-
Another FCP X screenshot?
-
Have you used iMovie? Not sure actually what you were implying, but iMovie is obviously the foundation for FCPx. It even has the little iTunes and iPhoto import buttons. Belch.
I’m sure smoke is awesome.
-
IMovie 11 is an upgrade to ’09 which was the iMovie shift. Apparently 11 has a lot more features whereas 09 was pretty flat. So my guess is that 09 was sort of meant to be a video catalog like iPhoto, with a basic editor. But the need for a FCP overhaul was needed. Along the way they realized they could shift both apps to the same track, whilst using imovie as sort of a testing ground. By doing so, as with iPhoto/ Aperture, you are more likely to upgrade to the pro version you are familiar with. They even tried this with DVD SP an the basic mode that resembles iDVD, but it never caught on and you can’t buy DVD SP separately now anyway.
-
All this talk of FCP-X being “I-MoviePro” or “Final Cut Lite” is funny stuff. They really do seem to have their similarities. That being said, all I really need my NLE to do is allow me to edit. The less I have to think about how to do what I want the better. In this regard, simply having background rendering while I get to keep working is going to be a timesaver.
In terms of it not being “Pro” anymore, which is the sentiment I’ve heard from a lot of people, I just don’t get it. I think, for the most part I COULD edit about just as well in Imovie. Editing, for the most part, is about having an eye for how to tell a story. The technical work I do that the average thirteen year old who owns Imovie can’t do is in the other applications in the Final Cut Studio suite. Does I’movie have Final Touch aka “Color”. That program ran about $25,000 before Apple bought Silicon Color and included the software in the Final Cut Studio suite. Soundtrack pro is actually pretty efficient when you memorize the keyboard shortcuts. I prefer After Effects and Cinema4D for motion graphics work but Motion is pretty nifty if you want to pump something out quickly.
I’m just as anxious as the next person about the future of FCP but to me it has a lot more to do with the rest of the applications in the Final Cut Pro ecosystem. If they are kept around, integrated well, updated to 64 bit and utilize my MacPro as I wish they had for the last 3 years, I’ll be a happy camper. So Final Cut Pro’s graphical user interface resembles Imovie. Big deal.
-
[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. “
Apple has clearly been working on FCP X for a long time. Probably since wrapping up FCP 6 in mid-2007 (FCP 7 having been more a maintenance release). It frankly seems more plausible that iMovie was used as a low-risk testbed for FCP X interface innovations than that FCP X is literally a descendant of iMovie.
Digital Workflow/Colorist
You should follow me on Twitter here. Or read Is FCP X a professional app? on our blog. -
[David Jahns] “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.”
Apple isn’t crazy. They started that event off bragging about feature films. They’re not going to go and ditch something as basic as XML exporting. Not when FCP XML importing was a significant new feature recently announced for three separate grading/conforming systems (Baselight, Resolve, Scratch).
EDLs could be… interesting, with all the new timeline features. But… what are you going to do? Never move timelines beyond where they were in 1992, because that’s where EDL is stuck? I am curious about how Apple will deal with this.
Digital Workflow/Colorist
You should follow me on Twitter here. Or read Is FCP X a professional app? on our blog. -
This revelation is actually a bit disturbing, when you think back to what would have happened at the Supermeet if Apple hadn’t shown up.
So to re-cap… Apple kicked out a bunch of companies who were set to talk about products related to professional editing, so they could showcase the big features of iMovie 11.
doubleyoo tee eff.
-
[Greg Andonian] “This revelation is actually a bit disturbing, when you think back to what would have happened at the Supermeet if Apple hadn’t shown up.
So to re-cap… Apple kicked out a bunch of companies who were set to talk about products related to professional editing, so they could showcase the big features of iMovie 11.
doubleyoo tee eff.”
Translated from TrollSpeak: Apple felt it was worth taking over the stage time at an event arranged by a Final Cut Pro User Group to announce the most significant update to Final Cut Pro since it originally shipped.
Digital Workflow/Colorist, Nice Dissolve
You should follow me on Twitter here. Or read Is FCP X a professional app? on our blog. -
Ok, ok… I went back and watched the video again, and there ARE a lot of things going on in that demo that I know iMovie will never be able to do, and a lot of them ARE very impressive. Sorry about my previous rant- I just feel a bit let down, knowing that some of the things I was really impressed with (like that range selection thing) are actually just glorified iMovie features.
I do like a lot of things about this. I really like how you can easily rearrange b-roll clips without knocking anything out of whack. The compound clips thing is also neat (though I think it would be better if they were a different color than normal clips, to stand out more). And I really like that color matching thing.
-
No, this isn’t just about a “similarity in the graphical interface” as you put it. It’s much more fundamental than that.
They are not “similar products”, they are quite simply the same product – no two ways about it. There are so many points in which they are absolutely identical that it doesn’t make any sense to suggest otherwise.
Have a look at the specific implementation of a) the Magnetic Timeline and b) the Precision Editor (to name only the most obvious points of identity). These are the identical terms used by both applications and function absolutely identically.
In short, FCPX is iMovie with alloy wheels, air con and a bigger engine but otherwise it’s the same model.
-
[Simon Ubsdell] “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.”
Just click the little (swap events and projects) button just to the right of the camera button (the open camera import window button).
[David Jahns] ” iMovie COULD export XML files, if they chose to add the functionality to the program.”
But iMovie CAN already export XML files (Share menu > Export Final Cut XML…)
Cheers
Andy
Reply to this Discussion! Login or Sign Up