FX Factory Updated to 4.0 now with Premiere CS6 Support

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Noise Industries has upgraded the FxFactory to 4.0 and added Premiere Pro CS 6 Support. I have a ton of their compatible and free plug ins, but don’t actually own this suite (always thought it was a tad expensive), but this gives me one more reason, as I have moved from any version of Final Cut and now prefer Premiere Pro (though I of course still have Media Composer which works with very few plug ins).

Ken Stone on FCP X 10.0.6

Ken Stone has an excellent and thorough review of the new FCP X Update with many photos.

It is an excellent look, and the program does look better, but I still won’t be giving FCP X a spin again anytime soon, and no I am not just a hater who feels wounded by FCP X.

Honestly while I love the metadata capabilities, and think they should be included in other programs, I hate the timeline. It is unintuitive and unorganized. Cutting DR, I usually have shows with 12-15 Video Tracks and I like to keep them well organized so it is easy to see what is what, and easy to jump in for anyone else and replace a shot if need be, but the magnetic timeline is not at all conducive to that.

And it is not set up to easily be used in a multi-user multi-machine environment, which is essential for how I work.

I still don’t see forcing an editor to work a certain as possibly being the future of editing, no matter how fast it can be. Editors have ways that they like to work, and adding new ways is great, and if they are better people will use them, but being forced to use them is just unacceptable.

Apple updates FCP X to 10.0.6, and now has dual viewers!

Apple has updated FCP X to 10.0.6 with many new features, but the biggest being, having 2 viewer windows now. Seems that one viewer thing didn’t work out too well for Apple. There is also multi-channel audio editing, a unified input window, an MXF plug in support and RED Camera Support with 5K resolution up from 4K.

Personally I think the FCP X’s unorganizable timeline is still a mess, but they are slowly making it better. Having dual viewer windows is a huge step forward to normal editors feeling comfortable with the program. Still I am not going to invest in it, as I still hate the timeline, and I don’t think that will ever improve.

And Phil Hodgetts has been using a beta version for a while, so he has a look at it. It seems pasting features is now back (from FCP 7, now Premiere Pro needs to implement this feature better than an all or nothing). He really goes into all the new features.

FCP.Co on installing a PC GTX570 in a MacPro

FCP.Co has an article on installing a PC GTX570 in a MacPro to get better OpenCL performance in FCP X, but it will also increase your CUDA power for Premiere Pro and After Effects CS6.

Still you can score over 1000 on Luxmark if you go for a GTX670 instead (which has a huge amount more of CUDA cores, and can still draw it’s power from the internal power supply instead of say a 680, which would require an external power source to run), but they are not as well supported on the Mac. Either way you will need to go to Netkas to get some instruction and some help (though some of the help can be rather surly, but it is worth it if can really beef up using your MacPro). Someone at Netkas has also figure out how to Firmware update recent MacPro’s to the latest firmware for the newest itineration, allowing beefier XEON’s into your old MacPro.

The instructions are pretty easy, but I have found that they don’t always work, so think about re-installing your NVIDIA drivers once you are done, as that did it for me.

You will also need to do some hacking to Premiere Pro and After Effects to get them working with the CUDA cores on a new video card.

Oliver Peters at Digital Sky on using FCP X in a Production Environment

Oliver Peters at Digital Sky has an article on using Final Cut Pro X in a full production environment with clients in the bay for the first time. Now he seems positive on the experience, but to me it makes it sound even less ready for a production environment! First off he has to use Final Cut Pro 7 in many stages of the preparation for the project, as FCP X seems less well suited for a project that ever needs to be handed off or moved and doesn’t actually modify the original files for things like changing reel numbers.

Now the metadata features do sound great for finding files once you have spent the time to organize, but I have never had an issue with organization once I have a project ready to edit.

And things like this give me even greater pause.

Due to the “rubbery-ness” of the magnetic timeline, it did appear that removing transitions at the beginning and end of spots and removing the slomo clips caused some shifting of the spots within this string of six spots on a single Project timeline. No sync issues, but definitely not as locked into position as with an FCP 7 timeline.

This program still is not even close to ready for primetime, and I am not sure it ever will be. I have said it before, but if they had added some of these features onto a 64 Bit Final Cut Pro 8, people would love it, but by taking so much away, and trying to force people to edit in a very strict way they have shown how little they understand of the world of editing, where no 2 editors do things the same exact way!

David Lawrence first time Premiere Pro 6 impressions from an FCP User

David Lawrence has an excellent article over at Creative Cow.

He really sums it up in a Creative Cow Forum Post.

Believe the hype, the Conan boys are right. It really is Adobe’s Final Cut Pro 8.

Though later says:

Is Premiere Pro 6 Adobe’s Final Cut Pro 8? If you ask me, the answer is no. It’s something different and potentially better. Is there room for improvement? You bet. If you miss certain features, let ’em know. They’re listening.

 I am so looking forward to Premiere CS6, and do hope it is an FCP 7 replacement, though that also makes me wish for more NVIDIA CUDA cards for the Mac, or it looks like editing is going to move all PC in the future.

Richard Keates on why he dropped FCP X

Richard Keates has a good article on why he dropped FCP X after trying to use it to cut corporate video, and why Premiere Pro is the solution for what he needs to do (graphics heavy productions).

Unfortunately I see many places moving back to Media Composer which I do find inferior for graphics work and hope that Premiere CS6 can make some inroads. I just wish that Apple would re-commit to the MacPro and push to get powerful CUDA Nvidia cards across their line to allow people who are unhappy with FCP X to use the products they want to and stay with Mac!

Larry Jordan previews FCP X features to come

Larry Jordan has posted a preview of new features that will be added to FCP X and that Apple is saying that FCP X is to be a pro editing App. This includes native RED and Scarlet editing, and better audio editing, Dual Viewers (wow is apple admitting it was wrong??) and native MXF support, and rumors of another app to go with Motion and Compressor.

Maybe Apple can make FCP X a real Pro Editing Program, but the bad word they have created with the initial release will forever taint it. Honestly they should be a doing a 64 bit Final Cut Pro 8, and put in as many new features from X as they can as additions, and that might convince people they are still going for the pro market, but FCP X in my opinion will be forever tainted.