-Reverie

Q: Final Cut Pro X vs Adobe CC

I have been using Adobe Creative Cloud for a few years and I planned on purchasing a standalone version of the software to save money, only to discover that you can't! I was so disappointed.

 

I have never used Final Cut Pro but I wanted to know how it compares to Adobe products. If I purchase Final Cut Pro and Motion will that allow me to do the same as Premier and After Effects? I've also read some great reviews on Affinity as a Photoshop replacement.

 

At this stage I'm only really concerned with the comparison between Adobe Premier and Final Cut Pro X as the bulk of my work is shooting video and editing. What are the main differences and will it be much of a learning curve to switch?

MacBook Pro with Retina display, OS X Yosemite (10.10.4)

Posted on Jun 26, 2016 7:13 PM

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Q: Final Cut Pro X vs Adobe CC

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  • by Tom Wolsky,

    Tom Wolsky Tom Wolsky Jun 26, 2016 7:20 PM in response to -Reverie
    Level 10 (118,107 points)
    Apple TV
    Jun 26, 2016 7:20 PM in response to -Reverie

    TThere is a significant learning curve for most users coming from conventional NLEs. Download the trial version. It's the complete free for one month. Motion won't do as much as AE, but what it is it does much quicker and easier in realtime.

  • by Karsten Schlüter,

    Karsten Schlüter Karsten Schlüter Jun 27, 2016 12:49 AM in response to -Reverie
    Level 7 (32,668 points)
    Video
    Jun 27, 2016 12:49 AM in response to -Reverie

    -Reverie wrote:

    ... What are the main differences and will it be much of a learning curve to switch?

    What Tom said ...

     

    High learning curve, 'cause two completely different concepts. All your know-how with AP poof! of lil 'use in FCPX.

    Noticing frequently switchers using their habitual workflows in FCPX, getting upset, failing, blaming FinalCut doesn't work.

     

    It does. Very well. But differently.

     

    Before launching FCPX the first time, let me recommend you Lessons for Final Cut Pro X from rippletraining, 20$ at Appstore (first 10 free!).

    And for fun, Larry Jordans really funny presentation at LAFCPUG about differences in Media Management:

    https://youtu.be/lf__pQ-XR7E

     

    ... and don't say "yawn, Media Management, no need" - that is one of the main differences btw the two apps!

    You do your main work in FCPX before you apply your very first cut ...

  • by Ian R. Brown,

    Ian R. Brown Ian R. Brown Jun 27, 2016 3:16 AM in response to -Reverie
    Level 6 (18,658 points)
    Mac OS X
    Jun 27, 2016 3:16 AM in response to -Reverie

    Although there are fundamental differences as Tom and Karsten have stated, there are also many similarities  .  .  .   the most-used keyboard shortcuts are pretty universal and work in both apps.

     

    So you don't have to re-learn everything from the ground up.

     

    Many of us came from legacy FCP which is more akin to Premiere and we didn't experience too many problems.

     

    Just don't expect to work as quickly during the first few weeks.

     

    If you come up against a brick wall, as you probably will, a post on this or similar forums will usually elicit a quick reply  .  .  .  in fact you can simply type your query into your browser most of the time and be immediately inundated with solutions  .  .  .  many of them in the form of mini-video tutorials on YouTube etc.

  • by Luis Sequeira1,

    Luis Sequeira1 Luis Sequeira1 Jun 27, 2016 5:05 AM in response to Ian R. Brown
    Level 6 (11,844 points)
    Jun 27, 2016 5:05 AM in response to Ian R. Brown

    If you come up against a brick wall, as you probably will, a post on this or similar forums will usually elicit a quick reply  .  .  .  in fact you can simply type your query into your browser most of the time and be immediately inundated with solutions  .  .  .  many of them in the form of mini-video tutorials on YouTube etc.

     

    Yes, but as always, one must be aware that not all such content is created equal.

    There way too many crappy "tutorials" for FCP X (as I assumed there may be for Premiere).

    There are also many good, even great ones.

     

    A special warning for the OP: many of those videos show an old version of FCP X. Versions 10.1 and later are substantially different (and better!) than older 10.0.*

    Media management in particular is totally different.

  • by Ian R. Brown,

    Ian R. Brown Ian R. Brown Jun 27, 2016 10:07 AM in response to Luis Sequeira1
    Level 6 (18,658 points)
    Mac OS X
    Jun 27, 2016 10:07 AM in response to Luis Sequeira1

    Very true, however I wasn't referring to general tuition tutorials and courses but to answers for specific questions/problems that might suddenly present themselves such as how do I sync an external sound source to a clip or how can I do a J or L cut etc.

     

    In such an occasional emergency the quality of the tuition doesn't really matter  so long as it points you in the right direction .  .  .  you can always read the ideal answer later when somebody gets round to answering it.

  • by Luis Sequeira1,

    Luis Sequeira1 Luis Sequeira1 Jun 27, 2016 11:35 AM in response to Ian R. Brown
    Level 6 (11,844 points)
    Jun 27, 2016 11:35 AM in response to Ian R. Brown

    I agree.

  • by David Bogie Chq-1,

    David Bogie Chq-1 David Bogie Chq-1 Jun 27, 2016 2:16 PM in response to -Reverie
    Level 7 (25,772 points)
    Video
    Jun 27, 2016 2:16 PM in response to -Reverie

    the question or task of comparing FCPX to Premiere has been handled dozens of times in the last five years by powerful wonks and wizards. Try a simple web search for the title of your question.

     

    It took me a couple of years to wrap my head around Apple's arrogant changing of the editing paradigm from a timeline that emulates film editing, like Ye Olde FCP and Premiere, to a trackless wonder. After all this time, I only use about 30% of the application's shortcuts and features. I think if you invest the time and energy to learn how to do things differently, the FCPX way,you will never go back to a timeline-based editor. it will cost you, though.

  • by Ian R. Brown,

    Ian R. Brown Ian R. Brown Jun 28, 2016 4:25 AM in response to David Bogie Chq-1
    Level 6 (18,658 points)
    Mac OS X
    Jun 28, 2016 4:25 AM in response to David Bogie Chq-1

    Please excuse my ignorance.

     

    It is probably because I am an amateur but I never really understood the fundamental difference between legacy FCP and FCP X. (I used Premiere, then FCE and finally FCP between 2002  -  2011 doing a fair amount of amateur film making.)

     

    So apart from the magnetic timeline and various other "magical" capabilities, I saw no real difference between the 2 methods.

     

    To me, editing was a matter of sticking audio or video clips (or parts thereof) into a timeline and where necessary adding other clips above or below  .  .  .  and to that end I can't really see any difference between Premiere/FCP 7 and FCP X. (Obviously I am ignoring the tweaking involved in colour-correcting,adding effects, transitions and generators, retiming etc. etc.)

     

    I just seem to be doing the same thing whichever the app.

     

    So the only things I had to re-learn were where the various tools were hidden and occasionally how to use them.

  • by Russ H,

    Russ H Russ H Jun 28, 2016 5:09 AM in response to Ian R. Brown
    Level 7 (21,770 points)
    Quicktime
    Jun 28, 2016 5:09 AM in response to Ian R. Brown

    Throwing in two more cents into this discussion…

     

    My impression is that FCP X is very intuitive…for someone who is just starting to edit video or for someone who has previously used iMovie and wants to move "up" to a deeper app. For those coming from track-based editors, some people make the adjustment easily…others, not so much.

     

    @Ian: I am definitely not as adaptable as you. The clip and "lanes" concept compared to a track-based approach wasn't so difficult to comprehend in theory, but it took some time before I was completely comfortable with it. It was more than a bit disquieting not to be able to patch a clip to a track – and know that it was there unless I purposely changed it.

     

    In addition to learning new commands I found that I had to do a fair amount of unlearning to do – and had to stop trying to make X behave like 7. One example is that I often used to put clips on the timeline – apart from my working sequence – to be used later in the assembly. (This approach doesn't work very well now and I no longer use it.) Another learning/unlearning thing was media organization – moving from bins to collections. Again, I thought the data-base concept was fine, but I didn't adjust overnight.

     

    That said, I did complete the transition to FCP X and now when I revisit legacy FCP  I find myself impatient with it's limitations – and very happy when I return to working in X.

     

    Russ

  • by Karsten Schlüter,

    Karsten Schlüter Karsten Schlüter Jun 28, 2016 7:24 AM in response to Ian R. Brown
    Level 7 (32,668 points)
    Video
    Jun 28, 2016 7:24 AM in response to Ian R. Brown

    Ian R. Brown wrote:

    ...

    So apart from the magnetic timeline and various other "magical" capabilities, I saw no real difference between the 2 methods.

     

    ...

    When the task is "chop into pieces 'n weld together", then Windows Moviemaker and Avid are same

     

    ...  the Magnetic Timeline isn't meant just being magic … the moment, you have to re-arrange whole sequences, with dozens of lanes soundFx, in larger, complex projects, you're more than happy to do that without need to pre-comp/compound/wotever ....

     

    Built-in Multicam, in combo of reframing 4k (make one POV to three cameras) = awesome for interviews...

     

    Larger, more complex projects, e.g. serial productions with episodes (even simple stuff like my soccer reports), benefit enormously from the 'pre edit' features of FCPX.

    Smart Collections, to mention one ... ever used it? Not aware those existed before FCPX...

    Ever in need to create from 1.4TB, aka days, of material, a highlight reel? Every week, some seconds get a Highlight tag = automatically added to my SC, at the end of the season it's just a few clicks - done.


    The Timeline Index - one click, and all clips marked as 'needs color correction' are selected - unique feature.


    Due to personal interests (here's my latest >>click<<<) :

    Alone the option to create your own, custom built effects/titles/generators in combo with 50$ Motion5 is plain awesome! And not avail in Adobe nor any other NLE ....


    ... it depends very much from what you do and what the final result should be .....

    for plain 'cutting' we needed a blade and some tape, that is correct.