FCP X - Resources

This “Resource Guide” was created in 2011, back when we all hated Final Cut Pro X. Since then, a lot has happened. Here is a link to my 2013 Resource Guide. Some of these are good to. You also may want to check out our new podcast. FCPX Grill is a weekly discussion with video and film editors and content producers who have chosen to use Final Cut Pro X in their workflow. Certainly some of what you’ll find on this page is still of great use, but the links on the 2013 Resource Guide are more up to date.

One thing i for certain about Apple’s Final Cut Pro X, it’s gonna be good for the tutorial community.  I’m getting tweets and emails and calls oh my, all from people asking what my thoughts are. In short… its too earlyto say, although I’ve had 4 crashes in the first afternoon of diddling it, not a good sign.

I will say, there are some GREAT resources that I recommend people look into, I myself have downloaded and am using these in my own exploration of the app.

First would be Philip Hodgetts blog. Here is answers a bunch of questions. He also has a “for pay PDF” for 5 bucks that is a great read. I bought it, you should too.

Mark Spenser and Steve Martin at Ripple training have already done a couple dozen videos on FCPX and the new Motion. It works really cool, You pony up 40 bucks and they download the videos right into your iTunes. You can also play them on your iPad if you’re into that sort of craziness. 

Steve Martin also has published a great free resource on the old kenstone.net page. This article is really good, I’ve read it and took a lot away from it.

Digital Rebellion has an article, “The Good, The Bad and the Ugly”. A great breakdown of some of the issues with FCPX. 

David Pogue has a great rundown on the “missing features” in FCPX. A very impressive run down from a tech writer who apparently either, knows a crap load about video editing or he is being feed talking points by Apple. There is a uncredited quote from Walter Biscardi’s write up on FCPX. It really seems like the Apple Hype machine got to Pogue and said, “GET THIS INFO OUT ASAP!!”

Richard Harrington has a great post on his blog where he goes thru Pogue’s rundown step by step. Richard is one of the most well studied instructors on the planet and really knows his stuff. This article is WELL WORTH going thru.

Jeffrey Harrell has a great recap of his frustrations with file management after trying to get started in FCPX. Very funny look at the comic nature of some of the decisions that came out of Cupertino.

DVCreators.net has a great article by Josh Mellicker, who was one of the first ‘outside people’ to put his paws on FCP back in the early days. He also is a friend/collegue/aquaintence of Randy Ubilos, creator of FCP. 

Larry Jordan has chimed in with some of his thoughts about FCPX on his blog. I pretty much agree with everything he says. He has some great insight on what Apple SHOULD do at this point. Its a good read. I also responded with some of my input to his blog, you can read my comments here.

Izzy Video, free FCPX tutorials. I haven’t watched any yet, no commentary here, just wanted you to know they are there.

Ron Brinkmann chimes in on the FCPX debacle from his experience with Apple.

Jeffery Harrell, creator of “I don’t have a title for this” speaks candidly about his experience with Adobe product managers. And here is another Jeffery Harrell article that talks about his frustration with FCPX. I had read this last week before he posted the video and later realized who had written it. 

An EXCELLENT walk thru of 100 Questions about FCPX by Scott Simmons on Pro Video Coalition.

Mark Spencer, extreme Motion Guru has links to many Apple Knowledge Base docs on his site here.

Did TUAW Read my "Review"?

I just read the TUAW article outlining what they would like to see in the New Final Cut.  it was good, but I sure felt like they had read my “review” first… Not that I mind… I don’t care. Ultimately I just want good edit tools.

But some of the requests were fairly unique to my Review. For example the comments about being able to use color “without moving between apps” basically is the same thing as my request for “an easier to use filter metaphor instead of the old XML timeline metaphor”. Basically, my question is… why do I need to leave the app via XML to do my color correction. (Yea, I’m old, I still say Color Correction NOT “Color Grading” and my PINKY touches my tea cup too!!)

There comments about Soundtrack Pro seemed much the same as mine too. They said, “having its features integrated within Final Cut Pro would save us a lot of time” and in my faux review I stated that “all [the audio features have] been put into a new Audio Tab inside FCP”. Basically the same request as above, why do I need a whole app?

We both requested more motion controls inside the app as well… but that just makes sense… why DOES everything need to be an app?

The real similarity though was the request for Keynote functionality. They said, “It would be fantastic to see the engine from Keynote implemented for titling in Final Cut Pro. I said, “Keynote has some crazy cool features and animation presets built in like “Magic Move” and even Steve Jobs style Refections.  All of the great features of Keynote are now in Final Cut Pro 8 and make it a very powerful tool for us Corporate Video makers.” 

I SERIOUSLY would like to see this!

Overall… we ALL want some serious improvements to our old, (and I do mean old) FCP. I guess tomorrow it happens huh? It’ll be fun to see what the boys from “The Loop” bring us. 

Go Doug!!!

Things I Want in Final Cut Pro

i'm gonna be adding to this post a lot.  Hopefully someone from Apple will read it and take note.

1. Editable Guides in the Canvas for compositing, and while your at it, give me guides like I have in Keynote and Motion that do all that snaping and centerlines  and baselines.

2. Let me grab more than one keyframe at a time in the Viewer.

3. Real honest to goodness background rendering of the timeline that i'm working on. Maybe I can set a region of where I want to work and it won't mess with that section but everything else is fare game, Render Away!