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FCP X Demo: 'Nowhere Near' Final Version, More on Final Cut Studio Apps Coming

As happy and excited I am about this update, I can't stop feeling a little irritated about the amount of time it has taken for it to come out.

It is 3 years since I first almost bankrupted myself by buying an octo-core machine. And I bought it based on all the rhetoric Apple spewed. Since then the only thing I seem to own that actually utilizes all that power is bleedin' Handbrake, an open source application.

Don't get me wrong, watching Handbrake crunch HD video at 120 FPS is a thing of wonder, but using FCP and having 7 of 8 cores sat there idly doing nothing has profoundly bothered me.

I guess it is my own fault for being such an early adopter and being so utterly addicted to Apple's marketing hype.

PS., Please god, don't let this new Final Cut be anything like the first iteration of Aperture 3. One of my worst software nightmares ever.
 
Hunabku said:
Wonderful post! So the more "professional" editors we see getting "pissy" means the opposite of what one might think.

You mean i can't add unlimited tracks as i need to make my timelines look so complex that my clients quiver in the awesomeness of my brilliance.
Click to expand...

More likely editing houses will be angry because of the new price point... $299 is much more affordable and makes rental booths seem unnecessary for many productions. Of course there will still be much more intense productions that will keep them in business for a while still.
 

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As for 'professionals' getting pissy:

I don't think any of them care too much about the new features as much as they care about the speed updates. That's the biggest benefit for them.
The 'quick' editing features are useful for some 'pro' edits, definitely useful for a pro-sumer.

My best friend is an editor in a production house in Hollywood and his concern was that they didn't talk about tape workflow, video in/out cards, 3rd party support or XML-based export - among other things.

Just the concern is that they re-built the app and added a lot of GUI and 'smart' features but they didn't say anything about the dirty nuts & bolts.

So - it's an area of concern.

If Apple did what they did with iMove - re-built it from the ground up and removed features (most of which were re-added in the next version)
Well that would be a concern as the 'new' version wouldn't have support for their existing workflows.
(not workflows like "we like to do things this way" more workflows like "because of how this was shot or because we need to export to this specific tape deck" workflows that you can't really mess with)

It's mundane stuff to 'fans' and 'prosumers' but critical for higher end production houses.

A lot of people (me included) were pretty annoyed when Quicktime X came out with fewer features than QT7 . . .



As for the other reason editors might be grumpy:

Some of their 'work' will be partially replaced by smart features.
So they might worry that their exec sees this and gets rid of their assistant because "the software can do it!" which isn't necessarily the case.


Professionals get grumpy when all of a sudden software allows people to do things that used to be their 'trick' exclusively.
Old designers complain about Creative Suite, photographers complain about Photoshop/Lightroom/Aperture, music producers complain about Pro Tools and now editors will complain about Final Cut.
 
First impressions after seeing the demo: very exited! The lack of a 'writing video' window seems worth the wait alone.

Still have some questions and doubts though. The interface will no doubt feel like second nature after some time, but what will an omf look like when sent to my audio guy? How about final cut server support, and color, soundtrack pro, etc. Will my old libary of much loved plugins still work?

Very curious about what we're going to see in the coming months.
 
corywoolf said:
More likely editing houses will be angry because of the new price point... $299 is much more affordable and makes rental booths seem unnecessary for many productions. Of course there will still be much more intense productions that will keep them in business for a while still.
Click to expand...
FCP already did that at the $999 price point. The drop from $999 for the suite to $299 for just FCP isn't a big deal at all in the professional space. For years the selling point of rental bays is hardware that people can't afford and/or don't want to own and maintain (professional grade monitors, higher end towers, input/output cards, decks, video scopes, etc.,).


Lethal
 
Hunabku said:
Wonderful post! So the more "professional" editors we see getting "pissy" means the opposite of what one might think.

You mean i can't add unlimited tracks as i need to make my timelines look so complex that my clients quiver in the awesomeness of my brilliance.
Click to expand...


The point that everyone is trying to make is that the end result is based on skill and telling the story. FCP may help that but a retard using FCP will make no better of a film than using movie maker.
 
FasterQuieter said:
As happy and excited I am about this update, I can't stop feeling a little irritated about the amount of time it has taken for it to come out.
Click to expand...
Given that it's a complete rewrite from the ground up, including a whole new editing paradigm, let's hope Apple took its time to get this right. If Apple had released a buggy, unusable app a year ago, you would have been a lot more irritated. Let's just hope they do get it right, because the change reminds me of the transition from OS 9 to OS X (although at least it is just one application).
 
totoum said:
That's not how I understood what he said at all,he put "professional" in quotes because he was being sarcastic,to me he meant that if someone is worried about the fact that more people can now operate a software because it's simpler to use/more affordable then they must not be a real pro because a real pro wouldn't worry about such things,they know that they have the creativity and experience that sets them appart.
Click to expand...


But the ****ing public doesn't get this. Everyone loves Friday by Rebecca Black - explain that.
 
Very Similar Thing Happened With Logic Pro

Back in the final days of Logic Pro 7 I was considering buying it. It was incredibly powerful but really deep and with a clunky GUI to boot. My procrastination paid off.

Within months Logic Pro 8 came out and they simplified the GUI to be like GarageBand (and oh how all the "Pros" did moan...but only for awhile) and cut the price from $999 to $499. I jumped on it and never looked back.

And now the same sort of thing is happening to FCP. All the power (fingers crossed) but with a much better GUI (yes, sort of like iMovie but only on the surface....just like with Logic Pro and Garageband).

Jumping into this will be a no-brainer for me whereas with the old FCP I would have never "bit".

Give the "Pros" time to come around. A lot of the resistance evaporates over time. Yes, there are actually some people who like difficult programs because then they join the "priesthood" of "those in the know" and get all puffed up.

"BUT BUT BUT...IT LOOKS...DIFFERENT!!!!"
I WON'T BUY IT....I WON'T BUY IT....I WON'T I WON'T I WON'T.
 
cinder said:
As for 'professionals' getting pissy:

I don't think any of them care too much about the new features as much as they care about the speed updates. That's the biggest benefit for them.
The 'quick' editing features are useful for some 'pro' edits, definitely useful for a pro-sumer.

My best friend is an editor in a production house in Hollywood and his concern was that they didn't talk about tape workflow, video in/out cards, 3rd party support or XML-based export - among other things.

Just the concern is that they re-built the app and added a lot of GUI and 'smart' features but they didn't say anything about the dirty nuts & bolts.

So - it's an area of concern.

If Apple did what they did with iMove - re-built it from the ground up and removed features (most of which were re-added in the next version)
Well that would be a concern as the 'new' version wouldn't have support for their existing workflows.
(not workflows like "we like to do things this way" more workflows like "because of how this was shot or because we need to export to this specific tape deck" workflows that you can't really mess with)

It's mundane stuff to 'fans' and 'prosumers' but critical for higher end production houses.

A lot of people (me included) were pretty annoyed when Quicktime X came out with fewer features than QT7 . . .



As for the other reason editors might be grumpy:

Some of their 'work' will be partially replaced by smart features.
So they might worry that their exec sees this and gets rid of their assistant because "the software can do it!" which isn't necessarily the case.


Professionals get grumpy when all of a sudden software allows people to do things that used to be their 'trick' exclusively.
Old designers complain about Creative Suite, photographers complain about Photoshop/Lightroom/Aperture, music producers complain about Pro Tools and now editors will complain about Final Cut.
Click to expand...

Speaking of Quicktime 7 - know anything that adds those features back?
 
Professional, Amateur, Semi-Pro, weird guy living above your grandmother's garage, this argument is funny no matter who you are. What will happen with this is the same that has happened in every other industry where the democratization of technology allowed more people to access tools previously only available to 'the elite'.

Some will buy it and be able to do it themselves. Some will try it, settle with the results they achieve and convince themselves it is 'Good 'Nuff!™' (until they run into the other 'Wall of eliteness'...Network Standards, etc.) Others will realize that a tool, no matter how cheap, doesn't make you an editor/mechanic/brain surgeon and they will then go and spend more money with you or other 'professionals' and get it done right. Only you'll be able to charge a rush fee because they will be in a hurry now. ;)
 
filmantopia said:
Wirelessly posted (Mozilla/5.0 (iPhone; U; CPU iPhone OS 4_3 like Mac OS X; en-us) AppleWebKit/533.17.9 (KHTML, like Gecko) Version/5.0.2 Mobile/8F190 Safari/6533.18.5)

If you think about it, it's not all too surprising that some of these "professionals" are getting so worked up and sulky over this release. The notion that "pro editing" can belong to just about anyone, rather than an exclusive circle of elites, poses an existential crisis. Apple's re-thinking of editing is also a re-thinking of what it means to be "professional". The announcement sheds light on a future in which their "advanced", learned techniques are no longer advantageous. The "industry pros" are facing the plight of impending impotence. It's not something anyone would really openly admit, but I think they're feeling a bit naked, stripped of their status.

Who can blame them for being pissy?
Click to expand...

I think you're overstating this "existential crisis".

There's a lot of skill behind what professional editors do. You don't just pick up the same set of brushes and achieve what Monet or Picasso did ... The divide between professional and amateur will still exist even with the same toolset.

I'm loving the new look/style/features though will await further clarification and a quiet month before I upgrade my previous version.

Best Wishes.
 
I just watched a video of the demo, and it's orgasmic.

I'm definitely getting this when it comes out.
 
I'm salivating....

Just such a sexy piece of software. 1/3th of that power in iMovie would KILL any other consumer video editing software.

Edit: You have to own this at $299. Just a steal!
 
huntson said:
Speaking of Quicktime 7 - know anything that adds those features back?
Click to expand...

You can install Quicktime 7 again from your Snow Leopard disc, it's in something like the 'extras' folder. It doesn't replace Quicktime X though; you'll have both.
 
Wirelessly posted (Mozilla/5.0 (iPhone; U; CPU iPhone OS 4_2_6 like Mac OS X; en-us) AppleWebKit/533.17.9 (KHTML, like Gecko) Version/5.0.2 Mobile/8E200 Safari/6533.18.5)

All good news.

Watching the videos only makes me more excited. I'm pretty sure every serious user of FC is pumped about version X.
 
"I can't think of any other company that could so totally redefine what a non-linear video editor is than Apple"

Aside from a few tidbits, FCX is (finally) catching up to many features that other NLEs have had for several years.

<insert fanboy excuses here>
 
I'm really excited for the new features, many of which sound great, but I wonder why they couldn't just implement them into the current FCP interface? I'm a heavy Final Cut Pro user and really fast with the current application. I hate to have to learn an entirely new interface.
 
sined13 said:
"I can't think of any other company that could so totally redefine what a non-linear video editor is than Apple"

Aside from a few tidbits, FCX is (finally) catching up to many features that other NLEs have had for several years.

<insert fanboy excuses here>
Click to expand...

Explain.
 
deannnnn said:
I'm really excited for the new features, many of which sound great, but I wonder why they couldn't just implement them into the current FCP interface? I'm a heavy Final Cut Pro user and really fast with the current application. I hate to have to learn an entirely new interface.
Click to expand...
Long story short the core of the current FCP code is from the late 90's and there is only so long you can keep patching and bolting things on before you have to blow it up and start from the ground up again.


Lethal
 
In other words, what we saw tonight was nowhere near the final form of the application.

This statement has me a bit puzzled. FCP is supposed to be out in around 2 months. Are they going to rush the rest into FCP in this amount of time, or get the basics in there, then drag onto multiple updates? Would be a shame to not have it fully ready for release. I'm a little skeptical if the rest will be ready by June. Nothing stinks worst than having a program that's touted a super program, to find out it wasn't ready for release. Just hope apple doesn't rush this one out the door. It looks to put the competition to shame if it can deliver.
 
bearcatrp said:
In other words, what we saw tonight was nowhere near the final form of the application.

This statement has me a bit puzzled. FCP is supposed to be out in around 2 months. Are they going to rush the rest into FCP in this amount of time, or get the basics in there, then drag onto multiple updates? Would be a shame to not have it fully ready for release. I'm a little skeptical if the rest will be ready by June. Nothing stinks worst than having a program that's touted a super program, to find out it wasn't ready for release. Just hope apple doesn't rush this one out the door. It looks to put the competition to shame if it can deliver.
Click to expand...
The build they showed was an old build, at least a few months old, and also keep in mind it is basically going to be a version 1 application. Sure there are some things stolen from other Apple apps but I would expect FCP X to have v1 problems just any new app would.


Lethal
 
Okay, all this talk about Vegas features made me go look at the website for it to see what it's like these days. I used to use it many years ago when I was a Windows user.

Looking at some of the screenshots actually made my gag reflex kick in. It almost made me retch. Wow, that interface is still as ugly as ever.
 
Stirfry2112 said:
"However, this does not mean these other applications are dead - simply that Apple is not talking about them... yet."

So maybe this explains the low price point. $299 for Final Cut Pro X and $999 for the full suite? I hope not. All looks amazing though!
Click to expand...

I love the new Final Cut Pro X. I don't feel I need to upgrade unless it comes in the suite. $999.00 would be a great price for the suite, considering I paid that price for FCP alone, no suite, in 2001.
 
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