Editing in the Cloud: Sooner Than Later?
With our lives becoming more web-based everyday, how long will it be before professional editors are editing in the cloud exclusively through web apps? Sooner than you might think.
David Shapton at RedShark News proposed a really valid question in a recent article: “Could you do all of your post-production work in a web browser?”
There’s no way around the fact that we’ve seen a push in the last few years for web and cloud based solutions. Adobe has been running Creative Cloud with a great deal of success, and now Avid is firmly in the game with Avid Everywhere. The reality of all things post-production moving to an online platform can no longer be ignored.
Where Things Stand Now
Cloud-based computing is already an everyday thing for a lot of industry pros. Many of us use some form of cloud storage like Onedrive, Google Drive or Dropbox.
Obviously the ability to instantaneously share and develop content through the cloud is a reality. With software like Creative Cloud or Avid Everywhere, a filmmaker can be on set in London and send dailies to the New York-based editor through the cloud. The editor can then put a rough cut together and beam it back to the filmmaker from across the world.
Let’s move beyond sending data across the cloud, and look at time when your apps are completely web-based. When we say web-based, we mean the running of applications through a browser. In the world of IT (Information Technology) this really isn’t a new concept. In fact, it’s something that has been used for quite some time now.
But with specific applications like Microsoft Office now available through web-based applications, it’s only a matter of time before professional editing platforms follow suit. Web-based software like Forscene speak to inevitability of this fact.
Road Blocks Still to Overcome
Web-based applications will run in the browser through VMs or virtual machines. A VM is the creation of a virtual computer through a server that allows users to run an operating system or software through a window. While in the past, VMs have been used through software on a local machine, we are now at a point where VMs can be utilized within browsers. Each VM needs power to process data, especially editing software. Luckily the answer is in the cloud.
Cloud computing capabilities are growing faster than we can keep up. The game industry is utilizing them now to run computations for high-end graphics, and it’s only a matter of time before professional software makes the jump to a web-based interface using some of the same techniques.
At present, running applications such as Premiere or Avid through a web-based solution won’t yield the same performance result. We just aren’t in a position where web apps can exceed the capabilities of your computer running software locally. Web apps like Forscene are very capable solutions that show extreme promise.
With more and more cities in the US gaining faster internet connections, and with the wi-fi range becoming broader, it’s no longer a matter of how – it’s a matter of when. And that “when” is right around the corner.
Are you ready for editing in the cloud to be a realistic solution to your workflow challenges? Will you use them? Are you using the cloud in your workflow already? Let us know in the comments below.
