Looking at the Avid and Final Cut Pro timelines.
By S Simmons. Filed in Avid editing, Final Cut Pro |
In this installment of Avid vs. FCP we take a simple look at the timeline.
First, give the article a read at this link.
If I had to pick only one timeline to use all the time, I think it would be Final Cut Pro. The functionality is a cut above Avid, especially today when editors are expected to be effects artists as well. To me, the direct manipulation of the FCP timeline makes the effect editing and layering easier and more intuitive. But for basic cuts and dissolves, music video and story telling I would choose Avid. The speed with which I can do a rough assembly and build a paper edit is much greater on Avid. This is not just a result of the timeline but also a number of Avid tools.
As I mentioned in a previous entry about Avid and FCP, the perfect thing would be a button that the Avid D|S has that allows you to toggle between something very similar to both the Avid and FCP timeline. That would be nice … but we can’t have everything in one piece of software now can we?
Monday, September 25th 2006 at 9:08 pm
Scott good find man. The avid timeline makes my eyes burn. lol.
Thursday, October 12th 2006 at 11:30 am
Interesting comparison. Of course, the benefit to the Avid timeline is the ability to mix formats in a timeline – without having to render. Saves a lot of time – especially important to a filmmaker on a tight budget and timeframe.
Thursday, October 12th 2006 at 4:29 pm
“Of course, the benefit to the Avid timeline is the ability to mix formats in a timeline – without having to render. Saves a lot of time – especially important to a filmmaker on a tight budget and timeframe”
That is true. I’d say that’s more of the functionality of the newer versions of the Avid software than the timeline itself. I was looking more at functionality things. I love the ability to mix formats… especially in the documentary world. I’m sure FCP will be adding this in a future version.
Thursday, November 9th 2006 at 7:20 am
The difference between Avid and Final Cut Pro concerning sync is that Avid keeps tracks in sync while Final Cut Pro keeps clips in sync. Final Cut Pro knows which video clip is associated with which audio clip(s) and won’t let you change them independently unless you turn of “linked selection”. You can of course unlink related clips or link previously unrelated clips.
Tuesday, May 8th 2007 at 1:17 pm
The biggest advantage FCP has over Avid is the track tool. It’s very easy to select the entire slection, just one video track or portions of a sequence. In Avid you have to use the mouse to draw…in FCP it’s just a click away.
Thursday, June 14th 2007 at 11:52 am
One thing that makes me wanna stop editing and go to law school is the way transitions don’t “stick” to clips in the avid timeline. If you add a fade to a clip and then try to move it around the fade disappears. Is there an easier way of moving around a clip whilst keeping the transition, other then first chopping off a bit of filler, selecting the filler, and moving both the clip and the filler around? And is there something similar to the final cut “ttt-command” in the avid timeline?
Saturday, June 16th 2007 at 1:08 pm
I haven’t found any way to keep transitions on a clip when moving them in segment mode in Avid without taking a little filler along with it. A pain indeed. And Avid doesn’t have th e”ttt-commnad” equivilent either…
Thursday, December 6th 2007 at 10:14 am
Hi Editblog,
grate read. silly question, do you know of a way to get the clips on the time line to show duration (in fcp)? or maybe a TC floating window (a la avid?)
how about getting a TC overlay export(when i send out a qt preview to a client)?
Tx
Saturday, December 8th 2007 at 8:59 am
nshex;
FCP won’t display that info in the timeline that you are asking about. Just one of those things it won’t do. And no floating window either. You could try this little utility:
http://www.digital-heaven.co.uk/bigtime/
That can display a window. For the QT overlay just apply the timecode generator or reader filter to a nested sequence. That’ll give you a BITC (burn in time code).