Like Greg, I'm a long term PC user and have been using Vegas for several years, but with the move to Intel and the price drops on Apple Software...it's becoming mighty tempting. Depends on what Sony does with Vegas 7 in September.

I think Steve Jobs wants to run Adobe completely off of the Apple platform as soon as possible, it least thats what it seems like.

As far as low price options, just downloaded the free Jahshaka compositing tool to check it out.

I tried the Jashaka once, and it crashed hard, real fast.

What I usually tell people about switching to Apple is that the Mac gives you better quality computing, in general. We are used to try to get the best bargain but sometimes the best deal is the worst. The Mac experience is about making your life, when it comes to compting, more enjoyable. In that it's hard to compare FCP to Vegas because working with FCP means that your general editing expierience is differente and, in the opinion of this writer, of higher quality.
The best thing is that now, because of the Apple stores, is really easy to have a test ride and see what's behind the ads. If you have an Apple store nearby I really advice you to spend 1/2 hour there, it will be worth your time.

As competitive as that market is, Adobe is a necessary provider of great software. Apple doesn't have a replacement for Photoshop, Illustrator or Dreamweaver. Unless they plan on buying Adobe out, I bet it's their interest to cooperate with them.

Take care.

The latest version is a big improvment, but not any competition for the current offering of commercial tools. I think maybe in a year they may have something worth checking out. I'm just a sucker for free stuff sometimes. Blender 2.42 should have been called Blender 3 with all the improvements they made in it.

As you al know, there's realy no buying 2nd Unit's opinion. We run our own shop with enough money to green light our projects and can select any hard and soft ware we want. That being said, I think you'd be hard-pressed to find a more ardent nor vocal supporter of the Mac way of life than me and Apple has Paolo to thank for that. I, like Rodney Charters, spend an inordinate about of time in Mac stores (both of our favorites are The Grove) and I'm a complete devotee of the Mac. I'm just learning FCP and have a pretty good handle on Dreamweaver but there simply is no replacement for After Effects or Photoshop. Adobe has their stuff together and it works with Mac. I've been with Adobe literally since their first floppy came off the line and I'm brand new to Mac. I can tell you, I wouldn't change either for anything and hopefully you're seeing the benefits of that marriage in the quality of out stuff here at 2nd Unit.

Yeah, I like free stuff too, but... it has to work, and be intuitive for me. I've used free 3D stuff, Caligari for instance, and it wasn't that good. I've also used older versions of Bryce and 3d MAX, but my favorite is a defunct program called InfiniD 3D. It just won't run since I upgraded 2 years ago. So, now I build a PC out of old, old, parts just for it to run. And play Duke Nukem. Probably why I stick with Premiere... it's easy. I like easy too ;)

Hehe...."Somebody's gonna pay for screwing up my vacation."

or my favorite line... "It's time to kick a## and chew bubblegum, and I'm all out of bubblegum."

Maybe I should drag the old P166 back to life and challenge you in a frag match. It should be much more fun now with the broadband speeds we have.

Sorry...back to our regular thread topic.

So Jonathan, it sounds like your experience is mirroring mine in terms of learning to like the OSX environment. I still use both Windows and OSX, but the Windows usage is waning.

Looking forward to the coming episode...any ETA yet?

-gb-

You're on!

I've seen that as a possibility for the past two years. Who knows?


Way to bring this weaving thread back to topic, Greg!

To follow up on one of Keith's suggestions, I also would like to put in a vote for having a downloadable PDF with a list of recommended items for a makeup kit and maybe even a one-page guideline of pointers. I realize that this is more work, but extras like this will make future subscribers see the overall value in 2nd Unit--which should already be obvious but the extras can't hurt.

I agree Jeff. The little extras like a PDF of materials and whatnot would only make it more valuable. And I stayed on topic too! Woohoo!

I asked Isabella and as it turns out, there's an easy way to compile a makeup kit that doesn't cost that much, especially compared to retail prices. Studio Direct Cosmetics has also offering discounting pricing to 2nd Unit viewers so we'll try to get it together for you all this week for posting on the website Monday. Remember, though, as easy as it appears, you have to apply it correctly. The camera sees everything.

And that is why they have mayonnaise jars?

I'll simply refer you to Jody's comment on a famouus lady interviewer from the V.

"Bridge to Captain Quirk, set diffusers on stunning."