Apple Updates Final Cut Pro X, Motion, and Compressor Alongside New Pro Marketing Push

[Peace]

It does.

Up to 200fps also.

 

[rGiskard]

I bet — if and when — they do release a new Mac Pro, it will be "the fastest Mac ever." Amazing.

I bet it will be Thinner. Less HDD bays, no optical bay, but Thinner!

 

[curmudgeon32]

One thing I'd like to see is more portability of the projects; having that specific directory structure with the Projects and Events folders is clunky. I like the way iMovie uses a single package for the projects.

I read a great tip earlier. Put everything into a disk image file:

http://www.kenstone.net/fcp_homepage/fcp_x_managing_disk_image_martin.html

Inside the virtual disk FCP will of course create its complex hierarchy of folders — but when you close everything and unmount the disk, you've got ONE file to move around. Pretty cool.

 

[SSDGUY]

I bet it will be Thinner. Less HDD bays, no optical bay, but Thinner!

Maybe they already released it but it's so many inches thin no one can see it?

 

[jrlcopy]

Actually a number of post houses are using FCPX and have been for a while. Thus your ALL is a tad false.

I haven't spoke with 1 in NYC that has it, and this is out of the big ones.

 

[Joe Walker]

Why is it so hard for Apple to add batch export and tabbed sequences to this "professional" editing program?!?!?!?!?!?!?!?!?!?!

 

[MagnusVonMagnum]

Still amazes me that Macs cannot play BluRay. I have to go to the TV to test

Well, that's not entirely true. There are two commercial Blu-Ray software players for the Mac now, although I don't think either one is anywhere near perfect from the reviews I've read:

http://www.macblurayplayer.com/

http://www.bluray-player-software.com/features.htm

Hmmm, it seems VLC 2.0 can also play commercial Blu-Rays with a couple of additions (aacs decoding library and keys database) and it has been said the above ripped off VLC to make their players, although they do apparently have better disc support at the moment. I only have one Blu-Ray disc (I got "Justified Season 1" for Christmas some time ago on Blu-Ray) and it worked fine, albeit no menu support yet. I must say the 1080p looks SHARP (wipes out my mere 720P AppleTV stuff) and no digital nasties what-so-ever even on a scaled monitor (although I never see them on my actual 720P projector and plasma screens elsewhere in the house).

 

[baryon]

Baryon, I stopped reading after I saw this



Dude, you've got to be kidding me right? Either you're a greenhorn or just not the brightest bulb. NO ONE in their right mind w/ money on the line would use FCPX for $$ making projects when it first came out. No one ever uses a 1.0 for the $$ making. Plus this was a complete from ground up build. It is a drastic change from my personal opinion old archaic way of editing. Lets not get started on the save... dude, it saves automatically instantly as you work, get used to it. Apparently you don't like to read and were having a convulsion reaction to not even taking your time to learn your way around or read ANY of the material out there. Just wow.

I'm not talking about the bugs, but about the features. Features remain, bugs don't. I don't like how they implemented Autosave, because it doesn't let you save before operations that you know are likely to crash your system. It saves when it thinks it should save, not when you know it should save. I took enough time (a few months) to study FCP X when it came out, and then one more time when the first major update arrived, and I just don't like the whole approach. It feels like you're not in control, and the system is doing god knows what constantly for you, without letting you control it. While this can be a great thing for many people, it can cause huge problems in a professional project.

By the way, I did not intend to use it for a money making project, ever, where did you get that from?

 

[jrlcopy]

Haha just a slight typo on this page.
http://www.apple.com/finalcutpro/in-action/

A major post-production house...

But inside their page they are only a production house.

And I've worked with them before, in reality they make commercials, the only job FCPX has is capturing clips and then taking the finished composted shots from Cinema 4D, AfterFX, and putting them together. There sadly is no intense editing.

 

[deconstruct60]

Umm yeah, it is all very necessary.

There is a huge being being necessary to do inside the applicatin itself and being necessary to some process. That isn't the same thing.

For example, EDLs came be transformed from FCPX's XML output.

http://www.larryjordan.biz/fcpx-create-edls/

One of the problems with EDL is that it is non standardized and comes in various flavors. There are folks who like the "simple text format" because they also mutate EDLs so they fit whatever slightly mutated process they have. There are are upsides and downsides to having a lowest common denominator file format. Too many "users" with wildly different interests and it doesn't fit some of them either.

XML is more verbose but as least you know which derivative data encoding you got by looking at the header.

"Hollywood" is not one stop shopping, we need to be able to share media across multiple workstations, manage media, have a simple quick way to share our picture edits and temp sound with color/sound houses. And if you want to talk about people "stuck" in the old ways.

This really isn't alot of motivation for some of these folks to "fix" the balkanized and byzantine formats and proprietary black holes. As much of "Hollywood" is about gatekeeping and control.

If there was a widely adopted living standard Apple would probably adopt and support it in FCPX. The "stuck in time" low common denominator isn't really a living standard.

And anyone who spends any serious amount of time with Avid Media Composer in a professional environment is not going to start working with FCP-X and go wow this is the bee's knees there is a lot of stuff Avid just does right and you don't have to think about it.

I suspect this is what in part what motivated Apple to "start over" with FCPX. Frankly, alot of the incremental direction of FCP was heading toward ... just clone what Avid does. Where 2-3 contenders all just copy features from one another into one homogenized direction. That kind of path tends to lead to as many evolutionary dead ends and long term health.

. But in real world situations FCP-X just doesn't stand up to software solutions that already exist.

FCPX doesn't have to be a do all , end all, everything and the kitchen sink tool to be useful for a very large number of people. For any large significant software application there is always a list of stuff that it doesn't do.

 

[Alpi69]

I switched to Premiere when FCP X came out, after I lost hours of work repeatedly due to crashes, and no way to save, and never looked back. Did they ever fix the issue where there is no save button in the File menu at all, and no way to save whatsoever, other than leave FCP X open for an hour for AutoSave to do it automatically, which is retarded?

I'm sure FCP X will be good one day but I can't imagine it doing everything that Premiere does. Sure, the interface is pretty, but it's slow as hell.

The complicated "Events" way to organize files is just horrendous too, and it forces you to create a whole new structure for everything, even if you just want to try out an effect and the discard it. It gets so confusing.

Background rendering is also a horrible idea, as it slows down the computer and you have no way to know what the hell is going on. In Premiere, there is NO need for rendering at all to play your timeline, which means there's no background slowness or anything like that, it just works, instantly.

1. No there is no save and there is no need for it. There is a backup (kind of autosave) made every 15 minutes, not one hour. Just like in other Apple software you need to duplicate a project to work on (Pages, Numbers etc), if you are not sure if you need a revert.

2. I can´t imagine Premiere does everything FCPX does. Horses for courses.

3. Events are a great concept per se, but I agree not all is perfect there yet.

4. Background render: you complain background render slows down? Well, in fact I complain the background render is not even a background, but a render while the mouse is idle. I wish it WAS a background render, because my GPU just sits there while I move clipsaround in the timeline. Amigas did real background render in the mid-1990s, but Windows and Apple still can´t do it properly.
FCPX does not need to render to play anything. You can even throw RED RAW mixed with GoPro material and it plays smooth. We use it in live-setups and play unrendered graphics without a glitch live on big screens.

I recommend trying the newerversions, some of your statements were true 18 months ago....FCPX has come a long way since then.....

 

[tallscot]

FCPX for $$ making projects when it first came out. No one ever uses a 1.0 for the $$ making. Plus this was a complete from ground up build. It is a drastic change from my personal opinion old archaic way of editing. Lets not get started on the save... dude, it saves automatically instantly as you work, get used to it. Apparently you don't like to read and were having a convulsion reaction to not even taking your time to learn your way around or read ANY of the material out there. Just wow.

So after editing for 15-20 minutes and I realize I liked what I had before I started, not having a REVERT command is a good thing? FCP X is ridiculous in this regard (not having Save/Revert) and anyone who defends the LOSS of this feature comes off as a fanboy, IMHO. Apple Motion auto saves too, as does Microsoft Office. That's not a big deal. Apps have had auto save for years and years.

FCP X is almost 2-years old and I still can't customize the user interface like I could with Premiere in 1991. Why can't I see my Video and Audio palettes at the same time???!! iMovie-like.

I wish FCP X had custom guides too so I could so something radical like, oh I don't know, line up my text where I want.

Apple doesn't even offer round-tripping with their own motion graphics app, Motion. That's pathetic.

And wouldn't it be "pro" to be able to select a clip and send it to an audio application and then save it and have it refresh in FCP X? I have to bring up the clip in the Finder, drag that to Audition, do the audio work I want (the remove noise feature in Audition is so much better than the iMovie-like check-box in FCP X), and then save it out from Audition.

I've been using FCP X for about a year now. There are still many things this app needs before I recommend it to any of my editing friends. Just my opinion.

 

[Plutonius]

This is coming from someone who loves FCP X at home...it's amazing software...but who still can't and won't recommend it to my bosses at work. I want Apple to push forward with it, but they're not there yet.

What functions are you unable to do with FCP X at work ?

 

[Schrambal]

Sorry Apple. Way too little, way too late. Pros have moved on.

 

[tallscot]

FCPX does not need to render to play anything.

My experience is it needs to render transitions, FX, generators, and text to play without stuttering. Apple's own Motion is able to do more in "real time" than FCP X, which confuses me because I thought both used the same OpenCL CoreImage, CoreAnimation, etc. technology.

 

[Plutonius]

I've been using FCP X for about a year now. There are still many things this app needs before I recommend it to any of my editing friends. Just my opinion.

What functions that you need are missing from FCP X ?

 

[PeterQVenkman]

Lipstick on a pig.

 

[tallscot]

What functions that you need are missing from FCP X ?

Besides the ones I already listed?!

I've been using Macs since 1987 and I think it's hilarious that Premiere in 1991 let me drag palettes and windows around multiple monitors however I wanted but FCP X is like iMovie in that I can't have my Audio and Video palettes up at the same time. Text and Transitions at the same time? Multiple video scopes?

A scrolling timeline. When I play in FCP X, the playback head goes off the timeline and disappears. Motion scrolls the timeline. iMovie does too. Why not FCP X?

I really, really want to be able to Save, do some editing, and then Revert if I need it. Having to duplicate the Project is more time consume and takes up hard drive space. Save/Revert. Why LOSE this feature? Why not auto save AND Save/Revert, like Motion?

I want something radical like GUIDES that I can drag out and line up things.

I want the standard OS X file dialog when I import that uses Spotlight and shows me the Icon view if I want, etc.

When I click on the audio of a clip and create a keyframe and drag the volume down, I can't change the interpretation of that tween at all. I can do that at the ends of clips, but not in the middle of a clip. That's a freakin' joke.

I'd like to be able to select Unused Media in an Event.

Motion's ability to drag the timeline bars heights. You have to go through the button on the bottom bar now.

[IN GENERAL, they need to make FCP X more like Motion, because it has a lot of these features I'm talking about years before FCP X came out]

Oh, a big one from Motion is how it has a mini representation of the timeline that you can drag left/right that moves the main timeline. Seriously, timeline navigation and zooming in FCP X is very tedious.

I'd like to see markers on the timeline bar instead of the clips themselves.

Roundtripping with audio app, like Apple's own Logic.

Roundtripping with motion graphics app, like Apple's own Motion.

I can only save the color parameter as a preset in FCP X. That's a joke. Let me save everything to a preset and then allow me to easily apply that to multiple clips at the same time.

You want more?

 

[kirky29]

Excellent, it was Pro Apps that really got me 'into' Apple.

 

[12dylan34]

You failed in being funny or making an original joke, sorry.

You failed in not being a d**k.

 

[Plutonius]

Besides the ones I already listed?!

I've been using Macs since 1987 and I think it's hilarious that Premiere in 1991 let me drag palettes and windows around multiple monitors however I wanted but FCP X is like iMovie in that I can't have my Audio and Video palettes up at the same time. Text and Transitions at the same time? Multiple video scopes?

A scrolling timeline. When I play in FCP X, the playback head goes off the timeline and disappears. Motion scrolls the timeline. iMovie does too. Why not FCP X?

I really, really want to be able to Save, do some editing, and then Revert if I need it. Having to duplicate the Project is more time consume and takes up hard drive space. Save/Revert. Why LOSE this feature? Why not auto save AND Save/Revert, like Motion?

I want something radical like GUIDES that I can drag out and line up things.

I want the standard OS X file dialog when I import that uses Spotlight and shows me the Icon view if I want, etc.

When I click on the audio of a clip and create a keyframe and drag the volume down, I can't change the interpretation of that tween at all. I can do that at the ends of clips, but not in the middle of a clip. That's a freakin' joke.

I'd like to be able to select Unused Media in an Event.

Motion's ability to drag the timeline bars heights. You have to go through the button on the bottom bar now.

[IN GENERAL, they need to make FCP X more like Motion, because it has a lot of these features I'm talking about years before FCP X came out]

Oh, a big one from Motion is how it has a mini representation of the timeline that you can drag left/right that moves the main timeline. Seriously, timeline navigation and zooming in FCP X is very tedious.

I'd like to see markers on the timeline bar instead of the clips themselves.

Roundtripping with audio app, like Apple's own Logic.

Roundtripping with motion graphics app, like Apple's own Motion.

I can only save the color parameter as a preset in FCP X. That's a joke. Let me save everything to a preset and then allow me to easily apply that to multiple clips at the same time.

You want more?

Thanks for the reply . Many people were posting on how bad FCP X was but they did not give specifics.

Are these issues also present in FCP 7 ?

 

[iGrip]

So how will all the content generated from Apple products be delivered to non-apple platforms - e.g. the other 80% of the computing population?

Maybe everybody will just buy a Mac?

 

[battlescarred]

NAS/Collabrative

Really the only reason people should still be using FCP 7 is if they're stuck with legacy archives.

At this point every new project should be started with FCP X.

(or if you want to be a comedian you can use Premiere...)

You should unless you work in an editing environment with more than one person. Being able to have more than one person have access to the same files is critical and therefore excludes FCPX if you have a NAS.

 

[MacDav]

Everyone but Apple. But they will follow.

Hi Lillo777...As always, it's great to hear your unbiased and fact based opinion.

 

[vimanaboy]

I use and love FCPX, and at this point I do trust that Apple is going to keep making it better and better. That said, I would like to see every one of your items implemented. The lack of window layout screensets is a big one for me.

Besides the ones I already listed?!

I've been using Macs since 1987 and I think it's hilarious that Premiere in 1991 let me drag palettes and windows around multiple monitors however I wanted but FCP X is like iMovie in that I can't have my Audio and Video palettes up at the same time. Text and Transitions at the same time? Multiple video scopes?

A scrolling timeline. When I play in FCP X, the playback head goes off the timeline and disappears. Motion scrolls the timeline. iMovie does too. Why not FCP X?

I really, really want to be able to Save, do some editing, and then Revert if I need it. Having to duplicate the Project is more time consume and takes up hard drive space. Save/Revert. Why LOSE this feature? Why not auto save AND Save/Revert, like Motion?

I want something radical like GUIDES that I can drag out and line up things.

I want the standard OS X file dialog when I import that uses Spotlight and shows me the Icon view if I want, etc.

When I click on the audio of a clip and create a keyframe and drag the volume down, I can't change the interpretation of that tween at all. I can do that at the ends of clips, but not in the middle of a clip. That's a freakin' joke.

I'd like to be able to select Unused Media in an Event.

Motion's ability to drag the timeline bars heights. You have to go through the button on the bottom bar now.

[IN GENERAL, they need to make FCP X more like Motion, because it has a lot of these features I'm talking about years before FCP X came out]

Oh, a big one from Motion is how it has a mini representation of the timeline that you can drag left/right that moves the main timeline. Seriously, timeline navigation and zooming in FCP X is very tedious.

I'd like to see markers on the timeline bar instead of the clips themselves.

Roundtripping with audio app, like Apple's own Logic.

Roundtripping with motion graphics app, like Apple's own Motion.

I can only save the color parameter as a preset in FCP X. That's a joke. Let me save everything to a preset and then allow me to easily apply that to multiple clips at the same time.

You want more?