Thunderbolt: a closer look at new MacBook + more

Engadget posted Intel Thunderbolt: a closer look, with video showing streaming of 4 1080p clips from a MacBook Pro with Thunderbolt running Final Cut off a Promise RAID.

See for yourself:

Update: there's always just one more thing, so check out Thunderbolt, Xsan built into Lion Server, hello cheap fast shared storage! at FCP.co and Swipe, Save And Serve: What’s New in Mac OS X Lion [VIDEO] at Mashable.

Optimizing for performance for Premiere Pro & After Effects

Adobe's Todd Kopriva posted the link to a recording of the recent webinar on optimizing for performance for Premiere Pro & After Effects.

Todd also provides addition links to relevant resources supporting this wide-ranging update to performance tweaking. He says "The most comprehensive place to find information on improving performance in After Effects is the Improving performance page in After Effects Help. Much of what is listed above can also be found there, plus much more."

Of particular interest for Final Cut users is this from AE Help:

RAM Reserved For Other Applications

Increase this value to leave more RAM available for the operating system and for applications other than After Effects and the application with which it shares a memory pool. (See Memory pool shared between After Effects, Premiere Pro, Encore, and Adobe Media Encoder.) If you know that you will be using a specific application along with After Effects, check its system requirements and set this value to at least the minimum amount of RAM required for that application. Because performance is best when adequate memory is left for the operating system, you can’t set this value below a minimum baseline value.

Note: Additional project considerations were discussed by Mark Christiansen in How to Optimize Projects in After Effects CS5.

Update: via @AdobeAE, not exactly related but good for reference is a thread on the Adobe Forums, What PC to build?.

Final Cut Studio + 11 trends in 2011

Filmmaker magazine notes a rumor from Hardmac that a new version of Final Cut Studio “should” come out in March or April. A comment by mainline Final Cut trainer Larry Jordan adds credence to this rumor:

Apple will update Final Cut Studio in 2011 — probably early in 2011. Apple is not abandoning the platform. This is not the apocalypse. The world will not end. I’ll have more news on this when I’m allowed to talk about it.

That's good news to FCP users -- even LAFCPUG is changing with Autodesk as the new sponsor and a change of focus to the "craft of editing" rather than mostly FCP tips. 2010 was filled with rumors and frustrations for FCP users; see Final Cut Studio 4: a double scoop, Wohl on Final Cut & the future of editing, and What should Apple do with Final Cut Pro? on AE Portal for background.

[update: a wag on FCP-L noted that even if Apple decided to end Final Cut, the goal was achieved -- Avid, Premiere, Smoke, DaVinci, and more are all on the Mac]

Jordan's comment is from his Looking Back to Look Ahead, which discusses 11 trends for 2011 that showed up in 2010:

1. Budgets will never go back to where they were.


2. The increasing expectation that one person should "do it all."


3. Media technology is ubiquitous.


4. There is a total disconnect between production and distribution, and neither side respects the other.


5. Tapeless media is a fact of life.


6. "The Cloud" is absolutely a two-edged sword.


7. Our audience is impatient.


8. It’s become a "download world."


9. Audiences expect everything to be free, or, at least, really, REALLY cheap.


10. The demise of traditional media means that marketing is more diversified, more complex, and more critical than ever before.


11. "Good enough" is good enough.

Update: also check out the recent Oliver Peters article Improving your FCP chops.

What should Apple do with Final Cut Pro?

Phillips Hodgetts shares his latest thinking on What should Apple do with Final Cut Pro?

For some background see Final Cut Studio 4: a double scoop.

Update: via @johnmontfx with caveat is Troubled development, 2011 launch rumored for Apple's Final Cut Studio. Rumor has it that besides a massive porting effort, delay is partly due to issues finding a balance between Shake and Motion.

Adobe DSLR Video + Tapeless Workflow with FCP

In a new video embedded below, Adobe Evangelist Jason Levine explains DSLR Video Editing for Photographers (see also Importing, transferring, capturing, and digitizing in Premiere Help). It seems like a sensible market niche to target, since even youthful users in the Avid and Apple camps aren't taking the "BBC is switching" bait -- see responses from …A FINALCUTPRO USER'S BLOG and The Final Rewrite, and background in Final Cut Studio 4: a double scoop.

Meanwhile, Shane Ross is on a roll producing Final Cut video tutorials; see for example FCP: Tapeless Offline / Online Workflow and Tapeless Workflow with Final Cut Pro 7 on tapeless ingest workflows using Log and Transfer in Final Cut Pro 7and XDCAM EX, P2 AVCIntra, P2 DVCPRO HD, AVCHD, and Canon DSLR (5D, 7D).

Final Cut XML export improvements in Premiere

Todd Kopriva posted expanded details on Final Cut Pro XML export improvements in Premiere Pro CS5 (5.0.2). If you're concerned about a particular export, a log file (FCP Translation Results) describes any translation issues.

For more see the recent AEP post Export AE project to Final Cut Studio with Premiere. By the way Sebastian Perier's XML Gibson script expands XML export possibilites for tinkerers.

Final Cut Studio 4: a double scoop

Yesterday Mac Soda mused on Final Cut Studio 4: The Inside Scoop, which sent some all atwitter. The article is necessarily speculative and perhaps more fanboy than drivel. Philip Hodgetts, a successful developer and seer of trends, responded quickly with Final Cut Studio 4: The Inside Scoop (from MacSoda), which has its own set of counterpoints well-taken and conjectures (sorry but Nuke is the replacement for Shake).

Hodgetts also recently looked at Apple's AV Foundation and the future of QuickTime (which is quite deep and links to even more deepness on iOS video).

These articles are definitely more fun than the Spring reports of Final Cut retooling for the consumer market. Since the alternatives are uncertain, with Avid apparently still suffering financially and Adobe as yet unproven (and not endorsed by major filmmakers), one can hope that Apple remains committed to the competition even if more out of spite than fast cash.

Update: Even with Apple dragging its feet, the presumed Exodus from Final Cut to Adobe Premiere CS5 seems to have stalled. Oliver Peters explained why a few months ago; see Will CS5 and MC5 toast FCP?

Update 2: Todd Kopriva posted about Premiere Pro overview documents for Final Cut Pro and Avid Media Composer users. Users switching platforms at this point may only be about money at the lower end, since Premiere is still 3rd choice in the NLE hierarchy. For context, see Final Cut Studio 4: a double scoop.

There's really no secret about the kinds of things Adobe could do to improve usability and mindshare beside luring the lukewarm from the Apple camp -- assuming that there are goals in addition to short-term sales. There's plenty of advice aimed at Apple that Adobe could implement. Beyond constant drumbeats pleading for Avid-style media management and Trim Mode (see FCP-List for pro/cons), there are more examples in the feature request list at FCPro.TV and advice from Oliver Peters on Improving FCP and Media Composer.

Update 3: humor from @BeetleCarDriver,

@editblog While you were gone Apple released FCS5...

@editblog ....My mistake, it was a ProApps update...

Update 4: maybe someday a Premiere fan will get a rebuttal from an Avid user; see Dylan Reeve on What IS the big deal about FCP?

Exodus from Final Cut to Adobe Premiere CS5?

Despite Steve Jobs e-mails saying "No worries. FCP is alive and well" and "Next Final Cut Studio Will Be Awesome", over on PVC Allan Tépper thinks that The exodus from Final Cut Pro to Adobe Premiere CS5 has begun.

An exodus of Biblical proportions could be slow in coming -- after all A.C.E. editors aren't targeting Premiere -- but there already are numerous reports of people testing the boundaries of what's possible with Mercury engine CUDA playback. Here's Allan:

"NAB 2010 came and went without a word from Apple regarding the potential future of Final Cut Pro and Final Cut Studio. Apple’s complete silence on this topic seems to indicate that Apple is much more focused on the consumer market, especially their mobile devices, and no longer on professional applications and hardware. ... Based upon private e-mails and conversations with editors yesterday, the exodus from Apple’s Final Cut Pro to Adobe’s Premiere CS5 for many began yesterday.

In the next few days and weeks, you’ll find audio interviews, both with editors who have made the switch from Final Cut Pro to Premiere CS5, and with Adobe officials who will describe the product, and answer my unusual questions."

Like Allan, AE Portal News & AE Portal do not receive sponsorship from any of the manufacturers mentioned, although they are welcome to do so!

Final Cut Studio 3 slower than FCS 2, CS5 faster than CS4

Rob Morgan’s Bare Feats Final Cut Studio shootout and secondchairvideo (via Douglas Parker) say that Final Cut Studio 3 Disappoints in Further Testing (with Leopard and Snow Leopard), while Adobe claims faster rendering AE & Premiere CS5 according to Michael Coleman in the Motionworks interview and @KarlSoule in Debunking Mercury Myths.

We'll have to wait at least until after April 12 to see if some brave soul will test both the Apple and Adobe suites. Of course, stability and features are another matter.

Jobs: 'No worries. FCP is alive and well.'

Following up on the Twitter on Apple layoffs of 40 of the Pro Apps team, Mac Soda reports an iPhone message from a Steve Jobs:

"No worries. FCP is alive and well."

That's good news, but not surprising since the jobs cuts apparently weren't in Cupertino! Mac Soda's previous post on The State of Final Cut wasn't convincing about "timming the fat" -- "40 people weren’t doing a good job." But who knows, maybe the boosters will find their way back into the outback of the infinite loop.

For something ridiculous, see Apple's Influence on Visual Arts is Rotting to the Core from Jason Perlow on ZD Net.

Final Cut & editing tips

Oliver Peters has 11 More Final Cut Pro Tips, in addition to his earlier Ten Tips For A Better Final Cut Pro Experience.

More FCP tips can be found at Diana Weland's Top Ten Features in Final Cut Pro 7, The Top-Ten Things I Wish I Knew About Final Cut Pro…Ten Years Ago by Jeff Carrion, and Final Cut FAQs from Shane Ross.

There's more links to good editing tips from Peters, Hullfish, Meyers and others in previous AEP posts Better editing + shooting & music, Lessons & advice from editors, Wikipedia on Editing, and Hitchcock explains editing & the Kuleshov Effect.

Update: FCP guy Larry Jordan has some basics in this video, 10 Tips for Faster Editing.

Motion 4 will load LiveType projects?

LiveType is not included with FCS3 but word of mouth says that its functions have been made part of Motion 4. Motion 4 will load LiveType projects, which is good for those who invested in the quirky app that others barely touched. While LiveType remains and launches after an FCS3 install, full functionality in the new suite is an unknown.

Apparently LiveType content appears in the Motion Library and the QuickTime component is also still included, so .ipr files in older sequences still work. LiveType features missing from Motion 4 were not confirmed yet in online e-mail lists and forums, or in the comprehensive documentation for the Pro Apps at Apple's Help Library.

Update: Mark Spencer posted some clarification on Cutter-Talk:

'Yes, you can import a LiveType project into Motion 4 - but you could do that in Motion 3, no new news there. Once there, if you want to make changes to it, you need to open it in LiveType. LiveFonts are available in Motion's Library in Motion 4 - just as they were in Motion 3.

Motion has a new text tool, the Adjust Glyph Tool, that allows for the individual manipulation of glyphs, much as you would do in LiveType - thus giving it more of LiveType's functionality, but not, IMHO, "making it's functions part of Motion 4".

Motion does not include any of LiveType's Textures, Objects, or text animation presets - although it does have plenty of its own content.'

On FinalCutPro-L, Philip Hodgetts mentioned that one missing feature is "about changing the color of the font independent of any shadow, ouline or glow. In Motion they change together, in LT they change independently."

The 'new' Final Cut Studio: v3 the Anticlimax

Apple released a "new" Final Cut Studio for $999 and new versions of Logic and Final Cut Server, and posted a bunch of movies to explain the updates. Motion does get reflections, shadows, and depth. Compressor 3.5 gets DVD and Blu-ray burning -- and there's lots of other nice touches.

Mike Curtis of HD4NDs and PVC has reviews on FCP 7, Motion 4, Color 1.5, etc at Macworld, and there's already free video tutorials.

Lynda.com has a free Final Cut Studio Overview containing 3 hours of video training by Damian Allen, and Ripple Training has 19 free tutorial movies on the new features. Also, Peachpit Press has free new samples for their popular FCS books.

Update: A quick way to get continuing updates on this release is to follow Final Cut User on the web and Twitter (Filmbot; follow Editblog too).

Update 2: Among the ProRes options is 4:4:4 12-bit plus alpha channel, which seems to be poised to finish of the Animation codec (except to those without access). There's a Apple ProRes Whitepaper (PDF) via FilmBot.

Latenite Final Cut Studio 3 Predictions

Chris Hocking has some Final Cut Studio 3 Predictions that are similar to those the ideas of Stu Maschwitz for After Effects in What Should Adobe Do With Premiere Pro?

It would be good if AE at least had better previewing, disk caching, and rendering (make feature request at Adobe). After all Apple is looking for a Video Editor Product Designer, Pro Apps with "Expert-level knowledge of editing, motion graphics, and finishing suites like FCP, Avid, Smoke, Luster, etc."

Hopefully higher-end tools will continue to filter down to the desktop (see Flame & Smoke in action). A lot of these ideas were in the air after the Apple acquisitions of Shake & Tremor and then Final Touch/Color, but especially since a Think Secret article before NAB in 2006. Here's a flavor of Chris Hocking's wish for FCP & pro apps:

"So what will make this new FCX so different? Well, it’s our prediction that most of the Final Cut Studio (i.e. Final Cut Pro, Soundtrack Pro, Color, LiveType, etc.) will be merged into the one application. We predict a MAsSIVE interface and workflow overhaul. No longer will you need to Send to Soundtrack Pro, or use XML workarounds to get your timeline into Color. Everything will be in the one “box”. In typical Apple style - we predict they’ll make things better, by making them substantially simpler.

So how the hell will this actually work? We believe the key is a new Universal Timeline and a set of different Rooms.

The Project Room will be the “hub” of your project. Taking media management to a new extreme, this will be were you can manage different versions of your project, keep track of scripts, storyboards, and other pre-production information. Taking on board features find in other packages such as Celtx, we predict that FCX will have a big focus on ALL stages of the film-making process, including Pre-Production."

Video Editor Product Designer, Pro Apps

Seems like a fun if demanding job:

"Apple’s Pro Apps Design Group is seeking a passionate video editor who understands the complexity of software product design. This person must possess a relentless attention to detail, a gifted eye for aesthetics and the ability to quickly grasp and distill highly complex matters...

Expert-level knowledge of editing, motion graphics, and finishing suites like FCP, Avid, Smoke, Luster, etc."

Composite Modes in Final Cut Pro -- and Premiere!

Chris Meyer discusses Composite Modes in Final Cut Pro at PVC, and now Premiere users can use the same ideas with Premiere CS4. As usual Chris adds related extras in sidebars on each page.

In Premiere, Modes aren't found in the Timeline but hidden inside the Opacity section of clip panel Effect Controls. For basics, there a video from Frank McMahon at Layers. There's also an AdobeTV video that explains the larger context of Premiere CS4 enhancements to Photoshop file handling.

Using Modes can help you make a quick & dirty color correction by playing with different modes and opacity of a duplicate on top of the original clip, or help you add a filmic glow by adding a blur to the mix on the top dupe. Learning in other apps can now be leveraged with synergy in Premiere; there's also a blending mode reference and a gallery in After Effects Help, and a video on blend modes in Photoshop is on Adobe Video Workshop.

Update: see the later CMG post, FCP Overlay Issue, since it seems there is a bug in the way Final Cut Pro handles the Overlay composite mode.

Final Cut FAQs

Shane Ross of Little Frog in High Def has posted 3 parts of "the ULTIMATE FCP FAQ" for Creative Cow (that's the Cow's phrasing). Shane notes 'Another great place to find answers to frequently asked questions is the FCP FAQ "corral" at LAFCPUG.'

Smooth shakes in Final Cut

On one e-mail list recently someone was looking to stabilize shaky footage just in Final Cut, and now Flippant News has a demo in Final Cut Pro 6, which has a "filter that analyzes the clip and makes the image smoother. You can find this filter under EFFECTS> Video Filters> Video> SmoothCam."

Wilt discoveries on exporting stills from FCP

Adam Wilt discusses Exporting stills from FCP: Correcting for FCP’s assumption, and a surprising discovery.

Native MXF support in FCP...SORTA

little frog in high def explains Native MXF support in FCP...SORTA:

"Let me first point you to the Apple Discussion thread that prompted this discovery. Full credit goes to ILMSTMF...whoever that is (real name not given, location unknown)." ...continue