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Poll Smoker

macrumors 6502a
Jul 20, 2007
684
1
People don't even realize the amount of work necessary to bring a project like this to term.

This and other statements like "it's three years in the making!" are equally retarded.

It took so long because Apple's using all of its resources on pumping out shiny, overpriced consumer gadgets.
 

notabadname

macrumors 68000
Jan 4, 2010
1,568
736
Detroit Suburbs
Pretty critical group it seems about an App for which there is still really very little detail available. Sort of like heavily critiquing a book for which you weren't even able to read the Cliff notes for, but instead just read a few sentences from each chapter.

I say give it a chance, and let the full specs and capabilities be revealed, then pass an informed judgement.
 

Digital Skunk

macrumors G3
Dec 23, 2006
8,097
923
In my imagination
The shortcuts hasnt changed and it is possible to remap shortcuts so no need to worry.

I believe you. . . but do you have a link. I haven't dug around a lot for it yet. That's really my biggest concern with this update. When I read that they were optimizing the app for a single screen I cheered. Making everything fit in a single moveable window . . . . great. I do hope they take a cue from Adobe Premier, and make the palettes/windows auto dock and auto resize.

I love the UI tweaks. Puts the apps in-tune with the rest of the industry. Going to a white on black, dark interface that just about everything has now. Removing the tiny buttons scattered throughout the UI . . . also a plus.

If those details that we spent years waiting for in FCP7 leave or are changed for no reason then I'll be a little disappointed. If they've been left the same, and I can download the new app and hit the ground running . . . . (and there aren't any bugs like the current version, which is why I am happy for a rewrite from the ground up Apple style) then this is a very welcomed update.
 

Blipp

macrumors 6502
Mar 14, 2011
268
0
I believe you. . . but do you have a link. I haven't dug around a lot for it yet. That's really my biggest concern with this update.
I don't have a link for you but I too remember them saying you could run the entire app from the keyboard though I don't remember them specifically mentioning customizing hotkeys.
 

fat phil

macrumors 6502
Jul 11, 2008
438
0
There's some very exciting stuff in there - I can't wait to get my hands on it.

But as someone gestured at earlier, what's new isn't the only thing of importance, but what's the same/familiar - shortcuts for instance is a good one.

There does seem to be a lot of confusion over Motion and Color. They're seperate applications in their own right, and it would be overkill to try and embed them into a single FCP editor (certainly in the case of Motion, which benefits from being seperate). I can't imagine them being removed and I suspect that the nice $299 price is because that's the price of the editor on it's own, and the Studio will follow, and a more accustomed pricetag.
 

everettmarshall

macrumors member
Jun 4, 2007
41
0
Not having seen FCPX first hand I will completely withhold judgement on the app until I do.

But I will make the observation that it seems for some, the price point is what makes this app "less" pro. The fact that more people can get it and call themselves video or film editors when they are no more an editor than someone who buys a tool set at Lowe's is a mechanic.

Having the tools doesn't mean you know how to use them - but with more people having the tools thinking they do - the value of those that REALLY do can be affected if it appears that "anyone" can do it.
 

fat phil

macrumors 6502
Jul 11, 2008
438
0
Having the tools doesn't mean you know how to use them - but with more people having the tools thinking they do - the value of those that REALLY do can be affected if it appears that "anyone" can do it.

That's a pretty common thread of thinking in the creative business. I mean, test tubes are pretty cheap but you don't get every tom dick and harry claiming to be biologists, right? :)

Professionals don't have to worry, unless there's a hoard of untapped creative genius lurked out there.

A poor editor will have a poor showreel. That'll never change. All that changes is the number of canned effects we have to look for to realise that they didn't do the clever stuff on their own... Damn those "do something clever" buttons!
 

robeddie

Suspended
Jul 21, 2003
1,777
1,731
Atlanta
Not having seen FCPX first hand I will completely withhold judgement on the app until I do.

But I will make the observation that it seems for some, the price point is what makes this app "less" pro. The fact that more people can get it and call themselves video or film editors when they are no more an editor than someone who buys a tool set at Lowe's is a mechanic.

Having the tools doesn't mean you know how to use them - but with more people having the tools thinking they do - the value of those that REALLY do can be affected if it appears that "anyone" can do it.

You seem to be forgetting, that before there was the FINAL CUT STUDIO suite that cost $999 ... final cut pro was sold separately for years, at the low low upgrade price of ... $299 - $399!!!
 

pirateRACE

macrumors 6502
Feb 1, 2010
250
19
As a FC editor I'm excited. I can't wait to see what is in store for the rest of the suite.

If it's not your cup of tea, then keep rocking your current version. Amazing films, TV and web material has been made with it.
 

Digital Skunk

macrumors G3
Dec 23, 2006
8,097
923
In my imagination
I don't have a link for you but I too remember them saying you could run the entire app from the keyboard though I don't remember them specifically mentioning customizing hotkeys.

Yeah I figured as much.

Apple, Adobe, and a few others are starting to roll out with new products/apps/services and what not yet don't give us endusers much to go on besides what they mention to us briefly.

I am still waiting for answer to Thunderbolt ports being accidentally removed and Adobe doesn't give much on it's new subscription service. I'll just add FCPX details to the list.

Here are videos of the event... that way you can pretty much 'see' for yourself what it does or doesnt do.

http://www.photographybay.com/2011/04/13/final-cut-pro-x-annoncement-video/

Peace

dAlen

As a content creator . . . I refuse to watch video that was shot out of someone's purse/man-bag.

I'd be stoked if it wasn't just the top left corner of the screen.
 
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teasphere

macrumors member
May 19, 2008
48
0
The product looks good for what it is, and I read most of the comments here... while I'm not a video guy I am an artist and IT professional and I do have to agree that Apple is strangely moving away from the core pro market that was very loyal. I have seen more and more artists move back to PCs lately and even though I have been moving the other direction, I can't fully blame them.

I know Apple has a plan and they stick to their guns, but I just think they may be shooting themselves in the foot by going so fully consumer market. Avid has a lot more as far as hardcore features and scalability. Apple has basically dropped their server line and they are on a path of dumbing down many apps to fit a more iPad/App market. They are still powerful and "pro" apps but much of the scalability and truly "pro" features seem to be dwindling day by day. That's my concern.
 

fat phil

macrumors 6502
Jul 11, 2008
438
0
The product looks good for what it is, and I read most of the comments here... while I'm not a video guy I am an artist and IT professional and I do have to agree that Apple is strangely moving away from the core pro market that was very loyal. I have seen more and more artists move back to PCs lately and even though I have been moving the other direction, I can't fully blame them.

I know Apple has a plan and they stick to their guns, but I just think they may be shooting themselves in the foot by going so fully consumer market. Avid has a lot more as far as hardcore features and scalability. Apple has basically dropped their server line and they are on a path of dumbing down many apps to fit a more iPad/App market. They are still powerful and "pro" apps but much of the scalability and truly "pro" features seem to be dwindling day by day. That's my concern.


I don't think they're deliberately setting out to hurt the Pro users in this case - they genuinely think they've found a better way to work. If it's true then it's all good.

Even if they were trying to open up the userbase, it doesn't take Stephen Hawkins to figure out why they'd want to.

2,000,000 Pro users @ $600
or
10,000,000 "casual" users + 2,000,000 Pro users @ $300

Yeah. I'd do it too...:)
 

amorya

macrumors 6502
Jun 17, 2007
252
7
I do have to agree that Apple is strangely moving away from the core pro market that was very loyal.

I've just gone and read through the tweets from @fcpsupermeet, which describe the event. From comments like this (I pick this one as an example, loads of people are expressing the sentiment) I was expecting something really consumer-focussed, rather than:

"Really great color tools built in. Animated windows, keyed secondaries, demo looks really good."

"Auto guides and keyframes for motion effects a lot like Motion (without the silly record button)."

"Single clip match grade between shots. Just saw a VERY fast auto render."

"Automatic dual system audio via waveform analysis"

""Compound Clips": collapse chunks of media into a single clip on the timeline. How nesting always should have worked."

"Can start editing during ingest of AVCHD and other media, switches silently to local media as it ingests"

"Resolution independent playback/timeline all the way up to 4K"

Now, I'm not a video pro. I'll admit I'm a hobbyist: I was part of my university's film making society, and I've done various projects myself, but it's not my professional gig. But I can't see anything here that shows Apple moving away from the pro market. As far as I can tell they've done a really ambitious ground-up Cocoa rewrite of FCP, streamlining the workflow to make it quicker to use (no more render dialogs!), and at the same time building in loads of new tech like colour matching throughout.

Is the only thing people are bothered about the fact that they changed the UI? Because other than that, I just can't see what the complaints are about. We haven't heard any actual confirmed statements of features being removed, so why assume that any crucial ones have been? They'd have been nuts to switch away from a timeline-based system like iMovie did, and so of course they didn't do that. They rewrote everything from scratch to remove a bunch of legacy baggage (like the lack of multithreading, and the Carbon UI that prevented it going 64 bit), which is awesome, but I completely can't see any evidence of a change of focus.

Amorya
 

Mattie Num Nums

macrumors 68030
Mar 5, 2009
2,834
0
USA

Part of the reason established IT folk feel so threatened by Apple.


HAHAHHAHAHAHHAHHAHAHHAHAHHAHAHHAAAAAAAHHAHAA!

OMG I almost fell out of my chair cracking up when I saw this last statement. That just goes to show just how much you DON'T know. IT professional don't feel threatened at all by Apple. Its just the opposite. After Apple dropped the Xserve and delivered us a Macbook Pro Early 2011 that requires its own special build of OSX most IT professionals are rethinking the Apple strategy all together. I know here and a lot of places are moving away from XServes into the Windows world. If you want to see real Mac IT professionals check out the JAMF Casper User Forum. Some of the brightest Mac admins in world. We are all pretty much in the same boat. Apple is making our jobs harder and making it harder for us to justify getting Macs for our customers. Thank God for a company like JAMF because Apple hasn't given any of its IT supporters tools to support the environment. Unlike lets say... Microsoft. :rolleyes: How great is it when a VP comes up to you and says we need 50 copies of X software but we can only get it from the AppStore. Apple doesn't care about the IT world or its corp. user base.
 

iindigo

macrumors 6502a
Jul 22, 2002
772
43
San Francisco, CA
Granted, I've never had use for some of FCP's more advanced features, but... looking at the screenshot, FCPX really looks like it features the UI modernization and cleanup it's needed for a long time now. Looks good to me, and the price even more so - I know the communication students at my university will be quite happy with the price.
 

Digital Skunk

macrumors G3
Dec 23, 2006
8,097
923
In my imagination
Here are videos of the event... that way you can pretty much 'see' for yourself what it does or doesnt do.

http://www.photographybay.com/2011/04/13/final-cut-pro-x-annoncement-video/

Peace

dAlen

Okay, I watched the videos anyway . . . :):D :p Whatever, I was curious and they are the only one's I've seen in the past hour.

There's not one added feature that a student/hobbyist/professional or game changer shouldn't like.

Things like Magnetic Timeline would actually help an editor cut faster. I digress again.

Things like Magnetic Timeline however, COULD make certain tools like trim, roll, and slip not needed. I am sure they'll be in the palette, but no more trim --> highlight --> grab and move --> deselect. You just move the clip. I'd like to see that in more detail though, the video had it cut off.

Another example of what some may be talking about . . . Nesting and Compound clips. Nesting was nice, but terribly executed. Compound Clips ------>>>>>>> Nice!
 

gorgeousninja

macrumors 6502
Mar 27, 2007
360
0
secret mountain retreat
So we have the usual posts from those who follow the old

iPod.. sucks
iPhone.. sucks
iMac/book/pro.. sucks
iTunes ... sucks
iOS/OSX.. sucks
iLife/work..sucks
iPad.. sucks
and now FCPX.. sucks

which has gone on since we can all remember, and all from people so convinced of their own self importance they actually think other people care..

but quite interestingly they have also changed track from

'My Dell/HP/Asus can do almost as much as a mac and it only cost half the price!!'

Which has become harder to say as Apple's market share has grown, and then became completely redundant since the launch of the iPad made competitors weep, so their only line now is.

'Apple's selling it really cheap cos they're just dumbing it down....and I'm such a 'pro'.......".

So yes it sucks, and yes it's really dumb!

and the rational and intelligent people will buy it because it will be a quality product that has the Apple 'just works' magic...
 

milo

macrumors 604
Sep 23, 2003
6,891
522
I don't get the "imovie pro" comments. From the announcement, does it look like functionality is removed? What specifically would make this new version less pro than the previous.

Color lets you make absurdly complex adjustments to a scene like a hollywood colorist-- in realtime-- 16 effective secondaries.. This has nothing like that.

And why are you assuming that FC doesn't include all that functionality, or that Color is no longer included? They didn't talk about the rest of the suite, but for a software package two months from release, it seems just as likely that the rest of the suite is still there but they just didn't want to talk about them yet. Or did they actually say that it's just one app now instead of a suite?

As a Logic user, I'm very interested to see if Soundtrack Pro is updated. It has a ton of potential but it has always been in horrible shape. Apple could kill it (and just beef up the audio in FC, but that seems like a bad strategy) or they could finally give it the attention it needs and finally make it an audio post app that can compete with Pro Tools. Hopefully Apple will have more info soon, will STP get an update, and if so will that update be available to Logic users (or will we have to wait until Logic X ships)?
 

chirpie

macrumors 6502a
Jul 23, 2010
646
183
I don't get the "imovie pro" comments. From the announcement, does it look like functionality is removed? What specifically would make this new version less pro than the previous.



And why are you assuming that FC doesn't include all that functionality, or that Color is no longer included? They didn't talk about the rest of the suite, but for a software package two months from release, it seems just as likely that the rest of the suite is still there but they just didn't want to talk about them yet. Or did they actually say that it's just one app now instead of a suite?

As a Logic user, I'm very interested to see if Soundtrack Pro is updated. It has a ton of potential but it has always been in horrible shape. Apple could kill it (and just beef up the audio in FC, but that seems like a bad strategy) or they could finally give it the attention it needs and finally make it an audio post app that can compete with Pro Tools. Hopefully Apple will have more info soon, will STP get an update, and if so will that update be available to Logic users (or will we have to wait until Logic X ships)?

In Cory's defense, he's presenting this as large concern that hasn't been addressed yet, not that he's ready to jump ship on the idea of FCP X.

And I share the concern. There's a LOT of unanswered questions around the suite. If Apple said "we're killing the rest of the suite" then I'd be p*ssed, but that doesn't sound likely at all.

So now we're left to wait and see what other details emerge.

A recap of a few things that made me happy... (from Larry's blog)

---------
* Rendering is now in the background and much faster because it harnesses the power of the GPU.
* The 4 GB memory limit is gone – FCP will use as much RAM as you have installed on your system.
* FCP X now uses all the processors on your system, not just one and a half.

In addition, a flock of new features were added:
* It supports editing video image sizes from standard definition up to 4K.
* It uses fewer tools from the Tool palette (which is no longer there, by the way) by making the cursor smarter. WHERE you click something determines WHAT you can do with it.
* A lot of existing features are jazzed up (linking and grouping are replaced by the much more elegant Clip Connection and Compound Clips)
* While new features like the magnetic timeline, permanent audio sync and auto-metadata generation are flat-out stunning.

-------------

And I for one LIKE the new UI. I was doing a favor for an aunt and was editing her son's graduation video and elected to do it in iMovie even though I have FCS3 and obviously while I didn't have all the functionality I was used too, I had plenty of moments where I was thinking "This part would have taken forever in FCP" or "I wish FCP was this slick looking."

This PREVIEW is a large step in the right direction. Let's see where things go from here.
 

milo

macrumors 604
Sep 23, 2003
6,891
522
I think that most of them will find that Apple has, at present abandoned them.

Based on what? An assumption that Color is gone, based on...what?

But for Broadcast TV, it's a real step down in a lot of ways-- at the very least not a step up.. The interface is very iMovie.

Beyond the interface, how specifically is it a step down? What features have been removed?

...especially if they're getting rid of the rest of the FCS apps..

And is there any reason to believe they are getting rid of them, beyond jumping to conclusions?

I AM a full time film editor and I'm very disappointed by the imovie-esque move. There were a slew of features that REAL editors have been asking for for YEARS (better media management, better multi-user shared projects, and (FOR GOD'S SAKE) better trimming ability. Apple said "nah, f that" and just made iMovie with many of FCP's pro features.

From today's announcement, how do you know none of those new features are in there?

Bring on Logic X for said price and on the App store.

I'd be surprised to see Logic's 40 gigs of download on the app store, but who knows. How big was the last version of FCS?

I very much hope they are coming out with boxed version with printed manuals. Downloading pro apps or suit of pro apps from App Store without physical media or real manuals makes no sense.

Printed manuals? Seriously? What do you do, sit and read manuals on the toilet? Digital manuals are just as "real" and arguably better since it's easy to do text searches and find what you need quicker.

What are the chances that Logic X will be released around the same time?

From what I hear, not likely at all. At least if STP is updated along with FCP I hope it's available somehow to Logic users.
 

definitive

macrumors 68020
Aug 4, 2008
2,049
893
I'm not too familiar with the FC app, but I'm wondering if this FCSX is the newer version of the previous $999 application... Why'd they drop the price by ~$700?
 

milo

macrumors 604
Sep 23, 2003
6,891
522
Folks who are criticizing people who are expressing their concern about the new version, please read this post.

People who are expressing "concern" that is completely based on wild assumptions with no basis in fact deserve the criticism.

Really, I can't imagine anything more ridiculous than assuming that every feature that wasn't shown in this (fairly short) demo has been removed from the app.

I haven't seen a single specific on what's a step down from the previous version other than the price tag and the look.

I'm not too familiar with the FC app, but I'm wondering if this FCSX is the newer version of the previous $999 application... Why'd they drop the price by ~$700?

Part of it may be that they're switching from a bundle of multiple apps to selling them separately (or not, we don't know yet). Or maybe they just want to sell more copies and get more of the market share.
 
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