Final Cut Extreme

[robbyracer]

With support for 2K and 4K formats! It’s just a rumor at this point so I guess we have to wait until April to find out for real.

From http://www.thinksecret.com
January 4, 2006 – Apple is preparing to make a huge splash at the National Association of Broadcasters trade show this year, Think Secret has learned. Preliminary information from sources suggests that Apple will take advantage of the April show to demonstrate Final Cut Pro 6 to the public for the first time. Even more significant, Apple will use the stage to unveil Final Cut Extreme, an extremely high-end version of its video editing software designed to grab marketshare away from rival Avid.

LInk to the rest of the story:
http://www.thinksecret.com/news/finalcut6.html

[eltopo]

When I read the news I almost had an orgasm.
Seriously if Apple indeed decides to take on Avid and by the same token Smoke, and that at 10K they could actually match or beat performance of a 100K system
(rumors indicate that it could actually handle editing at 4K 😯 )
I guess both Avid and Discreet could be in serious trouble because if it matches the 10K price even if the software isn’t perfect, saving 90K dollars is a lot of money…

[Anonymous]

You’ll still need a disk subsystem capable of sustaining the 4k stream, though!

[robbyracer]

That’s probably what the revised Xraid with the InfiniBand interface is for.

I think they should call it Final Cut DI.

Should be interesting to see what happens.

[Anonymous]

eltopo wrote:

When I read the news I almost had an orgasm.
Seriously if Apple indeed decides to take on Avid and by the same token Smoke, and that at 10K they could actually match or beat performance of a 100K system.

As I read it, the 10K is only for a single seat of the software, not including the price of the hardware required to run it. Also, I don’t see any mention of FCP including a 3D compositing environment, so I can’t see it being a direct competitor to Smoke based on the rumors.

I like Apple’s products, and I own a first-generation dual 2GHz G5 that I use for FCP Studio, Shake and Combustion. But let’s be realistic — Apple has created a great suite of apps for editing and DVD authoring, but they haven’t integrated Shake into FCP, nor have they created a true 3D compositing application that can compete with FFI or the features in Smoke. Until Apple has a product that integrates full-featured editing and 3D compositing (with tracking, extended bicubics, etc.) in a single application, they won’t really have a Smoke competitor. And let’s not forget, Apple has yet to offer the kind of 3D performance that is available on PC hardware. Sure, you can buy a Quadro FX 4500 for your new quad G5, but it won’t perform as well as the same card does in Windows or Linux on PC hardware.

I wish Apple all the best in continuing to release some great new products, but I think that predicting they’ll have a Smoke killer within the next year or two is premature.

[Deke]

zolo wrote:

eltopo wrote:

But let’s be realistic — Apple has created a great suite of apps for editing and DVD authoring, but they haven’t integrated Shake into FCP, nor have they created a true 3D compositing application that can compete with FFI or the features in Smoke. Until Apple has a product that integrates full-featured editing and 3D compositing (with tracking, extended bicubics, etc.) in a single application, they won’t really have a Smoke competitor. And let’s not forget, Apple has yet to offer the kind of 3D performance that is available on PC hardware. Sure, you can buy a Quadro FX 4500 for your new quad G5, but it won’t perform as well as the same card does in Windows or Linux on PC hardware.

How many people do you know that edit with smoke or comp with FFI, actually use it for the 3d abilities?

Also 3d apps are fine on the mac these days. As of maya 6.5 & 7, it runs just as fast as the windows version. Also LW, Cinema 4d, Zbrush, etc.. all run just fine on the mac (maya was the only one that really had speed issue for a few years).

[Anonymous]

dekekincaid wrote:

How many people do you know that edit with smoke or comp with FFI, actually use it for the 3d abilities?

Also 3d apps are fine on the mac these days. As of maya 6.5 & 7, it runs just as fast as the windows version. Also LW, Cinema 4d, Zbrush, etc.. all run just fine on the mac (maya was the only one that really had speed issue for a few years).

I think the 3D features of Smoke and FFI are central to the product. Why would anyone just use Smoke as a simple meat-and-potatoes editor? It’s a finishing system, and all of its tools are important to the product. Extended bicubics, DOF, multiplaning – these are features that make Smoke more than just a simple editing application. I don’t see FCP 6 adding much to the pot to lure anyone away from Smoke because apart from support for 2K (maybe 4K?), it’s not offering much that’s different from FCP 5.

As far as the performance of the Quadro FX 4500 on the G5, it’s pretty sad:

http://forums.cgsociety.org/showthread.php?t=300275

Another poster on these forums has this to say about Maya on the Mac:

http://www.fxguide.com/postlite1704-quadro+g5.html

I’m no Mac hater, but I get sick of reading pie in the sky statements about how Apple is going to take over the whole postproduction industry because they’re coming out with X, Y or Z. Apple manages to do as many things to frustrate me as they do to delight me, so I’m not ready to cut them nearly that much slack.

Apterture, anyone?

😉

[robbyracer]

zolo wrote:

I’m no Mac hater, but I get sick of reading pie in the sky statements about how Apple is going to take over the whole postproduction industry because they’re coming out with X, Y or Z.

I just thought it was a cool story. 😕

[Anonymous]

robbyracer wrote:

zolo wrote:

I’m no Mac hater, but I get sick of reading pie in the sky statements about how Apple is going to take over the whole postproduction industry because they’re coming out with X, Y or Z.

I just thought it was a cool story. 😕

Me too! I’d love to see Apple come out with a Flame/Smoke killer for under $20K.

😀

[Anonymous]

smoke? an editing system? hughhh…

[arctor]

forgive me for being ignorant here but…what is the point/benefit of editing in 4K?…or are people talking about more here than just “editing”…. ❓

[robbyracer]

zolo wrote:

I’d love to see Apple come out with a Flame/Smoke killer for under $20K. 😀

That’s the day you’ll find me down at the bank asking them for more money 😆

arctor, I don’t know the point of editing in 4K either but I could see finishing in 4K after editing in HD-SR or 2K.

cheers,

[Anonymous]

arctor wrote:

forgive me for being ignorant here but…what is the point/benefit of editing in 4K?

Bragging rights?

😀

[eltopo]

The thing is that fot that 10K you might actually get a Final Cut Extreme Studio, which can include Shake 6, motion 3+ DVD StudioPro and Soundtrack 5/6/7.1 surround HD. We all know Apple can give any of these for free or in a huge combo. Im betting these Extreme and Shake could be so integrated they could become a siamese app (nothing real has had a number of years to prepare the integration)

And if Shake 6 improves dramatically the 3d enviroment plus it can perform tasks in real time on 4k footage and you only pay 30K for the system instead of 200K-400K, even if it doesn’t do some of the things as fast(for now) as a FFI, the money you save is just too much. You can have 10 seats for the price of a Flame-Inferno.

And what would happen if it ecxeed thoses systems and is the first to be able to work in 4K 32bit in real time?

[Anonymous]

eltopo wrote:

The thing is that fot that 10K you might actually get a Final Cut Extreme Studio, which can include Shake 6, motion 3+ DVD StudioPro and Soundtrack 5/6/7.1 surround HD. We all know Apple can give any of these for free or in a huge combo. Im betting these Extreme and Shake could be so integrated they could become a siamese app (nothing real has had a number of years to prepare the integration)

And if Shake 6 improves dramatically the 3d enviroment plus it can perform tasks in real time on 4k footage and you only pay 30K for the system instead of 200K-400K, even if it doesn’t do some of the things as fast(for now) as a FFI, the money you save is just too much. You can have 10 seats for the price of a Flame-Inferno.

And what would happen if it ecxeed thoses systems and is the first to be able to work in 4K 32bit in real time?

I think you should work for Apple. Seriously. I think Apple needs as much input as it can get from people who are working in high end editing/VFX. Most of Apple’s expertise and focus has been in consumer level products (i.e. iApps), which they obviously do very well. They’re off to a great start with FCP Studio and their acquisition of Shake. Integrating the workflow between all of their separate applications is their key to offering something really unique. With a team of seasoned experts advising their development team, Apple could really blossom as a leader in integrated production software, offering a total suite of complementary applications that provide the same tight integration for which Adobe has become famous.

Although FCP Studio is pretty solid, I’d like to see more of a focus on the high end professional market. There still seems to be a bit of the consumer mindset left in Apple’s “Pro” applications. Motion and Soundtrack are good for the price, but no real threat to serious audio and compositing tools. If FCP had more of the audio features of Logic/Pro Tools and the compositing capabilities of Shake/Combustion/After Effects integrated into the application, it could be a real timesaver and a killer product. Obviously there would still be a need for standalone audio and compositing apps, but for many editors, the additional functionality of high end audio tools and 3D comopositing features would really make it a great finishing tool.

Apple has the advantage of having complete control over the OS, the hardware, and the software development. This should allow them to achieve the same kind of software integration and performance optimization that the discreet/SGI partnership yielded at one time.

I think it would be great if an entirely new separate division of Apple were formed, ApplePro. It could focus entirely on software and hardware for the professional user, without being limited by any of the constraints of the consumer division. This would be the DCC workstation market. It would feature products like Power Macs with scalable professional graphics architecture (SLI?), large memory capacity, 4 and 8 way CPU systems (4x dual core, 8x dual core) and distributed computing integrated into the OS and applications. A new range of products would be geared toward group workflow in a production environment, similar to Toxik.

I truly hope that Apple begins to pull out all the stops and take on the high end market. Recent development looks very promising, so let’s hope more great things are ahead!

[Author]

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