Archive for April, 2012
I know this is a little last minute, but my film society is presenting a Final Cut Pro X introductory workshop in Boca Raton, Florida, tonight, April 26, 2012 from 6 to 9 PM at America’s Production Company. FCP X certified instructor Jeff Fortune is the presenter, and Palm Beach County Filmmakers has teamed up with us. Get all the information plus directions at Palm Beach Film Society’s site.
This is really interesting… Editoid from iMageneering/Imagenharia in Brazil created an app that can help automate your editing in Final Cut Pro X, especially with reptitive editing like similar projects. It uses keywords to create templates, which will switch out footage for a new project via FCP X’s XML. Here is how it works:
1. At Final Cut Pro X’s project library, select a project and export its XML, saving it inside Editoid’s templates folder. Editiod watches that folder and automatically creates In and Out folders for each template.
2. Select a Final Cut Pro X Event and export its XML, saving it inside the In folder for the template to be used. Editoid watches all templates In folders and automatically creates a new Project XML for each Event XML in the folders.
3. Now, simply double-click the generated Project XML in the template’s Out folder and Final Cut Pro X will open it and show the generated edit.
Check out the Editoid quickstart guide; there’s a 30-day trial, and the cost is $149. Find out more at iMageneering’s site.
Hat tip: FCP.co and Ben Balser
Here are details on the launch. Macworld has a great breakdown about the Adobe Creative Cloud/CS6 and a “what-you-need-to-know.”
Adobe’s press release:
SAN JOSE, Calif. —April 23, 2012 — Adobe Systems Incorporated (Nasdaq:ADBE) today announced Adobe® Creative Cloud™, a radical new way of providing tools and services* that will change the game for creatives worldwide. A subscription-based offering, Adobe Creative Cloud is a hub for making, sharing and delivering creative work and it is centered around a powerful release of Adobe Creative Suite® 6 software (see separate release), packed with innovation across its industry-defining design, Web, video and digital imaging tools.
And:
SAN JOSE, Calif. — April 23, 2012 — Adobe Systems Incorporated (Nasdaq:ADBE) today announced the ultimate toolkit for design, Web and video professionals with the unveiling of the Adobe® Creative Suite® 6 product line and Adobe Creative Cloud™ (see separate release). Powerful new releases of 14 CS6 applications and four Creative Suites – Adobe Creative Suite 6 Design & Web Premium, Adobe Creative Suite 6 Design Standard, Adobe Creative Suite 6 Production Premium, and Adobe Creative Suite 6 Master Collection – drive home Adobe’s continued innovation across creative markets. A new subscription-based offering, Adobe Creative Cloud, will provide users with the ability to download and install every Adobe CS6 application* announced today. Creative Cloud also integrates Adobe Touch Apps† into everyday work, introduces cloud-based sync and store capabilities, and powers the publishing of apps and high-impact Web experiences.
More on Adobe Creative Cloud.
This is a must-see as @radical.media’s CTO Evan Schectman goes to Tekserve to discuss the current state of the NLE. @radical.media in New York City recently went all-in with Final Cut Pro X, Evan knows his stuff.
I wasn’t at NAB, but the company I work for, Doddle, was. Here’s all the coverage from NAB 2012, including the surprise announcment of the Blackmagic Cinema Camera. That one is a bit of a gamechanger, at least for Blackmagic Design, known mostly for their terrific capture/output/monitoring devices and DaVinci Resolve/Lite color correction software. Back to Final Cut Pro X posting shortly.
I’m working on two distinct projects right now in Final Cut Pro X, including importing 90 minutes of a speech for a corporate client, allowing FCP X to analize the 1080p30 Sony EX1 footage, rendering the timecode generator I dropped over the primary storyline and export as a 640 x 480 QuickTime for my client. I needed to do some additional work on another project, a short film I produced and directed called Hellevator, written by comic book legend David Michelinie (Iron Man, Superman, Spider-Man). My long-time friend and colleague Jeremiah Hall is taking care of the visual effects and uploading 720p24 clips (the animation QuickTime codec) to DropBox for me to grab.
Editing Hellevator in Final Cut Pro X
So with the first project handling analysis, render and 480p export, Final Cut Pro X (10.0.4) easily opened Hellevator up, and I was able to quickly replace green screen shots with finished ones. There was no lag, no spinning beach ball of doom, none of that. FCP X handled all the tasks without a problem, and didn’t skip a beat. Plus, broadcast monitoring is still working well with the new Matrox drivers and my MXO2 mini!
Oh, and did I mention that I’m currently cutting on a mid-2011 base model Mac mini with an Intel Core i5 processor (dual-core) running at 2.3 GHz, with an Intel HD Graphics 3000 and 8GB of RAM, along with a FireWire 800 external hard drive, and a Mercury Elite-AL Elite Pro Dual mini RAID from Other World Computing? Now, imagine if I were on a quad-core Intel Core i7 iMac or MacBook Pro? Final Cut Pro X is a true multitasking workhorse. As a long-time Final Cut Pro editor, since 1999, I’ve waited a long time to be able to do this. Also, be sure to check out Final Cut Pro X in Action, which showcases the team behind TNT’s hit show Leverage.
Apple released a “Final Cut Pro X In Action” page to showcase TV shows, movies, post-production houses and editors using FCP X for their projects. These include Dean Devlin and his team of editors using FCP X to cut the hit TNT show ‘Leverage,’ which is shot on the RED EPIC, leading New York City-based post-production company @radical.media has gone all FCP X and Apple spotlights editor Knut Hake, who edits hit Germany TV show ‘Danni Lowinski’ with FCP X. It also shoots on RED cameras. Read the profiles on Apple’s FCP X In Action page.
With the release of the newest Final Cut Pro X update to ver. 10.0.4, Apple has improved broadcast monitoring, working with manufacturers to get it right. I was able to take the latest I/O drivers from Matrox for a drive, and I gotta say, they’re incredible! I’m a big fan of Matrox’s hardware, and I’ve been waiting patiently for Apple to update FCP X and improve broadcast monitoring, and with it, Matrox is releasing these drivers.
Using an MXO2, video and sound look great on my external monitor — I’m using an LCD at 1920 x 1080. I’m going to work with a colleague who has a full-fleged HD production monitor to do some more tests, but so far, so good. I’ll have a more extensive look soon.
Apple has released the latest update to the revolutionary Final Cut Pro X, 10.0.4. It looks like a smaller update compared to 10.0.3, but still a good one that you should download via the Mac App Store. The update includes, according to Apple:
Assigns default audio channel setting for new projects to stereo.
As usual, backup all your events and projects before updating to FCP X 10.0.4.
Sony introduced several new professional cameras on Monday April 2, including two NXCAMs, based on the AVCHD codec, featuring the 4K-ready NEX-FS700 with an S35 Exmor sensor, and the palm camera NX30U with advanced stabilization technology. Right now, the FS700 records in 1080p, but a firmware upgrade from Sony will allow it to record in 4K, plus an external device that will connect to its 3G/HD-SDI port. The NX30U is very small, but is still a professional Sony HD camera, recording to an internal flash drive or SD cards. The cameras will ship in June 2012.
Sony also introduced the smaller XDCAM EX camera, the PMW-100, which features 50 Mbps and 4:2:2 recording, better than the 35 Mbps, maximum, the EX1R and EX3 shoot in. It records to SxS cards, and has all the features found in Sony’s pro camcorders. This camera should ship in May 2012, earlier than Sony usually ships when they announce cameras; in the past, it’s been 4-6 months after the announcement.
Final Cut Pro X will have no problem with editing footage from these cameras.