Revisiting Final Cut After Using Resolve

After using DaVinci Resolve as my main NLE I revisit Final Cut to remaster an old project. In this video I'll compare the old FCP with Resolve and look at the Pros and Cons of both.

[@tvchris]

Been editing for 20+ years. Used them ALL. Literally. For my needs you simply can't beat FCP's speed, motion graphics, and organization tools. The favoriting alone is worth the price of admission. There are certain things in Resolve, like remote grading, that are KILLER features. But all the great features combined cannot beat the efficiency of the magnetic timeline and the speed. Once you start using Fusion in Resolve, things start getting CRAZY complicated, especially if you're doing any sort of color management. It's an incredibly powerful piece of software, but in the end, I need to be able to deliver on time, not worry about what CST I need to use to get my PNG in the right colorspace.

[@mattspadesoundandvision]

This is great to hear! I remember about 12 years ago when FCPX was introduced, most of my editor friends would roll their eyes at me for using it. I used it because of its speed. I could deliver projects much quicker and without the render crashing that Premiere gave me. I haven't gotten into Fusion too much since I primarily do editing and color grading, but you're right. Resolve can really tax your system if you have a few nodes activated. Thank you for this.

[@TheFinalCutBro]

Never heard of Final Cut Pro before! Seems pretty solid. Will definitely have to give it a shot. Haha great points all around! Appreciate you sharing your process with us.

[@mattspadesoundandvision]

The NLE formerly known as FCPX! Haha! Thank you for the conversation and kind words. Cheers to you.

[@JenniferKlinger]

@TheFinalCutBro try it, maybe you will find FCP so good, that you create a channel and will be loved and praised by other FCP users?

[@bwilesuk]

lol Dylan 😏😛

[@jadenamber8378]

Thanks for all you do, FCB. Honestly, it's folks like you and the Ripples, etc. that make FCP a better ecosystem.

[@Spidouz]

As someone that had to deal form going back and forth between FCP and Logic Pro, I’m now a full time Resolve Studio user and I love Fairlight. FCP just can’t handle audio plugins at all, it’s always crashing for some reason… while DR handle audio plugin so now I can easily go from editing to audio editing and going back to editing just by clicking on a tab… making sound design super easy. I don’t see me changing anytime now, even if Apple would decide to integrate Logic Pro into FCP… I’m now so used to the Blackmagic Cloud service, remotely editing on proxies while my friend is still shooting with BRAW thousands of miles from me, I can do audio while I’m doing video editing and he can do visual effects and color grading in the mean time… the whole workflow works great for us and I wouldn’t change that. To each his own…

[@mattspadesoundandvision]

This is great to hear! I forgot about how I used to round trip from FCP to Logic but it seems impossible to have a video that I'm editing in FC play in Logic so I can mix and record TO the video. I'm still at a learning curve with Fairlight and I must admit it is so much better having the audio tracks to apply effects to. Than k you!

[@TimelyAdventure]

Switched to Resolve for similar reasons, feel like I learn something new every day with, very intense yet somehow accessible program

[@mattspadesoundandvision]

I totally agree! I haven’t even gotten into Fusion and there’s still things I’m learning aside from the basic editing and color grading but does. Cheers!

[@johnrohdejensen1218]

I've also recently made the move from Final Cut to Resolve. BUT Final Cut is still better at handling handling sound in multi-cam setups. It automatically removes empty sound channels, detects stereo vs. multichannel mono and lets you use multiple sound sources from a multi-cam clip. It's also better at sync'ing clips based on audio. I REALLY hope Resolve steps up in these areas with release 19.

[@mattspadesoundandvision]

Agreed!

[@robertmoran]

Excellent video. :)

[@mattspadesoundandvision]

Thank you!

[@MINIPRO27]

If you want magnetic timeline in resolve too just hold shift and ctrl to swap clips around

[@mattspadesoundandvision]

THIS👆🏻 - on point!

[@davetriesthis]

Alt/option Shift command and period and comma move selected clips left right as well. Or maybe it's control shift period or comma. I'm on my phone so can't check.

[@ausdoug974]

really interesting. Thanks

[@mattspadesoundandvision]

My pleasure!

[@mauriciolee7349]

Thank you for pointing out 2 things. 1. Cinema DNG is easy to edit without any extra encoding & transcoding in Davinci Resolve. 2. The DISADVANTAGE of Plug-ins: When the main app, the video editing program, is updated but the plug-in is NOT, then the plug-in might NOT WORK PROPERLY.

[@mattspadesoundandvision]

#2 jammed me up on a project deadline when FCP updated. Granted it updated automatically but it was a real bottleneck. Cheers!

[@seecraig]

I've been editing in NLEs before Avid (CMX 6000 laser disk system), so I'm an old-timer. I can't give up the magnetic timeline and organizing tools in FCP. They have been things I've wanted since I started editing in Avid in 1990. For the work I do the other FCP tools are adequate. There are only a few things Apple needs to update to be more competitive and, sadly, they're not committing the resources to do it. Frustrating is that they either should do it or offer the patents on the magnetic timeline and organizing tools to Blackmagic. I will mention that BRAW Toolbox is available for FCP so there's no need to transcode.

[@mattspadesoundandvision]

This is such an excellent point. The non-magnetic timeline was my hardest learning curve switching from FCP, and the same happened when I went back to FCP!

[@Superjeanmarc]

Switched from FPX to Resolve a year ago... and indeed, there is no turning back..

[@mattspadesoundandvision]

100% agree! Don’t get me wrong, you can find me slamming my fist at my desk and cursing my computer and software, but in hindsight, it’s just light years better as far as features.

[@markexploringnewstuff]

Nice job Matt. I'm looking at switching from Premier Pro to DaVinci but hate to start over with that learning curve.

[@mattspadesoundandvision]

Fortunately I had a six week period where I was able to work on some edits to get used to the edit page. That was the biggest challenge for me. Thank you!

[@Matein13]

I re-edited my first video within a week of trying it. Once I got my shortcuts set up it was a breeze.

[@grahamf695]

The DaVinci Resolve Speed Editor Keyboard is good for speeding up editing. The colourising is just amazing.

[@mattspadesoundandvision]

I've had my eye on that for some time. One day I'll make the investment.

[@grahamf695]

@@mattspadesoundandvision you get the Resolve Studio version bundled with it.

[@Matein13]

@@mattspadesoundandvision I got one last week. It’s pretty amazing.

[@duane4532]

Nice video. There are so many third party plugins now days that work with Final Cut like Color Finale Pro , Motion VFX and Motion.

[@mattspadesoundandvision]

I started with Color Finale when it first came to be. It’s an awesome color grading program!

[@craigshields8806]

I definitely understand your concerns about the lack of updates from Apple. With all the money they have, I don't know why they can't commit a small team to work on this full-time. I think they get moved around to other projects. But it's something about going back to track editing that holds me back. When you use the magnetic timeline correctly, its almost perfectly fast. But like you I may be making a move to Resolve soon. Unlike you I will never go back to Premiere. Lol Those "Serious Errors" are a $%*!

[@mattspadesoundandvision]

As a basic editor it really gets the job done. Like you I am still puzzled as to why they haven't rolled out any worthwhile updates. The only reason I would consider Premiere is to use Audition for audio clean up and mixing, but there are other ways to utilize that. The learning curve with resolve full-time didn't take long. Thank you!

[@PaulsMedia2024]

Why are people ignoring Color Finale Pro and Cinema Grade? Inexpensive add-ons that give you all the colour grading you could want.

[@mattspadesoundandvision]

I am one of the original members of Color Finale, and I loved it. I prefer having everything built into Resolve. I had an issue where I had to update FCP, but CF was not ready for the update, and I lost a lot of work.

[@dougfranckwolf]

Hey great video! I have been doing VFX and editing for 20 years, and I have used Nuke, Premiere, Vegas, etc. I love Davinci, but I have two questions for you. 1. If I am doing an edit and I have 20 video tracks and 20 audio tracks, I really miss like it is in Vegas where all audio tracks are located right under the video track. The way it is in Resolve now, I am constantly scrolling down and down and then back up again. I assume there is no way to change the layout so that its possible, but is there a shortcut key to jump from the vid track to the attached audio track instantly? and 2. Vegas has a magnet tool which can move all clips, or all clips in one track, or any affected clips on all other tracks down the timeline. In Resolve, I have to zoom out, select what I want to move, then zoom back in again. I know I could jump to the cut page to not have to zoom, but just wondering if there is a process I am missing. Thanks!

[@mattspadesoundandvision]

Thank you! As far as your first question, I’m not familiar with Vegas. But in Resolve’s Edit Page the audio tracks are underneath the video separated by a line you can lower or raise to see all the audio tracks. Your best bet is to use the Fairlight page which only shows your audio tracks. For #2, there are certain keyboard shortcuts that’ll work the same as the magnetic timeline. I typically do Option+Y to move all clips to the right.

[@ChristosGeorgiades9]

Great video! I haven't actually started using any editor yet, I'm still learning, but I did gravitate towards Resolve in the end. Premiere looks a little more intuitive, and a little less intimidating, but the price... come on. So, it looks like Resolve is the best all-around choice among the three, right?

[@mattspadesoundandvision]

It sure is! Even with the studio version it’s a one time purchase much like Final Cut.

[@jeffreythemeditator]

I would love it if you would consider doing a tutorial on how to roundtrip from FCP to Resolve for color grading. I am a long time FCPX user, and have just started to work in Resolve. If I could continue cutting in FCPX and roundtrip to Resolve, that would be great. But I am intimidated by the process!

[@mattspadesoundandvision]

Ok! I can certainly do that! It's been a hot minute but let me put something together this week. Cheers!

[@jeffreythemeditator]

@@mattspadesoundandvision That is wonderful, Matt

[@mattspadesoundandvision]

Here it is: Final Cut to Resolve : Round Trip to Color Grade kzbin.info/www/bejne/Zpvbe3aGpZV-eNU

[@mattspadesoundandvision]

And thanks for the suggestion! The other video I was going to put up need more B roll so this was easier to do.

[@Teks123]

i really love fcp, but nowadays believe it or not capcut its becoming my choice as more clients are demanding vertical content. i wish final cut and cap cut had a baby. The captions on capcut are by far the best ive used on any software

[@mattspadesoundandvision]

THIS! I meant to incorporate CapCut as I've used it for the same reason; live captions. I would love to see FC incorporate features like CapCut. I used to defend FC when people called it a glorified iMovie but... seems to be the direction they are heading in. Thank You!

[@michsky46]

good video. I am working on luma fusion lol, and beginner. would love to learn effects and all, but not sure lumafusion can do it.

[@mattspadesoundandvision]

Thank you! The fusion page is still new to me since I primarily to editing, color grading and sound mixing. I keep hoping to have time to learn it better.

[@V7StudioProduction]

Subs for you!

[@mattspadesoundandvision]

Thank you

[@albertbouwer]

I agree with most of what you said. I really didn't like the magnetic timeline. Felt like I was wrestling with it. Resolves now can search and link up footage files and auto audio sync is pro.

[@mattspadesoundandvision]

When I first started editing and resolve, it was a learning curve to not use that magnetic timeline. However, now that I went back to final cut just for this project that was now confusing.

[@afsalmanathanath8539]

I have been doing editing work for 7 years and simultaneously using FCP Resolve & Premiere. Resolve's color grading is amazing.but I have never been able to work with FCP's magnetic timeline so easily from any other software. Similarly, speed ramping cannot be done as easily as FCP in any other software.

[@mattspadesoundandvision]

I completely agree with everything you just said. It’s been a while since I used the speed ramping effect. For the type of work I do I don’t use it that much but yes, and I completely forgot about that in FC

[@annebokma4637]

Went from razor to premiere to resolve. Never going back

[@PanDownTiltLeft]

Nice video. One thing about Resolve free version is that it does not support 10 bit video.

[@mattspadesoundandvision]

Thank you, and that's good to know. I use Blackmagic cameras, so I've always had the studio version.

[@PanDownTiltLeft]

@@mattspadesoundandvision We have 3 licenses. Paid $1000 for version 9 as our first license. Pretty amazing we are at v19 now and did not have to pay anything more for the app. Even at $1000 back then it was worth every penny. Today, at $299, it's off the charts in terms of value IMHO.

[@PNWMOTION]

My fx6 mxf files work with the free version…10 bit..

[@PanDownTiltLeft]

@@PNWMOTION You can output 10 bit?

[@PNWMOTION]

@@PanDownTiltLeft yes, the codec I use is xavc-I which is 4k, 422 10bit

[@JenniferKlinger]

Tell someone your located in the US, when not telling you are in US. „A plane is flying by, I need to do noise cancellation.“ That’s so funny. Meanwhile it is silent in my house.

[@mattspadesoundandvision]

I would gladly take the silence! We are 3 miles from a major, international airport and we hear them all day long. Cheers!