FCPX 10.0.8 PRE-RELEASE DISCUSSION

Who said Apple "refused" to do dual monitors initially? That's news to me.

As for hand gestures, its here. Look up the Leap Motion controller. I have one on order and they've announced they will ship on May 19th. We just need a developer to link FCP commands to it.

Is not the same as Leap Motion or that Microsoft video, but I´ve been using " Actions for iPad ". It adds keyboard shortcuts to BIIIIG buttons on the iPad.

Is useful and I think is a better approach to this "iPad as a FCPx sidekick" concept some companies are trying to achieve.

I think "Actions" is better than Pixel Film Studio´s " ProCutX ", which I didn´t try, but with those small buttons, you have to move your eyes away from the display to see the iPad and search for the buttons. With Actions is very easy to touch any button without looking. You make mistakes from time to time, but at least you are not leaving the FCPx timeline every second to see the iPad.

This is my actual configuration

BenB wrote: Who said Apple "refused" to do dual monitors initially? That's news to me.

As for hand gestures, its here. Look up the Leap Motion controller. I have one on order and they've announced they will ship on May 19th. We just need a developer to link FCP commands to it.

From memory. There's an early video from LAFCPUG that features Michael Wohl who specifically says that he contacted Apple about a dual monitor configuration and was told that FCP X HAD to run on one screen. It got me thinking that Apple clearly has a one screen touch based system in mind.

The Leap system to me is not what I want. I've got a Kinect at home and it just doesn't work for me. Hate waving my hands in the air. Apple surely will know this is not the way to go.

canelson wrote:

This to me just adds another layer of abstraction. Yet another thing I have to look at to use.
So for me this will just slow me down and take me "out of the moment" of the edit.

I hate to sound negative here, but I can't imagine Apple is going to release a massive FCPX update real soon. If they were going to, why would they have gone to the trouble to produce a totally updated Training Series book with Peach Pit that was JUST released? Again, don't want to be a downer, just seems weird to release a large update right after updating that book... but then again, Apple has done crazier things I suppose...

I think that since the launch, the books have been an afterthought as there's a myriad of training resources out there. The book you're referring to is already outdated. It was welcome as the original book was pretty outdated itself.

Jason Cox wrote: I hate to sound negative here, but I can't imagine Apple is going to release a massive FCPX update real soon. If they were going to, why would they have gone to the trouble to produce a totally updated Training Series book with Peach Pit that was JUST released? Again, don't want to be a downer, just seems weird to release a large update right after updating that book... but then again, Apple has done crazier things I suppose...

Why not. Professionals are in limbo. Their work flow is basically Adobefied which is HORRIBLE. Time for revolution. I think so.

The books are always going to be behind- so I don't think that's any indication of what's going to happen with the software itself.

As usual, I just point to the span between updates as a rough guide to when we might get an update.

Feature releases have been 91, 76, and 134 days after the previous release.

Maintenance releases have spanned from 44 to 70 days interval.

Next Tuesday would be 96 days since 10.0.7. A release at NAB would be aprox 124 days.

So we're well past the development time for a maintenance release.


As for the drafting table mockup, while I LOVE my WACOM Cintiq for drawing... and while I'm sure that artists, architects and draftsmen of all varieties would love it; I'm not convinced that a slanted workspace would be the optimum setup for editorial.

Training Book:
Apple's software development teams and "Apple Worldwide Training" are two totally separate entities that do not work with each other. With the way updates are coming out, there is no way to keep a book updated.

The current "Second Edtion" book is in fact up to date. It will only go out of date when the next new feature release is made public. We certified trainers get a Trainers Guide for each course, and they are updated with each release, indicating how to incorporate the new features and screen changes into our training. The "Apple Pro Training Series" books are first and foremost created for Apple Authorized Training. That's just the way they do it.

But some new training format will have to emerge with the new way apps update via the App Store, and not every two years with a box of DVDs. Only time will tell.

And it would not shock me one bit (piss me off, maybe) if Apple Authorized Training simple up and evaporated one day. I don't see it fitting in with everything they're doing now with software and App Store updates.


iPad Controllers:
I have used every iPad controller ever made for FCP and Logic, and have hated each and every one of them, including ProCut X. You can not use any of them without physically taking your eyes off the screen to look to see where buttons are, no matter how big they are.

With my keyboard and Magic Trackpad, I very rarely have to take my eyes off of the screen.


Updates:
App Store, we will see small incremental updates from now on, just as we have. That's how the App Store was built, that what it was made for. I think there was a pattern at one time, but I feel we will see that tapper off or otherwise change over time. No one knows, we can only take guesses based on what we hope for. Que sera...

I don't hold my breath for updates anymore. They will come when they come and I'm getting work done in the mean time. But interesting to read what everyone things about it all.

Hey Ben. I'm not sitting around waiting for updates either. I've been using the software happily and healthily for over a year.

Since the software is still relatively immature, it's fun to speculate where it's going to go. Unlike with other NLEs, which are just refining the decades-old model, FCPX is presenting the first new and interesting set of ideas in this space for some time. We all love to talk about where it might go, and and updates are the window we get into that future.

So sure, I'm intrigued as to when the next update will be.

As for the regularity of updates, last year broke the pattern a bit, but I have a feeling (ok, it's more than a feeling- take that for what you will) that the Retina update was sprung on the FCPX team and it pushed back their release schedule for the whole year. If they hadn't had to switch gears to have FCPX Retina ready for WWDC in June, then we could/would have seen the 10.0.7 features around the 1yr anniversary; likely as 10.0.5.

But I do agree that at a certain point development will slow down as the product matures- but I think we have a couple years of head-down development yet.

Plus the fact that Apple needs a big headline if they want to woo back the professionals.
As of right now they are gone. Not even coming close to considering FCP X.

@Disproportionate Pictures: I like your balanced position on things, and that is just the way things are. I've also been using FCPX successfully for the past year and its just exciting to have something that you already work with upgraded to something potentially better. It is as simple as that @Seanus. So I'd say I'm not talking from the perspective of someone looking to change. Rather its like already owning a BMW and the dealership calls you up one day and says hey drive your car by we have some upgrades for ya. Isn't that cool. Thats all it really is. And these things usually make your life easier.

As for the professionals who have left FCPX or waiting for something better to come back to. --
You've got to do what you've got to do to get your job done. (Period) -- If that means leaving or coming to FCPX that is a personal decision based on your specific needs, potentials, and possibilities in order to reach your goal.

So much focus on FCPX.

No one has mentioned whether they believe Motion or Compressor will get significant updates in the not to distant future.

Compressor badly needs some work as Apple's H.264 seems to be near the bottom of the heap in efficiency. No High Profile or CABAC support or 4:2:2 color space beginning to appear in some H.264 broadcast delivery specs for spots. In fact broadcast delivery of Program or Transport Streams support seems weak. This from a company that says tape and optical disk are dead. Their support for file delivery warrants significant improvement.

While we certainly want round tripping with Motion there doesn't seem to be much mentioned regarding additional feature requests.

Anyone think Compressor and/or Motion are going to get noteworthy updates in the near future?

I'm still convinced that the plan is to discontinue Motion and Compressor Each major release of FCPX will grab more and more of the core features of them.

I think the reason for that is because (outside of roundtripping) neither Motion or Compressor lost functionality in the 2011 updates.

Motion was recoded for 64bit and got a paint job to match FCPX aesthetically.

While Compressor was basically a port of the FCS3 version to the appStore. No under the hood or UI changes. Those are surely coming.

I find Motion very capable for Motion graphics work, but without either increased 3rd party support or built in 3D tracking and 3D object import, it's use does have a perceptible ceiling.

Compressor will likely see a lot of improvements when it's recoded, including UI, optimizations, and more targeted delivery options.

Now that the apps have been broken apart as a "Studio", there's no inherent need to update them all at the same time-- unless those updates involve cross compatibility, of course...

I'd love to see big updates to both this year, but Apple may be remaining tightly focused on FCPX in the short term, since the importance of gaining traction with it ultimately supersedes the others.

Although I own and use AE, and have several high-end plug-ins for it, I prefer Motion for many jobs- so I'd definitely love to see its feature-set expand.

"I'm still convinced that the plan is to discontinue Motion and Compressor"

Anything is possible, but I don't see it happening. Doing that would take a relatively simple to use application and add layers and levels of complexity that are fairly unnecessary. Apple tends to lean towards less complexity in its applications, not more.

cseeman wrote: So much focus on FCPX.

No one has mentioned whether they believe Motion or Compressor will get significant updates in the not to distant future.

YES! I do. I think we will see Motion X definitely soon. I think Compressor will be nixed in favour of a new product that will tie into Apple's plans for Media distribution.

Apple - Presenter?

much of what Motion has to offer can be re-imagined in FCPX without adding unnecessary complexity. Just last year there was the notion that bezier masking and object tracking were best left to VFX/Motion Graphics apps...yet now with Coremelt SliceX and Boris Continuum we can see how these can be added to FCPX with little impact to the apps overall usability.

A small amount of what Motion does can be brought over to FCP X. Particle emitters, parameter behaviors, the interface itself in no way lend them selves to being viable FCP X tools. I don't think they'd put the work into Motion as a stand alone only to close it up. I use Motion to create some very complex stuff daily, and I just can't see it being folded into FCP X without losing the bulk of its functionality. And a jump from Motion 5 to Motion X is very unlikely.

Some of compressor is showing up in the OS itself, thus I predict we will see Compressor go away, and its basic functions be simple OS functions. For example, in Lion and more in Mountain Lion, right-click a video or audio file in the Finder, and there is an encoding option. No extra "app" needed. I think that makes it obvious where that is going. But I'd hate to see the complex, higher end, customizing functions of Compressor go away.

Today We have Compound Clip, MultiCam Clip....what I'm imagining now is a forthcoming "Motion Clip." When you open such a clip you get a modified set of views. The effect browser as it is could have another button/section for emitters and so on. Slight modifications to the GUI could really accomodate most of Motions basic layout.

Back in 2011 One of the bloggers on this forum looked into the FCPX app binary and found many references to Motion functions that have not yet surfaced in the GUI.

Possibly the Motion team is simply refactoring code bit by bit preparing it for merging with FCPX codebase. I don't perceive that a lot of Motion Graphics-oriented features were added to this version in its latest release...mainly a 64bit port and aesthetic refresh?