Thinking of building an FCPX editing room, looking for advice.

I'm helping build an edit bay for a non-profit. We'll have 3 computers, all running the same NLE. We'll have a giant pool of media. And we'd like for people to be able to copy that media onto a personal drive and then cut it. It would also be great if they could move from computer to computer with their projects. Using FCPX would be helpful as it would be the cheapest option (remember, we're a non-profit).

So here's how I'm thinking of Setting up the flow.

3 mac mini computers
Each computer has a 2 TB drive, with the same name, and the same media in the same events
1 computer serves the others the project files, when a user wants to use the project file, they first change permissions in the finder. When they're done, they unlock it again.
If the permissions thing doesn't work, we just move the projects over.

How does this sound, doest his make sense? I went to the apple store and told them about this and they said I might want to check out AVID! If I could afford a Unity for this non-profit, believe me, I would!

Avid for this purpose? Sounds like the complete opposite of what you're looking for. My recommendation would be Adobe Premiere, if only because for most editing needs, you're going to need at least Photoshop anyway, so buying the Adobe Production Premium bundle would be a natural choice. And that would mean you'll also have After Effects, Illustrator, Media Encoder and a host of other useful options.


www.derekmok.com

I was thinking that. Only thing is they don't have someone who can use after effects or most of those encoders. I think it's also a pretty big price difference. I really only think they need something a little better than imovie. We're not cutting features. I just wonder if it's a nightmare to share media and projects with the method I outlined above... really what I'd love is to use Lightworks beta for scalability alone, but they're married to mac and who knows when lightworks comes out for that.

> Only thing is they don't have someone who can use after effects or most of those encoders.

I don't think you're thinking far enough ahead. Just because there's no user on staff doesn't mean they won't need it at some point, or hire a freelancer, or have a staff editor who can get a chance to learn it.

After Effects may not be necessary at all places, but Photoshop is a no-brainer, and often Illustrator as well.

As for iMovie, if they were content with that, then there's no purchase at all.


www.derekmok.com

dne202 Wrote:
-------------------------------------------------------
> So here's how I'm thinking of Setting up the
> flow.
>
> 3 mac mini computers
> Each computer has a 2 TB drive, with the same
> name, and the same media in the same events
> 1 computer serves the others the project files,
> when a user wants to use the project file, they
> first change permissions in the finder. When
> they're done, they unlock it again.
> If the permissions thing doesn't work, we just
> move the projects over.

I think this is fine as long as you implement strict rules on what people can and cannot write to the shared storage, how files are to be organized, naming conventions etc. I'm currently doing something similar on a feature and it's no problem because everyone knows which project is the master, everything has the same folder structure and I make a point of keeping track of it all.

My software:
Pro Maintenance Tools - Tools to keep Final Cut Studio, Final Cut Pro X, Avid Media Composer and Adobe Premiere Pro running smoothly and fix problems when they arise
Pro Media Tools - Edit QuickTime chapters and metadata, detect gamma shifts, edit markers, watch renders and more
More tools...

I hear what you're saying... but what is most important is that, when I leave in a few months, someone who is not an editor, or even a "computer person" will be taking over. I need this to be basic enough that I can pass it to someone with a tutorial and they can learn how to be doing simple cuts in a day. They aren't going to learn After Effects. If we need After Effects for a freelancer, I'm sure that freelancer would rather work on their home computer than off a mac mini in a cramped room.

As a long-time assistant editor, I hear what you're saying. I would honestly have switched them all to PC and premiere pro if it were my choice. But from a non-profit, bottom-line standpoint, FCPX is thinking into the future. As much as I dislike FCPX personally. Which is very much.

Thanks, Jon!

Glad to know it can be done. You don't happen to know of a video or article on the web that explains your kind of setup, do you?

Your feedback is much appreciated.

I think you pretty much hit on one of Apple's strategies with FCPX.
I think it's going to find its way into a large number of small businesses and not for profits.

I think Thunderbolt plays into this as well.
Storage and Video I/O become portable. Buy one and move it from computer to computer as needed.

The wide user base will make it attractive for third party support. Look at the plethora of looks plugins as one example.
As some of the businesses grow so will the availability of more sophisticated ancillary tools.

The interesting thing about Motion and its current interaction with FCPX is that it's a great tool for the in house designer to develop a corporate brand ID and "publish" with a limited set of parameters that editors can customize an maintain the company mandated branding.

I think FCPX will make inroads into small and medium sized in house corporate/industrial video.

That's why it's not so much about "personally disliking" so much as it will make a lot of business sense as a tool.