I’ve been inundated with comments on my two most recent blogs on the release of Final Cut Pro X:
#1: Ain’t Nothing Like It in the World
#2: Apple’s Challenges (with FCP X)
Late last night, Apple published an FAQ answering some of the questions that have been raised during this discussion. Notice that for the first time, they are using words like “not yet” and “coming this summer.”
I recommend you read this.
http://www.apple.com/finalcutpro/faq/
Also, yesterday I heard a reasonably substantial rumor that Apple has decided to re-release Final Cut Studio (3) back into the market. I checked with my sources at Apple and was told this was NOT true.
I still think this is a serious mistake and urge Apple to reconsider – it does not hurt the launch of FCP X to also sell Final Cut Studio (3).
By the way, I want to reiterate something I said last night at the LAFCPUG meeting – it is way too early to make any final decisions on Final Cut Pro. FCP X is in its infancy. Apple IS listening to the discussion. To my way of thinking, Apple totally blew the launch of FCP X and needs to move quickly to fix things. Before you make any final decisions for yourself or your company, wait a bit. My suggestion is a month.
At the end of that time, passions will have cooled, Apple will have time to respond, and we will all have time to think. It is always better to make decisions with a cool head after thinking about it for a while.
The situation many editors find themselves in is difficult, but not hopeless. Give this a little time to play out.
I’ll have more later this week – still trying to wade through all the email — thanks to everyone for writing.
I am always interested in your comments.
Larry
P.S. By the way, I read every email and every comment, but I am just buried in trying to answer them all. I’m sorry if I haven’t gotten to yours yet.
36 Responses to Apple Is Listening
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danner says:
June 29, 2011 at 10:27 am
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Chaba Gryphon says:
June 29, 2011 at 10:29 am
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Dave Heinzel says:
June 29, 2011 at 10:46 am
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Caesar Darias says:
June 29, 2011 at 11:19 am
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Terry says:
June 29, 2011 at 11:39 am
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Golding Productions says:
June 29, 2011 at 12:08 pm
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Kirk Lohse says:
June 29, 2011 at 12:32 pm
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Ron Priest says:
June 29, 2011 at 12:37 pm
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Dave Heinzel says:
June 29, 2011 at 1:00 pm
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Caesar Darias says:
June 29, 2011 at 1:03 pm
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Larry says:
June 29, 2011 at 1:25 pm
Newer Comments →This is the beginning, not the end… of serious problems between Apple and creative professionals.
I’m sorry Larry, but I disagree. Apple doesn’t care about the Pro market. As proof, here is a post from MacRumors. It quotes Ron Brinkmann (the original designer of Shake) and he pretty much confirms everything so many of us believe. Apple is just stringing people along. At least they try to.
http://www.macrumors.com/2011/06/28/former-shake-product-designer-apple-doesnt-care-about-pro-market/
At the risk of not adding anything substantial to this situation, I just wanted to say thanks for being the voice of reason in this whirlwind. I feel like I have just been dumped by the girlfriend that I was about to propose to. That sounds dramatic, but when you love what you do, when you are passionate about filmmaking, and suddenly the company making your favorite tool seems interested on dumbing it down for the uneducated masses — it hurts. I want to keep saying I’m proud to be a Final Cut Pro user.
Well, I’m glad to know that multicam is in the works, albeit, not until the “next major release.” Who knows when that will be. Multicam should be quite awesome with 64-bit and Thunderbolt.
One request, Larry. Please tell Apple to allow users to place chapter markers in FCP X. It would be a big time-saver. It just makes no sense to have to do it elsewhere. I’m sure Randy Ubillos could get that done while having lunch, playing tennis and with one hand tied behind his back.
I’m also glad to get confirmation that projects can travel between computers via an external hard drive. I do that all the time. I take a hard drive from work and continue to edit at home. (In FCP 7)
There you have it! Lets move on now and stop bickering and complaining. Apple is clearly addressing the most important issues for the Film/TV post-production industry. With support for X-San 2 included in Lion, network workflow support is only a matter of time as well. As Larry says, we just need to give them some time to work this out. Give them a month to 6 months. Software coding takes time – a great deal of time. It’s clear that Apple only released Final Cut Pro X with what features that worked correctly. Any other features that were not ready yet, they did not include and will add them as soon as they are perfected.
We have to step back and just spend this time learning the new software and become experts on it. Then when the desired features are added and the software outperforms the old, then we switch. Until then we continue to use what we have for our current and new projects, whether that is Final Cut Studio 3 or 2, Adobe Production Suite CS5, Media 100, AVID, or any of those in combination.
Thank you Larry.
I was hoping Apple placing Multicam as a “top priority” would mean that it would come sooner rather than later. “Next Major Release” is disheartening.
Larry,
First of all, I want to say also, that I VERY much appreciate the hundreds of dozens of hours you have put in pre and post FCPX release mania. And I TOO, would like to call for everyone to just CHILL OUT!
These many Chicken Littles who are screaming that “the sky is falling” are reminiscent of those who started hammering nails in Apple’s coffin when Steve unveiled the iMac. EGAD?!?!!? NO FLOPPY DRIVE?!?!? NO TOWER?!?!? WHO’s GONNA BUY A COMPUTER THAT LOOKS LIKE THAT? etc. etc.
Apple ALWAYS zigs when everyone else is zagging. And this is simply another instance of that. They’re LEADING–again. No DVD support? meh. Content is going to the CLOUD people–get used to it. Blu-ray is nearing the rest home and it’s only about four years old!
But I MUST take issue with one of the earlier posts in this thread.
Mr. Heinzel’s arrogant, narcissistic “dumbing it down for the uneducated masses” comment is just the type of Philistine, pig-ignorant inflammatory crap these discussions do NOT need.
I’ve been using FCP since Apple bought it from Macromedia. Likewise, I was one of the FIRST people in the country to be using Astarte’s DVDirector and learing DVD authoring when it cost over $15K for all the hardware and software necessary to do so! Didn’t have many takers for DVD work in those days when you had to recoup $15 just for the blank DVD!
I’m no “johnny come lately”, “wet behind the ears”, “17-21 year old DSLR filmmaker wannabe”. I’m an EDucated, experienced and accomplished director and editor, but simply because I don’t work in Hollywood, or for some big post house, or a major network, doesn’t mean I’m an “uneducated mass”.
Many, like myself, who by design were unable to financially keep pace with the lightspeed advances that have occurred in digital production over the years, find themselves feeling “benched” by the elitists like Heinzel, with their overblown budgets for AJA this and Kona that and BlackMagic the other, and their secret language that consists of a seemingly endless string of acronyms.
So forgive me if this “old dog” is excited about learning a new trick with FCPX.
Excited because it levels the playing field a bit and puts all of us back at square one with an application that the elitists like Heinzel have hijacked over the years with their 3:2 pulldowns and 4:2:2 chroma samplings and all such technobabble.
Excited because now I don’t have to spend time and effort trying to figure out how to get 5 or 6 different types of media into the same project without rendering or transcoding or blah blah blah.
Excited because I don’t have to keep up with where what file is and that my editing suite is now database driven instead of file driven, and the many time and money saving benefits that offers me.
Excited because now I’m free to take whatever I want (or whatever I’m given) to work with and concentrate on CREATING compelling visual stories, which is why I got into this in the first place. As far as I am concerned those who aspire to be techno-babbling geeks, need to stay on the PC and work with Excel!
The American Heritage Dictionary defines PROFESSIONAL as engaging in a given activity as a source of livelihood or as a career- e.g., a “professional” writer.
I happen to engage in the activity of producing video as a livelihood or career, so I am a Professional. Like it or not, agree with it or not Mr. Heinzel, I could care less.
Thanks again Larry! You’re the greatest. I’ll leave you all with an amended quote from a post I read last nite on Mark Spencer’s Linked In Motion forum – “GROW UP, Keep Calm…EDIT ON!”
Thanks Larry for posting that link to Apples answers to our most FAQ. I’m happy to finally know that FCP 7 will indeed be compatible with Lion, that’s a big relief off my mind, as well as others I’m sure.
One question I have for you though Larry. How did you find that FAQ page? I certainly don’t see a link to it on any other of Apples pages ANYWHERE. It looks kind of suspicious to me if you want to know the truth. I took a snap shot of it just in case it’s nowhere to be found next week, or next month. Oh I have no doubt that it was placed there by Apple, but it just seems strange to me that they don’t want to post a link to it anywhere else but, well your blogsite Larry. Please correct me if I’ve overlooked a link on Apples site somewhere else.
Kirk, I’m not above anyone here. I don’t have a big budget. I work in public education, and I am learning this stuff like anyone else.
My “dumbing it down for the uneducated masses” comment was prefaced with “seems” because that’s what it feels that Apple is doing in some instances, one of them being the color board and its lack of precise, numeric inputs. Another being the magnetic timeline that appears to be a solution to save editors from themselves. Overall, from media management to editing to exporting, it just feels like Apple has taken the stance that its users no longer *need* to deal with the technical intricacies of advanced editing without caring about those who *want* to deal with such details.
Anyway, I by no means am trying to say “if you use FCPX, you’re uneducated,” which seems to be the nerve I hit. I assume I’ll use it exclusively someday and totally love it. Also I’m tickled to be called an elitist. Thanks for making my day. 🙂
Larry, I keep forgetting to ask this question: Can you de-link video and audio in the Timeline and just keep the audio without the video?
I was concerned about this because you cannot do this in iMovie. You can detach audio but you cannot keep it unless there’s video in the same space.
Ceasar:
Yes, you can delink audio and video and delete either the audio or the video of a clip.
Larry