Final Cut Pro 10

I ended up with a free ticket to the super meet and Apple is right now announcing Final Cut 10.

This is the best NLE software I've ever seen, and I'm a massive Adobe fan. Loom it up, too many features to type right now. Magnetic timeline might be the best thing ever!

Upgrading as soon as it's released for sure!
 
Hmmm.. Ok, so Compressor is bundled with FCP now, but with the new FCP-X I'm guessing they will be making that available as a separate download. Hoping it's not $999!

It's kind of crystal ball thinking, but compressor was part of FC Studio and I'm thinking that apps may be a separate thing in the future.

There is a hint in this: "Final Cut Pro X is set to be available in June via the Mac App Store for $299. The current version of Final Cut Pro is only available together with Motion, Soundtrack Pro, Color, and other apps as the Final Cut Studio suite for $999. It's not clear if Apple will sell the other FCS apps separately, or for how much. However, an Apple spokesperson told The Loop to "stay tuned" for more information about other FCS apps in the coming weeks." http://arstechnica.com/apple/news/2011/04/apple-previews-final-cut-pro-x.ars
 
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Nothing hasn't been officially announced, so everything not covered in the videos is pure speculation. Apple has historically been very proactive about bundling everything needed when the rest of the industry was selling separately to generate more revenue. Adobe CS is a package because they had to compete with Apple's Studio which had all of the bits necessary to have a production studio all in one package. Apple even went so far as to buy Shake from Nothing Real and roll it into Motion, and buy Color and roll that in as well... both were $5-10k applications per seat and Apple now has them as free addons. This power 15 years ago would have been $50k+ just in software licensing... Apple is acquiring the parts they're looking to add and "Applizing" (my word, I get dibs) them by keeping the power, but retooling the interface to make it easier to use/approach.

This was a demo of one part of the puzzle for a select group (Final Cut User's Group)... I'm sure they will make cool announcements about the rest of the Studio package apps and their inclusion as that has been their history. They're showing what they've got early because they're fighting off the "Apple doesn't care about the pro segment" crap that seems to have taken hold of that community. What they see is that Apple released a product that they're happy about, have moved to, then half way through the development cycle for the next release, adobe, avid or sony makes a release and suddenly Apple doesn't care anymore and should have anticipated all of the new proprietary and closely guarded stuff in those apps and had a simultaneous release with their competition.

This is precisely on schedule, a huge rewrite (which takes time) and finally pulls the aging final cut interface kicking and screaming boldly past its birth as an Adobe > then Macromedia > then Apple software package from the early 90's. I'm extremely happy they're making the interface more modern and Applizing it, as the current interface is horrendous (read: only approachable by professionals who need to keep things as difficult as possible to feel more specialized -- if you don't believe me, consider the history of so many Novell networking technicians who blatantly refused to move from IPX to TCP/IP networking to keep their positions necessary even after Novell, Inc moved to TCP/IP and encouraged all of their clients do so as well, they're still out there).

This step toward a more approachable interface will make the learning curve smaller allowing people with great senses of story, but lower technical skills to get their work made. the folks who are currently working in the industry who are mediocre, but well versed in the technology will be found out, and the folks who are well versed in the technology and great visual story tellers will be able to move from plugging in the footage to making their first shot choice and first cut much more quickly -- allowing more time for exploration on a project and less time fiddling with the tools.

The tools should get out of the way and let the craftsperson practice their craft... this is a giant leap towards that end.

<end of rant -- which invariably happens everytime I read a bunch of public response to technology announcements -- sorry>
 
This step toward a more approachable interface will make the learning curve smaller allowing people with great senses of story, but lower technical skills to get their work made. the folks who are currently working in the industry who are mediocre, but well versed in the technology will be found out, and the folks who are well versed in the technology and great visual story tellers will be able to move from plugging in the footage to making their first shot choice and first cut much more quickly -- allowing more time for exploration on a project and less time fiddling with the tools.

Hoorah for this. While I like to noodle with technology once in a while, it is not my forte nor my real interest. But crafting a story, finding the story is where I am most comfortable.

@Knightly -- Good post. :)
 
Well said, knightly.

A few tidbits have been indicating that FCPX will work with the last release of Final Cut Studio apps. If that's the case, I'm in quick and I'll use CS5 as my secondary/backup workstation or when a customer wants Blu-ray.
 
I'd speculate that the studio package is dead and we'll just see individual apps sold separately - these monolithic updates like the CS series kind of suck for upgrades when there's no real reason to upgrade all of the apps at once. Apple's historically shown no interest in shipping something until they think it's ready - tying a bunch of apps together like that means you either have to wait until they are all ready for their upgrade, or else ship some of them with minor or incomplete upgraded features just to get it out the door.

Plus, by separating them and dropping the price so low it means any professional can buy a copy of the new FCP on a whim even if they aren't sure they want it - and I have a feeling there's going to be a big 'need to use it to get it' aspect to this version. I remember one of the original developers (at one of the first FCPUG meetings!) mentioning that Steve Jobs initially wanted to give FCP away free as a way to sell hardware, but others in the company convinced him it wouldn't be taken seriously as a professional tool if it didn't cost anything. Now that it's so well established they don't have to worry about that as much so it makes sense they'd drop the price.

@knightly - where did you see no facial recognition? I keep seeing references to 'people detection' which I assumed was basically the same thing. I certainly hope it does include it, the example you gave of searching for a person & type of shot by name would be an amazing time saver.
 
The search being done is looking for the quantity of human shaped subjects in a shot to differentiate a one-shot from a 2-shot, etc... but not individual actors as it does in iPhoto (although that may not be too difficult to add later :)
 
Ah, got it, didn't realize that was actually a different feature. I'm sure it'll show up eventually.

No hardware acceleration. The UI is beautiful, magnetic timeline is also great. But it still lags behind Adobe's CS5. And I hate to say that.

OpenCL is hardware acceleration, I'm sure it's what enables the resolution independent, mixed formats real-time play back - basically the same thing as Adobe's mercury engine.
 
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