Final Cut Studio 3.0, Final Cut Server update in Apple's pipeline
Apple in recent weeks has reached out to members of its professional video editing communities to help test a couple of updates to its Final Cut suite of video production tools: one major and one incremental.
The first is Final Cut Studio 3.0, the Cupertino-based firm's second major overhaul to its professional video and audio production suite for Mac OS X bundling component applications Final Cut Pro, Motion, Soundtrack, DVD Studio Pro, Color, and Compressor.
Although earlier rumors had pegged the software for release in early spring, the suite -- code named "Sideways" -- is still undergoing beta and compatibility tests with Snow Leopard, the company's next-gen operating system believed to be integral to a wide variety of professional application upgrades still under development at Apple and likely to arrive after the OS's summer release.
While details are few and far between, AppleInsider has been able to confirm that recent distributions of Sideways are members of the 30A1xx build train and weigh in just shy of 3 gigabytes.
Separately, Apple has also been evaluating an update to Final Cut Server code named "Dingo." Details surrounding this update are similarly vague, but its focus is believed to be incremental support for Mac OS X 10.6 Snow Leopard among other tweaks. Unlike Studio, however, its milestone markers suggest the update will arrive as a point release to the current edition of Final Cut Server and not represent a completely new offering.
AppleInsider previously reported on in-progress updates to a handful of Final Cut Studio's component applications, namely Motion (changes unknown) Color 1.5 (Snow Leopard compatibility) and ProRes Codec (unknown). It's unclear whether these updates will precede Final Cut Studio 3.0 as updates to Final Cut Studio 2.0, or come bundled with 3.0.
Additional details will be reported if and when they become available.
AppleInsider correspondent Kyla-L contributed to this report.
The first is Final Cut Studio 3.0, the Cupertino-based firm's second major overhaul to its professional video and audio production suite for Mac OS X bundling component applications Final Cut Pro, Motion, Soundtrack, DVD Studio Pro, Color, and Compressor.
Although earlier rumors had pegged the software for release in early spring, the suite -- code named "Sideways" -- is still undergoing beta and compatibility tests with Snow Leopard, the company's next-gen operating system believed to be integral to a wide variety of professional application upgrades still under development at Apple and likely to arrive after the OS's summer release.
While details are few and far between, AppleInsider has been able to confirm that recent distributions of Sideways are members of the 30A1xx build train and weigh in just shy of 3 gigabytes.
Separately, Apple has also been evaluating an update to Final Cut Server code named "Dingo." Details surrounding this update are similarly vague, but its focus is believed to be incremental support for Mac OS X 10.6 Snow Leopard among other tweaks. Unlike Studio, however, its milestone markers suggest the update will arrive as a point release to the current edition of Final Cut Server and not represent a completely new offering.
AppleInsider previously reported on in-progress updates to a handful of Final Cut Studio's component applications, namely Motion (changes unknown) Color 1.5 (Snow Leopard compatibility) and ProRes Codec (unknown). It's unclear whether these updates will precede Final Cut Studio 3.0 as updates to Final Cut Studio 2.0, or come bundled with 3.0.
Additional details will be reported if and when they become available.
AppleInsider correspondent Kyla-L contributed to this report.
Comments
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As the launch of Snow Leopard looms I expect for a special event to be held to fully flesh out the offerings.
We'll finally see Phenomenon and Color will be demoed with a more Apple like UI though it'll still familiar to color grading Pro.
Logic Studio and Aperture will follow as well. I think these Apple Pro apps will be connected in ways that they aren't today. There's an opportunity to make each of them a peer application by sharing common backing engines and more.
I initially thought that Apple would not hitch a new release of FCS onto Snow Leopard but it seems that they've indeed taking the heart the idealogy that SL represents the foundation for the future of OS X and that means they'll going to ship a major content creation app on a new OS platform. That's interesting.
Folks. I think I have been sitting on this news long enough. As you all know, one of the most frustration thing about video editing in HD is that you can never work directly with the original clips without some serious performance hit and frame skipping.
The solution to this issue, so far, has been to either use proxies or transcode the clip into a format that can be rendered in real time (ex: ProRes 422). Each of these solutions has a disadvantage. Proxies add complexity to the workflow (I wish Premiere or FCP would handle them like After Effects does) and if you transcode to another codec, you are losing some image quality (they don’t handle the color the same way). The lost might be minimal but it is there. That is why some people just keep editing in H.264 and accept the ever present render bar as a necessary evil.
Well, it is time to rejoice because very soon all of these issues are going to be history! I have learned that the next version of Quicktime (coming with Snow Leopard) is going to allow real time editing of the Canon 5DMrkII H.264 clips!
After dinking around with iMovie 09 and seeing how Apple is able to do a lot of realtime stuff on a simple Mac I'm in agreement. A Mac Pro will probably handle AVCHD in realtime though I expect ProRes 422 will still have advantages.
http://macsoda.com/2009/04/21/fcs-3-where-is-it/
So that new Final Cut Studio 3 I was talking about that’s being announced at WWDC? Apparently the two years we waited wasn’t in vain. Read about this new feature that’s coming. Now wipe the tears of joy that are inevitably streaming from your face.
Get ready for next Monday… its gonna be big.
I'm sure he meant Monday June 8th
Is apple finally going to get it right this time around? Or will this be a few bugfixes (but not enough), a few new features (although still missing some huge ones in every other audio app), and a bunch of new bugs that will go unfixed for another year or more?
I'm dying to get my hands on 3.0, but I suspect that it may be like 2.0 all over again and be totally unusable until one or two bugfix releases ship.
And what is up with Logic, yet another "pro" app stuck in the doldrums while competitors improve by leaps and bounds?
DVD Studio Pro of course should bring with it the long-overdue ability to Author Blu-Ray discs.
Here's hoping for a heavy overhaul of Final Cut Pro, specifically in the areas of keyframing and text. Some modern-age transitions would sure be nice as well, seeing as how Keynote puts Final Cut "Pro" to shame in that department.
DVD Studio Pro of course should bring with it the long-overdue ability to Author Blu-Ray discs.
I TOTALLY back you on these requests! I always wanted to be able to use Keynote transitions in FCP and have no idea why we can't! KEY FRAMING is a biggie for me. MUCH room to be improved here. Bugs AND enhancements. And Blu-Ray authoring would be REALLY nice, and about time.
The above two entries list what many of us want, but Apple rarely fulfills our wishlists in their entirety. Which begs the question, how much does Apple truly listen to people who are willing to pay $1,300 for a software suite?
They listen up to a point. If you're screaming about a feature that is unique to say a competitor they're not going to clone this feature.
I've heard so many people wanting a straight up copy of "Beat Detective" from ProTools in Logic but Apple's simply not going to copy Digidesign part and parcel. They will typically try to deliver a feature that is somewhat unique yet accomplishes the same goal.
The above two entries list what many of us want, but Apple rarely fulfills our wishlists in their entirety. Which begs the question, how much does Apple truly listen to people who are willing to pay $1,300 for a software suite?
Unfortunately it's not just Apple that does this, but they are always used as an example since they get so much attention for their products. Many companies always leave something out no matter what the product is, it seems. This gives the customer an incentive to upgrade yet again when a next version comes out. It's business as usual.
Really, it would be nice for a company to make a software suit that does everything you want it to, and never have to release an update unless it's keeping in touch with advancements in outside technology.
It's not just software either. You see this in hardware all the time. HTC phones are a great example. Never giving everyone everything they ever wanted, but always making it close enough for people to upgrade.
The above two entries list what many of us want, but Apple rarely fulfills our wishlists in their entirety. Which begs the question, how much does Apple truly listen to people who are willing to pay $1,300 for a software suite?
I'd say Apple listens to users of their pro software not one bit. OK, maybe 2-3 percent, I do remember one Logic fix in 8.0.1 after the new interface got an absolutely huge outcry from users. But that's the only example I can think of.
They listen up to a point. If you're screaming about a feature that is unique to say a competitor they're not going to clone this feature.
I've heard so many people wanting a straight up copy of "Beat Detective" from ProTools in Logic but Apple's simply not going to copy Digidesign part and parcel. They will typically try to deliver a feature that is somewhat unique yet accomplishes the same goal.
I strongly disagree - I'm sure the vast majority of Logic users would be perfectly happy with something that accomplished everything Beat Detective does but in a different way.
But apple hasn't even done that, they don't offer those abilities in ANY form. This is exactly why apps like logic are falling WAY behind digi. Apple doesn't offer their own version of a feature, they just ignore the competition and their own users and hope nobody notices how behind the times they are.
What would be so bad about copying a good feature in competing software, whether it's the same implementation of the functionality or a different one? That's exactly what digi did, and not only have they added a bunch of new features, they have taken many of the advantages Logic had and implemented them.
Unfortunately it's not just Apple that does this, but they are always used as an example since they get so much attention for their products. Many companies always leave something out no matter what the product is, it seems. This gives the customer an incentive to upgrade yet again when a next version comes out. It's business as usual.
That's true to a degree, but just compare the latest Logic to the latest Pro Tools - digi put in a hell of a lot more of the features users wanted. And I dare say, I'll bet that the next version of Logic does very little to catch up, it will probably still be missing things like an equivalent to Beat Detective (which is years old).
Nothing about Phenomenon?
Ron Brinkmann, one of the original developers of Shake:
"I really can?t say much about where Apple may or may not be going with future products. Although the fact that I decided it was time to move on might be a reasonable clue as to my confidence level that any alleged ?next generation? tool will be focused on the market (high end vfx and animation) that I?m interested in? And why I?m now working with The Foundry on Nuke?" (Feb 2008)
I'm starting to think that Phenomenon is dead as a pro-level app. Apple doesn't seem interested in this high-end market as a software developer. There's no way Apple fx/compositing/animation software will ever be touted as being used in an Academy Award winning film again. Apple doesn't even seem to be tying itself into Pixar's projects these days, and its "pro" page seems pretty barren. I really hope Final Cut comes out strong, because without it, I'm not sure what Apple has to offer anymore.
Apple in recent weeks has reached out to members of its professional video editing communities to help test a couple of updates to its Final Cut suite of video production tools: one major and one incremental. ...
Not being a video developer the only interest this article has for me is as an update on the move to Snow Leopard and 64 bit computing. Unfortunately, this article (like the four or five recent articles on similar topics), fails to mention anything about 64 vs. 32 bit processing.
I really wish that AppleInsider would do some kind of simple comprehensive report on this aspect of Snow Leopard development especially as it relates to the Pro apps and various parts of the Snow Leopard system that are not yet 64 bit. This is obviously key, but seems to always be left out of your reports. A comprehensive but brief report on what's 64 bit, what's not (among the Pro apps) and if we can expect everything to be 64 bit by Snow Leopards release date would be an ideal topic for "Prince McLean" would it not?
Why did we have to wait until the article you posted this morning with screen shots of Snow Leopard to even see that simple list of what's left in the 32 bit category system-wise? Why does it take an inadvertent slip by a third party talking about a different topic altogether for this information to be published?
There are a lot of folks out there that are really interested in the move to 64 bits, but other than some vague references to the fact that we can "expect" things to be mostly all 64 bits in Snow Leopard, you guys have been mostly silent on the matter, even in cases like this where the entire article is about a new version of a "pro" app that is slated to work with Snow Leopard.
I don't get it. Is it just that all you developer dudes know this already and don't want to bother to let the rest of us in on it? One *can* be a technically literate and informed reader, but still out of the loop on developer related issues you know.
Not being a video developer the only interest this article has for me is as an update on the move to Snow Leopard and 64 bit computing. Unfortunately, this article (like the four or five recent articles on similar topics), fails to mention anything about 64 vs. 32 bit processing.
Excellent point. Apple's (repeated) promises of 64 bit salvation come up empty when there are no apps taking advantage of it, including their own.
So will this update be 64 bit or not? With it in beta test, surely someone must know (and be willing to leak) that relatively minor bit of information.
I'd say Apple listens to users of their pro software not one bit. OK, maybe 2-3 percent, I do remember one Logic fix in 8.0.1 after the new interface got an absolutely huge outcry from users. But that's the only example I can think of.
That's a good thing. Most of the musicians running DAW hardly know the app they're deriding on the mesageboards.
Frankly I think Apple has a cadre of trusted users who actually know the software and its foibles. Thus they can give "accurate" critiques about what needs to change.
Listening to too many people with a wide dynamic range of experience and knowledgability is fruitless. Many will just whine about the missing Cubase, Digidesign, Avid, Vegas or Ableton feature that they love so much.
Apple would be out of business if they were so obtuse as to fail to give people what they want.
That's a good thing. Most of the musicians running DAW hardly know the app they're deriding on the mesageboards.
What specifically is a good thing? That they listened in this one particular case, or that they generally ignore the users?
Frankly I think Apple has a cadre of trusted users who actually know the software and its foibles. Thus they can give "accurate" critiques about what needs to change.
Based on what Apple has actually released, I find that incredibly hard to believe - their software has increasingly given the impression that they have few if any people actually doing pro audio/video giving input. Or probably more likely, they do know what users want but just don't have the manpower to actually improve the app in a significant way (brain drain to iMovie and Garage Band?).
Listening to too many people with a wide dynamic range of experience and knowledgability is fruitless.
I'd agree with that. But I'd say they should be listening to actual PRO users and instead they seem to be more interested in getting the upgrade from people outgrowing Garage Band.
Many will just whine about the missing Cubase, Digidesign, Avid, Vegas or Ableton feature that they love so much.
I'm confused. When Cubase or PT has a great feature and Logic doesn't, how exactly is that "whining" as opposed to pointing out an actual shortcoming of Logic?
Apple would be out of business if they were so obtuse as to fail to give people what they want.
We're not talking about Apple's business overall, we're talking specifically about pro apps. The last version of Logic had a drastic price cut, I'm sure that brought an influx of cash and new users. But based on what I've seen over the last couple years, I wouldn't be surprised if more and more users abandon it in favor of competing apps that are actually updated. It's hard not to get the impression that Apple doesn't take the pro apps seriously and is fine with using them as a development lab for things like iMovie and Garage Band, and letting them be subsidized instead of having them really compete in the marketplace.
Do you actually use Logic (and Soundtrack Pro)? Have you actually compared it to the latest versions of competing apps?
That's when there are confirmed BUGS in the software.
Personally, I find an app having flaws with the most basic functionality to be completely unacceptable.
What specifically is a good thing? That they listened in this one particular case, or that they generally ignore the users?
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Based on what Apple has actually released, I find that incredibly hard to believe - their software has increasingly given the impression that they have few if any people actually doing pro audio/video giving input. Or probably more likely, they do know what users want but just don't have the manpower to actually improve the app in a significant way (brain drain to iMovie and Garage Band?).
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I'd agree with that. But I'd say they should be listening to actual PRO users and instead they seem to be more interested in getting the upgrade from people outgrowing Garage Band.
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I'm confused. When Cubase or PT has a great feature and Logic doesn't, how exactly is that "whining" as opposed to pointing out an actual shortcoming of Logic?
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We're not talking about Apple's business overall, we're talking specifically about pro apps. The last version of Logic had a drastic price cut, I'm sure that brought an influx of cash and new users. But based on what I've seen over the last couple years, I wouldn't be surprised if more and more users abandon it in favor of competing apps that are actually updated. It's hard not to get the impression that Apple doesn't take the pro apps seriously and is fine with using them as a development lab for things like iMovie and Garage Band, and letting them be subsidized instead of having them really compete in the marketplace.
Do you actually use Logic (and Soundtrack Pro)? Have you actually compared it to the latest versions of competing apps?
Having a smaller "test group" of professionals that know intimately the product lineage. If I want to get a good idea about the effectiveness of my beta I want people who really know the current shipping app. The end users at large often "think" they know what they want but unless they have the depth of knowledge of a given app they could be asking for features that already exist.
I don't know..Professional get their job done everyday with Logic and Final Cut Pro. Sure there are glitches but overcoming obstacles and delivering is what the truly talented do.
I think the difference between whining and constructive criticism is again knowledgability. It's like the quote "those who say it cannot be done are interrupted by those actually doing it" Pro apps are a lot like that. The most vocal seem to be the ones the know the least. Those with considerable knowledge tend to be able to articulate what they dislike and like more succinctly.
I haven't started using Logic Pro which is why I'm always looking for those in the know. I think STP has many issues with stability and thus have avoided it. The bar has certainly been raised with PT8 and Cubase5 though I expect this summer will bring Logic Studio 1.5 in addition to FCS3 and Aperture 3. I'm willing to cut Apple some slack here. They've had some heavy transitions recently but it's time to deliver the type of apps we expect. I think they're going to do that.
I don't know..Professional get their job done everyday with Logic and Final Cut Pro. Sure there are glitches but overcoming obstacles and delivering is what the truly talented do.
So, anyone who expects their pro apps to work like "pro apps" is a whiner, or untalented?
How long are you going to keep pimping your "blog", when you haven't updated it in two years?