[Alan Okey]

[Liam Hall] “Didn’t anyone else think the Avid interface looked old-fashioned? I guess that is Apple’s point…
“

That Apple is more interested in fashion than function? Cynical as I am, I don’t think that was their intended message…

I’ve never been impressed by UI chrome, but then again I’m probably in the minority. Beauty is subjective, but utility of function should be self-apparent. If a tool works well, I couldn’t care less whether or not it looks sexy in a marketing brochure. I’d like believe that not all people are simply crows attracted to shiny objects. Another way of saying that beauty is skin deep, I suppose.

[Alan Okey]

I think this is the answer to those who have been saying that Apple hasn’t responded to the criticism of the FCP X release and hasn’t stated its future plans.

After watching these videos, it’s quite clear to me that Apple is saying:

“We are proud of the tool that we have designed, and we feel that it is the future of editing. These are the reasons why. You can choose to come with us into the future, or stay in the past. Third party companies may build upon our foundation to meet some of your needs, but we will not let our progress be held back by those whose thinking is stuck in the past, or by a small minority of users whose specialized needs do not represent our core market.”

For those who are demanding some sort of public statement form Apple, this is as close as you’re going to get. There will be no apologies, no backpedaling. That’s not how Apple rolls. The release of FCP X was planned and executed by Apple in exactly the way they wanted it to happen. This was no accident. In Apple’s opinion, this is not alpha or beta software, it’s a bold new beginning. You can either get on board or get out of the way.

No amount of petitioning, complaining or threatening is going to make Apple change course. They’ve played their hand, now you play yours. End of story.

[Alan Okey]

Motion 5 has a brand new keyer that’s really quite good. I’ve come to depend on Combustion’s Discreet keyer and Diamond keyers as well as DVGarage’s Conduit, and I was quite surprised to find that Motion 5’s keyer actually gives them a run for their money. If you’re not an experienced compositor, it’s even more attractive for its ease of use. Best of all, Motion 5 is only $50, so it’s worth buying just for the keyer alone. Even if you end up going with AE/Premiere Pro, you’re only out $50 for a tool that has many great uses, even if you already own AE. A big downside is that there’s no support for proper broadcast monitoring out of Motion 5 and FCP X at this point, and some say that there may never be.

[Alan Okey]

Don’t use the Send to Compressor function in FCP – it is often slow and unreliable. Instead, export your sequence using “Export QuickTime movie” (not QuickTime conversion), then bring the exported file into Compressor.

[Alan Okey]

Duck season, FIRE!!!

Classic.

[Alan Okey]

[Greg Burke] “The I/O Express is 1,500 Dollars,”

FYI, The AJA IO Express is $995.00 at B&H:

https://www.bhphotovideo.com/c/product/618185-REG/AJA_IO_EXPRESS_PCIE_Io_Express_Portable_Video.html

The Matrox MXO2 Mini is even cheaper at $449.00:

https://www.bhphotovideo.com/c/product/618348-REG/Matrox_MXO2_MINI_D_MXO2_Mini_for_Desktop.html

[Alan Okey]

iBitch.

[Alan Okey]

Even if you have used other chromakeying tools or plugins in the past, if you are unfamiliar with node-based compositing software (Shake, Nuke, etc.) then you will probably need to devote some time to learning how to use Conduit.

Conduit Suite is $199.00.

Regarding the full body shots, if you’re not using a seamless background with good lighting, it’s unlikely that you will achieve good results.

[Alan Okey]

You can do this with Conduit, a nodal compositing plugin from DV Garage:

https://www.dvgarage.com/conduit-2

There’s a video tutorial specifically showing how to push a green screen to white:

https://www.dvgarage.com/storage/conduit-samples/conduit2_push2white.mov

If you’re looking for a simple one-button solution, you won’t find it here. However, if you’re willing to put in a little time to watch the tutorials and understand how the tools work, you can achieve some great results.

To reiterate Dave’s point though, your results will only be as good as your production value. If your lighting sucks, even the world’s best compositor won’t be able to get good results.

[Alan Okey]

Some editors have expressed that their workflows have suffered due to FCP 7’s limitations, especially when working with newer file-based acquisition formats like XDCAM EX and h.264. Other NLEs have gained the ability to work with those formats natively without first requiring transcoding. The time savings of bypassing the transcoding process is crucial enough for some editors’ workflows that they need to investigate other NLE software in order to remain competitive. Some editors have been waiting for the release of FCP X in the hopes that it would also support native workflows. However, they may not have expected to lose current functionality when the new version of FCP was released. To those editors, the current lack of feature parity between FCP 7 and FCP X, combined with the new unfamiliar interface paradigm (project/event structure, magnetic timeline, new UI, etc.) has made FCP X a less attractive choice than switching to another NLE. Editors who have been waiting for a better tool are now faced with the choice to wait another year for FCP X to regain lost functionality (either through Apple software updates or third party extensions) or to move to another NLE that has a more traditional interface and feature parity with FCP 7 in addition to native workflow. FCP X may indeed reach a point where it will meet these editors’ needs, but many of them feel that they cannot afford to wait any longer and will see more immediate gains/improvements by switching to another NLE.

As for the Mac Pro desktop, it’s a good machine at a good price. At present, the Mac Pro is still the system of choice for Autodesk Smoke and DaVinci Resolve. It also can run Avid Media Composer and Adobe Premiere Pro. In short, the Mac Pro’s existence is not tied to the adoption of FCP X.

Similarly configured Xeon workstation-class machines form PC vendors are actually more expensive that the Mac Pro. However, Apple does not make a tower system with Core i7 CPUs. There is a hole in Apple’s product line between the iMac and the Mac Pro that is addressed by other PC vendors. For those who don’t need a Xeon-based workstation and aren’t limited to running their software on OS X, PC alternatives can be more cost effective.