Can Vegas and FCP Compliment Each Other?
 

This is actually a serious question, sort of. I've been using Vegas for a few years, and intend to upgrade to Vegas 6 soon, but I also like the idea of being "fluent" in more than one application system, and FCP is about the only alternative that looks different enough and interesting enough to have as an alternate editing setup. What advantages would FCP offer over the latest Vegas edition? I keep reading of upcoming HD systems; would FCP have an edge on this? How many people use both Vegas and FCP....and why?

Well, the DISadvantage is that it would require an entirely new editing system. FCP only runs on Mac, and Vegas runs on PC. Whereas AVID runs on both.

Just something to think about.

I get the feeling Vegas and FCP would compliment each other, the same a way a Porsche and BMW in my garage would compliment each other.

Moving work between the two systems may be hard because AVI performs badly in FCP and Quicktime performs badly in Vegas.

As well, both systems use different file systems but that's not a big deal if you transfer files over a LAN with Samba/OSX.

I would say yes, though probably in a different sense (Use FCP at work and Vegas at home). What I mean is that sound mixing and creating certain effects would be done within Vegas while you would use FCP for the video assembly. I actually have used this workflow on a short film I worked on, bringing sound from work to Vegas (which has superiour audio controls I think) and bringing back those sound files back into FCP to assemble them with picture (IMO FCP has a better video editing workflow).

This somewhat changed with the lastest updates (Vegas 6 and FCP5). However, having used them both briefly, I have found that the strenths of each program remain the same. Although Soundtrack Pro is awesome (And I really do mean awesome), it still doesn't have the same level of control and polish as Vegas. The same goes with Vegas 6. Although the project management tools have been revised, along with the introduction of project nesting, I still feel that the tools are not polished enough. For instance, Proj Nesting really slows down my system (Lot's of bugs there), and doesn't have the same polish as having mulitple timelines within the same program window. The strenth of FCP video editing are even more polished--esp with the very nice Multi-cam tools in version 5 (which are only available as a 3rd party plugin in Vegas), as are the audio tools within Vegas--now with the huge selection of VTS plugins to use and Tape-style strubbing, my favorite new feature of version 6.

I would agree with you in that it is important to be familar with many different editing systems (I personally have used FCP, Vegas & Premeire extensively at one time or another). FCP especially, as it is gaining so much popularity in the video editing field, in addition to having the "traditional" editing interface, which will help you tremendously if you ever try to use Avid or Premeiere (what I mean are things like having 2 Video windows--one source one preview--etc.

Interesting comparisons, Van Lam. Thanks.