Get HitFilm on OS OX!

[skippermonkey]

This great video editor/compositor has been on Windows for a while but now the developers are trying to Kickstart it on Mac.

For small studios and hobbyist filmmakers, it's an ideal replacement for (or addition to) After Effects if you're not keen on Adobe's Creative Cloud solution, and if you pledge $250 you'll get the Ultimate version for $150 less than the current retail price.

If you're interested, go here and pledge your support - let's get it on OSX!

http://www.kickstarter.com/projects/fxhome/hitfilm-for-mac

 

[daybreak]

Steve i had a look at that site a few days ago. I think it is a good idea, but what happens if they go bust???. If they dont have the cash to develop the software how come they managed too get it done for P.C. computers.

 

[skippermonkey]

Well they've been in business for years with several award-winning products, so I see no reason why they should suddenly go bust overnight - but you can say the same thing about any small company. Everything is a risk... it's one I figured I could take.

Besides, if they reach their Kickstarter target, they'll have £25K to fund the development, so surely that's a good thing? Bear in mind if they don't reach the target (and they may not as it looks like it's stalled), you pay nothing.

EDIT: There are some answers direct from the team on their forum...

http://community.hitfilm.com/index.php?/topic/2309-hitfilm-on-the-mac/

 

[daybreak]

Steve, just out of interest i live in Trowbridge,Wiltshire. Yes i have been on the site. I wonder if FCP-X would handle the software.

 

[kaltsasa]

They kind of Torqued me off a while back. They built their business on Mac customers, Alam DV, Chrominator, VisionLab, etc.... Hell I learned about them from the copy of Alam DV included on a Mac Addict disk back in like 2000 and I was hooked. Suddenly they shunned their Mac users, VisionLab was never updated to be a Universal Binary (though they alluded to it many times). They insisted that any new software they developed would be a UB, suddenly HitFilm drops and sorry guys no Mac Version for you.

I really want to trust them, I really want a Mac copy of Hitfilm. But the way these guys treated their best customers, the guys like me that lapped up everything they released. It just left a real sour taste in my mouth.

That said they've been around A LONG TIME, I don't see them going out of business. However, given their attitude toward Macs in the past I question their commitment to the platform. It reeks of EA circa back in 2007 when they got on stage with Steve Jobs and pledged their commitment to the Macintosh Platform, then a few games trickled out. They didn't update them, they didn't release the expansions for them.

FXHome's got a lot to make up for in my book.

 

[daybreak]

Thank you for that. What has been in my mind. A) why have they not alga mated with some other company in the same field. B) what would the case be for any updates.
I dont wish to be negative but when you put one software on market without public support, the profit margin must be pretty small.
Also why cant they get support from APPLE?

 

[FXhome]

Hi there
I thought we would jump in and try an answer a few of the questions above, so here goes...

1. Will be go bust/vanish overnight/get bought out?
Well, FXhome has been going since 2001, and has grown a great deal in that time. We have made the decision to remain independent and make our own products rather than have someone else buy our technology. We have thousands of users of both our photo software on Mac & PC platforms and video applications on the PC.
Of course anything can happen in business, but we have solid foundations.

2. We abandoned Mac users who built our company.
We have always tried to be clear and consistent here - we want our software to be cross platform. Mac users have been a significant part of the FXhome userbase, but it is also fair to say that they have always been outnumbered by PC users of our apps.
Our early video apps were built on certain technology that required Rosetta. When Mac moved to the Lion OS, it became impossible for those applications to function. It wasn't a case of an update fixing things - it was a complete rewrite or nothing.
At that point we began designing a new video application and we made the decision to utilise Open GL technology to create a powerful tool for video users, but at that point the GPU cards of the vast majority of Macs in the market weren't able to handle the program.
We're a business, so we spend time analysing sales numbers, market share and all that stuff, and we made the decision to pause our video software on the Mac, and some back to it when the platform had caught up in terms of GPU technology. This is where we are now, and therefore we're ready to develop HitFilm for the Mac.

3. Why haven't we merged with another company/got funding from Apple?
We want to be an indie company, making products for users from beginners to pros - if we merged with another VFX company, it might be good financially for us, but I doubt it would work out so well for our users.
If Apple want to get in touch, we'd be happy to speak to them about funding our development, but we haven't heard from them yet...

4. What about updates?
Once HitFilm for Mac comes out, users will have parity with the PC users, and we have regularly released free updates and fixes, and HitFilm 2 was released as a paid upgrade in November 2012, so it would be save to assume that we will follow a standard 12-18 month update schedule for paid upgrades.
Anyone who gets their software via the Kickstarter will have the same license as a normal purchaser, so there won't be any penalty for them.

5. Why can't you fund the development/What happens if we don't make our target?
Well, we have already said that we have been developing this product for a while, and HitFilm for Mac will be released at some point.
We know there is demand for the product, because of the number of requests we get, so we decided that we would give those users the opportunity to help us accelerate the development and get the software they want more quickly, and get a discount price.
Obviously, it benefits us as well, as it takes away some of the risk involved, as we are basically taking pre-orders.
If we don't make the target, HitFilm for Mac may not appear for quite sometime as it will have to be developed at a slower rate.
We're steadily moving on, and as I write this we are at 57% of the target with 20 days to go - so we think we can make it!

If you've got any further questions, let us know.

 

[megapuppy]

I've backed this - for £165. Even though I already own After Effects, Element 3D, Particular, FCPX, Premiere Pro etc, the demos of Hitfilm have really impressed me - particularly the 3D integration of the particles. The particle engine is absolutely awesome!

Although I think HitFilm looks like an awesome one-stop-shop type app, I hope future versions of HitFilm have better support for sharing data between apps, right now it all sounds a bit self-contained. Which is cool when you only have one app, but I'd like to be able to ingest edits in from other apps (via XML), as well as share cameras, lights and nulls with other 3D apps.

 

[Siderz]

I quite like the look of HitFilm, I remember when it came out and I thought it was great, but felt very let down without a Mac version.

I wouldn't mind getting it since it's so simple, but I've began to fall out of wanting to do VFX now, I want to focus on my video editing, I haven't opened After Effects in ages. VFX has always been my hobby though, so I guess HitFilm will be an excuse to start playing around again, and it being one of the more simpler applications makes it perfect for just a hobbyist.

But I wouldn't buy it instantly, in fact I'm not really considering buying it in the first place, since a Kickstarter was started...why does this need a Kickstarter? Surely, you make the Windows version, and with that money you begin moving to other platforms? It looks to me more like you're just abusing Kickstarter. On top of this, it's software; you're getting people to pay for software to be made...just so they can pay for it again? Unfortunately, that's giving another point to the pro-piracy people...I'm totally against piracy (At least the majority of it), I would never pirate, but getting people to pay for software to be made, only to sell that software goes totally against my points for why piracy is a bad thing.

Perhaps the Kickstarter only accounts for a very small amount of the cost and this is your way of seeing if there's a demand for a Mac version? That would be logical, I don't think £25,000 would pay for this in its entirety.

I welcome HitFilm to the Mac, but I'm not going to buy it straight away, nor am I going to donate. It should have been on the Mac from the start anyway. This was released before I even had After Effects, so I would have probably been your first customer had it been available for Mac.

Edit: On the contrary though, I will inevitably consider this to help British software development and filmmaking.

 

[FXhome]

First up, we want to thank those of you who backed the project - we made our goal over the weekend!

I've backed this - for £165. Even though I already own After Effects, Element 3D, Particular, FCPX, Premiere Pro etc, the demos of Hitfilm have really impressed me - particularly the 3D integration of the particles. The particle engine is absolutely awesome!

Although I think HitFilm looks like an awesome one-stop-shop type app, I hope future versions of HitFilm have better support for sharing data between apps, right now it all sounds a bit self-contained. Which is cool when you only have one app, but I'd like to be able to ingest edits in from other apps (via XML), as well as share cameras, lights and nulls with other 3D apps.

We will definitely be looking into better integration with other software products in the future. HitFilm was originally conceived as a standalone app that gave indie film makers editing & VFX power in one, but as the product has developed the power has meant that advanced users have wanted to have it as part of their tool kit, and we want that to happen more & more.

----------

I quite like the look of HitFilm, I remember when it came out and I thought it was great, but felt very let down without a Mac version.

I wouldn't mind getting it since it's so simple, but I've began to fall out of wanting to do VFX now, I want to focus on my video editing, I haven't opened After Effects in ages. VFX has always been my hobby though, so I guess HitFilm will be an excuse to start playing around again, and it being one of the more simpler applications makes it perfect for just a hobbyist.

But I wouldn't buy it instantly, in fact I'm not really considering buying it in the first place, since a Kickstarter was started...why does this need a Kickstarter? Surely, you make the Windows version, and with that money you begin moving to other platforms? It looks to me more like you're just abusing Kickstarter. On top of this, it's software; you're getting people to pay for software to be made...just so they can pay for it again? Unfortunately, that's giving another point to the pro-piracy people...I'm totally against piracy (At least the majority of it), I would never pirate, but getting people to pay for software to be made, only to sell that software goes totally against my points for why piracy is a bad thing.

Perhaps the Kickstarter only accounts for a very small amount of the cost and this is your way of seeing if there's a demand for a Mac version? That would be logical, I don't think £25,000 would pay for this in its entirety.

I welcome HitFilm to the Mac, but I'm not going to buy it straight away, nor am I going to donate. It should have been on the Mac from the start anyway. This was released before I even had After Effects, so I would have probably been your first customer had it been available for Mac.

Edit: On the contrary though, I will inevitably consider this to help British software development and filmmaking.

It's really up to you whether you back the Kickstarter or not, but we have tried to be really clear about why we ran it on this platform.

When HitFilm was first released Mac's had lower end GPUs, and HitFilm is a GPU intensive app, therefore it was not possible to release on the Mac at that time.

We have always had loads of requests for a Mac version, and have wanted to be cross platform.

Once Mac tech had caught up in the GPU stakes, we began R&D, and knew we could get the app running nicely, but we also knew we needed to invest to get there.

Therefore, we took a proportion of the budget (you are correct in that it costs a lot more then £25K to develop an app like this, even when it is porting to a new platform), and gave customers the opportunity to back the project, to accelerate the development process. They get a discount, we get a cash injection, and the project is completed more quickly.

We even explain that in the video on our KS page, so it's pretty transparent.

What's not to like?

Anyway, we're now off to think about stretch goals!