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Final Cut Pro X Works!

With all the hoopla about Final Cut Pro X, I thought it would be a good idea to try out it with an actual project. FCPX may be missing features from the last version but you still can cut a professional video. I have been doing these real estate videos for some time. All before using Final Cut Pro 7. This is the first video that I did only with Final Cut Pro X. It was shot, edited and uploaded in one day, last Saturday. The editing went fairly quickly. Most things were faster. There are some good new tools in FCPX.

The video was shot with a Canon 60D and Sennheiser G2 wireless recorded in camera for on camera the talent. I then imported the raw video from the SD card into a folder where I keep all the other raw video from doing these real estate videos. I opened FCPX and imported the Canon's native h264 QuickTime’s footage into a new event. I did no conversion on .m4a voice over audio as well. In FCP7 I would render both the video and the audio to ProRes LT and .aiff. I brought in .png, .jpeg and Photoshop .psd's for graphics into the Event Library. Some have complained that .psd’s don’t come in as layers in a sequence. I have never liked that. I would always convert .psd’s as .png’s so they would be one layer. If you wanted to turn off a layer it could be done in Photoshop. I do like having multi-layer .psd’s in Motion.

After creating a new project, I laid in the first shot and added a fade in by doing a dissolve from black on the video. I like to emphasize the audio so I added Voice Enhance in the Inspector panel and turn off one of the audio channels of the two that the camera shoots.

Also I went to the Open in a Timeline command and added AU Peak Limiter from the Effects panel for the voice. A lot of the same keyboard short cuts still work like Command + to zoom the Project Timeline. (S now turns on and off the Skimming)

The next thing I did was that I went to Crop button in the Viewer and added the Ken Burns Effect to do a slow zoom on the shot.

Next I laid in the next shot and added a bunch of stills to the timeline. I put a transparent graphic over the stills and stretched it to fit. The “magic timeline” where it adjusts worked very well. I add more stills and video. When I put in the music for the video, I liked that I could add a fade in or fade out by pulling a little diamond near the edge if the clip. When I was editing in the “magic timeline” the music stayed in place as long as I was not at the beginning of it. Nice Touch.

The rest of the narration was added next. I voice enhanced the audio. Then I had to adjust the stills to fit the narration. There are rubber bands for the audio in the Timeline view. I had to learn how to use the new Titler. It behaves quite a bit differently that FCP7. There are many more options for titles.

Once I added the video tag on the end I was ready for making a movie. I selected Export Movie under the Share menu. The video rendered to ProRes in 18 seconds. That was very impressive because any rendering is done as I edit. I then converted the video to h264 for YouTube in QuickTime Player like I do on a regular basis. That was at it's usual pokey self. Then to YouTube.

Final Cut Pro X – The Beginning of the End for Apple?

Here is an article from the 95ers.com

“Within hours of the release of FCP X, all of the producers where I work were ready to go Adobe, and one was even pondering a return to Avid. My tech-prophesying mind tells me that this advent will lead Apple to its downfall.Huh? One little program? One little market segment causing the downfall of today’s tech kingpin? Yes indeed, says I. (There’s no proof of this and nobody believes me… but LONG AGO I did actually predict things like Netflix and the iPhone itself (as a pocket-sized mobile phone, computer, and media center the entire face of which would be a touch-screen piece of glass, etc. But never mind all that.)

The summary is this. FCP X is a great program, but not a pro tool. This is a major shift and is the final nail in the coffin of Apple’s old business strategy. In the opinion of this opinion-holder, Apple is officially steering away from it’s core customers: creative professionals who have been Apple’s gold mines and ambassadors for decades, through thick and thin. But, you say, Apple’s frolicking in greener pastures making money hand over fist selling iPhones. Yes, but today’s customers don’t love Apple, they love what Apple gives them. And when a better deal comes along, and it will, they will bolt.”

Apple is refunding pros for Final Cut Pro X

That's right, Apple is doing something unusual – refund for software from the App Store. I applied for one and got. Most Pros are very unhappy with Final Cut Pro X. The Pro community has been suspect of Apple for sometime now that they have been mostly a consumer company. This release has sealed the deal on that. It is not PRO. Apple has added insult to injury by discontinuing Final Cut Pro 7 and the other apps. FCP has the largest user base in the world for video editing on a computer. By not supporting the previous release of the product in FCP X, they have thrown the baby out with the bathwater.

FCP X is missing so many professional features it should be called iMovie Pro. I can see Adobe and Avid clapping as they will be getting a lot of whole new customers. I have never seen Apple handle a software release so badly.

RABERCO: The Destruction of Final Cut Studio from Raber Umphenour on Vimeo.

Rumor: Final Cut Pro X on sale, third-party Thunderbolt products unveiled next week

Supermeet-2

This is a new rumor from AppleInsider.

Apple may appeal to its high-end video production customers next week with the release of Final Cut Pro X on the Mac App Store, as well as the announcement of new third-party products that will take advantage of the high-speed Thunderbolt port found on new Macs, according to a new rumor.

The details came on Tuesday from Macotakara, which was told by sources that Apple will begin to sell Final Cut Pro X on the Mac App Store next week. That would come as no surprise, as Apple said earlier this year that the $299, 64-bit software will arrive in June.

What would be new, though, are products that take advantage of the high-speed Thunderbolt port. Sources also reportedly said that new Thunderbolt products from third-party partners will be announced when Final Cut Pro X goes on sale.

I Am Interviewed by MacVideo.TV @ the Final Cut SuperMeet

FF Intvu FF Intvu

Rick Young of MacVideo.TV interviewed me at the Final Cut SuperMeet after the announcement of Final Cut X. I am in the second video. Go to his MacVideo.TV to see the Interview. It was great meeting Rick at the show and MacVideo.TV has great information about shooting video. I am holding the rig I used to interview people at their booths. (My rig consisted of a Cam Caddie Scorpion, a Hoodloupe 3.0 with a Hoodstrap and an Audio-technica ATR55 Telemike plugged directly in to my Canon 60D.)

Final Cut Pro X At the NAB FCPUG Supermeet Tonight (#NABhdslr)

Supermeet-0

At the sold out Supermeet tonight, after a long wait in line outside black curtains in the Ballly Convention Center, we all sat down for an expected evening. A lot of the rumors around the net were true. Tonight Apple's Peter Steinauer announced Final Cut Pro X.

Supermeet-2

FCPX has been rebuilt from the ground up. It has an all new 64bit engine, hyper threading, rendering in the background, no transcoding and 4K support. It is a lot faster because of this. Also the timeline has been completely redesigned to make editing easier.

Supermeet-3

FCP's original creator Randy Ubillos was on hand to demonstrate to the audience in real-time the new Final Cut Pro experience without many hiccups of his beta version.

At long last there is no need to transcode footage. All footage, whether ProRes, DSLR H264 or AVCHD drops straight into the project and is available to edit immediately. Final Cut Pro X allows you to begin editing footage on the timeline before it has finished ingesting. This will be greatly appreciated by HDSLR users.

Supermeet-4

Media management has been much improved. The intelligent detection of footage allows automatic grouping of clips to form scenes together in the media manager for easier access to media in an ordered fashion, according to the project. This is really great – so much better than the basic project management in current NLEs with their crappy bins and tiny thumbnails. There is also a Filmstrip View of clips allowing you to identify and find shots quickly.

Timeline intelligence has been improved. A key area. Apple dubs this a Magnetic Timeline. For example audio clips move out of the way if extended into the edges of other clips. It's faster to use and harder to accidentally stuff up. There are no real video or audio tracks – it is more liquid now, with clip tracks appearing automatically as and when they are required. The Instant Color Matching is also a wonderful new feature. Color grading at the single click of a mouse on the timeline.

After having many flavors of FCP, there will only one. Final Cut Pro X will be available in June for $299 from the Apple App Store online. No mention of the other apps in the Final Cut Suite. Looks like Apple has unbundled the suite like they did with iLife and iWork.

We will have a video of the presentation soon. Stay Tuned.

New Final Cut? Lets Hope So!

This is from TechCrunch.

New Final Cut Pro Is Real, And It’s Spectacular (And It’s Expected Spring 2011)

Alexia Tsotsis
13 hours ago

Because it seems like it’s Apple rumor day I’d thought I’d throw my (very small) hat in the ring. More than a year has passed since Final Cut Pro’s last release and we’ve seen two reported Steve Jobs emails talking up a product that many thought Apple had given up on (“Stay tuned and buckle up.” and “Next release will be awesome.”) but no product itself. This might change soon however, as we’re hearing that the highly anticipated revamped release of Final Cut Pro is imminent.

According our very own people familiar with the matter, a small group of video editors were on the Apple campus recently in order to preview the new version of video editing software, which is in the same space as Avid and Adobe Premiere. Apparently Apple is still putting the finishing touches on “the biggest overhaul to Final Cut Pro since the original version was created over 10 years ago” and wanted pro user feedback. Emphasis on “pro.”

One source described the new release as encompassing everything from low level architectural changes to a complete redesign of the user interface. It’s safe to say the newest version will be 64 bit as that’s what users have clamored the most for.

Early reports from people who have demo’d the new Final Cut Pro (FCP 8?) say that the changes are “dramatic and ambitious” and should alleviate concerns that Apple has shifted its video editing focus from the professional to the consumer space, shutting down work on FCP . Apple plans on releasing the new product in Spring 2011 according to our source, in a launch possibly coinciding with the National Association of Broadcasters conference.

Go to my article from the Final Cut SuperMeet.