Final Cut Studio 3 at NAB?

I would really like to see some updates as well, I really like what they have but there is still a lot things they could do.

FCP could use an update with some added support, i wouldn't mind and interface overhaul as well.

Motion could use a number of updates, hope fully speed of more complicated projects. It seems like it gets slow quick.

Dvd studio pro obviously could use BlueRay authoring abilities.

Color I think could use some major improvements, mostly with work flow with FCP. I love how apple just included color, its great, but there are so many limitations with what it will accept. No effects, no speed changes, image size/position changes..really just straight forward hard edits. I wish it could just take any rendered timeline out of FCP, would be such a workflow/time saver.

I'd really like to see some news on 'phenomenon' er whatever the shake replacement is...we'll see.

I've been using Final Cut for years, but I'm still trying to get FCS 2 down, I laid down all that cash and now there gonna come up with a new one soon...Guess it would make sense for it to come out at NAB, its been about 2 years now.

I'm not begging for a interface overhaul with final cut, not sure what they can do to it to make it prettier or more "productive" if thats the right word.

I'd say I'd like to see a performance boost, I don't think Final Cut is 64 bit or any of the FCS apps? correct me if I'm wrong, but with snow leopard around the corner, maybe they can turbo-tune these apps and get them ready for 10.6.

I'm running 5.1.4 at work. I've considered upgrading to FCS2, but I too would expect FCS3 in the not-too-distant future. It's been 2 years since FCS3 and if they've been working on integrating Snow Leopard features it could be a great upgrade.

I'd like to see better use of multiple cores throughout--rendering, qmaster, etc. I haven't used Color, but from everything I've read (and mentioned here by crpchristian), while it's a great program, tighter roundtripping and integration could do it well.

I don't see a huge UI change coming. What works works, but they'll want to incorporate whatever look & feel they've got planned for the new OS.

Color I think could use some major improvements, mostly with work flow with FCP. I love how apple just included color, its great, but there are so many limitations with what it will accept. No effects, no speed changes, image size/position changes..really just straight forward hard edits. I wish it could just take any rendered timeline out of FCP, would be such a workflow/time saver.

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Yes, it would be nice if the next version of Color did this. But then again, every professional color grading suite I've seen can't handle the things you're describing; they all need straight video.

Today's latest rumor says we could see Final Cut Studio 3 at the rumored March 24 Apple event.

https://www.macrumors.com/2009/03/09/march-24th-event-to-focus-on-software/

And although I do not use any Pro Apps, I would like to see the changes the OP wishes for.

crpchristian said:

I'd really like to see some news on 'phenomenon' er whatever the shake replacement is...we'll see.

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Yeah, I'm wondering what happened (happening?) to that.

crpchristian said:

I'd really like to see some news on 'phenomenon' er whatever the shake replacement is...we'll see.

Click to expand...

As I've said in other threads, this was just a rumor and the fact that Apple has starting porting Shake's features into Motion and FCP means the probability of a new standalone compositing app is just above zero.

FCS3 would be nice if they make architectural changes to increase speed (make everything multi-core aware). GUI changes are really unnecessary (even with Color). Editors don't care what it looks like, they care about stability, speed, and workflow.

thinking of getting FCE...

I'm planning to get FCE soon, is it likely to be updated at the same time as FCS? If i got FCE now, how much are they likely to charge for an upgrade? I probably could wait until the end of March except that I have a good block of time available over the next two weeks to devote to learning the basics of FCE and getting started on a project.

OrganMusic said:

I'm planning to get FCE soon, is it likely to be updated at the same time as FCS? If i got FCE now, how much are they likely to charge for an upgrade? I probably could wait until the end of March except that I have a good block of time available over the next two weeks to devote to learning the basics of FCE and getting started on a project.

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I believe Apple has waited a while after releasing the Pro version to release the Express version. Up to a several months.

The current upgrade price is $99, about half of the $199 full retail price. I'd expect the upgrade price to be about half.

bigbossbmb said:

As I've said in other threads, this was just a rumor and the fact that Apple has starting porting Shake's features into Motion and FCP means the probability of a new standalone compositing app is just above zero.

FCS3 would be nice if they make architectural changes to increase speed (make everything multi-core aware). GUI changes are really unnecessary (even with Color). Editors don't care what it looks like, they care about stability, speed, and workflow.

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I see that reasoning although I'm not sure I'd quite agree with 'just above zero'. I'd prefer everything just be in one app but as of right now Motion is definitely not a Shake replacement. Currently I use Motion and Combustion and it seems to be a great pair although I wouldn't mind Motion becoming a better and better compositing tool on top if its great motion graphics abilities and just switching over to that completely...hopefully we'll see soon.

I also feel like making everything multi-core aware would be great and really makes sense.

CaptainChunk said:

Yes, it would be nice if the next version of Color did this. But then again, every professional color grading suite I've seen can't handle the things you're describing; they all need straight video.

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As true as this may be I could see Apple pulling this off. Looking at Logic, you can see how Apple can take a great app developed with someone else and take years continually improving its interaction with the 'apple family' until it really gels with the other programs.

Hah, maybe i'm just saying this because I feel like such improvements would save me soo much time. I'm getting to that point in post on a feature I'm working on and I'm almost hesitant to start until I find out what 'color 2' will be able to do...again, hopefully soon we'll see.

RE: Shake

I've heard that The Foundry are encouraging people to buy Nuke ahead of NAB when they're going to make a big announcement that will involve a free/cheap upgrade for anyone who just bought a Nuke license and that it will only work out cheaper for them if they buy now. If the new version they're announcing is worth the money, I can't really see why they would bother doing that unless they were terrified of what FCS3 is going to offer around that time.

I've never used the comping features in FCP but from what I've seen of other ppl using them they're pretty limited. You just can't pull a decent key without using a separate package, and for that reason alone I doubt Apple is going to turn FCP and motion into 2 halves of After FX. It was the node-based structure and the simplicity of Shake that won it all that marketshare in the first place. VFX is forming an ever-increasing portion of the workflow of even the more amateur videographers, and a comping app is the most obvious app missing from the Studio proper, as of now.

My guess is that FCS3 will offer a separate compositing tool that may not be any more powerful than or even as professional as Shake but will be far less buggy. Either way, we'll know in a few weeks. Whatever happens, it won't be ground-breaking since Ron Brinkmann was obviously pretty P.O.'d to have walked, and whenever Apple gives its pro division any attention it seems to be far less about appealing to high-end users (client-babysitters who work in Avid/Flame/Protools suites) and more about bringing high-end features to the mass market by making advanced desktop packages more affordable (and a little less functional). Which is why that Final Cut Extreme rumour never came to light.

Any guess as to what the lack of a Blue Ray burner option in the new Mac Pro means for FCS3?

Chris7 said:

Any guess as to what the lack of a Blue Ray burner option in the new Mac Pro means for FCS3?

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Did ANY mac product ever ship with a HD-DVD burner? No. DVDSP supports this type of burn.

ChemiosMurphy said:

Did ANY mac product ever ship with a HD-DVD burner? No. DVDSP supports this type of burn.

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DVD SP supports burning a non-standard HD-DVD format onto an SD-DVD and HD-DVD didn't in the format war so it's not exactly a true parallel. If Apple changes course and announces support for BR I don't see why they can't start selling BR burners as BTO options. The SuperDrive wasn't always standard equipment.


Lethal

As true as this may be I could see Apple pulling this off. Looking at Logic, you can see how Apple can take a great app developed with someone else and take years continually improving its interaction with the 'apple family' until it really gels with the other programs.

Hah, maybe i'm just saying this because I feel like such improvements would save me soo much time. I'm getting to that point in post on a feature I'm working on and I'm almost hesitant to start until I find out what 'color 2' will be able to do...again, hopefully soon we'll see.

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Trust me, I'm with you on this. I would be saving SOOO much time if Color supported keyframes and effects imported from FCP timelines. And I do believe this is possible with tighter integration. I think most of the problem right now is that Color is still essentially Final Touch, modified for relatively basic functionality with FCP.

My big wish is for color to recognize FCP plug-ins and filters. It sucks having to fumble around with baking out clips if the speed changed, or when editing stuff that's been flipped with a 35 adapter with an EX-1. This would be amazing.

3 monitor support would also be great. You CAN get color to work on 3 monitors, but it's a pita. I have an MXO and have to change the res on the MXO, unnplug 3rd monitor, launch color, pull the scopes onto the middle screen, enter finder, plug 3rd monitor in. It sucks.

Compressor could use some help too. Too many times a quickcluster has failed, or the render will just crap out.

Blu-Ray support too.

Oh and add USB support to color. *Cough* *Cough* Tangent Wave *Cough*

Is FCS 3 due out any day?

Edit: Sorry, didn't see yesterday's thread on this. Should have posted there.

Any new news on when FCS3 is due out? One it's released, does it start shipping right then, or is there a lag.

Mac Rumors says the end of April here, but I just want to see if anyone's heard something more recent..
https://www.macrumors.com/2009/03/13/final-cut-studio-update-due-in-late-april/

(Hope it's OK to bring up a thread that's a little old... didn't want to start a new thread just for this question.)

-Chris

The most recent rumor is a ProApps announcement at WWDC (which is in June I think). Typically there is a month or so delay between announcement and shipping, but if the new version of FCS is going to be tied closely to Snow Leopard then all bets are off.

Lethal