Honestly, I've been super cautious with AI because so many plugins are basically toys, but Gling AI has actually been a lifesaver for my rough cuts. It's way more reliable than most.

Here's what I'd look at for a professional pipeline:
1. **Gling AI**: It's better than Descript for heavy video cuz it cuts out silences and bad takes automatically without messing up your project structure.
2. **Color.io Match**: For color grading, this is way more natural than the 'one-click' AI filters you see on social media.

In my experience, you gotta be careful not to let the AI take over too much or your edit loses its soul, you know? Stick to tools that handle the 'janitor work' like organization so u can focus on the story. GL!

> My main goal is to find software that handles the heavy lifting of organization and rough cuts so I can focus more on the creative storytelling side.

In my experience, I've been pretty cautious about letting AI touch my client files, but I've been super satisfied with Descript Video Editing Software for the heavy lifting of rough cuts. Honestly, being able to edit by just deleting text in a transcript is a lifesaver for long-form interviews... it literally cuts my assembly time in half. For the Adobe side, I've been using Adobe Premiere Pro Speech to Text which is actually quite reliable now for professional workflows. I'm still a bit wary of AI color grading tho, as it often feels too "filtered," but the scene detection in DaVinci Resolve 19 Studio works well for organizing messy b-roll. It's not perfect and sometimes it misses a cut, but it’s definitely not a gimmick anymore. Just gotta double check the output before you commit! gl with the freelance grind.

TL;DR: Runway Gen-2 for masking and Color.io for LUTs are solid budget-friendly lifesavers.

I went through this last year. Honestly, I was drowning in 4K raw clips and basically bleeding cash on assistants. I tried Topaz Video AI 5 for upscaling, but it's pricey. To save money, I switched to using Runway Gen-2's free tier for quick rotoscoping... it literally saved me hours. Also, if ur looking for cheap natural grading, check out Color.io—it's like $15/mo and avoids that fake AI look. I'm still kinda skeptical of full AI rough cuts tho...

Big if true

🙌

I'm pretty new to the AI side of things, but I’ve already noticed that technical compatibility is a huge hurdle. Before I can really suggest anything else, are you working on a Mac or a Windows rig with a dedicated GPU? Some of these plugins are super picky about your hardware drivers, which kinda ruins the 'time-saving' part if they just crash your system lol. Just a couple of quick tips from what I've seen so far:
* Make sure any tool you pick supports XML or EDL exports. If it doesn't play nice with your Premiere or Resolve timelines, you're gonna spend more time fixing the import than you actually saved on the edit.
* You might wanna look at FireCut for Premiere. It’s built to stay inside your project so you don't have to keep jumping between different apps. I'm definitely still learning the ropes myself tho. Does your current workflow need everything to be processed locally, or are you okay with cloud-based tools for your client projects?

Seconding the recommendation above regarding Gling AI! It's lowkey a game changer for the initial heavy lifting. Since you're worried about reliability for client work, I'd suggest focusing on "workflow safety" first. Basically, AI is great for organization, but you gotta be careful not to let it bake in mistakes you can't undo later.

I mean, I've had some weird glitches with cloud-based tools where metadata got stripped, so I highkey recommend checking out Timebolt. It’s super stable for stripping silence and dead air locally on your machine, so you aren't constantly uploading sensitive client raw footage to a random server. Also, if you want natural color without the "AI look," FCPICOLOR for Premiere is actually solid because it uses AI to balance shots rather than just slapping on a heavy LUT. Just make sure to double-check the skin tones... AI still struggles there sometimes! But yeah, definitely keep it as a secondary tool for the grunt work. gl!

Any updates on this?

> My main goal is to find software that handles the heavy lifting of organization and rough cuts so I can focus more on the creative storytelling side. I totally get that feeling! It's honestly amazing how much tech is changing the game right now, I love it! Since you're doing high-end client work though, I really want to make sure I suggest the right stuff. What kind of footage are you usually dealing with? Is it mostly talking heads/interviews or more b-roll heavy documentary style? Quick tips:

• Always export an XML or EDL as a backup before running any AI processing.
• Test new tools on a tiny sub-clip first to ensure your metadata stays safe. If you're on Premiere, FireCut AI plugin for Premiere Pro is absolutely fantastic for those initial rough cuts without leaving your timeline! I also swear by Digital Anarchy Transcriptive Rough Cutter for staying organized while keeping everything stable. Let me know about your footage and I'd love to dig deeper!

I spent way too many years manually logging b-roll and it was honestly soul-crushing. For heavy organization, Axle AI 2024 has been a lifesaver. It automatically tags your footage using AI recognition but keeps everything on your local storage, which is great for security. I used it on a massive archive project last month and it made the search process actually usable. For the rough assembly, Autopod Multi-Camera Editor is a solid plugin for Premiere. It basically automates the switching for multicam shoots based on the audio. It saved me a full day of editing on a long-form interview series recently. Just watch out for the settings... you gotta tweak the frequency of cuts so it doesnt look too jumpy.

Ugh, I am right there with you!! Honestly, I have been dealing with the exact same burnout from sifting through mountains of clips lately. I had this one project last month, a massive multicam shoot, where I tried to use this new software I had just picked up to handle the rough assembly. I was so excited to finally let the machine do the grunt work, it was going to be amazing! But it turned into a total disaster because my current hardware just couldnt handle the processing. It kept hanging on the export and basically turned my expensive rig into a space heater. I love the idea of these tools so much, but its been such a struggle finding stuff that doesnt just break my entire workflow or clash with my hardware setup. It feels like we are almost there, but the technical headaches are still so real!! Just wanted to say youre definitely not alone in this struggle, I am still trying to figure out how to make it all work together smoothly without losing my mind... kinda makes me miss the old days of just tape, though not really lol.