New system; new workflow
Posted by Phil Powell | Filed under Editing
Things got so busy recently that it became time to expand the number of workstations in the office. The G5 Mac I’ve been running for the past few years has been chugging along reliably, but it was causing a bottleneck in our workflow as the only machine which could handle any serious rendering jobs. Plus, since we’ve moved to a HDV workflow, things were really starting to feel the strain.
So, it was time to say goodbye to the G5 (it’s now relocated to the other side of the office and has had a fresh reinstall ready to jump into action as a second editing workstation), and hello to a shiny new MacBook Pro. We decided to plump for a refurbished notebook, which saves a little money (every little helps). This is the second time I’ve splashed out on a refurbished machine and it’s something I’d recommend to anyone looking to purchase a new Mac. Apple’s refurbished products are usually either returns (people get them, open the box, decide they don’t want/need them) or dead-on-arrival (something was broken coming out of the factory. Might sound scary buying something which might have once been broken, but they get a full refurb, are thoroughly tested, and you get a full warranty, just like if you were buying a freshly-boxed machine.
With a 1TB firewire drive hooked up, this new Intel machine rips along at an impressive speed. And since we’ve been angling towards recording to Compact Flash cards, it was also time to upgrade to Final Cut Pro 6, so that we can benefit from importing clips using a card reader, rather than capturing from tape. The benefits of this are going to be brilliant - transferring files from the card reader will take about a quarter of the time it takes to capture in real-time from tape, making for a much more pleasant editing life.
I’ve yet to use this workflow to any great extent (other than a few tests), but now that it’s tried-and-tested, we’re going to start using this approach as standard - just as soon as I source the cheapest and most reliable Compact Flash cards.
With the upgrade to Final Cut Studio 2, I’ve also had a chance to play around a little with Motion 3, which has some great whizz-bang 3D tools built into it. I’m really impressed with what I’ve managed to get from it so far, and can see some great possibilities for creative work further down the line - especially compositing stuff in 3D space.
A while back I wrote about the woes of trying to downconvert HDV footage to standard definition for use in DVD Studio - it was one hell of a hack, and felt really clunky. When you consider how far NLE software has come in recent years, it seems odd that it becomes a really painful process when you want to publish your work to various formats. Also, I’d completely abandoned trying to use Compressor, since it didn’t seem to be compatible with PowerPC chipsets on OS X Leopard anymore (that was a painful lesson to learn after upgrading to version 10.5 of the OS). Instead, I’d resorted to using VisualHub - it has a really impressive feature-set, runs fast, but is not a very pretty application. That just added to the feeling of a clunky workflow, and made the whole process of rendering anything feel like a chore, rather than just a simple task.
It would appear that with the latest release of FCP and Compressor 3, all of this kludging is no longer necessary. Hooray! Creating M2V files for import into DVD Studio is now a very simple process - no need for converting to an intermediate codec and clicking on mystical settings in the depths of Final Cut’s option panes. It’s still not the fastest of processes, even with QMaster running, but at least I know I can choose the options, hit Submit and know that the file I’m after will pop out the other end when it’s done; no more worrying about whether I’ve forgotten to check a certain checkbox, or change a certain setting; no more sitting at 2am, waiting for a freshly rendered DVD, which is the product of a 4 hour rendering process, hoping to any god that might be listening that it is interlaced properly so that I don’t have to start the whole process again.
There’s a lot to be said for having a reliable, easy-to-use workflow. Not only does it help to prevent things from going wrong, it allows me to apply more effort and brainpower to the creative task at hand. A good creative tool should help you to achieve a creative vision in the most unobtrusive way possible, so that it is almost synergistic with your thoughts and ideas. It shouldn’t be a hindrance, nor should it be an overriding influence. Final Cut Studio 2 is getting there - especially the way you interact with Motion - and the improvements in rendering workflows are making me very happy (well, as happy as one can be about rendering workflows).
Tags: Editing, Final Cut Studio, Workflow