[Erik Lindahl]

I think a lot of us are waiting of some soild info on FCPX’s i/o support (XML / EDL / OMF / AAF and videocards).

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Erik Lindahl
Freecloud Post Production Services
http://www.freecloud.se

[Erik Lindahl]

Seeing the video I feel more confident in the “pro” nature of the application. I get freaked out when comparing it to iMovie but I think (hope) we need not to fear. They refer to a lot of “pro only features” so yeah.. Fingers crossed.

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Erik Lindahl
Freecloud Post Production Services
http://www.freecloud.se

[Erik Lindahl]

I really hope this isn’t a limited single user GUI. At the supermeet they mentioned “dual screen” as I hope they’ve made the GUI flexible enough to cater anything from a 11″ to a dual 30″.

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Erik Lindahl
Freecloud Post Production Services
http://www.freecloud.se

[Erik Lindahl]

These are my concerns as well given.. An app like Shake can be replaced (After Effect to a degree or Nuke). I gather FCP can be tighter integrated than an app like Shake but I really don’t think Apple would kill that eco-system. That would ruin the application for higher-end markets.

I don’t see why they can’t make a scaleable app. It sounds like it but we still have many unknowns.

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Erik Lindahl
Freecloud Post Production Services
http://www.freecloud.se

[Erik Lindahl]

This is exactly what happened to Premier and it’s a risk one takes when doing this type of transition. Apple has to be very proactive and addressing people’s needs in future updates. I was surprised to see some “new features” in Premier from CS4 > CS5 and even now in CS5.5 that I have been taking for granted in FCP for years.

There is also a risk in making a product more “broad” given it can be good as well. However, if you have 1 million users complaining about “The share to facebook feature is broken” or “The face-detection system isn’t working” and Apple puts focus on cra.. features like that, it might lose focus on the “pro issues” with what ever that can be (conforming of more complex projects, addressing i/o or format issues, making a rock-solid round-tripping to external applicaiton etc).

But all this is speculation so we can’t really say ANYTHING until Apple reveals something more. I wouldn’t mind either if FCPX requires MacOSX Lion and that we there is a / the massive over-haul to QuickTime we’ve needed for years.

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Erik Lindahl
Freecloud Post Production Services
http://www.freecloud.se

[Erik Lindahl]

Reading Larry’s blog I actually get less worried:

The new Final Cut Pro is a bold move – a totally redesigned interface, 64-bit memory addressing, multi-processor support, tight integration of metadata in the project file with metadata stored in the clip not just in the project, heavy use of automation to simplify tedious tasks, and a rethinking of the entire concept of what it means to edit.

Metadata stored in the clip means QuickTime is getting an internal “face lift”. It also, potentially, means Apple is serious about “pro applications” in terms of work flow. Meta-data stored in the media is a very good move and should if anything make FCP talk better with other applications. Potentially features like white-balance / auto color correction can be store in the meta-data.

* Sample rate precision in scrolling an audio clip

This is a huge change for me. I often to presisson audio edits and feel it’s crazy I have to send it to a protools system (or STP).

* Pitch corrected audio scrolling in slow motion

Brilliant. Just shot a music-video this weekend with a mixture of 25p and 50p. I do however ask the question “how will mixed formats and frame-rates be handled, can I for example work in a 25p time-line and get real slowmotion from 50p content?”.

* Displaying waveforms at a size big enough to see what they look like
* Displaying audio levels within the waveform that are approaching clipping (as one engineer near me remarked, “And THAT took us a LONG while to figure out.”)
* Displaying audio peaks for the entire mix that are approaching clipping
* Improved audio cleanup controls, which can be applied or ignored by the user (these look to be borrowed from Soundtrack Pro)

All brilliant auditions. I wonder if they’ve added loudness monitoring as well. I also wonder how they handle these real “pro” features – scopes, wave-form monitors etc.

I think Larry sums it up in the end: The devil is ALWAYS in the details. Even with all these new features there are 100 unknowns. It also boils down to the fact that the above features work as advertised and that’s not always the case.

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Erik Lindahl
Freecloud Post Production Services
http://www.freecloud.se

[Erik Lindahl]

This is what I’m worried about. The iMovie metaphor is horrible for pro-work. We live for in and outs and I often have a 3- or 4-up display depending on what I’m doing. BUT if Color and STP is integrated perhaps this is done in different “rooms” of some sort. For pure editing, I’m curious how this will work.

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Erik Lindahl
Freecloud Post Production Services
http://www.freecloud.se

[Erik Lindahl]

Well if they have support for “4K workflows” I’d be very surpriced if they forgot to have / keep an open architecture for A/V workflow to and from FCP.

– OMF or AAF
– XML and EDL

Never the less I found these bullets on a site I presume is a recap from the show (might be correct, might be an interpretation of what was said):

– 64 bit
– Unlimited menory
– Uses Open CLI and Grand Central Dispatch
– Color fully managed with ColorSync
– Resolution independent playback system up to 4K
– Mix & match all content in timeline without transcoding
– No rendering, it does it in the background using every available CPU cycle
– Can plug into cameras and edit whilst ingesting
– Non destructive color balance on ingest
– Stabilisation on ingest
– Audio cleanup on ingest
– People and shot detection
– Range based keywording – metadata attached to part of a clip
– Smart collections – like smart folders
– Clip connections, primary and secondary media locking together
– Magnetic timeline -moves audio out of the way to avoid collisions.
– Single keystroke nesting
– Compound clips – collapse clips into a single clip
– Inline precision editor – simplifies trimming of clips
– Auditioning – sampling of different versions of edits
– ‘Skimming’ media previews when you move the cursor over
– iMovie like filmstrip view
– Timeline Index- an index of all the clips in the timeline
– Sync clips with Plural Eyes style featue (Not Plural Eyes)
– Automatic control of number of tracks – add and go when needed
– Pitch corrected audio skimming
– Waveforms show levels in realtime
– Retiming in the timeline
– One click to match color between clips
– New advanced color correction
– Improved keyframing, bezier paths and curve display in the timeline
– Color & Soundtrack now in FCPX

To me this sounds very good all in all. It also sounds like we’re moving to a focus on metadata and a “smart” application. This should if anything enhance the options for external i/o with other apps, but this is still a huge unknown. Being a what is it.. 12-13 year editor in FCP I do get a little worried as it’s always been my editor of choice. I’ve also moved from the “spare time / short-flicks editor” to working as a full time online operator. So over the years I’ve used FCP in a variety of ways and in it’s current shape it’s very flexible. That said, all of the above are major improvements.

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Erik Lindahl
Freecloud Post Production Services
http://www.freecloud.se

[Erik Lindahl]

Also regarding the price I don’t see this as pro vs consumer anymore really. Blackmagic and their acquired Resolve proved this. Imagineer Systems Mocha proved this. Even Autodesk to a degree proved this with Smoke for OSX.

If Apple can triple the amount of sales of FCPX for $299 vs 999 and keep a similar or better product, hurray for all of us. If Apple choses to break down the “Studio” to separate products so we as user have a choice in the end, hurray for us. If in fact FCPX turns out to be “iMovie Pro” well.. Let’s hope not.

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Erik Lindahl
Freecloud Post Production Services
http://www.freecloud.se

[Erik Lindahl]

I wouldn’t make any decisions before I try the package. FCP 7 will cover my needs for “years to come” and if FCPX is a fail-boat there are a lot of options out there.

Features that sound perfect for me:
– 64 bit
– Unlimited menory
– Uses Open CLI and Grand Central Dispatch
– Color fully managed with ColorSync
– Resolution independent playback system up to 4K
– Mix & match all content in timeline without transcoding
– No rendering, it does it in the background using every available CPU cycle
– Can plug into cameras and edit whilst ingesting
– Non destructive color balance on ingest
– Stabilisation on ingest
– Audio cleanup on ingest
– People and shot detection
– Range based keywording – metadata attached to part of a clip
– Smart collections – like smart folders
– Clip connections, primary and secondary media locking together
– Magnetic timeline -moves audio out of the way to avoid collisions.
– Single keystroke nesting
– Compound clips – collapse clips into a single clip
– Inline precision editor – simplifies trimming of clips
– Auditioning – sampling of different versions of edits
– ‘Skimming’ media previews when you move the cursor over
– Timeline Index- an index of all the clips in the timeline
– Automatic control of number of tracks – add and go when needed
– Sync clips with Plural Eyes style featue (Not Plural Eyes)
– Pitch corrected audio skimming
– Waveforms show levels in realtime
– Retiming in the timeline
– One click to match color between clips
– New advanced color correction
– Improved keyframing, bezier paths and curve display in the timeline
– Color & Soundtrack now in FCPX

Features that make me.. worry:
– iMovie like filmstrip view
– Color & Soundtrack now in FCPX
– Automatic control of number of tracks – add and go when needed
– Smart collections – like smart folders

It all boils down to HOW they’ve integrated new features in conjunction with keeping what people used in the past. GUI / Eco-system (i.e. i/o options) is really important. Multiple timeline support is important. But it’s too early to say. And like other posters have commented I think Apple is prematurly seeding select info to prove “it’s not another Copeland, FCP lives in FCPX and it will be awesome!”.

Let’s hope it is.

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Erik Lindahl
Freecloud Post Production Services
http://www.freecloud.se