[Oliver Peters] "It certainly should never be an "either-or" scenario. However, there seem to be three models shaping up for many.....
2. The everything-in-one-app. That's largely the Avid approach, especially with Symphony. Consider that with Symphony, you get BCC8, AvidFX and quite a few audio plug-ins - all of which run inside the NLE interface.
Boris Continnum Complete doesn't get mentioned often enough in the Symphony crossgrade. By itself, BCC runs $1595, and for all that it offers, a very good deal...but it's like, "We'll take $600 off Boris Continuum Complete and throw in Avid Symphony for free." A really truly astounding deal
Admittedly a bit prejudiced having worked at Boris FX (but not on BCC)...but also at Avid, having also helped put together the suite of tools named Studio the year before Apple STOLE THE NAME...LOL, I don't agree at all that it's an everything in one app. In one box, yes, and quite a compelling combination of tools...but not all in one.
To me, that title goes to Smoke. It's especially interesting to me that, among its many other features, Smoke can import FCPX as well as FCP 7 projects, which offers a way to redeem both a possibly deep heritage in Legacy, as well as much as a year of experimentation. :-) And I think that Premiere/After Effects also comes a lot closer. Anybody who uses After Effects really owes it to themselves to dig deep into a Premiere trial, ESPECIALLY if you've tried Premiere before and been unimpressed. You'll be impressed this time.
But here's the thing. I understand why FCP blowing up in some people's faces might create a "never put all your eggs in one basket again" outlook, but the fact is that there are huge advantages to an all-in approach. Most clients really don't care, and spending weeks or months learning something that adds a nice flavor to your work now and again seems less important to me than actually getting the work done.
Avid folks pioneered the "stick with the old version until you really REALLY have to move." By the time I left Avid in 2006, I still knew people working with NuBus machines on OS 9. I hear that some of those folks are still around. In nearly every case I encountered, it wasn't a matter of being an old dog not wanting to learn new tricks. Many of those people admired, sometimes outright envied FCP...but there was not an extra penny to be made by switching, so why put themselves through that? It's about being a dog who doesn't create unnecessary hassles when something works.
FCP 7 will be usable until a new camera format requires a change...but otherwise, the same people who have been all-in with FCP can follow in their Avid brethren's footsteps and continue to be all-in with FCP for many years, doing what they've been doing up until this point and NOT learning other NLEs for the sake of learning them.
Not that there aren't good reasons to switch. I think there are, and there are compelling alternatives. I also think that when people look at those alternatives, they will in many cases realize that FCP was NEVER the best choice for them. They've been waiting for years for features that have been elsewhere for years. They would have been better off somewhere else all along.
On that level, it's insane not to take the Symphony deal, and most people should be at least subscribing to (if not buying) CS6 anyway. Dipping a toe into these, and Smoke, to explore is fine, and fun...and potentially revelatory, even career-changing if you find a new home....
...but whether the choice is to stay or go, I think that the "learn everything" approach, to "put everything you can into the toolbox," actually forces a lot more untenable compromises than the "commit to one and dig deep" approach does.
Me, I AM an old dog, but I felt this way even when I was YOUR age. LOL
See? I've learned new tricks....like smilies and LOL....
Tim Wilson
Associate Publisher, Editor-in-Chief
Creative COW Magazine
Twitter: timdoubleyou
