The Editblog

Apple has just released the first maintenance update to the new Final Cut Studio Three version 2009 (or whatever it’s called). Check your software update if you are between projects. Or you can sign in here and download.

I’m desperate for an update to Compressor that address crashing. I’m having a lot of crashes (both with Compressor batches and Droplets) when I try and load large batches. It seems if I get above 15 – 20 clips I get a crash or a beach ball. On more than one machine. I’ve tried restarts and Compressor Repair. Upon a look at the Force Quit dialog box both Compressor and/or Droplet will not be responding.

I posed this very question to Twitter and got mixed answers. Here was a luck user with 50 and 100 clips. And then 40 – 50. There were also smaller numbers like 35 or a dozen or so. How many clips can you get into a Compressor batch at a time?

OK Final Cut Pro users, if ever that was a SuperMeet you want to attend it’s got to be the Amsterdam version. Sure Las Vegas is great and it’s an NAB tradition to go to the Vegas version of the SuperMeet but haven’t we all been looking for a reason to go to Amsterdam? Damn, I wish I was going. To coincide with IBC this year’s Amsterdam SuperMeet takes place on Sunday, August 13 at the Grand Hotel Krasnapolsky. Tickets are very affordable and as always there will be free food, a cash bar and the world famous raffle. The raffle looks good and includes an AJA IO HD and … a Blackmagic Ultrascope! The agenda set thus far includes:

• How to do a Grade in Just 10 minutes with Color 1.5 – Simon Walker.
• Share the love: CS4 Production Premium; Author a Blu-Ray Disc -
• Blackmagic Design Presents “More Right Tools For the Job.”
• Show and Tell – To be Announced Soon
• JVC GY-HM 100/700 ProHD – Rick Young and Semir Nouri
• What You NEED to Know About FCP 7 – Michael Wohl
• Q&A/Feedback Interactive Discussion on the NEW Final Cut Studio.

While I  have to wonder what the Show and Tell will consist of I’m most intrigued by the last item on the agenda, the “Interactive Discussion on the NEW FCS.” Here’s the quote from the press release: “The organizers of the SuperMeet also intend to turn the show over to the audience for an interactive discussion with Final Cut Studio experts who will answer any and all questions on the new Final Cut Studio as well as listen to user feedback and feature requests for future versions of Final Cut Studio. This portion of the meeting will be videotaped and later put on the internet for the world to see.” That looks like it could be a fun segment for the audience. I well realize that type of forum could end up running all night long but a an expert panel and audience Q&A could generate some really great discussion. I hope it won’t turn into audience members trying to get free tech support but rather an intelligent discusion on Final Cut Studio’s +’s, -’s, and its future. I’d love to sit on a panel like that if nothing more than to be the FCP nay-sayer of the bunch and make sure is doesn’t turn into an FCP love-in! Don’t get me wrong, I love FCP but like any application it does have it’s problems. Hopefully Apple will have representatives taking notes. There’s just over a week to do so get your tickets while you still can.

I was able to play with the new Final Cut Pro a bit over the weekend and here are some observations. The good, colorful and ugly.

We maybe I’m exaggerating about the Earth slightly tilting with the release of the new Final Cut Studio. It contains Final Cut Pro 7, Motion 4, Soundtrack Pro 3, Color 1.5, Compressor 3.5 and DVD Studio Pro something as it didn’t get updated and is so old that I think it has a long, gray beard.

The Los Angeles FCP User Group has a good collection of links about the release. Of course there’s Apple’s own Final Cut Studio resources where they also have new Logic Studio updates and a new Final Cut Server. There’s training videos and books available a day after the release as well. Don’t believe the hype though that this is the greatest thing since sliced bread. I took a more critical look at the announced features on Studio Daily and Mike Jones probably summed it up better than anyone.

There was also a slew of Release Notes that came from Apple yesterday. My favorite has to be this one:

I’m so glad they cleared that up! By far the funniest blog post about the new FCS release was from Owen’s Photoblog titled How To Install Final Cut Studio 3. I like #3 in the process:

I’ll bite, I’ll be the sucker and try to do just that at some point over the weekend:

If you’re a user of CoreMelt plug-ins and you haven’t updated to the new V2 line of products that was introduced at NAB 09 then now might be the time. CoreMelt is having a Summer Upgrade Special with 40% off upgrades to V2 products. It’s for 10 days only, July 21 – July 31. This coincides with an update to version 2.2 that adds a number of new effects and transitions. The version 2 of the CoreMelt is a stand-alone plug-in for Final Cut Pro, Motion and After Effects that is no longer part of the FxFactory-engine based architecture. They new release is fast, has a lot of great effects and adds CoreMelt’s own tweaked interface to the Filter tab of FCP:

Tune in to Studio Monthly for an upcoming review of CoreMelt V2.

CoreMelt aren’t the only plug-in creators with NAB specials that end May 1. Automatic Duck is running an NAB special until May 1 as well. Just enter the coupon code NAB2009 upon checkout and take $100 off of any plug-in or plug-in bundle. No you can’t get the $95 Media Copy application for free but you can get a plug-in amongst all of the Automatic Duck offerings that will let you move from one editing, audio or fx app to another. We use Pro Export FCP to move from Final Cut Pro to Quantel eQ for what I think is the best solution for finishing RED jobs from the native .R3D files. Only possible with Automatic Duck!

If you haven’t had a chance to check out the upgrade to the CoreMelt set of plug-ins for Final Cut Pro then head over to their website and check them out right now. They are currently having “special introductory pricing” on their new V2 version of their products. This is a big upgrade and you have until May 1 to get the special pricing.

I haven’t had a chance to review the new version yet but I got a good demo at NAB and I look forward to kicking the tires on the new product. Get ‘em now and save a few $$’s!

I believe I posted this link over to the Keyboard Manifesto at the Editblog on PVC a bit after it came out but since the blog was being hacked for nearly a week it seems to be gone. Here’s an excerpt:

When it comes to increased productivity and better efficiency while editing, saving time every place an editor can will help increase that productivity and efficiency. And we all know saving time is the client’s favorite thing as saving time means saving money. My favorite time saver in Final Cut Pro has been to remap the majority of the default keyboard setup. Since I began using FCP way back around 1999, one of my earliest thoughts was that the default keys weren’t very well thought out.

The Keyboard Manifesto makes a case for remapping the default Final Cut Pro keyboard to something that is much more geared toward editing efficiency and not just remembering where the commands are on the keyboard are located by their first letter.

If you’re coming to NAB I’ll be doing a presentation on this very topic at the Final Cut Pro User Group Network SuperBooth on Wednesday, April 22nd at 2:00 PM. There are presentations going on at the SuperBooth throughout the week and I am honored to do the same. The entire schedule is available at this pdf link.

The 2009 NAB SuperMeet is on April 21, just over a week away, so if you haven’t gotten your tickets yet then the time to buy it now. You don’t want to miss the show which includes presentations on both technology and the art of editing and filmmaking as well. Plus there’s the famous raffle that is up to $70,000 worth of prizes? JVC has announced “Something SuperSecret” for the raffle as well. Could it be one of their native QuickTime shooting cameras? No one knows for sure so you’ll just have to head to Vegas next week to find out. 

I spoke with Michael Horton, the LAFCPUG guru and Digital Production Buzz co-host himself recently and asked him a number of questions about the SuperMeet:

How long has the LAFCPUP been hosting the SuperMeet at NAB?

Lafcpug doesn’t host the SuperMeet. Myself and Daniel Berube of the Boston Final Cut Pro User Group are co-producers of this event and part of a larger
network of FCP UGs from around the world that is called the Final Cut Pro User Group Network. Lafcpug is just a part of the SuperMeet experience like all other UGs. In no way does it host the event.

Is the SuperMeet an actual extension of the NAB conference or is just held in conjunction with the conference?

It is held in conjunction and in no way affiliated at all with NAB. Same thing when we do this event along side Macworld and IBC. We choose to do it this way because many FCS users are already there and SuperMeets serve as a social gathering spot as well as a place to go and learn.

How has the SuperMeet grown over the years?

This is the 8th year we have been doing it at NAB, Macworld and just last year, IBC in Amsterdam. We have gone from a tiny room at the Hilton Hotel in Las Vegas attracting about 200 people, to giant ballrooms attracting more than 1000 people. Our first meet in San Francisco was at a Dentists office.

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It was a crazy, busy month of February at the Editblog on PVC where we attempted one QuickTip a day (as well as all the other tasks of editing) for the entire month. They all went up (usually before noonish), some for Avid, some for Final Cut Pro with a few others thrown in the mix as well. Here are links to them all:

Quicktip Day 01: Use that CAPS LOCK! – FCP

Quicktip Day 02: Map your 9-split exactly to the keypad – FCP

Quicktip Day 03: Project folders in the Finder sidebar – Mac OS

Quicktip Day 04: Tear off the Avid tool palette

Quicktip Day 05: FCP Keyboard changes are viewable in the menus

Quicktip Day 06: Edit FCP Column Heading

Quicktip Day 07:  Custom Avid bin column headings

Quicktip Day 08: Play Base Layer Only – FCP

Quicktip Day 09: Save FCP Column Layouts

Quicktip Day 10: Save Avid Column Layouts

Quicktip Day 11: turn on settings in User Preferences – FCP

Quicktip Day 12: Expos̩ to the function keys РMac OS

Quicktip Day 13: Check Your FCP AV Devices

Quicktip Valentine’s Day 14: Insert a ? or a ? – Mac OS

Quicktip Day 15: Option click to select a file name …. or not? – Mac OS

Quicktip Day 16: Expand all FCP tracks via mouse

Quicktip Day 17: Add Avid filler at start

Quicktip Day 18: Determine total Avid bin duration

Quicktip Day 19: Try the option and shift modifier keys under the Finder menus – Mac OS

Quicktip Day 20: Annotate pictures with Preview – Mac OS

Quicktip Day 21: Set the FCP Logging Bin

Quicktip Day 22: slate buttons to increment numbers – FCP

Quicktip Day 23: Saving a Custom Avid Effect

Quicktip Day 24: Apply Saved Avid Effect to Multiple Clips

Quicktip Day 25: Access Custom Avid Effect

Quicktip Day 26: Saving EDL Comments in Avid

Quicktip Day 27: Promote to Avid Advanced Keyframes

Quicktip Day 28: Turn off Video Scopes Playback – FCP