Boris product FX. To me, it's a bit misleading.

March 27th, 2008, 05:05 AM	#11
Larry Price Regular Crew Join Date: Feb 2006 Location: Austin, TX Posts: 72	I'm sure Richard will correct me if I have this wrong. BCC is bundled with MC. AvidFX, which is part of Studio Toolkit and not MC, is essentially a rebranded version of Boris Red. The two are virtually identical. Avid and Boris have been collaborators for many years. Regardless of whether they call it AvidFX or Boris Red, it's a great product! I agree that it's confusing for someone not familiar with the Avid product lineup (like me a year ago). My problem now is finding the time to learn to use all of these amazing tools!

March 27th, 2008, 08:05 AM	#12
Chong Lor Posts: n/a	Larry, I agreed. It's quite confusing for someone new like me trying to find out what exactly does Avid MC has. And I think you're right in that Boris and Avid are collaborators, and that's why Avid is able to call Boris Red Avid FX. I don't believed in the idea that all those third party software which worth thousands of dollars are "free" when purchasing Avid MC. I believed those third party software company will not be in business for long if their products are "free". Having said that, I'm curious how much then is Avid MC really worth without those third party add-ons. And yes, I totally agree that finding the time to learn all those wonderful tools in Avid MC is difficult. And I don't like reading...it puts me to sleep. So that's why I started this thread for mostly video tutorials so I can see the interface and how it's done. Thanks for replying.

March 27th, 2008, 08:42 AM	#13
Richard Alvarez Inner Circle Join Date: Sep 2002 Location: San Mateo, CA Posts: 3,840	The video tutorials only cover a few aspects of the program. MC has powerful motion tracking, and 3d effects and compositing independent of Boris. The MARQUEE titling program, is probably the best native titling program of any NLE. And yes, Titles are 'effects'. Listen to the VEGAS people complain about the poor titling within Vegas, and how they use Graffitti for instance. All NLE's rely on third party supplemental applications to round out their performance. Every. Single. One. Of. Them Does that mean they are not really worth the price you pay? BORIS Red and Boris CC are slightly different packages. BORIS Red being a larger package, I think it encompases the 'graffitti' package as well, but you can visit Boris homepage for a complete listing of all the packages and how they compare. BORIS alters its packages for different NLE's so that it will open and be accessable within the interface. BORIS for AVID will not run on FCP. BORIS for FCP will not run on VEGAS. Boris for VEGAS will not run on AVID. Is that important to you? Knowing that BORIS is a company that makes a product, and then customizes that product for various NLE's? Does it bother you that other NLE's rely on third parties to supply FX packages, or compression packages or DVD authoring packages or ... ? As to pricing - only you can determine if a product is 'worth its price' for you. AVID MCA has been selling for double it's price for quite a while now. They've reduced its price by about half, and it's probably still too expensive for your needs. Nothing is 'free' but the volume arrangement and licensing agreement that AVID has with Boris, allows them both to profit from the agreement, or it wouldn't exist. Consider that the 'product' you are buying is only a few cents worth of plastic disc, and a couple of dollars worth of paper manuals - the profit for software is subject to the cost of the research and development. The expense is not in the 'manufacturing' its in the development, marketing and support. AVID MCA is the 'industry standard' for broadcast/film applications. Final Cut Pro has the larger share of the indy/boutique market. The NLE with the widest distribution is PREMIERE, because it shipped with so many computers. You have never defined what your needs are. Perhaps MCA is not the right editor for you, at even half its current price. How much is AVID MC 'really worth'? It's worth whatever someone is willing to pay for it. If it's too much for you, it's not worth it.

March 30th, 2008, 02:40 AM	#14
Doug Okamoto Regular Crew Join Date: Jan 2004 Location: Bellevue, Washington Posts: 145	[QUOTE=Richard Alvarez;849314]The video tutorials only cover a few aspects of the program. As to pricing - only you can determine if a product is 'worth its price' for you. AVID MCA has been selling for double it's price for quite a while now. They've reduced its price by about half, and it's probably still too expensive for your needs. Nothing is 'free' but the volume arrangement and licensing agreement that AVID has with Boris, allows them both to profit from the agreement, or it wouldn't exist. Consider that the 'product' you are buying is only a few cents worth of plastic disc, and a couple of dollars worth of paper manuals - the profit for software is subject to the cost of the research and development. The expense is not in the 'manufacturing' its in the development, marketing and support. ========================================================== Also take into consideration that Avid did not pay the street price Boris charges for their software (or any other manufacturer for that matter). It was probably pennies on the dollar. Most third party manufacturers want to be bundled with a major application, less marketing but higher distribution. Most software prices are generated by market conditions, how many X amount of customers will pay Y amount of dollars for software for the company to make a profit? That is why Avid can sell Media Composer (software version) now for about half what it was a year ago and now offer upgrade paths for Xpress Pro users for less than $500. They have already made their profit and need to roll in the customers that own software that Avid will discontinue development on.

March 30th, 2008, 08:15 AM	#15
Richard Alvarez Inner Circle Join Date: Sep 2002 Location: San Mateo, CA Posts: 3,840	Right. Neither Avid nor Boris is 'giving away a free lunch' with these upgrades. It's a win-win for them, and as it happens - it works out great for me and I suspect a lot of other Avid users. Many people will wait to upgrade, and that's great too. The upgrade is permanment, it's not a limited time offer. Avid will save development money by focussing their staff on only one version of the software - Media Composer. They'll make up the discount priceing and go head to head with the other suites, while offering THE EXACT INTERFACE used in Film/Broadcast markets. Their student pricing is brilliant too. Hopefully, they'll get the penetration back in the schools that has fallen off to FCP. Not 'bashing' FCP - I'll get a copy for my new MAC BOOK Pro when that comes to it - The more you can do, the more you will do.