Major Final Cut Pro X update

Good news for FCP editors: multicam-editing and broadcast monitoring has come to Final Cut Pro X. It's a major step towards making FCP X a viable alternative to AVID, Adobe Premiere and Sony Vegas.

MULTICAM EDITING: BACK FROM THE DEAD

Motion 5 has also been updated:

• Improved speed and responsiveness of text editing
• Ability to automatically add animation keyframes when recording is disabled
• Keyboard shortcut for re-positioning animation curves or paths
• Ability to adjust the pan and scale of an image in a drop zone
• Enhanced look of the Keyframe editor for easier keyframe viewing and editing

BROADCAST MONITORING: MAJOR NEWS FOR PRO EDITORS AND POSTPRODUCTION FACILITIES

Magic Bullet Looks coming to FCP X

It's taking a while longer than planned but Magic Bullet Looks is coming to FCP X. This is important news for us but for Apple as well because many shooters/editors have held out switching to FCP X because they would have to miss third party plugins like Magic Bullet Looks.
I've had FCP X for quite a while but find myself still using FCP 7. I can't get myself to start learning the new FCP. Maybe I'll just have to ask Santa for a crashcourse FCP X and immerse myself into this new software for a week. Anyway, with Magic Bullet Looks, FCP X is becoming a lot more attractive.

For real easy filterwork Magic Bullet has Mojo 1.2 on offer for only $49,- for a limited time only. That's a good offer (50% off) and naturally this new edition is compatible with FCP X.

Superb, free tutorials on Color Correction in FCP X

This appears to be the week of the freebies: free editing software, free FCP X tutorials and now some really great free Color Correction lessons for FCP X. Color Correction and Color Grading, I should say.
This colorist, Denver Riddle (great name!), has produced an 11 part video tutorial to correct and alter the look of your footage. I watched two so far and his videos are clean, concise and attractive. The fact that they are short also really works for me. Tutorials longer than 7-8 minutes make me feel drowzy and want to 'escape the classroom'... Call me superficial or lazy but I can't help it... Denver Riddle's approach is perfect for people like me. Take a look and judge for yourself.


05. FCP X Color Grading Tutorial: Setting Exposure from Color Grading Central on Vimeo.

FCP-instructors on FCP X

I accepted an invitation from the College of Multimedia in Amsterdam to attend an informative meeting on FCP X. The College of Multimedia is a certified Apple training center, giving courses in the Final Cut Studio suite applications. (Luckily for them they also teach Adobe and Avid, among others)

The meeting took place yesterday. There were a lot of men and one woman, aged 70 plus(!). The instructor started out by saying that he did not represent Apple, he did not develop the new FCP and that we should not shoot the pianoplayer. He was like us, he assured as, and had gone through the same cycle of anger, frustration and disbelief. But then he started to take a look at FCP X and came to the conclusion that it wasn't all bad, that Apple developers had actually thought about this product! (duhh) "They just shouldn't have called it Final Cut Pro."
There was a sadness about the presentation. He was the last of the Mohicans. From a seasoned FCP trainer he has been stripped to an absolute beginner. Of course his mouth said maybe it wasn't all bad but the rest of his body and presentation spoke a different message. His colleague, who was also attending the meeting, was in a much worse state. As a teacher of DVD Studio Pro and Soundtrack Pro, the news of the applications being discontinued hit him like a hammer: "I am out of a job..." From one day to the next, his expertise was obsolete.
The unforgiveable thing was that Apple didn't even notify CMM to tell them about the new FCP X. They found out because students called them: "I have a course in FCP starting next week, will it be FCP 7 or X??" They were dumbfound. Nobody at the college had been prepared to answer that question...

The runthrough of FCP X features was informative. The group of FCP dinosaurs asked questions and most of them were answered. My last question was: "Are there any advantages to being a longtime FCP-user, when learning FCP X?" The answer, as Apple likes to call it, was 'revolutionary'.

FCP X training

Ripple Training's Steve Martin

VS

Larry Jordan's Larry Jordan Training

I'm in dire need of Final Cut X training. I've managed to edit a quick, experimental piece in the program but to say I tackled the program is a bit of an overstatement... I'm now dealing with Events instead of FCP projects, although the term 'projects' is still used but it's part of an event. In the old days you could have dozen of versions of one sequence but now you can only have one sequence within a project. Why? Also, I cannot save my projects manually because FCP does that. I don't trust that. When I try to move stuff in the timeline it keeps jumping back by itself. It must be the 'magnetic timeline'- turn it off!

Ok, I'm being silly, stubborn and stupid and trying to force FCP 7 habits into FCP X. It will never work. Face it. And you don't want to figure everything out by yourself, you're not good at that. Buy training.

Basically there are two options:  Larry Jordan's FCP X training at $99,- for 11 hours. Or Ripple Training for FCP X at $39 for 5 hours. I am tempted by the much cheaper pricetag from Ripple. Isn't 5 hours of training enough? Ken Stone gave it a good review, too. But Larry Jordan is very good with tutorials and FCP. And he has a hypnotic voice. It's 11 hours of training- you can never get enough training with a new program, right? So I'm undecided...

Everything you always wanted to ask about FCP X...

but were afraid to know... Apple posted a page on the most asked questions about FCP X and about what they are planning for the future. They also posted a nice overview of the 50 most important features of FCP X. How kind of them!
(by the way, the response to my post yesterday about 5 kilo's of FREE FCP TRAINING BOOKS has been overwhelming. But no one wants to be photographed?!)

This picture is not just gratuitous sex aimed at luring you to my blog. (although it helps!) This is the result of googling for pictures on 'FCP X' and using the 'Large' filter! There were more scarcely clad ladies but this one appears to be the most X in my view...)

I did it - FCP X is mine

I have to say, much of what is missing in FCP X, I really won't be missing. I don't work in a complex editing environment. I hardly use third party software. I am a one man band. I don't work with tape. My current FCP system is not stable. I want that lightning fast 64-bit rocket speed. I like new stuff. Lots of reasons to take the plunge. And then I read this, which tipped the scale in Apple's favor. I think Apple will deliver the goodies (for me, at least). In the meantime, this setup will work fine for me.

(One more thing: who says it's only €240? You're not going to leave out Compressor and Motion so it's actually €320. (or US $400))

(e)X Final Cut Pro?

This hurts. A lot of bad stuff has been written about the new Final Cut. And rightly so. It appears Apple has said goodbye to professional video editing environments. There's just too much to neglect. No backwards compatibility with 'vintage' FCP, no multicam editing, lousy compatibility with other postproduction software, no professional external monitoring, no way to customize media organization, no capture from or to tape (aside from firewire), the list goes on.
And yet... FCP could still be for me. I am a one man band and almost exclusively deliver finished projects, quicktime files. I just signed up for an informative meeting around FCP X, to get the nitty gritty from the pro's. I am unsure whether to buy: should I go Adobe Premiere, AVID?

The world has changed. FCP is no longer the realm of video professionals. It belongs to the masses. A revolution is about to take place. What will happen to all the usergroups? Los Angeles Final Cut Pro User Group? L-AVID-UG? LA-AP-UG. Or the more generic LA-VIDEOEDIT-UG? The base of these groups may very well disintegrate. Macvideo? Will it lose its following? The Mac has lost its exclusive, cutting edge image. It aims for the Big Numbers. If financial success is a measure, then hipster Mac has become the new nerdy Microsoft...

Final Cut Pro X hands-on!

The first video's are starting to appear where people are actually using FCP X. I just watched one and I am excited and disappointed at the same time. Excited because it's new, fast and full of good stuff... and disappointed because I feel iMovie users will be faster at editing than I am with my 10 years of FCP experience...

We got 'm!

FCP X is here to download. €239,99 We got a new Compressor (4) and Motion (5) as well. 39,99 each. Friendly numbers...
I'm scared: 10 years of FCP experience means nothing anymore! I want to download and install and get to work but maybe it'll be weeks before I can even finish a simple assignment. Help!!

FCP 7 to FCP X

This is going to be a Pain in the Butt for everyone but there's no escaping this one: a complete reinstall of the OS and (editing) software. Before you master FCP X you may want to keep a copy of FCP 7 to get those quick jobs done... quickly.
Here's a tutorial on how to keep multiple operating systems on one computer and 'Make a seamless transition' from (Snow) Leopard and FCP 7 to Lion and FCP X.