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Reality
I don’t blame Apple for making this move.
Before I explain that comment, I should offer the fact that I do own 10+ copies of FCS, multiple MacPros, MBP, iMacs and a couple non-intel G5’s that still run FCS 2. Add in multiple kona’s (3, LHe, 2) and it’s fair to say I’m pretty well invested into the world of final cut.
However, the fact that Apple decided that it made business sense for them to move in a different direction does not shock me.
Let’s start with Color (I was an early early adopter of Final Touch). Color’s days were numbered the second that Black Magic announced the purchase of Davinci. The nail was hammered in when it was priced under 1k.
Soundtrack Pro never reached maturity and didn’t compete well against Pro Tools. So, take whatever technology users actually liked from it and roll it into FCP. I do not personally know anyone who actually did stand alone mixes in STP, only people who used it to fix problem audio. Luckily for Apple they also have Logic (For now).
My guess with DVD SP is that they couldn’t make the licenses work to be fully Blue Ray compatible. So, why continue to develop it?
And Avid woke up and decided they needed to become competitive and offer some of their solutions as software based solutions that interact with 3rd party hardware.
This last part is just a hypothesis. I’m betting that many final cut users, like me have not bought a new full version of final cut since fcs 1. I personally haven’t bought many copies since ver 5. It did not surprise me that FCP X was priced similar to the upgrade cost of fcs 3. However, if you are no longer selling a lot of software at $999 how do you maintain profit, grow your base.
That’s what FCP X is. Get rid of anything that you are not competitive with (Color vs Davinci, STP vs Logic vs Pro Tools), element overhead (App Store Release) and make a tool that has the potential to be bought by a larger audience.
I have not bought FCP X and all of our suites are working away on television shows, music videos and commercial projects today, just like they did yesterday.
I will say this. FCP X is the top paid download on the App Store today, so at least we know Apple’s marketing machine still works.
Just my 2 cents (even though nobody asked for them)
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11 Replies
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Tim,
Go and buy it. You love to edit and this is a serious editing tool. A very fast one at that.
David
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Believe me. Everything is a lie. -
Dont waste your money yet. See how things pan out. Its not worth it at the moment.
Tom Daigon
Avid DS / FCP / After Effects Editor
http://www.hdshotsandcuts.com -
Come on David. You know how cheap I am.
No question on how fast the program is. But, it doesn’t do what I need it too.
Will use 7 until it doesn’t meet my needs, or something does that’s worth the transition (maybe FCP x, maybe Premiere, maybe Avid). But, no need to have the fastest tool that doesn’t meet my requirements.
Should mention that I actually think FCP X looks like a very well built application. Just not one that will allow me to make money the way that I do.
Impact on my business from today’s release… nothing.
Potential impact on my business six months from now… 50 / 50.
Dual 2.5 G5, AJA KonaHD, IO, Xserve Raid 3.5 TB
Dual 2.0 G5, AJA Kona 2, IO, Xserve Raid 3.5 TB
Dual 1.0 G4, AJA KonaHD, IO, Xserve Raid 1.7 TB -
Just saw my signature. LOL now that is old. Kona HD.
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Tim,
You are a great businessman and you are absolutely correct. You can fly with FCP 7 for a long time in your operation.
As a few weeks fly by and people take a moment to explore what Apple has done, i think that the thinking will change. This tool is very fast for breaking down material.
The rest will come.
I like the whole new interface and idea and there is a lot of power under the hood. The image quality is amazing.
All these years of people bitching, all these years of people crapping on FCP, people wanting change.
I think Apple delivered and this will be a preffered tool for people who EDIT. Take it for an editing ride. It’s very cool.
David
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Believe me. Everything is a lie. -
Since you have it in use.
What are your thoughts on work flow from transferring selects / elements from one timeline to another.
Example, elements from Episode One of a series to Episode Two?
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[Tim Martin] “What are your thoughts on work flow from transferring selects / elements from one timeline to another.
Example, elements from Episode One of a series to Episode Two?”
FCP X has one sequence per project. But you can still copy and paste things between sequences. More than that, though, clip management has been separated from projects. A project in FCP X is pretty much just a sequence. You manage clips as part of events, and all events are available from all projects. So it’s really, really easy to share elements between projects; you don’t have to manually import them separately into each project, and any metadata is shared across projects.
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Digital Workflow/Colorist, Nice Dissolve.You should follow me on Twitter here. Or read our blog.
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Tim
It’s well thought out. There will be some pain learning a new language, but they made it easier.
People are jumping the gun at killing it way to early. They thought of a new way to approach things. I would have been sad if it looked like every other piece of editing software ever invented.
They made a bold move in a new direction. I like the direction once people see how quick it is and begin to poweruse it, I think it will turn heads.
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Believe me. Everything is a lie. -
Tom,
I know you were shocked, like I was. But I dove in and started learning the keystrokes (Q,E,W,D, T, Position Tool) and once I learned how to move around the timeline and actually edit, the trimming and slip/slide are more intuitive and faster. Insert/Overwrite works as advertised. And the P tool works just like FCP7 and allows one to just slap clips atop each other willy-nilly. In/Out-click-and-drag works fine, too, for marking clips and dragging into the timeline. I actually LIKE the active ripple, it works remotely like ProTools where you can drag clips around and they ripple around for you. To Turn that feature off, I just use the Position tool.
I just completed a mini-doc on FCPX (shot on PDW-F350 and NX5U, converted with XDcam Browser to a folder which I imported) and it went pretty well. Now I am going straight to Blu-Ray (with my external burner). Then I will export the self-contained movie and go into FCP7 to dump to HDCAM! 😉
There are lots of missing features, and I am glad FCP7 still exists for my tape workflow. Hope Apple listens (I talked to some of the team at FCPUG) and puts tape in/out and OMF/XML interchange in version 10.1 😉
Cheers,
Greg -
all events are available from all projects.
Actually that sounds like a horror show to me. I like to be able to choose what material is in front of me when I work on a project, not have everything I’ve ever worked on loaded every time I start my NLE.
Herb Sevush
Zebra Productions
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