Apple Response to “Final Cut Pro in TV and Film” Open Letter

Talking about Resolve over an iPad as signal that Apple is killing Final Cut Pro, I disapprove this idea.

Apple has 2 editing video products: iMovie and Final Cut Pro.
This means that they have a beginner or more simple software for editing video without expertise, and another tool that is for professionals.

My point of view is this: iMovie already exists for iPad and this is the apple solution to edit video over a portable tool like a tablet.

Final Cut Pro remains a tool for professionals and generally a professional user doesn't use an iPad for his works.

The natural feedback over this point of view will be this: but why they are creating a professional editing app for iPad like Resolve?
My opinion is that the iPad version of Resolve could be different of the standard computer version.
It could be that the iPad's Resolve could be similar (and maybe better, why not?) to iMovie. But the right comparison has to be Final Cut Pro against Resolve over a computer.... and iMovie and iPad's Resolve over an iPad.

Unfortunately the release of Resolve for iPad has fanned the flames of this discussion. Apple wants professional tools on the iPad because it showcases the horsepower of the hardware. Therefore, to have Blackmagic, Adobe, and others pump money into such efforts is good for Apple hardware marketing. However, that doesn't mean Apple believes that this is right for their own tools. After all, you are dealing with a severely compromised device when it comes to professional media and i/o needs, along with a weak OS.

If a company develops a product for iOS or iPadOS that somehow mirrors its desktop version(s), then it adds extra R&D, engineering, and QA testing issues to the equation. Resolve for iPadOS will be a very different product from Resolve desktop, no matter what BMD says. This ultimately hurts the work being done for the desktop. The same would be true if Apple developed FCP/Motion/Compressor for iPadOS. It's a different product and would have to be changed/adjusted in so many small and large ways. So, NOT focusing on iPadOS would likely be the right move for ProApps. From the larger Apple marketing POV, BMD and Adobe have already ticked the marketing boxes.

Then the question remains - what should Apple be doing with FCP? I'm not sure we are all in agreement here on that one. Market segments are different and everyone has their own list.

Oliver, "what should Apple be doing with FCP?" Right now it seems their answer publicly is very little. Any direction is better than standing still. I'd be OK if Apple were moving in a different direction but that should not be mistaken for no direction.

BMD talks about development and Apple does not. That is the difference between vision and despair. BMD shows what they're doing and talks about future development at least as far as software is concerned. They do the same with desktop software. releasing a string of public betas showing new features. Obviously, there's a quiet time even before a beta goes public or a future app can be discussed but BMD gets to that stage and then showcases the innovation they are working on even while a work in progress. And they do that repeatedly. FCP development (and all Pro Apps) not only have been near silent, the updates certainly don't show the innovation BMD is making.

BMD is now the now "one more thing" company.

Regarding Resolve for iPad, BMD is forthright in the directions they'll be taking and that's what I like. They've openly stated that the Edit page will NOT be going to iPad but the Cut page will be given features from the Edit page. So they've made the differentiation clear.

Teppy, Just as phone video and photography creep into professional work so will Resolve for iPad. It may well become a "field" tool for those doing fast turnaround Doc or ENG-style work or a rough cut tool that will feed back into the Desktop version for finishing. Just as there are plenty of professional environments in the field where bringing a larger professional camera is either risky or disruptive the same may be said for laptops or desktops (obviously residing at a base station). Interestingly while Apple is most certainly providing the hardware with iPhones and iPads they clearly aren't providing professional software.... beyond improvements to iPadOS and iOS.

In fact, what BMD says about improving the Cut page on iPad is exactly NOT what Apple is doing with iMovie if that were to be your parallel.

Oliver Peters wrote:

...to have Blackmagic, Adobe, and others pump money into such efforts is good for Apple hardware marketing. However, that doesn't mean Apple believes that this is right for their own tools. After all, you are dealing with a severely compromised device when it comes to professional media and i/o needs, along with a weak OS...

Very perceptive. Consider the Apple commercial "What's a Computer?". The little girl does many things on her iPad Pro, then mom asks what she's doing on her computer. She responds "What's a computer?". The message is tablets are today's computers.

But imagine this:

Little girl: "What's a computer?"

Mom: "Dear, a computer is something you'll use for real work when you do more than drawing bug pictures and sending messages to your friends".

Possible counter response: "Mom, I'm actually using Resolve on my iPad Pro to edit and color grade a multicam video documentary about insects. Is that not real work?"

It has long been unclear how truly complex apps could be hosted on a mobile device. The hardware is now there, the lower OS layer is there, but there's a fundamental conflict about how to remap that high-density UI to a lower-density touch device. As you stated there are other limitations in iPadOS such as no plugin support, multi-tasking is immature, etc.

Resolve is mostly self-contained whereas FCP is highly dependent on plugins. To my knowledge there are no cross-process XPCs in iPadOS and there's nothing like FxPlug. So hypothetically a more-or-less full port of Resolve to iPadOS would contain all that functionality but an FCP port would be bare bones with no plugins.

That said, LumaFusion and now Resolve are showing a possible way forward. Resolve is especially interesting because it originated on the desktop. From an academic UI science standpoint, no major software company to date has managed to move a complex desktop app with all (or most) features intact to a mobile device. Resolve will initially only include the cut page and edit page, but those are apparently full-featured. Apple and Microsoft have gigantic R&D departments and have been working on this for years. If tiny little Blackmagic manages to be the first, it begs the question of what special secret their small development team has.

Your point about development, test and support cost for a totally separate app is valid. On the desktop Blackmagic uses the Qt framework to achieve apparently good code base commonality between the Windows & Mac versions of Resolve. I don't think that's possible on iPadOS, but nobody has done this before.

In theory on the Apple ecosystem you could write a single app using SwiftUI that would have a single code base yet span from tablet to desktop. However I don't think SwiftUI is remotely capable of that in the current form.

Great contributes.

All the wrist-wringing, doom and gloom prognostication about Apple abandoning FCP. That's nothing new with Apple users. No worries here. whatever Apple comes up with, I am there for it. The slow space could have a lot to do with the fact that Apple has not completed the transition to Arm-based Apple SoC. Let's see what will happen after Apple unleash the next Mac Pro. If Apple plans to kill FCP, so be it. I will have to learn Resolve then.

cseeman wrote:

BMD talks about development and Apple does not. That is the difference between vision and despair. BMD shows what they're doing and talks about future development at least as far as software is concerned. They do the same with desktop software. releasing a string of public betas showing new features. Obviously, there's a quiet time even before a beta goes public or a future app can be discussed but BMD gets to that stage and then showcases the innovation they are working on even while a work in progress. And they do that repeatedly. FCP development (and all Pro Apps) not only have been near silent, the updates certainly don't show the innovation BMD is making.

BMD is now the now "one more thing" company.

This is not true, we are still missing many features that user have been and still been requesting from Blackmagic Design!
Puppet Tool?
ProRes RAW Support?
Update the TImeline to a modern workflow?
Project Management?

etc….

Unfortunately most Final Cut Pro Plugins are not really that great and are buggy!
It took how long for Apple to release an object tracker. Nobody it talking about Mocha anymore.
Have you tried MotionVFX which by the way is not compatible on Apple Silicon… Puppet tool?
Very slow and a pain to work with.

The reason why I want Appel to give me more tools is cause they understand human interaction with computer!

I'm afraid there is not even a battle anymore. FCP has lost the war, they haven't even fought it.