Thoughts from people using FCS 2
by David McGiffert
on
Jun 17, 2007 at 3:22:02 pm
Happy Father's Day
I have been watching for opinions from people using FCS 2
of how the new components and upgrades are working.
I am about to begin a new project, but am hesitant,
for obvious reasons, to install my upgrade until some
early user reports are posted.
I have read several instances of FCP to Color and back being
rough, and the same for outputting to STP and back. Any further
thoughts from anyone?
Re: Thoughts from people using FCS 2 by lasvideo on Jun 17, 2007 at 4:32:35 pm
From many accounts, sending a clip out to Motion 3 (from FCP6) for titles and effx will result in a dramatically increased render time (estimated by Boris as 5x what Motion 2 took), If this render hit is a problem for you it also should be considered. I love the new Final Cut Studio,
I just cant abide the Motion rendering hit.
Re: Thoughts from people using FCS 2 by msacci on Jun 17, 2007 at 6:40:59 pm
Not sure if this is the cause but with FCP6 and Motion3 there are more advanced rendering choices that increase quality and render time, these can be lowered to FCP5 and Motion2 levels and I wonder if the rendering hit would go away.
Compressor3 has a lot of improvements in it (and some of these cost time also).
Personally I would check to see if there was anything that you needed in any of the FCS2 improvements and way it against the time hit.
It is never wrong to stay with what is working for you now if it does everything you need. :-)
Re: Thoughts from people using FCS 2 by Herb Sevush on Jun 18, 2007 at 1:48:50 pm
msacci -
It is true that there are more rendering choices with Studio2; the problem is that if you choose "best" rendering it takes forever, and if you choose "normal" rendering you get aliasing and artifacts that are unacceptable for final delivery. I have not found any setting that gives me both the quality and acceptable speed I was getting with FCP 5.
Re: Thoughts from people using FCS 2 by walter biscardi on Jun 17, 2007 at 7:20:46 pm
Overall Studio 2 is very stable and the improvements to both FCP and Compressor alone are worth the upgrade.
If you plan to use Color, plan to spend at least two weeks really playing with the interface and learning it. It's not something you can pick up in a day. I'm preparing a set of lessons that will help to get folks started, but even there, it's unlike anything you've ever used on a Mac.
Colorista is a great alternative right within FCP or even the on-board 3-Way CC is an awesome tool as well.
Walter Biscardi, Jr.
http://www.biscardicreative.com
HD Editorial & Animation for Broadcast and independent productions.
All Things Apple Podcast! http://cowcast.creativecow.net/all_things_apple/index.html
Re: Thoughts from people using FCS 2 by mark raudonis on Jun 18, 2007 at 12:07:12 am
[msacci]"Boy is that an understatement! You really need to prep a project before going into Color. "
And... going out to a DaVinci for tape to tape is easier?
Come on. Think of what you're replacing. So you have to "bake in" speed ramps and some effects. Tell me that is harder than going out to tape, and having to digitize to come back into FCP.
I just waiting for the comments about how "autobalance" doesn't fix ALL of the problems.
Re: Thoughts from people using FCS 2 by walter biscardi on Jun 18, 2007 at 12:36:58 am
[mark raudonis]"I just waiting for the comments about how "autobalance" doesn't fix ALL of the problems."
Actually I find that feature rather useless most of the time. I think they added that with Final Touch 2.5 and I always found it made the image too blue. I think the auto white balance feature in FCP's 3 Way and Colorista actually give me a better starting position.
With Color, I find it easier and generally better to simply balance a shot in the Primary In manually.
Walter Biscardi, Jr.
http://www.biscardicreative.com
HD Editorial & Animation for Broadcast and independent productions.
All Things Apple Podcast! http://cowcast.creativecow.net/all_things_apple/index.html
Re: Thoughts from people using FCS 2 by msacci on Jun 18, 2007 at 2:41:27 am
Mark,
I wasn't complaining just commenting and how true Walter's statement was. We have come to expect all programs to be multi-functional where as this is a one trick pony, once again not a complaint just an observation.
Re: Thoughts from people using FCS 2 by David McGiffert on Jun 18, 2007 at 3:47:43 am
Thanks for the thoughts guys.
Walter I would love to see what you are preparing to help
people learn Color.
I would not even think of trying anything with Color until I
had satisfied myself that I knew what in the heck I was doing,
and it would take more than a couple of weeks I'll wager.
But unless you're willing to put in the time it doesn't matter
how good Color is, it is only good in the hands of someone who
knows what they're doing - that much I can tell from looking at
it. A deep app.
Thanks again for the comments, it's much appreciated.
Re: Thoughts from people using FCS 2 by lasvideo on Jun 18, 2007 at 2:03:05 pm
I am also looking forwars to Walters tutorial. I found the Color tutorial provided with the
FCP2 disks a good warm up to its capabilities, but I seek more knowledge.
Re: Thoughts from people using FCS 2 by walter biscardi on Jun 18, 2007 at 2:07:12 pm
[David McGiffert]"Walter I would love to see what you are preparing to help
people learn Color."
with any luck you won't have to wait much longer. Working on all of it now, at least the basics to get everyone started.
I recommend working with Color on your own time to really get comfortable with what it will and won't do. In some cases, it's much slower to go to Color than it is to simply stay in FCP. Whether or not to use Color will depend on your needs and deadline.
Walter Biscardi, Jr.
http://www.biscardicreative.com
HD Editorial & Animation for Broadcast and independent productions.
All Things Apple Podcast! http://cowcast.creativecow.net/all_things_apple/index.html
