Final Cut Studio 2 questions

Hi everyone,

Just thought I'd come up for air from NAB to answer some questions on Final Cut Studio 2. Send notes to this thread with your questions and I'll do my best to answer them this weekend.

-Paul from Apple

Paul,

The first and most notable questions are going to be about the specs found on the System Specs page about running Color.

One spec says ALL the aplications will work on at least a 1.25 GHz G4 and then the Color specific specs imply more that the minimum system would be a Quad G5 with Nvidia 6600.

Another question we will need answered is what value does having a second display added to Color operations?

Then finally, this quote for the page "(Final Cut Studio is not compatible with integrated Intel graphics processors)" That sounds like it's saying that MacBook and MacBook Pro video will not allow for running FCS2?

Thanks for the answers.

Color looks really impressive, as do the improvements to STP and Motion, but plain old cutting on FCP is what I'm doing 90% of the time on my system. So I'm really wondering if there have been any significant improvements or changes to FCP beyond the NAB announcements. I'm talking about some basic editing/interface issues that have gone unaddressed for a long time. This is a general concern, I'm not going to list my personal peeves. But if this new release does not involve some kind of FCP overhaul, when will it happen?

Hi John,

It requires a fast video card (see the list on our web-site). The cards it is compatible with first appeared in G5 class machines. Therefore, a G5 is recommended. We do not block the installer if you have a G4 so in theory you could try it. But it's not a supported configuration for Color because the video card is not sufficient.

Color includes a single display mode for 17" laptops and for customers using a single display on their desktop systems. There are a lot of tools and controls in the interface and a second display is strongly recommended. It's nice to have the second display to hold your video and your scopes. In addition, you could use the 2nd display for DCD in FCP too. But it's not a reqruiement.

Regarding the integrated graphics controller question, the 17" MBP has an ATI Radeon Mobility X1600 w/256MB of graphics memory. It does NOT use the Intel integrated graphics. In addition to having faster video, the screen resolution is high enough for color (1680x1050).

-PfA

Hi Phil,

There are many smaller enhancements to FCP that weren't covered in depth at NAB. Some of them are covered on our web-site, and others are found in the "What's new" documentation that you'll get with the software. For the most part, trimming hasn't changed too much. There are a bunch of really nice smaller additions that we were demonstrating at NAB too:

- Rename clips in bins to match files on disk. Or rename files on disk to match clips in bins.
- Normalize & Gain for audio
- Brightness controls in scopes
- HDV > standard def video output over FireWire (DV)
- Automatically set up sequence to match the first clip dropped in
- Easy setup filtering so you only see the setups you want
- Clips automatically scale to fit a sequence (SD to HD, HD to SD, etc)
- SmoothCam
- Log & Transfer interface
- Improved broadcast safe filter and new RGB limit filter
- Improved video and still gamma handling
- New FxPlugs
- OMF export with level and pan settings
- Surround 5.1 monitoring
- Speed changes preserved when sending to Motion
- SmoothCam properties preserved when sending to Motion
- Open format timeline (mixed) clips preserve aspect ratios and scale when sending to Motion
- Use ProRes 422 for rendering HDV and XDCAM HD sequences
- Enhanced render status bar tooltips

Simple Question: Is my iMac able to run the upgrade of FCP 2?
iMac Model 6.1
Intel Core 2 Dueo
2.33 GHz
4BM l2 Cache
Number of Processors: 1
Total Numbe of Corers 2
Bus Speed: 667 MHz
Chipset Model: NVIDIA GeForce 7300 GT
Display: LCD 1920x1200 32-bit color
Quartz Extreme: Supported

FCP Studio Pro HD 5.0 is running just fine and I'm able to do everything I neeed.

If this machine will handle it, I'll upgrade. Thanks.
PS: There is definitely the MacPro (replacement for G5) on the horizon for me.

Regards, Cyrus
iMac 27" Intel i7 Quad-Core; 16GB RAM; 2TB HD
Final Cut Studio, FCP X, Photoshop CS5, After Effects, etc.

Hey Paul

What are the changes that have been made in the import gamma handling? I read that there were improvements, just not what they were.

Paul,

Read somewhere, but can't find it now - that some optical flow technology is incorporated somewhere in FCP Suite2....to make ramps to slow and fast motion more fluid - is this true or am I dreaming this. Thanks Andy

Quote
PfA
- Rename clips in bins to match files on disk. Or rename files on disk to match clips in bins.

This makes me happy. It makes it possible to tidy up projects that one might have taken over from a messier editor or non-editor and keep the media file names in line.
Thanks to whomever coded that one.

ak
Sleeplings, AWAKE!

Hi Paul,

regarding using the ProRes 422 for HDV, can I encode HDV via firewire using the new log and transfer inteface directly into the ProRes codec?

Or do I have to capture HDV and then encode to the ProRes codec? And if I have to do it that way can I at least use the log and capture interface to automate the process?

hi Paul
Thanks for offering to answer a few questions

Quote

HDV > standard def video output over FireWire (DV)

will this work solely and specifically for HDV or also for all XDCAM HD flavors?

Quote

Log & Transfer interface

any chance you could elaborate a little on how this has been changed and/or post a screenshot?


and could you tell us whether there has been any significant work done on the Media Manager tool in FCP6 ?

many many thanks
Andy Mees

Hi Paul,

Apple is now selling an 8-core Mac Pro. From what I have been able to learn, it seems that only Compressor and QT can take advantage of all 8 cores.

Compressor using all 8 cores is great but I was wondering about the other apps in FC Studio 2. FCP could take great advantage of 8 cores for rendering. I believe that apps need to be written to be multi core aware but there are also hopes that Leopard could help us in this regard.

The 8 core Mac Pro is very expensive and it does not seem that we would be able to take full advantage of all 8 cores for most of the Studio apps.

Can you discuss this issue?

One other question. As Compressor can use all 8 cores I was wondering about encoding inside DVD SP. As it could be that Compressor and DVD SP access the same 'engine', will DVD SP utilize all 8 cores like Compressor does?

Thanks,

--ken

Dear Paul,

Thanks for being the Apple interface for LAFCPUG :-)

I've only been editing with FCP for about a year. Before that I only edited on Cinemonta, Kem, Steenbec flatbed and Upright Moviolas.

The people at LAFCPUG have been wonderful; I've been able to learn how to edit on FCP here.

I find other user groups technically unfriendly. The people are friendly, so don't get me wrong.

What I want to know, and I think to varying degrees it's what everybody wants to know, shall I rush out and buy the latest Apple computer and FCS2 or shall I upgrade the system I have?

I have the G5 dual processor 2.7gH and FCP5.04

I don't know what cards and what-nots I have.

I don't know motion and color correcting isn't easy. I end up over-correcting the color and density and in the end I almost go back to the original telecined 35mm version. (I think the best medium for feature film shooting is film, not video; however, since DVD at this point is the only output option for 99% of filmmakers, then FCP is here to do us a great service.)

I know that Apple would like us all to buy the lastest computers (so they can keep making money and improve the system), but tell us frankly, what's the best money-is-no-object decision whether to buy a new comptuer or upgrade?

Paul,

Thanks for jumping in here and taking questions.

RE: - Rename clips in bins to match files on disk. Or rename files on disk to match clips in bins.

What about in a workgroup environment? Is there a way to DISABLE this? For example, if ten editors are all sharing the same media, and one person want to get "creative" with file names, then wouldn't that knock the other nine's media off-line when the original file they were using is changed? I know y'all are too smart NOT to have thought of this, so I'm curious how this will be handled.

Mark Raudonis

Excellent point, Mark. Even without multiple editors simultaneously, I've had many occasions where other people jump on a project I started and mess things up to the extent where I didn't recognize my own project file anymore.

Wouldn't it be a good idea to have a "Conform" feature, activated only by a command to match OS filenames to Browser clip names? Because I also know some workflows (Nick Meyers' subclipping, for example) where you don't want the source files modified to match the Browser. And Avid's file/bin system also drives me nuts.


www.derekmok.com

Hi Jude,

There is a new preference that lets you determine the exact gamma of incoming videos or stills. You can select the gamma from a pop-up, or enter a custom value.

-PfA

Hi there...

We've got SmoothCam in both FCP6 and Motion 3. Both use optical flow image analysis technology from Shake.

Motion 3 uses optical flow for retiming too, and yields beautiful results. You can now create a retiming effect in FCP, send it to Motion (with retiming effect in tact) and then render it using Motion 3 with optical flow.

-PfA

Hi Chuck,

HDV i/o uses the standard log & capture interface. Log & Transfer is strictly for tapeless acquisition from devices like P2 and Red.

The real benefit of using ProRes 422 in an HDV workflow is for renders and effects heavy composites, titles etc. You can set ProRes 422 as the codec to use for rendering when working in native HDV and XDCAM HD sequences. This gives you head room for compositing since ProRes is 4:2:2.

It's the best of both worlds really -- work in native HDV sequences and only render the bits that have effects using ProRes. Keep the native stuff native. Only render what's necessary. This works the same for XDCAM HD too.

-PfA

Hi Ken,

At this time Compressor can address all 8 cores. There is some benefit to using an 8 core system if the codec you're working with is threaded. For example, H.264 is threaded so we can segment it on all 8 cores. Other codecs, like MPEG2 for example, work better with fewer cores. There's a set of diminishing returns when using codecs that can't take advantage of them.

It's a complicated issue-- figuring out which Compressor settings you should turn 8 cores on for, and which ones you should restrict. We're working on a whitepaper that will tell you what the best processor configurations in Compressor/QMaster are based on a variety of workflows.

Sorry this is so vague right now.... I'll let everyone know when we finish the paper.

-PfA

Hi Filmman,

This is a tough question. The G5 is an awesome computer, but the Intel-based MacPro systems are dramatically faster -- especially if you're working on difficult formats like HDV and XDCAM HD. Upwards of 3x. The newer formats, like ProRes 422 will work on the older systems but all optimization moving forward is for the Intel processors.

While we'd love to see you buy a new MacPro, you need to evaluate the workflow you use and determine what makes sense. It's not an easy decision... but rest assured, Final Cut Studio 2 will work on your PowerMac G5 tower. So you could start with the upgrade then get a new system if you find that your workflow requires the additional horsepower.

-PfA

you'll have to excuse me everybody ... consider this me jumping up and down and waving frantically to try and grab Paul's attention <grin>

Great questions Mark and Derek. I do not know the answer, but will try to find out for you. I'm going to hazard a guess and say if the media files are locked on the SAN, then the rename operation will definitely fail. While you may not lock media files now as part of your current workfllow, it might not be a bad idea to consider it since 90% of the time they're read-only.

I'll get back to you with a better answer...

-PfA

Hi Paul,

Could you describe how Color addresses FCP projects passed to it with transitions, motion and compositing effects?

Thanks.

Thanks Paul - that's exactly what I wanted to hear.

Hi Tom,

It's an XML transfer back and forth between the two apps (yes, you can send BACK to FCP!).

Color will render basic dissolves, but that's it for now. Any geometry changes, aspect ratio conversions, or repo's that you create in Color's Geometry room will carry back over to FCP's motion tab too.

-PfA

Hi Andy,

Regarding the External Video Monitoring:
1. A DV or HDV sequence can now be output to an SDI signal on a 3rd party interface.
2. An uncompressed NTSC or PAL sequence can be output to a DV FireWire output.
3. An HDV sequence can be output to a DV FireWire output.

I don't see anywhere that XDCAM HD to DV FireWire is supported. I'll double check when I get back in the office. Seems like at least 25Mbit XDCAM HD should work since it's the same as HDV.

Log & Transfer is a new interface. Log & Capture still exists for tape-based formats. The log & transfer interface is an evolution over the old "Import P2" window. It's been slightly modified from FCP 5.1.x to support either native acquisition or transcode to ProRes for certain formats.

The media manager tools has had minor updates. Our goal was not to overhaul it, but rather make it more reliable. I'm sure we'll be getting feedback as to whether or not we hit the mark with this one. :-)

-PfA

Thanks for taking the time here Paul. Your presence and replies are very much appreciated.

Very Best Regards
Andy

Hi Paul! (and hi everyone, first post, can I get a free pony?)

Has Spotlight been integrated in Final Cut Pro, especially when using the Find commando in the browser? When trying to find a certain clip in a BIG project in version 5 it takes ages for results to come up. Spotlight has been out for a few years now, it would be quite natural to have it in FCP, right?

regards,

Rasmus in Sweden

Hi Rasmus,

No, Spotlight integration is not part of this release. However, the HELP files and online documentation are now Spotlight search-able!

-PfA

Thanks for the reply to my question about the log and transfer window. I guess I wasn't clear, I don't want to edit HDV natively, rather I'd like to encode the HDV to ProRes while capturing [a one step process]. Is that possible?

~chuck