Well, we finally know what Apple's been working on during the last couple years while Final Cut Pro users have been waiting and wondering... They offered a glimpse of the new "Final Cut Pro X" on the Supermeet stage they appropriated from their various industry partners one week prior to the event.
Emmanuel Pampuri has the presentation, captured from the audience, on Vimeo...
I will say that Apple is certainly capable of creating more marketing momentum from small amounts of precisely applied information than any company in any business that I've ever seen. I don't think that it is overstating the situation to say that this is their genius.
In this case the momentum seems divided between two camps. There are those who look at what little they saw and imply a "prosumer direction" due to the streamlined interface and its similarity to iMovie...
Scott Simmons compares the iMovie and FCPX "magnetic timelines..."
There are those who have anointed FCPX as "the future of editing..."
Videomaker magazine declares FCPX "Best Editing Software of NAB 2011"
...I guess there wasn't a category for "Best Keynote Presentation Showing Screen Grabs of Software that Doesn't Exist Yet.".
I'd say that the jury will be out until we see something we can at least test drive. QuickTime has been left to seed as the first computer company with a 64 bit OS now needs to completely gut its 32 bit media architecture 8 years later, so the changes coming from Apple will undoubtedly be significant.
I for one don't believe that a streamlined interface is a blatant cue that the application will lack the sophistication a professional needs...but then I also believe that presenting "background rendering" as if it's cutting edge technology when it was a feature in Pinnacle editing software nearly a decade ago (before Avid acquired them), is pure Apple, playing catch up without ever losing the swagger.
One thing is certain, it's nearly impossible to find a neutral opinion on what transpired during the presentation, which keeps the industry buzzing...which is what illustrates the genius in not revealing too much, but tossing a few hints out to seed the prognostication of Apple's motivations, intentions, and direction.
Hopefully the buzz level stays high enough that they get the bounce they'd like at release as no matter what Apple's charts say about their user base growth and market share, Avid and Adobe are gaining ground every day that there isn't a freshly minted Final Cut Pro version to evaluate.
Of course, once Apple's media architecture starts experiencing version 1 bumps in the road, look for Apple's computer platform to get some scrutiny as Microsoft's Windows 7 builds on an already fairly solid start...
That's all I've got as my crystal ball is starting to fog up...
TimK
Thursday, April 21, 2011
Saturday, April 2, 2011
NAB 2011...let the insanity begin.
OK...one week and counting until the National Association of Broadcasters tradeshow in Las Vegas and things are already starting to look interesting...
GoPro buys CineForm.
I own 5 GoPro POV cameras which I originally bought for automotive work, then started to use them for various other things...I really like them and they are an incredible piece of equipment for the money.
I use CineForm Intermediate codecs for many purposes within various HD post production workflows and have for years. It's an excellent, efficient, and very high quality video compression system that has in the last few years, also become one of the industry's truly useful metadata management systems. One benefit of using CineForm's workflow is the ability to use their primary color correction system along with the rest of the metadata management tools in their application called "FirstLight", including the ability to do alteration of visual stereo (3D) settings on CineForm's industry-leading file structure which puts the right and left eye video clips inside the same video file.
(Disclaimer: I wrote the current manual for FirstLight as well as use the application regularly...I will not claim complete objectivity...though there are almost no competing tools to compare it to...)
GoPro has been selling their cameras to almost every conceivable user at every level of video production from a teenage BMX racer or skateboard performer to professional video production. CineForm has been focused on several professional production markets as well as video enthusiasts to some extent, but with the CineForm RAW format being used in the Silicon Imaging SI2K camera (and therefore figuring prominently in the production of the movies "Slumdog Millionaire" and more recently "127 Hours") and also providing a convenient post path for the RED camera, CineForm's sweetest sweet spot is probably higher end more than anything.
So who saw GoPro's purchase of CineForm coming? Not me. I've been working withn CineForm products and even working with the company for a number of years and with 5 GoPro cameras and additional GoPro mounting widgets for nearly any circumstance, I can at least characterize myself as a loyal customer on that end of the spectrum, and I would not have guessed this one.
GoPro's upcoming stereo (3D) offering was shown in prototype form at NAB 2010 and I am sure that CineForm's elegant handling of visual stereo figures prominently into the general landscape of the situation.
A couple things are certain. GoPro's business track record speaks for itself. A product line that has only recently really had any marketing push beyond us users pointing other users toward the product has built an impressive enterprise which seems to have a very clear view of their market's needs and expectations. CineForm has been cranking out impressive technical innovations for a number of years now and their video codec and workflow plays a quiet role in many little known but high-stakes workflows.
The possibilities for this unlikely marriage boggle the imagination...hopefully the realities coming are just as tantalizing...
TimK
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)