OT: Essential Mac software we couldn't or shouldn't be without...

Ok guys and gals of the production and post-production world.

At LAFCPUG we talk a lot of FCS and third-party plugins and hardware options. But what about other essential pieces of software that keep our edit suites in tip top condition or make our work lives easier?

What do you all consider your top "can't be without" apps?

The app that you wish was included in the Mac OS.

The app that... well... you get the picture!

(For this thread I'd appreciate actual users rather than sales pitches from companies).


I'll start this thread off by giving it up for THE most important piece of Mac software you can have.

My Number 1...

Disk Warrior by Alsoft (currently version 4)


Reason: No other Mac software performs the magic of necromancy (or Florence Nightingale) on directory damaged or seemingly unrecoverable Hard Disks like DiskWarrior. You cannot be without this app.



For instant answers to more than one hundred common FCP questions, check out the LAFCPUG FAQ Wiki here : [www.lafcpug.org]

R-Name, or any other equivalent batch-file-organization software.


www.derekmok.com

PluralEyes, Levellator, mpeg Streamclip, Mocha, Shake, AfterEffects, Photoshop, Episode, FxFactory, DaVinci Resolve, Wave Agent, TextUpPro, FCS Maintenance Pack, OpenOffice, just to name the ones, great and small, we deal with in our shop regularly.

Good question, Ben. Never really sat down and thought about it in total before, much less added up the bill...., and you're only talking software.

Yes, it has gotten a lot more challenging in a positive sense, but also a lot harder (and a lot more expensive) being an editor these days. So much to know and workflows to be at least familiar with to stay productive and competitive.

Clay

FCS Maintenance Pack
DVDxDV
Photoshop
Disk Warrior
Freezer for Hard Drive recovery

Michael Horton
-------------------

Photoshop
Cyberduck (although, less and less)
DivX
Dropbox
FCS Maintenance pack
iShowU
Loader
Mpeg Streamclip
Flip4Mac
Paragon NTFS for Mac
R-Name
WoW

hmmm... let me have a look in my dock:


Mpeg StreamClip
Real Player Downloader
Toast
R-Name
Mac Janitor
You Send It Express
TC Calculator (don't use it that much, but wouldn't want to be caught without it)

(more expensive, and use less often, so i have o-l-d versions):
Photoshop
Office

not in the dock:

Disc Warrior
Mac The Ripper
Perian (QT component so i can play flv files)
DivX
Flip4Mac
Site Sucker

Title Exchange Pro


as you're asking about editing software i'm not including in that list A Better Finder Rename.
R-Name is simpler, and faster to use, but ABFR can re-name my music files based on iTunes info.



nick

a download link for R-Name ? Anybody ?

dev site has vanished in the etheric space

Edit: Not easy to find but still somewhere
R-Name Download

Those which should be on any machine
Disk Warrior -- I think that is a 'must have' software
CCC or similar
Cocktail or similar
Transmit or Cyberduck
BBEdit (or TextWrangler which is free)

MPEG Streamclip
FCS Maintenance pack
(iShowU -- or similar)


Some which are essential for my work:
Paragon NTFS for Mac -- might be a good idea for everyone who needs to interchange disks with Win customers as FAT 32 is a nightmare.

PhotoShop
After Effects (with Twixtor)
FileMaker Pro (or similar)

some of my own tools

Andreas

Interesting to see so many mentions for Disk Warrior. Do you folks experience that many directory corruptions?

-Vance

Disk Warrior is there for comfort and occasional maintenance.

Michael Horton
-------------------

Quote
Mike
Disk Warrior is there for comfort and occasional maintenance.

I would leave out the 'occasional'

Andreas

Quote

Interesting to see so many mentions for Disk Warrior. Do you folks experience that many directory corruptions?

Unfortunately, despite the improvements of the Mac OS X and indeed Windows 7 the mess your HDDs get into though just normal use is quite amazing.

Disk Warrior or the PC equivalent for Windows should be considered as mandator.

Directory corruptions are extremely common - I try to make sure I do a DW at least once a month on all my disks to check files and dir are all in good working order as the Mac OS does not and TechTool Pro despite all its bravado and pretty interface is pretty rubbish - even Drive Genius 3 and AppleJack don't cut the mustard as perfectly as DW. However I have had some horrendous "dead-to-the-world" HDDs due to power-outages, corruption or OS hangs in the past that DW has rescued.

So yes, Disk Warrior is essential regardless of whether you think you have a problem or not. No matter what you use your Mac for. In fact I am shocked Apple haven't bought Alsoft and integrated their team into the OS dev!



For instant answers to more than one hundred common FCP questions, check out the LAFCPUG FAQ Wiki here : [www.lafcpug.org]

I used to be technical support for an editing lab filled with three years of film grad students -- around 250 active external drives going in and out of that place. DiskWarrior was the "holy saviour" in those times. It can rescue drives that appear dead to everybody (including Apple's support personnel), it can "see" drives that aren't visible even to System Profiler and Disk Utility. Yes, DiskWarrior only does one thing, but it does it remarkably well. TechTool Pro had directory-repair functions when I used it, but I have a huge bias against TechTool because the last time I used it, it managed to push one dying system drive over the edge rather than rescue it. So instead of a huffing and puffing boot drive, I had a completely dead one. DiskWarrior has never done that to me.

I also think there's a "voodoo factor" with directory corruptions. If you keep up a maintenance routine and nip problems in the bud, they don't ever seem to bother you. If you go months on end without checking, you'll get them left and right, and they'll tend to hit when your workload is heaviest and your deadlines are closest.

I've found it useful to run DiskWarrior during regular maintenance, after massive file transfers (eg. cloning a drive, consolidating), and right after accidents such as removing a drive before it's unmounted, and power outages.


www.derekmok.com

All my faves have been mentioned in the thread, but I would like to submit:

iZotope Music & Speech Cleaner. $39. Download.

Simple interface, does a good and quick cleanup in no time. Saves a trip to Protools or STP and fiddling around.

I wish it were a plugin.

Best

Harry.

PS. Andreas, wot is "Cocktail"?

Butler - great keyboard macro app

oh, yes, macros!
i forgot...

QuicKeys for me


nick

Quicksilver.



www.strypesinpost.com

Francois Wrote:
-------------------------------------------------------
> a download link for R-Name ? Anybody ?
>
> dev site has vanished in the etheric space
>
> Edit: Not easy to find but still somewhere
> R-Name Download

I've been using Name Mangler. Was free but apparently now $10 through the App Store.

- Justin Barham -

harry323 Wrote:
-------------------------------------------------------

>
> PS. Andreas, wot is "Cocktail"?

Cocktail.

- Justin Barham -

i know the developer has close up shop,
but last time i looked, i was able to find R-Name.
you just have to keep trying.. it's out there somewhere.


nick

I haven't found an online link for R-Name for years. That's why I keep it backed up to multiple locations, and I transfer it to every new computer I'll be working on for any substantial amount of time. Great thing about these simple little applications...they can be intended for PowerPCs, copied straight to an Intel machine and still work without blinking an eye.


www.derekmok.com

Again

R-Man is hided there


R-Name Download

why has no-one mentioned Carbon Clone Copier?
It is great, once you have a working system, make a backup of your startup drive.
In case of trouble, just restore. Way faster than finding the actual problem.
Or, in case of high stress, just boot from the backup to get your project out of the door...

Bouke
www.videotoolshed.com

Bouke,
I really confirm what you wrote - that's why I mentioned it. Unfortunately I just named it CCC.

Andreas

Essential Apps for me:

Disk Warrior (as previously mentioned)
[www.alsoft.com]

FCS Maintenance Tool
[www.digitalrebellion.com]

Loader 2.0
[www.digital-heaven.co.uk]

Adobe CS5 Master Collection (or Production Premium as a minimum)
[www.adobe.com]

Carbon Copy Cloner (aka CCC)
[www.bombich.com]

BetterZip
[macitbetter.com]

Bitrate Pro
[www.pimley.net]

Cocktail
[www.maintain.se]

Cyberduck
[cyberduck.ch]

diglloydTools
[diglloydtools.com] <- must have if you BYO RAIDs

iStat Menus
[islayer.com]

Paragon NTFS for Mac OS X
[www.paragon-software.com]

Perian
[perian.org]

R-Name
[www.box.net]

RealPlayer Downloader/Converter
[www.real.com]

Skype
[www.skype.com]

Speed Download
[www.yazsoft.com]

TextMate
[macromates.com]

VLC
[www.videolan.org]


Essential FCP Plugins:

The Too Much Too Soon
[www.mattias.nu]

Neat Video
[www.neatvideo.com]

DH Reincarnation
[www.digital-heaven.co.uk] <- Especially for SONY XDCAM footage which is often riddled with dead pixels!

Nattress Big Box of Tricks and Nattress Standards Conversion
[www.nattress.com]

Andy Mees FCP Filters
[web.mac.com]

...and obviously any specific client requested filters!



For instant answers to more than one hundred common FCP questions, check out the LAFCPUG FAQ Wiki here : [www.lafcpug.org]

To add to the list...

ffmpegx as a fallback when the client wants all those weird peecee formats:

[www.ffmpegx.com]

mkvtoolnix. Muxer for mkv.

[www.macupdate.com]

DH's videospace calculator (and grids)

[www.digital-heaven.co.uk]

That, plus the PI FCP2AE translation tool. I wrote a post on going from fcp to AE from Mac to PC.

[www.popcornisland.com]



www.strypesinpost.com

Telestream ScreenFlow.
There are so many times that I need to explain things to clients visually and its "callout" and "action" features really make it easy to focus the client's eyes where I want them to.

NoiseIndustries FX Factory.
Great power but even the cheese sometimes makes the client think you've done something cool.

Telestream Episode Pro
Great for making MPEG2 Program and Transport Streams for delivery.

Parallels
Sometimes you just have to use a Windows utility.

CalibratedSoftware mp4 EX import
If you're using XDCAM EX as your primary source it saves time not having to wrap to .mov when the client needs it yesterday.

i prefer namechanger for file renaming. also free.

BabaG

probably not pertinent to the focus of the discussion, but I always seem to need these too:

Skype/iChat/FaceTime ... or I could end up forgetting what my wife and kids look like
TeamViewer ... because nothing eases troubleshooting someone else's problem better than doing it yourself

Quote

probably not pertinent to the focus of the discussion, but I always seem to need these too

If it makes your Mac life easier - its relevant here Mr Mees.



For instant answers to more than one hundred common FCP questions, check out the LAFCPUG FAQ Wiki here : [www.lafcpug.org]