Can Vision Pro Enhance Our Workflow and Creativity?

Derek: I've been an Apple enthusiast since 2001, when I bought my first PowerBook. Over the years, I've watched most of the Apple keynotes live, eagerly anticipating each new innovation. I even keep an old Apple SE next to my desk as a tribute to Apple's humble beginnings. It's a constant reminder that every great journey starts with a single step and to never despise small beginnings. This legacy of innovation inspires me daily as I grow MAKE/FILMS. It reminds me that sometimes you have to take risks and continually push the boundaries of what's possible.

So when the vision pro was announced, I was excited to try it to see if integrate into our video production workflow easily to help us on the editorial and creative sides. Jordan Graff agreed to test it with me. 

Expectation

Jordan: Maybe my expectations were out of line, but what I was hoping for was a tactile editing experience.

Film editing is older than computers but by the time I got my start, everything was already being done digitally. It was one of the first processes in filmmaking to be digitized. While a lot of cinematographers and directors are nostalgic for the days of working with film you don’t hear the same sentiments coming from editors.

Unlike film editing, digital editing is nondestructive. If you make an edit you can undo it quickly and easily. Or you can duplicate a sequence and try different options. On film if you cut a sequence and liked the previous cut more you had to dismantle the film strip and reconstruct it back to how it was. It was also a much slower process to edit film. You had to mark the film strip, put it in a splicer, make a physical cut, and then tape it together, but now you can add a cut with the press of a key. The act of editing has become so easy that movies tend to have more cuts in them now than they did in the days of film.

Editing digitally is more convenient in almost every way, except for maybe one. It’s not tactile. 

Instead of interacting with the film you are using a mouse and keyboard to edit. Over the years I tried to find ways to recreate this tactile experience by using different tools like Wacom tablets, jog wheels, or soft keys. Some worked better than others but none created the experience I was looking for. For all the things digital gave us it seemed to be at the expense of physical touch, but maybe spatial computing could be the bridge between those two worlds. This was the most exciting possibility to me with Apple Vision Pro. I imagined opening up my editing software and using my hands to build out a scene.

Derek: I imagined our editors using it to visualize their editing process and myself leveraging it to juggle multiple projects simultaneously. The idea of being fully immersed in what I was creating, having meetings anywhere, and watching our films and commercials on a large, virtual screen was pretty exciting. It promised a new level of efficiency and creative freedom that I couldn't resist. 

I was excited to see what is possible when immersed in the Vision Pro Experience, and how we could use it to help us be more agile and connected to what we were making. 

Experience

Jordan: Unfortunately, I may have been a bit naive. Vision Pro has a feature called Virtual Display which allows you to connect to a Macbook. This allows you to use the hand gestures feature in combination with a computer.  Your hands can move the Virtual Display around your environment or to size the screen up or down but in order to interact with anything on your Macbook it requires the use of a mouse and keyboard. So while the added screen real estate is nice the experience is no more tactile than normal.

Vision Pro does have the ability to load apps onto it, including some iPad apps. So I installed Davinci Resolve which would allow me to edit directly on the device. While I was able to grab footage and slide it around the experience was still very limited and felt rather clunky.

I was able to use eye tracking to look at buttons and use my fingers to pinch and select. I was also able to reach out and use my hands for certain actions, much like working with a touch screen. But overall, it was not a smooth experience, and took multiple attempts to execute a single action.

In order to edit with Vision Pro the media had to be transferred over using iCloud, which was a slow and tedious process just to get enough footage to test it out. Our projects sometimes have massive amounts of media resulting in a lot of data storage. The amount of footage we shoot per project varies but it can range from a couple of hundred gigabytes of footage or a couple of terabytes. Apple has begun incorporating USB C ports that allow you to connect an external hard drive to their devices but this isn’t an option yet on Apple Vision Pro. Until that happens there doesn’t seem to be a practical way for us to edit our projects with this limitation.

Derek: When I first put on the Vision Pro, it seamlessly integrated with my Apple ecosystem, allowing me to connect all my apps effortlessly. Within moments, I was controlling my laptop with a flick of my wrist. The integration was so smooth that it felt like the Vision Pro had always been part of my workflow. I spent the day taking meetings using my virtual avatar, which was a fun and immersive experience. Watching full-screen films was an absolute delight, as it felt like I was in a private theater. 

Switching between emails, texts, and Google was incredibly quick and intuitive. Every gesture I made was easily picked up, making interactions feel natural and fluid. It was as if my entire office had transformed into one giant, interactive computer screen, bringing a new level of productivity and engagement to my workday.

However, after a few hours, I began to feel the strain of having a screen so close to my eyes. My virtual avatar, while fun, lacked realism and couldn't quite capture the details, like my signature hat. Despite these minor setbacks, the overall experience with the Vision Pro was groundbreaking, showing incredible potential for the future of work and entertainment.

My ADHD brain also started to get distracted by the multitude of screens and constant visual stimuli surrounding me. After a while, I needed a break from all the stimulation to regain focus.

Conclusion

Jordan: In the end editing with Apple Vision Pro has some fatal flaws, but that’s not much of a surprise. It’s a first generation product and it’s more of a failure of expectations than execution. This is a very particular case use and it wasn’t designed with editing in mind. Now that it exists some of the issues can be resolved through software updates, while others will have to wait for additional hardware.

I’m excited about the possibilities the future holds. It’s all still very early yet it's a step towards blending the best aspects of editing both physically and digitally.

Derek:  Man, I was so disappointed that it didn't deliver as I had hoped. There were just too many drawbacks for me to keep it. So like a lot of people, I retuned the vision pro. Instead of boosting my efficiency, it distracted me and left me feeling exhausted.

Like Jordan, I'm excited to see what's next. The technology is impressive, but Apple needs to make it more comfortable for extended use and enhance its ability to help users focus rather than get distracted. I believe in Apple's potential to innovate, and I look forward to a future version that addresses these issues.