I think most all of us who watch and use Final Cut Pro were taken by surprise today when Apple dropped Final Cut Pro 7 as part of the new Final Cut Studio 3 Final Cut Studio (2009) Final Cut Studio. Evidently there was a lot of people who knew of its existence as it took no time for reviews and tutorial movies to pop up online. It’ll be difficult at this point to wade through all of gushing Apple / FCP fanboy slobbering that has filled the tweets and blogs of the release day and see what real changes Final Cut Pro 7 has that makes a difference when you are living in the application for a full work day, day after day so I placed my order with overnight shipping (hoping for a weekend install) and just received a shipment notification as I was writing this. I’m about to start cutting a personal video on my Mac Pro at home so that’ll be a nice test! But we can look at the announced features.
There’s quite a number of Avid catch-up features that, to be honest, should have been included a long time ago. Color-coded markers that can be exported should have been in version 1.0. A floating timecode window, an offline resolution HD codec, called ProRes (Proxy), comprehensive matchframe and reveal options, global transitions and speed change ramps are all things Avid has had for quite a while … from damn near the beginning in some cases. The Automatic Transfer feature looks very close to part of Avid’s recently introduced Avid Media Access.
But there are some cool things that I am very excited about. The addition of ProRes 4444, while horribly named, will be a great addition to the FCP only edit house who is doing the highest quality mastering work. iChat theater is a great idea in concept but I’ll reserve judgement until I see how well and how smoothly it actually works. It takes Adobe’s Clip Notes a step further and trumps Avid in the review/approval department by a mile. The new “easy export” functions available under the new Share menu seem both a bit amateur (You Tube built-in? Really … from a Pro App?) quite handy (MobileMe and/or AppleTV for quick client approvals or watching a cut in the lounge) and convenient (all Compressor presets are right there). The Share menu item is also glaringly missing the option to upload right to FTP! Hello Apple, client edits ending up on FTP is a very, very common way to share cuts! And then there’s the Share to Blu-ray. Hmmmm … I don’t really know what to make of this being added here in FCP. While it is great to have and an often requested feature it just seems odd that it wouldn’t have been integrated into DVD Studio Pro, even in the simplistic templates that are available in FCP. But since DVD Studio Pro is the only app that didn’t get an update I think we can take this as a sign that DVDs (at least to Apple) really are dead and DVD Studio Pro will no longer be updated. If it can’t do it now it ain’t ever gonna be able to do it. Here’s your chance Adobe Encore.
And finally there are the intriguing things … some of the “under the hood” stuff that I am really curious about:
Improved render management and improved media management are two gaping FCP holes that power editors have been struggling with for a long time. Digging in the heels of FCP 7 will tell how this has been improved.
Background exporting can be added to the background “things” list with the Smoothcam analysis. Can background rendering be far behind?
And then there’s the page that talks about FCP 7′s Broad Format Support and more specifically this:
Did they say the same thing way back when FCP 6 arrived? I can’t remember. To me that reads that you can drop mxf files and other non – .mov files right into FCP and into to an FCP timeline. That is exactly what we talked about recently in this post. That would be a huge shift and one of the biggest pieces of news in FCP 7. But then I watch the Using Automatic Transfer video and it looks like that FCP is still copying media from its camera originated place to a media drive so I don’t know. If you still have to use the Log and Transfer tool to copy and rewrap “camera-native” formants then they aren’t really “camera-native” anymore and you certainly can’t “start editing right away.” If you’re one of the luck few who have tried this please comment below and let us know. Can FCP 7 edit non – .movs in the timeline?
All in all it looks like Final Cut Pro 7 does have some nice new features as well as (finally) some much needed and long overdue features. It really looks a lot more like Final Cut Pro 6.5. I can’t believe it took 2 + years to get this update though. I really can’t. That said I can’t wait to get to work with it.
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Nice synopsis. Not really any “Holy Shnikes” moments, but some nice updates and the price change isn’t too shabby either.
great comments.
I wouldn’t be so quick to diss the YouTube export option. Nowadays, at least 50% of my clients ask me to deliver a version of the commercials I finish for them in a “YouTube compatible format”.
A “professional” tool should also be able to cater to the needs of the clients of said professionals. There’s nothing I hate more than spending extra time after then end of an onlining session, trying to figure out the best encoding parameters for web delivery. If I can just encode it out via a simple menu command, I get to go home much earlier.
Lots of comments on the forums such the one you made above; “It really looks a lot more like Final Cut Pro 6.5. I can’t believe it took 2 + years to get this update though.”
Remember, this is the “new” Final Cut STUDIO not just Final Cut Pro. It’s a SUITE of apps. That said, think how tough it probably was over this 2 year period as one team worked on one app and another worked on another app and one team had to maybe wait until the other team finished whatever they had to finish before the other team was able to move on? Managing this project must of been nuts.
Is 2 years unreasonable when you factor in SIX apps? I don’t think so.
I agree, it’s taken too long for an update. I’m most interested in improved render time and playback. I think that Apple is really promoting ProRes as the solution, because they don’t want to have to keep supporting different camera formats natively, AVC Intra aside
Good point Mel. It would seem a good You Tube Compressor preset could get the job done but considering the new FCS price I’m sure Apple thought about a lot of the “hobbiest” going right to You Tube. Easy is not a bad thing.
Come on Michael, stop taking up for Apple! (reverb, reverb, reverb .. ; ) ) It is 6 apps but the upgrades aren’t THAT significant across many of them. Motion seems to have the biggest and best improvement. I think my big issue with FCP is a lot of the improvements could have very easily have been pushed out in a dot update over the two + years since FCP6. Holding them and calling it a full numbered upgrade feels more like marketing-speak than engineering advancements. Maybe I’m playing devil’s advocate here but Apple very often get a pass because they are Apple. Maybe I’ll feel different when I get FCS installed and it really “feels” like a big upgrade. We’ll see!
Outside of my own studio and the feature docs we do, I am forced to use Avid in large production enviros like reality tv and one hour drama. I love FCP’s timeline style of editing, the ease adding effect packages like FxFactory and the Color module though difficult to get to and from. I am a constant defender to all the Avid followers I work with and when they give me a chance, I can wow them with a MacBook Pro/FCP quick demo. But when do I have to stop saying “they’re close…they’re working on it….hopefully in the next version”. Truthfully, most everybody in the industry, at least that I’ve ever worked with (myself included) uses After Effects so the effort to upgrade Motion is pointless to us/me. DVD Studio on the other hand is a huge tool and nothing? How about a Script to Screen type product? Bin sharing? There are so many gaping holes in the new release that I can only hope and keep the faith that “they”re coming soon”. I prefer FCP, honestly, but fear there’s no killer instinct at the mothership for this product anymore.
Gotta agree that while there are some cool new changes it seems a little bare for two years of waiting. This feels like a nice .5 update and .5 updates shouldn’t take this long. I think this is part of the reason for the price drop and I hope that Apple gives us another solid update in 2010 (kinda like FCP4.5 update). I mean, should it really take four years for Color 2.0 to come out? If Apple can’t juggle all the apps in a timely manor maybe Apple should sell off some of the apps to a company that can.
Two problems that no one seems to be addressing. No LiveType in the latest release – poof! Not a small problem for those of us who knock out 20-30 weddings during our busy season and rely 100% on LiveType for our titles and lower thirds. I really don’t have time to recreate my graphics in another application, plus learn how to use that application. Plus for those students out there, I’m sure you all are wondering – just like my son – why the new release went down $300.00 in price (t 999.00) and the educational version went UP in price to $899.00. It used to be $700.00 for the academic version). For me, no LiveType is a deal breaker. For my son, he just feels screwed by Apple.
When you install the new FCS does it leave the Livetype install behind? It would make sense for it to do that and seems to be the best of both worlds for those that still use Livetype.
The ‘improved render management’ and ‘improved media management’ are the ones that interest me most, but they’re pretty vague.
I assume I can toggle visibility on a layer without having to rerender everything now?
Interested to hear more about how they really work out.
And the improved workflow with Color seems like a big thing, assuming it works properly. I can send an AAF with media from Avid to Baselight or DigitalVision with less pissing about that FCP demands for a sequence into Color.
thanks for the review — there’s no need to say somethings should have been included in version 1 etc — that’s unnecessary. If you want better software, write it yourself, otherwise, be thankful others do it for you, and do it very well. Every update improves the product, but not everyone wants or needs things you might think ought to be there from the beginning. Stop comparing with Avid, just review the bloody software itself!
“Plus for those students out there, I’m sure you all are wondering – just like my son – why the new release went down $300.00 in price (t 999.00) and the educational version went UP in price to $899.00. It used to be $700.00 for the academic version). For me, no LiveType is a deal breaker. For my son, he just feels screwed by Apple.”
I use LiveType — if I can afford to upgrade, I’d just leave the old Livetype installed. If the update uninstalls it, I’ll install it on my old G5 and use it there.
As for the student pricing….oh you poor old soul! Students get breaks all over the place, and that pisses me off to no end. I’m run a small business and I’m sure most students have more spare cash than I do after paying all the household bills too. So if I don’t get a break, why should they think they’re due one!?? Spoiled brats.
I think this is the writing is on the wall for Pro Apps. Pro Res 444 sounds great but 2 years and these lean updates. The end is nigh.
Looks like they feel like they have integrated LiveType into motion and no longer need it as a separate application.
Don’t know for sure, haven’t tied it out yet.
I hope and suspect that part of the 2 year development cycle had to do with re-writing the guts of FCP to take advantage of 64 bits and the multi-core infrastructure advances in Snow Leopard.
If that’s the case we’ll see Part II of this announcement in September. My upgrade arrives today and I’ll be watching to see if it uses more than 4GB of RAM.
And now for a completely different subject…
You people really need a proof-reader there. It’s distracting to read a piece that tries to be serious when it’s as ragged as this one is — the grammar’s all over the place, verbs are a mess, word choice is simply stupid when it’s not just hackneyed. This is Middle School writing. Investing in an editor — as nearly every serious on-line journal does — would give your reputation a boost. Not to mention keeping your readers from giving up in frustration.
I suspect that in the scheme of things catering to the media community isn’t Apples main source of income. Compared to what they make selling iphones and ipods, Final Cut Studio is probably a tiny fraction of Apple’s profits.
It will probably take another couple of years to come out with the FCP8 so don’t expect any blu ray support in DVD Studio Pro anytime soon.
Scott the problem with leaving LiveType, at least for me, was that after I removed FCS2 (using FCS Remover, and leaving Live Type behind) and installed FCS3, that when I launched Live Type, I was prompted to input user details, including serial number.
When I inputted my FCS serial number, I was informed that it was invalid.
Now I know that I did an uninstall of the FCS2 suite, and that’s why I was prompted for registration info. but I wouldn’t be surprised if others who simply install the upgrade run into the same problem.
Another issue for those, if you don’t uninstall FCS2, then you will ahve two versions of FCS on your system, as the FCS3 upgrade does not overwrite and update FCS2.
So while it’s good to be able to try our FCS3 before getting rid of FCS2, you will be taking up a huge amount of hard drive space by having two install of FSC on your system.
But even if you are able to uninstall FCS2 later (which could pose problems for FCS3) on you will most likely still have the same registration problem that I am having with leaving Live Type behind.
I’m no over-the-top Apple defender here, but let’s remember that the Avid from “damn near the beginning” cost a fortune, had proprietary and super fragile drives, had it’s own set of quirks, etc. Oh, and it cost a fortune. Need to mention that twice.
As for the educational price going up, I think anyone would reasonably say that the suite is still worth more than $900 students pay.
Livetypes functions have been rolled into Motion and the Livetype content is still installed as part of Motion. Also live type projects are (I hear) still supported, so you should be able to use any Livetype projects in the new time line and edit them where?, maybe Motion???
Anyway they dumped the application but not the functionality.
I’ve used FCP since 1.0, and this is the lamest update ever. It is definitely plugging holes, in what should be a 6.5 release. What I WANT is one app, that seamlessly combines FCP, Motion, Soundtrack, and DVDSP in one timeline, allowing me to switch modes without switching programs. THAT would be a killer app! Ahh, to instantly swap from timeline mode to 3D layering to 48 track surround mixing and create menus for my Blueray master. That’s the way it should be.
I’m disappointed in everything but the price.
PS – anybody remember the 4.5 HD release? That was a .5 release that blows away this full number release.
Kent, thanks for your critique on the grammatical attributes of this post. I have to agree that it isn’t as polished as it could be (or as my usual posts are) but that’s part of what you often get in blog posts written by working professionals who are working in their particular trade and not writing full time. This post was written late in the work day as I was digesting the new Final Cut Studio version and was typed out as the thoughts came off my brain. Part of my posingst here on the Studio Daily blog is to provide comment on non-linear editing apps so this was big news and needed covering. I’ve not heard comments like yours before in all of the posts and lengthly discussions that we’ve all had on this blog for a quite a while now so I’ve always assumed that my posts, while not written at the level of a seasoned journalist with j-school training, are written in such a way they are fun to read, easy to follow and provide some good content for those interested in the subject. I hope you’ll keep reading.
kev, Part of the whole idea of reviewing and discussing software is you compare and contrast with other packages and point out what’s good and what’s missing. That’s what makes for good and informative commentary, especially when someone is considering one package over the other. Without Avid there would be no Final Cut Pro and w/o FCP there would not be the current version of Avid. As and editor who uses both that’s part of what I do … compare and contrast the two apps.
“Improved render management and improved media management are two gaping FCP holes that power editors have been struggling with for a long time. Digging in the heels of FCP 7 will tell how this has been improved.”
What does: “Digging in the heels of FCP 7 will tell how this has been improved.” mean?
Also, I never used Avid early on because I couldn’t afford it. At the 1999 NAB, FCP showed up and Avid had to drop some of their well honed contempt, such as crippling their cheaper versions so you would be forced to buy higher. Now, there is lots of talk about Apple’s waning interest in FCP. Say it isn’t so.
Mike, digging in the heels mean really beginning to work with the app and trying out this new and improved render and media management to see if it indeed has been improved. The only way to tell is to really work with it.
a) it’s absolutely silly to compare Motion and AE here in the comments, since not even APPLE does that and shows you don’t “get it” in the least. They in fact even position it explicitly as a *complimentary* app FOR AE, whereby Motion can kick some AE butt in terms of title animation, even more so NOW. So you might want to get your AE nose back down out of the air and check it out.
b) LiveType? Oh puh-leeze. An app that does but ONE THING (far worse than Motion!), needs render, does it completely out of context of your timeline and nothing in *real-time* is now somehow a GOOD thing?? LOL. What other function shall we single out next? Scaling?? Let’s make a separate app for *everything*, shall we? I say: get with the program (literally) and learn Motion, sheesh.
c) not only is the educational *pricing* different, but the fact that you will be able to UPGRADE it in the future has also, something you were NOT able to in the past! Starting to make sense?
p.s. saying “Here’s your chance Adobe Encore” is polemic and lame IMO, since you can’t get Encore BY ITSELF, therefore you’re spending what? *2500 bucks* to support an already dead format? Wow… sounds like a plan. I think it’s glaringly clear what Apple thinks of BD and I completely agree personally.
About Livetype: I have upgraded from Studio 2 and Livetype is neither removed nor disabled. You can’t “Send to Livetype” but if you import a Livetype project into Final Cut it will work and the option to “Open in Editor” is still available. Contrary to an earlier post, upgrading Final Cut Studio does not leave you with two versions on your computer.
BTW, The new reflection and shadow features in Motion are so beautiful and simple to use you may never choose to use Livetype again.
It’s not silly at all to compare Motion and AE as they are similar products that do similar things used by editors for a similar purpose. Apple might not compare them but many, many editors and motion graphic artists do.
Wow, I really can’t wait to use this, I’ve actually only used Final Cut 2X in my life. The first time was at a friend’s house working on a project, and the 2nd time was for school. Having a PC to do all my editing will be difficult for me to adjust into a MAC platform. However, when that day comes for me to try out Final Cut, I’ll think I’ll be blown away.
I think the “Final Cut Studio” 2009 is an interim release as 2+ years of development is not all that evident. Don’t get me wrong, all the upgrades to all of the applications are welcome and well worth the upgrade.
2+ years of development would surely have ushered in consistent interfaces among apps, and 100% timeline compatibility between applications or at least on a par with Adobe.
ProsRes is optimised for Grand Central under Snow Leopard as the white paper says but nowhere else can I see a hint that the apps will benefit from OpenCL. Open CL would be absolutely be useful in all FCS applications. Maybe we’ll see big speed improvements when SL arrives.
I don’t think we’ll be waiting 2+ years for the next version which might account for the price and the missing “3″ in Final Cut Studio 3.
In a cash strapped world Apple has yet again delivered a no brainer upgrade at a very appealing price. I suspect Avid are breathing lightly easier but the $999 price for the whole suite still makes MC’s price look ridiculous.
Scott, have they moved the capture scratch and render drive settings to be saved WITH the project for this release?
For those of us using external drives (one per project-ish) it’s a pain in the arse to have to change your capture scratch every time you open a new project… I was hoping in this release to find that those settings (where you want your media captured and rendered) to be saved with the project.
I don’t think that has been changed Daniel. I didn’t look specifically for that but my bet would be that they would have marketed that as a new feature as that would be nice to have. Check out the Preference Manager from Digital Rebellion as it lets you do something similar if not exactly that.
http://www.digitalrebellion.com/pref_man.htm
Don’t even get me started on that comment about students being “spoiled brats.” Students make well under poverty level, and unless they have rich parents (ask this 27-year old continuing student if her parents pay her “household bills”) being expected to “keep up with the industry” is often impossible even with the price breaks. Video Editing is still an elitist field despite the fact that it’s almost as universal a skill set as reading and writing.
Coming back to the native editing part.
“FCP 7 lets you edit virtually any professional format natively.”
What is ‘virtually’ refering here to? as mentioned in another post i wonder whether FCP 7 is now capable in offering better solutions to R3D-footage. Has anybody tried it yet? How about P2?
“What is ‘virtually’ refering here to? as mentioned in another post i wonder whether FCP 7 is now capable in offering better solutions to R3D-footage. Has anybody tried it yet? How about P2?”
That’s pretty much all marketing speak from Apple. You still have to, at the very least, re-wrap mxf of r3d footage into a .mov for it to work in Final Cut Pro 7. IMHO it’s BS and the Apple marketing is misleading.
Hi Scott
Good post. I’ll be looking forward to a more in-depth look at FCS that you will do. I think you might have missed a couple points that might change your mind about this being a dot release vs. a full version release.
Cosmetically and functionally I agree there doesn’t seem to be much of an upgrade to merit a full version release, but for those of us who are still in the G4/G5 platform world this is huge. Apple is committed to divesting itself of the legacy issues that still plague it. It’s a lot of man/hours to make hardware and software backward compatible. Just the move to 64bit ain’t no walk in the park either so you might cut them a little slack. I also think they might have gotten a little heat for making a dot release upgrades incompatible with earlier versions and not synchronizing major version changes with the OS.
I’ve always looked at any version “7″ upgrade to mean the software company finally got most of the silly and stupid problems fixed so now you have a stable product. Remember Avid version 7? They had fixed so many internal and functional problems that it was a pleasure to work with it. The “oh btw” issues were annoyances but there were no deal breakers. Time will tell if Apple has done this with their version 7.
I still have that nagging thought on my mind that Apple really wants to get rid of it’s professional division and focus on the mobile world. There’s way more money there. Anyone have a few billion dollars to spare?
Stop compaining about grammer and splling
What does it really matter, you know what were trying to say
And YES, I know i spelt all this shizzzzzy wrong beotch
Lexi:
Your comment;
Video Editing is still an elitist field despite the fact that it’s almost as universal a skill set as reading and writing.
Editing is not an elitist field but it is a selective field because more people want to be editors than there are editing jobs so it has to be selective.
In terms of it being a universal skillset. That is a woefully inaccurate statement indeed. There are allot of people who call themselves editors but a good editor is very, very, very, rare. Pacing, structure, style, rythym, effects usage, musical sensibilities all in the same person? These are the rarest of creatures and if you think it isn’t unique than you don’t have “it” and you never will.
Also, you don’t “keep up with the industry” by buying software, you keep up with the industry by working in it and you get in by having “it” …
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