FCPX 10.0.8 PRE-RELEASE DISCUSSION

THE SUN IS RISING FOR FCPX and I'd venture to say that the next major release will be another game changer. Hopefully its in coordination with a MacPro.

PAINT PEOPLE PAINT!


....any inside info on an update out there?

Sun what sun?

www.spiegel.de/international/germany/ger...-years-a-885608.html

"Less than an average of 100 hours of sunshine have been recorded so far over the course of the meteorological winter"

:dry:

Always looking towards a positive future my man! The glass isn't only half full, I'm pouring gallons in to it and its overflowing!

There is a learning curve when moving from one NLE to another. New products and post-production techniques emerge all the time. Any professional who claims to not have time for training is either a liar or intellectually challenged. Sorry to be so blunt, but it is the truth. Every professional post production specialist is learning new stuff all the time, fact. If you don't, you get out dated fast, and become obsolete. Look how fast those guys are going through "new" cameras!

I remember when we bought an XL-1 and used it for a decade before considering anything else. Now, if you go two years with the same camera, you're out of date. So you have to buy, AND LEARN a NEW camera. Yeah, they don't have time to learn anything new? I call BS!

And I STILL hear local seasoned pros tell me, in person to my face, that they don't have time to learn something new. And I KNOW for a FACT they are learning new stuff all the time.

Go figure...

But, locally here in the U.S.'s third largest film market (2012 LA. produced quite a few more features than L.A.), we have more and more editors switching to X. As many seasoned pros as beginners in every class. It is a very slow process, but it is in fact happening.

Remember, the overwhelming majority of professional editors do NOT cut feature films, nor cut broadcast. I see a public recognition slowly, very slowly, emerging that what the top Hollywood dogs do, and what the top network dogs do, have no relationship to what the rest of us do. I think FCPX has forced that cold, hard fact to come to light, in some way.

Yes, FCP X is picking up traction slowly. Each new feature release gains more believers. I doubt there will be one, big, huge update that shakes the pillars of heaven, though. We will see small increases, IMHO, as we have so far. I for one like it that way. Means more stability, faster bug fixes, quicker updates, free updates for longer.

Finally, I don't care what other folks use for their tools. What I use works for me, I'm a happy camper. If some big shot, over the hill, Hollywood "film" editor doesn't like FCPX, I couldn't care less. He's not here in MY studio doing MY work, is he? No, he's not. So I will do MY work with the tools that work for ME. Just like everyone else.

Fact: No motion picture "film" cameras are being manufactured any longer. For all of the cool factor "film" has, that "tape" has, they're dieing. Nothing is going to reverse that.

I'm out!

I have to completely agree.

waternyc wrote: ....any inside info on an update out there?

A couple people here have mentioned that they've heard that Apple's official presence at NAB will be for a private media gathering. But who knows where that's coming from.

Michael Horton and Daniel Bérubé were on MacVoices this week, previewing this years SuperMeet. But as you'd expect, there wasn't any announcements yet about who would be presenting. That info doesn't usually come until the week before NAB.

But whether we'll see Apple back at the SuperMeet is anyone's guess. I think it would be a good move on their part, but that's just me.

FCP X for broadcast post-production screams for a DAM or MAM, we have played around with Final Cut Server before it left our building, FCP X could be so much more if Apple makes it easier to use and share media on a SAN based storage network. I'm sure 10.0.8 will be just fixes and tweaks and minor improvements, I think where everyone is waiting for will be the 10.1 update that really improves matters. My best guess, 10.0.8 update just before NAB, maybe with some new features and possibly a new MacPro, only since the new OS X update (10.8.3) has got drivers for the just released NVIDIA Quadro K5000 graphics card, although that might just be to support the newer cards in the "old" MacPro.

There's a lot of talk about features, industry attitude and adoption (or lack and which niches) and Apple's release schedule.... but it's interesting to see how Apple is handling marketing as well.

The apparent "secret" meeting with the media and speculation about the Super Meet are itself intriguing.

The media meeting suggests that Apple wants an environment that allows them more communication than glitzy dog and pony show. They may have found than an informed media is much more important to serious public discussion.

It certainly will be interesting to see if they do anything at the Super Meet and what their presentation strategy would be for that.

Interesting that BenB brings up cameras and change. I think people using cameras are those always looking to push the bleeding edge. I find that less so with editors. It would seem that in that arena the higher up the market (TV, Film) the more conservative the practitioners.

Couple of points-

• we're WELL past the regular interval time for a maintenance release.

10.0.2 [57 days]
10.0.4 [70 days] - actually added some features
10.0.5 [62 days] - also bundled retina support
10.0.7 [44 days]

IF they released next week we'd be at 103 days. That's longer than any other update except 10.0.6. A release around NAB will be would be aprox 120 days. That's why I think we're headed for a feature update.

• Apple has never announced hardware at NAB before. The more likely venue is WWDC- IF at all this Spring. Tim Cook's original email stated "later next year". So conceivably, we might be waiting until the fall, which would actually line up better with Intel's Xeon roadmap.

@thaboz: Where would one get a 10.8.3 OSX update? Is this currently a beta?

...and of course broadcast functionality capability should be in the pipeline. Hopefully. I guess it depends on which markets they are after and considering the prior updates it seems as they will fill the voids. Its seems more like a marketing game to me.

@cseeman: You do raise an interesting point about the intentional chasm that Apple has maintained between its FCPX users and the R&D/future of FCPX. Although, it does seem to spur some concrete discussion (as you said) and possibly not give the competition a heads up. But as some others have mentioned, serious people need serious expectations.

It is not necessarily bad to change. I'm all open for that, but getting comfortable with your own paint brush obviously helps the creative process. And it'd be nice if the paint brush maker gave us something concrete to look forward to. Maybe a hint or two. A leaked press release as opposed to the pitch black darkness.

In any case, I have faith in Apple - as I can do my work the way I like it with FCPX.

@waternyc

Yeah, details about the betas for 10.8.3 have been slipping out for a while now, with support for PCIe cards that aren't currently. So, as mentioned, either Apple is adding support for the current-gen MacPro, or for a new machine.

waternyc wrote: @But as some others have mentioned, serious people need serious expectations.

I think Apple has some unique market pressures regarding secrecy. They have been open about future features for FCPX when those are industry standards.

Again as to hardware if they're incorporating Thunderbolt into a Xeon motherboard and developing some method of handling the GPU which has had to have motherboard "tied" then this is probably something they don't want to talk about in advance. I can imagine that they don't want to give HP or Dell any clues for example. I don't think they want Asus making any attempts sooner than later.

The problem with being an innovator is that you really have a market interest in making sure others don't start doing research before you release your own product.

I know we (those of us here) take it for granted we'll be seeing Xeons and the newest GPUs (finally) in a new MacPro but, believe me, I've seen some notables who absolutely insist what we'll be seeing is an "iMac Pro" with, at best, a 6 core i7 and a GPU users can't change. Yes, sounds ridiculous to me but I think Apple has a real motive to not give out any information in advance if this is going to be hardware innovation, as I think it MUST be.

This isn't about superficial spiffy case design, it's about a motherboard no one else in the industry has. Just my gut. Dual Proc Xeons, GPU, Thunderbolt combination has no equivalent.

Yeah, there's a lot of crazy talk going on about the MacPro right now. Two big articles recently-

From Macworld
www.macworld.com/article/2029740/the-tim...a-mac-minitower.html

and from Marco Arment
www.marco.org/2013/03/06/mac-pro-mini

Both call for the mythical MacMiniTower or "xMac". I have never, EVER understood how anyone could rationally believe that this is a product that Apple would be interested in.

If you look at Apple's TOTAL business, which is now dominated by the iPhone and iPad, the Mac itself is a relatively small (but important) part of it's business.

The last couple of years have seen Mac portables far outsell desktops as most people want to be more mobile.

Then if you look at even just the desktops, the MacPro is likely a minority share of of that segment, behind the iMac and MacMini.

So the MacPro is a minority share, of a minority share... of a minority share of Apple's business.

And so these people think that the great idea would be to decrease or eliminate ALL of the reasons that people who are buying MacPros buy them in the first place [Xeon CPUs, high-end GPUs, internal storage, and PCIe expandability].

Less powerful? Less expansion? Just for the sake of being smaller and lighter? Are they nuts?!

These guys would have Apple essentially alienate the existing MacPro customer base on the promise of a supposed "tweener" customer base that for whom the MacMini and iMac aren't powerful enough, and the MacPro is too much.

There is no in between market as far as I'm concerned. It's a statistically insignificant part of an already shrinking market.

Here's the better argument from John Siracusa.

www.hypercritical.co/2013/03/08/the-case...ue-mac-pro-successor

Throw this one in the hopper as well
www.videoguys.com/Blog/E/Videoguys+Mac+P...aa4bd75fb8d85de.aspx

Complete with
"Personally, I don't see why Apple would waste any time or money investing in developing a new Mac Pro."

I really think a lot of people don't even have the SLIGHTEST CLUE regarding Apple's business model.

They have no idea how Apple works with "ecosystems"

Apple has ZERO reason to make an iMac with PCIe slots (a mini tower). They probably wouldn't think that often a MacPro often means there's MacBook Pro or Mini or iMac sales in there as well whether it's for portability or "home" use, etc., for example.

I fill we will see a nice update after some new hardware.

I disagree with the view that Apple will just concentrate on the I devices. Even though its a small percentage I feel that keeping Pros in the Apple ecosystem is vitally important. Because if people start seeing that all the creatives are using Windows boxes it will change their perception of Apple.

Its like most car manufacturers having a sports car in their line up. Hardly sell any compared to the cheaper more family models but they play an important role in public perception.

I know that if I am forced to switch away from Mac it won't be long before all my devices and family and friends will go that way too as I have a large circle of influence on their buying decisions.

The car companies don't make much of a profit off of the family models though. They get by on selling in volume. The pickup trucks and sport utility vehicles are where they make their money through the nose.

As far as Apple keeping "pros" in the ecosystem, they will. Its just a matter of which pros they're going for. I'm not just talking about video creatives. Digital artists, developers, musicians- those are all pros. How many of them are dependent on Mac Pro towers? I can't imagine the number is that high.

Seanus wrote: I disagree with the view that Apple will just concentrate on the I devices. Even though its a small percentage I feel that keeping Pros in the Apple ecosystem is vitally important.

One reason this is important is because most "pro's" have iPads, iPhones, and will buy every other Apple product that comes out. Pro's want all of their products to be apple. I would hate to have everything be Apple except for my most powerful tool.

BenB wrote: As an Apple cert'd trainer who's done a lot of FCP X classes and seminars, both Apple Authorized and customized, for AATCs, universities, production facilities of all sizes, videographers, etc, FCP X is WAY easier to teach, students pick it up WAY faster, and every seasoned pro who's taken one of my classes has never looked back.

It can be learned much more quickly and easily than anything else, and with a faster, easier workflow.

FCPX is an Apple product, that's why it's so easy to use. Just like everything else they design, FCPX is something you can start using with absolutely no training, it's designed to be intuitive like everything else Apple does. Now, once you get beyond that initial stage, you do have to put effort into learning how to use the powerful tools, but it's really easy.

Every version of FCP before X was not an Apple product, it was a Macromedia product that Apple bought. iMovie was probably what apple was doing to experiment with their own NLE design, so it makes perfect sense that FCPX would look like iMovie, FCPX was probably their main goal with iMovie. Apple invented the iPad before the iPhone, but they released the iPhone first because the world wasn't ready for the iPad yet.

People tend to undermine the amount of effort that is put into developing a product at Apple and because they are such a secretive company people think that they aren't innovating when they just aren't providing all the information. Apple easily has a 3 year path for FCPX at the very least and the reason it's missing things right now is because the new way they are doing it doesn't work yet, but it will.

Remember, in the future everyone will either be watching video on an iPad, iPhone, Apple TV or an iWatch (joking). But with the amount of Apple devices out there most people will be cutting videos that will be watched on an Apple device, so what kind of NLE is going to have everything you need to do that? Obviously I'm exaggerating, but not by much.

Julian wrote:
One reason this is important is because most "pro's" have iPads, iPhones, and will buy every other Apple product that comes out. Pro's want all of their products to be apple. I would hate to have everything be Apple except for my most powerful tool.

I think this is a key point many people miss about the ecosystem and the halo effect. The MacPro is a "high halo" product. While not every iPhone user owns a Mac. I'd bet the vast majority of MacPro users buy several other Apple products.

It might be MacPro for work. MacBookPro for home. Maybe an iMac or MacMini for the significant other. Both will have iPhones and maybe an iPad in there as well.