10 Things Steve Martin wants in FCP X

[Mitch Ives]

[Helmut Kobler] “Charles, I was indeed cutting with the Inspector open. I’ll try with it closed but that’s a horrible “solution” since I use the inspector all the time.”

You have it open all the time because you have to. Which is the point of this thread…

Apple forces you into the tedious 1990’s approach of using the Inspector to adjust things that we should be able to do on the timeline. If you had all the things Steve discussed then you could close the Inspector… which I think we would all do the minute we could…

Mitch Ives
Insight Productions Corp.

“Criticism may not be agreeable, but it is necessary. It fulfills the same function as pain in the human body. It calls attention to an unhealthy state of things.” – Winston Churchill

[Walter Soyka]

[Bill Davis] “Well, except for the little “monthly rental ONLY for rest of your career – and don’t dare fail to pay or you’re cut off from all your work product unless you’re a photographer” thing. I think it’s pretty fair to point out they’re kinda having a bit of an issue with “listening to customers and adding what they request” about that itty bitty aspect, right?”

Adobe may be having an issue adding what prospects request, but I think a lot of actual customers are quite happy.

The thing I like the best about subscription is that it finally makes me, as a long-time user and paying customer, just as important to Adobe as a new sale.

That means less shiny, marketing-oriented features under development and more things-I-use-everyday features under development.

This is not theoretical. It’s actually happening.

My primary Adobe app is After Effects. Adobe spent a lot of effort developing a ray-tracing renderer for CS6 (perpetually licensed). It’s a nice idea, and it sure does look great “on the tin” or in a demo, but it’s not a feature that people generally use daily.

Since CC, Ae’s focus hasn’t been on big marquee features like the ray-tracing renderer. Instead, we’re getting lots of little improvements that I use all the time, like improved scaling, snapping in the viewer, spring-loaded folders, property links, scripting enhancements, Kuler integration. These are things that make the software better to use, every single day. I have never been happier with the direction of Ae’s development than I am right now.

A product manager could have been fired for good solid releases like these under the old model, because “snapping in the viewer” is not going to move new licenses.

I feel about perpetual licenses the way you feel about tracks. It turns out that while we thought they were necessary to get work done, there are some unique advantages in different models.

Walter Soyka
Designer & Mad Scientist at Keen Live [link]
Motion Graphics, Widescreen Events, Presentation Design, and Consulting
@keenlive   |   RenderBreak [blog]   |   Profile [LinkedIn]

[Charlie Austin]

[Mitch Ives] “Apple forces you into the tedious 1990’s approach of using the Inspector to adjust things that we should be able to do on the timeline. If you had all the things Steve discussed then you could close the Inspector..”

huh? There are timeline operations that should be more efficient sure, what do you feel you can’t do? I use the inspector for things like text adjustments, effects controls, color controls etc. Things I’d need to open a panel/tab for in other NLE’s. The issue (IMO) with the inspector is that it’s always updating in real time which, depending on your project, sometimes bogs down. I’d imagine Apple is aware of this, and in practice it’s more of an annoyance than a “problem”. There are plenty of annoying things in Pr and MC as well. FCP 7 is, of course, perfect. 😉

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~ My FCPX Babbling blog ~
~”It is a poor craftsman who blames his tools.”~
~”The function you just attempted is not yet implemented”~

[Mitch Ives]

Bill, I think you might have fallen into your own trap. After reading your post several times, I think it could be argued that you might be accepting a glass half full.

Anybody who reads this forum on a regular basis, gets the notion that if a feature isn’t needed by you, then it isn’t important.

I just think a lot of us disagree. You love the database, and probably couldn’t live without it. I’ll bet there are plenty of people here who don’t use it to the extent that you do, and might not see it as critically important… but I don’t hear anybody suggesting that because it isn’t a critical feature to them, that it’s not important?

I’m happy for you that the kinds of projects you do, and the the things you need to do them are already in FCP X. You should consider yourself lucky, because it’s clear that a lot of people are in a different boat.

I’ll close by saying that even though your position with Apple has grown since FCP X’s release, you might want to consider the source. Remember Steve was a major evangelist and WAS the Apple in-house Trainer for many years. My point is… if a major Apple Evangelist like Steve thinks that FCP X is missing some crucial things, you might want to think about “getting on it”. Steve has a history and a reputation of not being difficult. When he says things like this, it sure as hell gets my attention. I wonder if it will get Apple’s?

Mitch Ives
Insight Productions Corp.

“Criticism may not be agreeable, but it is necessary. It fulfills the same function as pain in the human body. It calls attention to an unhealthy state of things.” – Winston Churchill

[Mitch Ives]

[Charlie Austin] “huh? There are timeline operations that should be more efficient sure, what do you feel you can’t do? I use the inspector for things like text adjustments, effects controls, color controls etc. Things I’d need to open a panel/tab for in other NLE’s. The issue (IMO) with the inspector is that it’s always updating in real time which, depending on your project, sometimes bogs down. I’d imagine Apple is aware of this, and in practice it’s more of an annoyance than a “problem”. There are plenty of annoying things in Pr and MC as well. FCP 7 is, of course, perfect. ;-)”

Jeez Charlie, how about the things that have already been discussed in this thread?

BTW, Charlie… who gets to decide when something crosses the threshold from Annoying to a Problem? It sounds like you might have given yourself that duty… 🙂

Mitch Ives
Insight Productions Corp.

“Criticism may not be agreeable, but it is necessary. It fulfills the same function as pain in the human body. It calls attention to an unhealthy state of things.” – Winston Churchill

[Steve Connor]

[Walter Soyka] “The thing I like the best about subscription is that it finally makes me, as a long-time user and paying customer, just as important to Adobe as a new sale.

That means less shiny, marketing-oriented features under development and more things-I-use-everyday features under development.

This is not theoretical. It’s actually happening.”

I hadn’t thought of it like that before – good point!

[Bill Davis]

[Walter Soyka] “I feel about perpetual licenses the way you feel about tracks. It turns out that while we thought they were necessary to get work done, there are some unique advantages in different models.”

I totally get this, Walter.

And in the initial blush of the transition, it’s not surprising to me that Adobe is doing a great job in pushing new features and refinements to the software in the new subscription model.

And if they continue to do this across the long term product life, then it’s a big win for guys like you who are invested in the system and are delighted with fast, incremental progress.

But I do wonder how it’s going to play out over time. What happens when the market for the approach gets closer to saturation. My concern is that nobody I’ve ever been around at the top of the corporate heaps has EVER been happy with sustained profits at level X. They lust for period over period GROWTH. It’s what makes corporate types salivate.

And that typically means turning their attention away from existing and mature products to NEW products.

And so it’s fair to question whether in 2 years or 5 years, the delightful new capabilities you value so much continue to flow or stagnate if they don’t contribute to revenue growth.

Nobody knows the answers to this stuff. We’re all guessing.

They say entropy is a feature of the universe. I hope for your sake it’s not a feature of the maturing of the new Adobe model.

Time will tell.

Know someone who teaches video editing in elementary school, high school or college? Tell them to check out http://www.StartEditingNow.com – video editing curriculum complete with licensed practice content.

[Mitch Ives]

[Walter Soyka] “I feel about perpetual licenses the way you feel about tracks. It turns out that while we thought they were necessary to get work done, there are some unique advantages in different models.”

Wow… I wish I could be that kind. For me (disclaimer), the number one solid proof that they don’t listen to their customers is that they shove the subscription model down your throat. Anything else they do, doesn’t offset that.

Have they added the permanent off ramp yet… or is it still like the mob? If you ever try and leave, do you have any way of ever opening up your existing projects? If not, they still aren’t listening, wouldn’t you say? At the very minimum, they should provide for that. Hopefully, you’ll tell me that they have?

Mitch Ives
Insight Productions Corp.

“Criticism may not be agreeable, but it is necessary. It fulfills the same function as pain in the human body. It calls attention to an unhealthy state of things.” – Winston Churchill

[Charlie Austin]

[Mitch Ives] “Jeez Charlie, how about the things that have already been discussed in this thread?
“

As far as I can see, the only timeline related thing discussed is that the clip opacity bar is harder to get to than other NLE’s. The audio fade thing could maybe be reworked, but is really is a non-issue, it’s just the way audio components work. And any comparison to other NLE’s in really Apples to Oranges as none of them have embedded audio components. You can detach your audio and add fade effects to the connected audio clips just like any other NLE. If you keep the components embedded you work with them in, uh, the way they work. If you cut in MC you need to step into effects – which people who don’t like MC might consider a flaw – but it’s just the way it works right?

[Mitch Ives] “BTW, Charlie… who gets to decide when something crosses the threshold from Annoying to a Problem? It sounds like you might have given yourself that duty… :-)”

lol. Yes, I am the decider! Look, Like most everything here, I’m expressing my opinion. Just for laughs, I’m cutting spots for the same job in Pr and X the last week or so. Same source footage, music, SFX library, everything. Both have annoying aspects. Although… having Pr open in the background doesn’t do anything for me when I’m in X. But having X open in the background make cutting in Pr easier. It’s exponentially easier to locate shots in multiple feature reels and audition SFX etc in X, then, knowing where they are, pop to Pr and use them. Also, tracks are a PITA. According to me. The decider! 😉

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~ My FCPX Babbling blog ~
~”It is a poor craftsman who blames his tools.”~
~”The function you just attempted is not yet implemented”~

[Bill Davis]

[Mitch Ives] “Bill, I think you might have fallen into your own trap.”

Respectfully, I disagree.

There’s no “trap” here. Just an exercise in, perhaps, clarity of perspective.

I saw a group of posts in a thread that seemed to echo what happened on the X introduction. The crowd is excited and enthused, and then a few “smarter than thou” voices just has to come in and tell everyone that they’re wrong about being excited about the thing – that in fact, the list of things to be improved, is, ipso facto, proof that the entire program is useless crap.

Steve, (who’s very FIRST FCP Legacy class I took in Santa Monica back in 1999 and who I’ve known for more than a decade) put out a very reasonable and fair list of things he would like to see improved about X. Like most, I agree with much of what he listed.

Then look what happened. immediately. Right here. Ill informed (in my opinion) voices popped up instantly proffering a silly interpretation of what he’d written – essentially trying to “spin” what he wrote into “SEE, look at all the DEFICIENCIES in X – how can anyone use that turkey.”

All I did was indulge in a bit of snarky pointing out that if all you do when you encounter an attractive person is come away form the encounter obsessed about their current haircut, clothes, or a silly hat. Then you’ve missed the essence.

Discussions of clothing are fun. Perhaps even important in some senses. But to conflate them with the discussion of the PERSON wearing them is stupid.

That was my point. Still is. Take care.

Know someone who teaches video editing in elementary school, high school or college? Tell them to check out http://www.StartEditingNow.com – video editing curriculum complete with licensed practice content.