Another FCP X screenshot?

[Walter Biscardi]

In other words, Final Cut Pro Express…. 🙂

Walter Biscardi, Jr.
Editor, Colorist, Director, Writer, Consultant, Author, Chef.
HD Post and Production
Biscardi Creative Media

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[Brian Mulligan]

And the inverse…

FCP X is also iMovie Pro

[Walter Biscardi]

It amuses me when Apple stated something like “although FCP X may have an appearance like iMovie, all similarities end there.”

Except for the “new” features rolled out in FCP X that are already available in iMovie 11 as pointed out so well by Bret above.

But the similarities REALLY end there. We mean it this time… 🙂

Gonna be a fun June.

Walter Biscardi, Jr.
Editor, Colorist, Director, Writer, Consultant, Author, Chef.
HD Post and Production
Biscardi Creative Media

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[Bret Williams]

I was actually axes to discover just how powerful 11 was. Much more powerful than FCP in terms of ingest, rendering, Effects, audio, transitions. The only thing that stinks about iMovie is that ridiculous timeline and how it keeps rippling and moving things around for me like all non-professional editing software does. Thank goodness FCP X won’t…. oh wait.

[Simon Ubsdell]

Bret is absolutely correct about this – there are so many respects in which what we saw at the Sneak Peek was stuff that was already implemented in iMovie 11. The interface and timeline functionality are in almost every respect the same, from things like the Magnetic Timeline and the Precision Editor to the Context Menus, the Audio editing tools to just about everything else.

The only major difference is the layout of the edit window where for some odd reason the “Timeline” is up in the top left corner and the “Browser” is down at the bottom.

Anybody still under the impression that we will be getting un updated version of FCP 7 is in for a very big disappointment, I would have thought.

That said, from what I’ve learnt so far of iMovie 11 it’s very, very fast and a real delight to use, albeit in no sense a pro type experience, and bodes well for FCPX. There is no doubt in my mind that Apple have taken a product that works and are building the new FCP on top of that – but frankly to call it FCP is a bit of a sleight of hand to say the least.

[Paul Jay]

Blaaaaa
Dude. Switch to Autodesk Smoke.
Have u used FcpX?
Doubt it.

[David Jahns]

I would bet money that most of the consumer features will be there if you want them , but also able to be turned off if you don’t want them. More convenient for quick edits, but then turn them off for precision work.

This actually follows the pattern of other ProApps – GarageBand features find their way into Logic, and iPhoto features find their way up to Aperture. And yet Aperture and Logic are both easier to use, and just as powerful as they were – they were not dumbed down at all to incorporate new features.

So – should we expect the same with FCP? Not sure…

The biggest difference is that FCP was a ground up rewrite, and my hunch is that the version shipping in June will not have some things pros are used to in FCP 7, simply because they are focusing on the flashy stuff, not the nitty-gritty stuff like EDL & XML output, gang syncing 2 sequences, etc.

(Will a compound clip export a proper EDL? Nested sequences never did!)

But as we ask for them, they will be added back in over time as they all get re-written. So, essentially, we’re back to FCP ver 1 – great tool for one-stop shopping, where you ingest, edit, and finish all right in the same system, but not so great for collaborative and off/online workflows.

With professional feedback/demands, eventually FCP X2 will get a little better, and the new architecture will allow for things we never even had before, like DPX support, RGB finishing, etc… That’s my hope at least!

Yes, it will certainly be interesting times…

David Jahns
Joint Editorial
Portland, OR

[Simon Ubsdell]

I think it’s very hard to sustain the view that FCPX is a “ground up rewrite” of the old Final Cut if you’ve taken even a brief look at iMovie 11. There are not just some similarities with what was demo-ed the other night – it is quite obviously almost identical in every respect except for a few more snazzy refinements (and lots of beefy under-the-hood goodness).

I’m sure Apple will build it up into a genuinely pro App with all the bells and whistles but there is really no doubt about what it’s built from.

[David Jahns]

Sorry – I should have been more clear.

Of course, they’re not rewriting the Browser code in Cocoa 64, and keeping it exactly the same as it was in the OS 9 version.

What I meant is that it’s all code written for a modern 64 bit app – not an OS 9 app from 12 years ago. Whether or not they borrow that code and core architecture from iMovie as a starting point is irrelevant.

What matters (to me, at least) is what “Pro” features they add to it. iMovie COULD export XML files, if they chose to add the functionality to the program. Obviously, that would be silly for iMovie – but any app named Pro should be able to do so – in my opinion.

And honestly, iMovie 11 may have been taken from the FCP X development, which has been in the works for years. Why do you think FCP 7 felt more like 6.5? Because they were really focusing on this FCP-X, and did a bare minimum to release an “new version”, because we demand a new version every couple of years.

Maybe iMovie is really FCP Lite!

David Jahns
Joint Editorial
Portland, OR

[Simon Ubsdell]

I reckon you could be right that iMovie 11 is FCPX Lite – in other words something that has been in development for a while quite separate from the original FCP app. I just wanted to make the point that most people, even on this forum, seem to be missing, which is that there can’t be any doubt where the new app is coming from and that’s the iMovie development path – they patently share virtually all of their DNA, put it that way, and not one jot of FCP 7’s DNA.