Switch from Final Cut Pro X to Adobe Premiere
(Without completely losing your mind)
Making the switch from Final Cut Pro to Adobe Premiere can be a frustrating but necessary process.
If you’ve used Final Cut as your primary editor but are starting to play around with Premiere, you’re probably switching programs for a reason.
Maybe you’ve started working on a PC which can’t operate Apple owned Final Cut. Maybe your student organization, internship and/or job uses Premiere as their primary editor, or maybe — *whispers* — you want to be familiar with both Final Cut and Premiere.
Whatever the reason, working in Premiere when you’ve been accustomed to Final Cut can be weird and nerve wracking.
Before you jump into a project, here are some pros and cons of making the switch.
Pros
Premiere is not your iMovie editor.
It’s well known and used for plenty of high-end projects like director David Fincher’s Gone Girl and director Tim Miller’s Deadpool.
The Adobe Suite is also platform friendly; you can use the program on both Mac and PC.
PC users rejoice!
Speaking of Adobe Suite, the suite includes After Effects and Illustrator which operate seamlessly together in Adobe’s workflow.
So, importing that animation you’ve spent hours on into your video has never been easier.
Cons
Premier may not seem as user friendly as Final Cut.
Let’s face it. Premier is essentially a black screen and Final Cut is just SO pretty!
You may not be used to Premiere’s controls and shortcuts
It’s like trying to land a Fatality in Mortal Kombat on Xbox when you’ve always played on PlayStation. #Perspective #Can’tFinishHim
THERE IS NO AUTOMATIC SAVE
Get used to periodically pressing Control+S (or Command+S).
My winner? Adobe Premier Pro. To me it’s totally worth the investment.
Here are some pro tips to help you make your transition from Final Cut to Premier smoother:
Snap
If you miss Final Cut’s “snap” feature or you’re tired of overriding your footage EVERY-SINGLE-TIME-YOU-MOVE-CLIPS-OVER, there is a way to activate Premiere’s snap setting.
Go to “Sequence Settings” located in the upper left hand corner.
Scroll down and select “Snap”
Premiere’s snap feature is slightly different than Final Cut’s. While Final Cut magnetizes clips you’ve dropped into the timeline, Premiere doesn’t. Instead, Premiere creates a barrier between clips so they won’t overlap each other unless you move the clip over too far.
Shortcuts
You can change Premiere’s keyboard shortcuts to match Final Cut’s. “How,” you say? Well, let me show you:
Go to the “Premiere Pro CC” tab and select “Keyboard Shortcuts.”
A color coded keyboard should appear on your screen like so:
Select preset keyboards from other versions of Premiere and Final Cut.
Select specific commands you want to change.
Input your shortcuts at the bottom portion of the screen. The system alerts you if a shortcut already exists.
Customize Your Workspace
If you really want Premiere to feel like home, you can also customize your workspace.
Go to the “Windows” tab and select “Workspaces.” Toggle down to “Edit Workspaces.”
A dialogue box like this should appear. From here you can edit the order of the tab that appear on the Bar by clicking and dragging tabs.
You can also get to Edit Workspaces by selecting the arrows at the end of your tab bar (shown below).
If you have any more questions, here is a great video that can help you make your switch:
