finalcutpronews

We're back. And some thoughts about FCS2 (well, just FCP).

That's right.  We're back.

Going to be some changes around here.  Yup, we're still going to cover the big news.  But I'm hoping to get people's opinion on things they find too.  Wanna write some thoughts?  I'll set you up.  Just email jeffg at philafcpug dot org.  You c

For example, there's a MAJOR NEW Release of FCP.  Well, really, FCS.

Wait, no, it hasn't been released yet.  Just "sometime" in May.  Oh you want the link?  Sure.

Final Cut Studio 2.

Ok, so as far as I can tell, here are the killer things with Final Cut.

• Mixing footage in the timeline.  Not just different codecs - but different frame rates
• Pro422.  High quality HD at lower data rates
• Motion integration (Motion text and footage can be changed in Final Cut without opening Motion.

Let's examine these.

Mixing Footage in the timeline.

Ok, big workflow change.  Something that was an "Avid" item, previously.  I assume that the Sequence Setting will end up being the quality you render in.  I'm just curious about how it'll handle different frame rates.  Or items with different field dominance.
I mean, this stuff takes serious hardware to do in RT.  I'm curious about how good/bad the quality

Pro422

Well there are a couple neat things about this.  Better looking (hopefully good compositing) HD.  It seems to be a data rate around DVCProHD (that is, the p2 codec.)  Now, it looks like it might also do some stuff in SD as well (based on the IO AJA HD box specs.)  Sure, it'll compress down HD to fit over firewire drives.  And hopefully it composites well.  Avid does this with DNxHD.

Motion Integration.

This is all about not having to launch motion every time you want to change a lower third text.  Or an item with Video integrated with it.  You'll be able to change all of it in FCP.  Thanks to XML.

Ok, that's what it does.  Why?  Well, it's all about workflow.  Workflow, workflow, workflow.  All great items.

So you're going to have to get it.  And have an Intel.  You'll have to get an Intel anyway - Apple doesn't sell PowerPC machines anymore.

Next couple of posts are going to go over each app.  Here're three killer things that I haven't seen mentioned in other blogs.

Livetype hasn't been changed.
DVDStudio Pro hasn't been changed.
The install will be 59 Gigs.  Fifty Nine.

Couple of notes: NAB

First, We're not dead. We've struggling with the philafcpug.org domain, as the group that registered it, wouldn't let us take control (quite a bit of paperwork.) It's solved and should be pointing here soon. Second: NAB thoughts. ALL GUESSES. FCP6: Figure tons of stuff moved over to RT via the GPU. Final Touch Bundled. Curve Color corrector New FX language/development Mixing of frame rates via the GPU (Possibly might require a 512mb card) Better UI - Fonts/visibility, particularly on 30" screens. Background renders (optional) Additions to media management - possibly a new app to do this. 32 bit float- with certain codecs. Support for all sorts of codec stuff - HDV, RED. 64 bit ability with Leopard. Possible use of Inspectors (like DVDSP and Motion) No such think as FCP extreme DVDSP5 More RT effects, more blue/HD DVD. Hoping: Prebuilt scripts Improved interface Motion: More RT 3D 3D particles. Livetype Rolled into Motion. Cinema tools General DB improvements New Shake. Shake^2, or something like that - new UI, more presets. More RT stuff My big question....is it shipping now, or waiting for leopard? (I'm guessing within 60 days)

Pro Apps update

You should... But the warning from two days ago? it was just for us Apple certified trainers.

Cute idea. 10 bottom FCP tips...

If there is such a thing at the Top 10 Final Cut Pro tips then there has to be a bottom 10 as well.

Mac Pro Podcast

Mac Pro Podcast

Don't know if it's any good...but it's a Pro Apps Podcast.

MacBook Pro: An analysis

Ok, before I go and give some thoughts about the MacBook Pro...

The rumor sites were wrong again. And again, and again. Like psychics, they predicted the obvious (An updated consumer Intel) and predicted the way off (FCP6).

I mean, c'mon, some of this crap is obvious, and watching them speculate is fun, but don't make your predictions of what to buy on such. It's a bad idea.

So, I took a quick look at the MacBook Pro...and I was surpassed to see some very interesting things.

The display is 1440x900 worse than the 15" release about two months back.
There's a great video card on the higher end - ATI Mobility Radeon X1600 256MB of GDDR3 SDRAM.

You can get a 120 Gig drive which is nice.

But here's the killer: No firewire 800. Just 400. Sure it's really thin and all that. But firewire 800 just ain't getting adopted as much/fast as 400 was.

And yes, supposedly it's much faster. Until it hits the streets, we won't know how much (twice as fast as the 17"? Yeah, but that was a G4 processor).

THe question that remains, is it near to speeds of a Dual G5?

The comparisons seem to be regarded as this:
The Intel Core Duo in the laptops runs 4x faster than the faster powerbook.
The Intel Core Duo (Dammit, I want to say duocore) run 2x faster than a single processor G5.

So, possibly, this will make the laptops powerful enough to really run the ProApps well.

Some Good Reads- blogs you need to know about.

Effects Corner PodcastPodcast: "Effects Corner Podcast

Insights to Visual Effects for Motion Pictures and Television. How it's done in Hollywood and how you can do it yourself"

This by the way is written by the Scott Squires.

vfxblog: "vfxblog Blogging the world of visual effects in films"

Open Source and You.

Hey you. With all that cash in your pocket. Ignore this article.

But the rest of us have a standard problem. Making our Dollar go farther.

And that's where Open Source Software comes in. Thanks to Apple moving us to OSX we get more than just stability. We get the ability to use quite a number of Unix Software products - software that's easier to develop, that 'nobody' truly owns, and that a developer can collaborate with others to improve.

If there's something wrong or a killer new cool feature, you might not see it in commercial software for months or years. But open source? It might be implemented next week.

From wikipedia:
The advantage of open source products is that they are understandable, modifiable, duplicatable, or simply accessible. Software developers publish their software product as open source so others may contribute to the development of the product, and understand how it works. Open-source software generally allows anybody to make a new version of the software, port it to new operating systems and processor architectures, share it with others or market it.

They say about open source that it's 'free as in beer.'

For some people it's a hobby...others it's a full time job.

Want an arguably better browser? Try firefox
They also have a good email client (Thunderbird) and are working on an collaborative calendar.

The biggest problem with Open Source is that, often, there is a lack of direct support. Some projects aren't supported much...some are forum based only. Some groups charge for support.

P.S. Take a look in the more inside. Did I miss an open source app? Use the Comments Feature!

Ill

I've been a bit ill (health problems).

Over the next couple of days (down time), the place is going to have a decent revamp.

Stick around true believers!

Apple DVD Studio Pro 4

Apple DVD Studio Pro 4: " DVD Studio Pro 4 expands on this leading application's capabilities with the addition of high-definition DVD encoding and authoring , plus even deeper access to the DVD -video specification. On top of it all, encoding in DVD Studio Pro has been radically updated to allow for standards conversions (PAL to NTSC and NTSC to PAL), advanced frame interpolation, Dolby Digital Professional encoding, Qmaster network rendering and more."

(Via www.presentationmaster.com/ .)