QotD: Pro Software You Don’t Use
Posted November 18th, 2005 @ 09:28pm by Erik J. Barzeski
Question: We've probably all got some software that's "above us" in terms of our skills - software we intended to learn but simply never have. What's yours?
My Answer: Adobe Illustrator. I understand the concept, but I'm simply not an illustrator. That makes the times I do need to use it (like, for laying out business cards and things) that much more difficult. I know the basics - I'm familiar enough with Photoshop to understand how Adobe apps work - but any more than that and I'm just about lost.
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Posted 18 Nov 2005 at 10:07pm #
Any flavor of Final Cut. I never really had the time or patience to make the move from iMovie to FCE, and even if it's supposed to be the midpoint between iMovie and FCP, it still seems quite hard for an "intermediate" user who is just switching from the basics. The UI is very unfriendly compared to iMovie, they seem to be worlds apart, and when you really start to feel the huge limitations of iMovie, you need a better app, and FCE isn't really cutting it for me, it just feels way too "Pro".
As a sidenote, I think iMovie can get much much better if it incorporated some Core Image/Video and Quartz effects and some LiveType or Keynote style titles and transitions.
Posted 19 Nov 2005 at 6:37am #
The problem is not that you are not an illustrator, the problem is that Illustrator is a hell of a crappy product. If you had something like Xara X (which we hopefully will have in about a year), you could do something meaningfull and artsy with vector graphics. Sadly there is no good vector graphics package on the mac yet...
Posted 19 Nov 2005 at 5:18pm #
Mine is Flash.
I keep upgrading to the full version of Macromedia Studio with every intention of learning Flash, but I never get around to doing anything with it.
Posted 20 Nov 2005 at 11:39pm #
I have a long, long list of answers to this QoTD.
Fortunately, there is no software that I actually have a license to that is above me at the moment.