Richard Townhill discusses latest update to X

[www.postmagazine.com]

Some highlights: or not:

?We really are committed to this marketplace, and we really want the professional customer to continue to use Final Cut Pro as they?ve always done.?

?We have a modern architecture and modern code base that allows us to act quickly and we have architecture on the app store, which allows us to deliver those components,? says Townhill. ?In the past we were dealing with 12- to 18-month cycles on releases of Final Cut, but now thanks to architecture of application and apps store means we can move much faster.?

But can you import XMLs of FCP 7 projects into FCP X? No.
?The formats are actually different, so this is a laws of physics sort of problem. The XML from FCP 7 describes just the project; the XML in 10.1 describes the event and the project (two sets of XML). Making those two work together with perfect fidelity is impossible because the effects stack in FCP X is new and improved at 64-bit and the magnetic timeline works much better than the old one.?

Michael Horton
-------------------

Apparently CatDV is saying that one can export FCP7 sequence, XML import into CatDV and it can output FCPX XML. Not elegant but apparently now possible.

Perhaps not quite seamlessly

[forums.creativecow.net]

All the best,

Tom

I like the fact that I can fact that we can now by asigning Roles bring our sound tracks into Soundtrack Pro as a Multitrack project. This is a big help to me & allows me to be more patient with Apple compleating their work on FCPX.

Michael Horton Wrote:
-------------------------------------------------------
> [www.postmagazine.com]
> s/2011/Apples-Richard-Townhill-discusses-the-lates
> t-FCP.aspx
>
> But can you import XMLs of FCP 7 projects into FCP
> X? No.
> ?The formats are actually different, so this is
> a laws of physics sort of problem. The XML from
> FCP 7 describes just the project; the XML in 10.1
> describes the event and the project (two sets of
> XML). Making those two work together with perfect
> fidelity is impossible because the effects stack
> in FCP X is new and improved at 64-bit and the
> magnetic timeline works much better than the old
> one.?

A friend wrote to me earlier today that the FCP 7 to FCP X transcoder was coming soon via XML and I was telling him that this will be a Sequence based transcoder as there's just no way for FCP X to be able to bring in the entire project structure from 7 or earlier. This does confirm that and unfortunately that will keep X off our radar for some time.

We are constantly going back at least 5 years pulling out old projects to revise and update. If we went X we would have to always maintain at least one system that could run 7 in case we had to bring back older projects. Bringing a Sequence forward will probably work for a lot of people, but when you have episodic broadcast, documentary and feature film projects, you really want the entire organization that goes with it.

Instead of keeping a copy of FCP 7 around, we'll move the projects into Premiere Pro and then we can just save them off as that format moving forward for revisions in the future. At least that way we can keep the entire FCP 7 project intact and yet be able to take advantage of the 64bit architecture application and all the new metadata tagging as well. It's the best of the both worlds for the moment.

At least Apple is responding and we'll just have to watch and see where it goes from here.

Walter Biscardi, Jr.
Biscardi Creative Media
biscardicreative.com

Quote
craig seeman said:
Apparently CatDV is saying that one can export FCP7 sequence, XML import into CatDV and it can output FCPX XML

...the work-arounds are so ridiculous.

When life gives you dilemmas...make dilemmanade.

grafixjoe Wrote:
-------------------------------------------------------
> > Apparently CatDV is saying that one can export
> FCP7 sequence, XML import into CatDV and it can
> output FCPX XML
>
>
> ...the work-arounds are so ridiculous.

This was something that supposedly couldn't be done at all.
That it can be done means some enterprising third party will likely come up with an easy way to do this once someone gets a handle on translating the FCP7 Sequence XML to Apple's new XML format.

I believe eventually you can send FCP 7 sequences into FCP X. The problem is keeping the entire project file, affiliate clip/master clip relations, Multiclips, bins, log notes, reel info, and effects like speed ramps (although that shouldn't be a problem, since you can send FCP 7 speed ramps into AE), and clip IDs required for recapturing (which also isn't a problem since FCP X is limited to FaceTime and few other formats).

Problem is that the ProApps team is such a mess. That the can't even get the XML format right.



www.strypesinpost.com

I think that's simply unfair. They have to create an XML format that's object oriented, which no previous version had to be.

All the best,

Tom

True. But that shouldn't be marked as a release version. Or they could have called it "XML beta" or something, at least until the basic functionality is worked out. It is equivalent to releasing a pro NLE without broadcast monitoring or omf export.



www.strypesinpost.com

strypes Wrote:
-------------------------------------------------------
> True. But that shouldn't be marked as a release
> version. Or they could have called it "XML beta"
> or something, at least until the basic
> functionality is worked out. It is equivalent to
> releasing a pro NLE without broadcast monitoring
> or omf export.

That takes us back to Apple's managing and marketing of the FCPX project as part of their business.
Do you think it would have made more sense if Apple had waited another year to get all this done before FCPX was released?
Would it have been OK if FCS3 remained unchanged another year with Apple saying, "You'll love what we're doing next year?"

Maybe that's what they should have done. Maybe they even looked at that time frame and felt the damage would have been even worse. Instead we get to see the work in progress now and even have some input as they move it along.

If resources are going to a new product, it wouldn't have had any impact on the EOL nature of FCP7.

I think basic XML support is much better than no XML support at all.

My software:
Pro Maintenance Tools - Tools to keep Final Cut Studio, Final Cut Pro X, Avid Media Composer and Adobe Premiere Pro running smoothly and fix problems when they arise
Pro Media Tools - Edit QuickTime chapters and metadata, detect gamma shifts, edit markers, watch renders and more
More tools...

Apple had time ahead of anyone else to rewrite it in 64 bit cocoa, but more than that, 2 things stand out for most users- the design (or rather what many see as design flaws), and the sheer incompleteness of the project. We can agree to disagree on the design flaws, but all of us would agree that the FCP X is simply not ready for professional use, both in feature sets and bugs.



www.strypesinpost.com