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FCS3: new features vs. more refinement, missing the boat on integration
These are strictly my opinions, so take this post with a grain of salt.
My sources tell me that a lot of people are going to be really, really angry about this release of FCP. There are lots of new features added (of dubious utility to most users), with scant attention paid to many of the many of the bugs and idiosyncrasies that we’ve come to hate. Many of the features advertised on the new product website are old features, and the whole thing reads like the worst sort of marketing fluff filled with bullet points rather than information of any real substance.
Final Cut’s entire UI is painfully outdated. The statement that the UI is “fully customizable” is a blatant lie. There is no ability to customize the size of UI elements like button size or background color. The tiny buttons and widgets are laughably small on a modern high-res monitor. I have 20-10 vision, so I know it’s not just me.
I’ll believe the statement “Improved media management” when I see it for myself. There’s a reason so many people refer to it as the Media Mangler.
This barely qualifies as a point release, at least as far as FCP is concerned.
It looks like they finally killed off LiveType, which won’t make me shed any tears, but I know a few people who depend on it who will be upset by this. Looks like they’ll have to learn Motion now.
Motion should have had shadows and reflections in 3D space in the last version. I can’t believe they’re trumpeting this as a “feature” when it’s taken for granted in just about any real compositing application. The depth of field tool looks somewhat interesting, I’ll admit.
Some of the new features in Soundtrack Pro (like voice level matching) should have been be integrated into FCP instead of reserved for round-tripping.
In my opinion, Apple is missing a golden opportunity to add some of the most useful new features to FCP instead of insisting on round-tripping for everything. Case in point: imagine how much better FCP would be with Motion’s masking and text tools integrated into the application.
Someone needs to bring the entire FCP development team to Autodesk’s headquarters for a Smoke demo so that they can see what a truly integrated toolset should be.
I can’t help but think that Apple’s whole Final Cut Studio strategy is driven by a marketing focus group rather than actual video professionals. It’s as if they believe that having more separate applications makes people think they’re getting more value for their money. In my opinion, all of the separate applications and need for round-tripping is extremely cumbersome and unnecessary when it’s easily possible to have a much tighter and more seamless integration of tools in fewer applications. I realize that FCP can’t be all things to all people, and that one application is rarely the solution to every problem, but I think Apple’s insistence on separating the tools so much is holding back the potential of the FCS suite. Adding a few of the most useful tools to FCP from other apps in the FCS suite would be a huge timesaver and help to streamline workflow.
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16 Replies
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[Alan Okey] “It looks like they finally killed off LiveType, which won’t make me shed any tears, but I know a few people who depend on it who will be upset by this. Looks like they’ll have to learn Motion now. “
This is done in version 6 of FCS2. Now, if you had a pre-existing copy of LiveType installed, it still works, but it wasn’t any part of the FCS2 install. BTW, Motion is much better with text than Livetype except for the pre-built animations in LiveType.
As for the rest of your rant…. I agree whole-heartedly!
The only other thing that you didn’t mention was anything about the multi-processor support. Apple doesn’t need Snow Leopard for this…. We’ve been doing this for a longtime in other apps.
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Wayne Carey
Schazam Productions
https://web.mac.com/schazamproductions
schazamproductions@mac.com -
While the round tripping (where it works!!) is not much of an issue for me, I agree largely with what you have posted.
There is nothing in this release that makes me go ‘wow i will use that’. Pretty much everything in there feels like it should have already been there. It feels like a long overdue large point release.
I have no doubt that the less than satisfying grunt at blu-ray (even though not totally unexpected) has clouded any positivity on my part, but I just cannot find anything to excited about.
Trying to be positive…
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My heart has been sold on Apple for awhile, but if they don’t fix
a bunch of stuff under the hood in FCS with Snow Leopard and
an additional update this year then I’m looking elsewhere.They have just made things real easy for the Adobe CS5 crew.
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I just thought I’d mention that my integration comments don’t apply to Color, at least as far as trying to pull Color into FCP.
I think having a dedicated grading app with a task-specific interface is hand over fist better than trying to integrate Color into FCP as a plug-in. I can’t fathom why some people complain about Color’s interface – it’s nearly perfect. I don’t want it to look more “Mac-like.” I really wish they would bring back the dark menu bar, as in Final Touch. I don’t think one should have to resort to third-party haxies to do this.
The major improvements to Color seem to be the real high point of this release, providing everything works as advertised.
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[chris gormlie] “There is nothing in this release that makes me go ‘wow i will use that’. Pretty much everything in there feels like it should have already been there. It feels like a long overdue large point release. “
That’s a very concise and elegant summary. My thoughts exactly.
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[Alan Okey] “I think having a dedicated grading app with a task-specific interface is hand over fist better than trying to integrate Color into FCP as a plug-in.”
Amen to that. Would be stupid to turn color into a plug-in.
[Alan Okey] “I can’t fathom why some people complain about Color’s interface – it’s nearly perfect. I don’t want it to look more “Mac-like.” “
Ditto to that. Wish the FCP interface looked / operated more like the Color interface.
Walter Biscardi, Jr.
Editor, Colorist, Director, Writer, Consultant, Author.
Credits include multiple Emmy, Telly, Aurora and Peabody Awards.
Biscardi Creative MediaCreative Cow Forum Host:
Apple Final Cut Pro, Apple Motion, Apple Color, AJA Kona, Business & Marketing, Maxx Digital. -
[walter biscardi] “Wish the FCP interface looked / operated more like the Color interface. “
I wholeheartedly agree.
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But it’s got a BIG TIMECODE WINDOW.
kinda a bummer of a release after 2 years of silence.
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[Aaron Neitz] “kinda a bummer of a release after 2 years of silence. “
Let’s hope there is more than what where seeing now. Something under the hood.
Dajen Productions, Santa Barbara, CA
MacPro Two 2.8GHz Quad Core – AJA Kona LHe
FCP 6.0.4 OS X 10.5.5 QT 7.5.5 -
[Dave Jenkins] “Let’s hope there is more than what where seeing now. Something under the hood. “
Hope springs eternal…
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