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  • Hey all, just changed over the backend after 15 years I figured time to give it a bit of an update, its probably gonna be a bit weird for most of you and i am sure there is a few bugs to work out but it should kinda work the same as before... hopefully :)

Notes on the New Final Cut Studio -- It's not FCS3!

Chris Kenny

Chris Kenny

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As noted here, this release doesn't actually seem to be branded as FCS3. That, plus some other weird things like Blu-ray support being added directly to compressor and not DVD Studio Pro, tend to indicate that this is just an interim release to buy time while the more major release everyone has been waiting for is completed.

So, we might see that major release sooner than the usual two year upgrade cycle would predict. (And that major update will come; when Apple axed 64-bit Carbon they implicitly committed to eventually rewriting Final Cut.)

I've got a full rundown of notable new features for Red folks over at Indie4K.

Update: except they do call it FCS3 in a couple of the screencasts. So maybe this was a last minute change... interesting.
 
Interesting... so tempting to buy this version, yet I feel like I should wait till FC3?
 
If they felt it was necessary to release an interim release like this, it's a pretty sure bet that major rewrite everyone really wants is at least year away. Given that the upgrade price is only $300, and there's a bunch of stuff that's really useful for Red workflow, this seems like a worthwhile upgrade.
 
That is what is so disappointing to me. For 2 years, I've heard about this mysterious "full re-write" and thought it was coming with Snow Leopard's release. I seriously doubt it now...they won't have another major release in 2 months from now. Shoot, the bugs from this one will still be around.

So...I guess it's back to hoping that they don't skip NAB 2010 and release a big version there.
 
I dunno, whether another versions coming out next year or not, $299 sounds very reasonable for anyone making money using FCS. I'm going to wait a few months until most of the bugs are worked out, but this seems like a very nice bump up until the "real deal" comes out hopefully sooner than later.
 
I agree, Brandon, but it's not the money that irks me. I've just heard first-hand that this new version has been worked on and I don't believe it's seen the light of day yet.

Some of the things they put in as "brand new features" are a joke and should have been in there 5 years ago. Timecode window? Really? I think AVID had that in '95. New support for Markers? Sigh...

I was really, really hoping they changed Color and made it look & feel & act like an Apple product, but not yet, I guess. Hopefully it will have fewer bugs than the current version.

We'll see. I ordered one. I will eventually need 4 suites upgrades, but I'll hold off until they are tested with our MetaSAN and AJA and such.
 
Kevin Wild said:
I agree, Brandon, but it's not the money that irks me. I've just heard first-hand that this new version has been worked on and I don't believe it's seen the light of day yet.

Some of the things they put in as "brand new features" are a joke and should have been in there 5 years ago. Timecode window? Really? I think AVID had that in '95. New support for Markers? Sigh...

I was really, really hoping they changed Color and made it look & feel & act like an Apple product, but not yet, I guess. Hopefully it will have fewer bugs than the current version.

We'll see. I ordered one. I will eventually need 4 suites upgrades, but I'll hold off until they are tested with our MetaSAN and AJA and such.
Click to expand...


All very true. I suppose my attitude is that I'd rather have this option at a reasonable price than nothing at all until 2010. :)
 
Kevin Wild said:
I was really, really hoping they changed Color and made it look & feel & act like an Apple product, but not yet, I guess. Hopefully it will have fewer bugs than the current version.
Click to expand...

Personally, I hope they leave it the way it is - the two Apple apps that are the easiest to work in are Shake and Color (when Color isn't being stupid). Mac-like UI's are nice, but not for getting work done. I prefer the bare minimum of UI.

The last change to Compressor's UI made it more "mac-like", and also made it significantly less convenient.

And don't get me started on Motion...
 
Charles Angus said:
Personally, I hope they leave it the way it is - the two Apple apps that are the easiest to work in are Shake and Color (when Color isn't being stupid). Mac-like UI's are nice, but not for getting work done. I prefer the bare minimum of UI.

The last change to Compressor's UI made it more "mac-like", and also made it significantly less convenient.

And don't get me started on Motion...
Click to expand...

I don't have a ton of experience in this regard, but I tend to agree. I've never had a huge issue with color, for the most part it's always seemed pretty logically laid out, most things are easy to find and adjust, where as compressor and motion are completely cryptic to me.
 
Personally, I hope they leave it the way it is - the two Apple apps that are the easiest to work in are Shake and Color (when Color isn't being stupid). Mac-like UI's are nice, but not for getting work done. I prefer the bare minimum of UI.
Click to expand...

Word.

I'm hoping that a big part of the mooted major revamp of FCP is a proper pro interface, it would make a world of difference.

Angus
 
Remember how we discussed that Apple is getting rid of the proline?

We should be happy that they did released something.
 
Kaku Ito said:
Remember how we discussed that Apple is getting rid of the proline?

We should be happy that they did released something.
Click to expand...

They own 50% of thr market, makes no sense to get rid of pro
that was clearly an adobe or avid rumor. and so last year.

Word on developer streets is that this is a feature release, and the next will be all be under the hood optimizing snow leopard
 
Charles, I think it works fine, but it does not look Applified. I don't particularly like the Linux? look when choosing the directory. I mean, you have the beauty of the Mac OS and it's completely ruined by the code they bought. I still hope they change some of the look...not everything.

I thought the same way about Logic. It took them a few years to truly make the interface their own. Finally, this past year, they did and it is SO much more intuitive.
 
Brandon Fraley said:
I don't have a ton of experience in this regard, but I tend to agree. I've never had a huge issue with color, for the most part it's always seemed pretty logically laid out, most things are easy to find and adjust, where as compressor and motion are completely cryptic to me.
Click to expand...

I agree, compressor's UI is lame, but actually isn't very Mac-like in my opinion. I think Episode Pro is an much better example of a Mac-like UI for a video compression program. Yeah, give me the UI for After Effects any day over Motion.

As far as Color, I don't mind that it's a somewhat non-standard UI, but there are little things that would make it much more Mac-Like. For example forcing you to change your middle click functionality for one program is a very bad convention to start, especially from Apple. And handling of text/input fields is non-standard, there are better ways to do this.

In general, Apple should least come part way to standardizing the UI, while maintaining the quick workflow it already has.
 
Kevin Wild said:
Charles, I think it works fine, but it does not look Applified. I don't particularly like the Linux? look when choosing the directory. I mean, you have the beauty of the Mac OS and it's completely ruined by the code they bought. I still hope they change some of the look...not everything.

I thought the same way about Logic. It took them a few years to truly make the interface their own. Finally, this past year, they did and it is SO much more intuitive.
Click to expand...

Part of the color interface is utilitarian though -- its that drab grey (and has no gradients or polish on the buttons either) so it doesnt bias the colorist's eyes over time. I can't begin to describe how important this!
 
That's fine, Dan. I guess it's more the menus, file heirarchy, etc. that just doesn't seem very Apple-like.
 
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