Final Cut User

Awesome new term listings are up at FXPHD.com for the July 08 term and man what a stellar listing of training you can take. Some of the highlights for me are the Stop motion /Miniatures , Afx 301 with Mark Coleran/Mark Christensen on screen UI , Tim Clapham back with C4D/AE goodness,RED ,Nuke, Matte painting and just way to many good ones to keep listing. All together there about 15 brand new classes with some popular classes being revisited for those new to FXPHD. Those of you worried about having access to some of the higher end software like Nuke and Maya do not worry FXPHD has VPN access for some of the classes on both Mac and PC.

I have said it many times that since joining FXPHD over a year ago that it has been a HUGE plus for me and have made a bunch of friends and contacts. The classes are beyond high end and no one is doing anything near the level that FXPHD does . Being able to have contact with other industry pro’s is tremendous bonus . People have asked to just have access to the forums alone , that says something for the community, professors and staff at FXPHD. Do yourself a favor and check out the info on the main page and keep and eye out for the 0 week class which will probably be up in a week or so . 

July 08 term listing.   

Just a reminder that this Thursday (June 26) is our next meeting of After Effects New York. Here’s the info:

The meeting is free, thanks to our sponsors:

Next meeting: Thursday, June 26, 2008

The Time: 6:45 PM - 9:00 PM

We have a new location that can sit up to 400 people!!!!

The Place:

P.S. 41 116 W est 11th St., NYC(corner of 11th Street and 6th Ave.)

The food: Sorry - but due to site rules - no food this time. If you can live for 2 hours without eating, you’ll have a great time!

Our Lineup Includes:

Apple has been updating the resources for the Pro Apps web links and one really helpful link is the Supported Devices Link .This is a great way to choose your hardware and software and find supported links and drivers for your workflow’s. So let’s say you have a control surface from M-Audio or Apogee and you need to find out if it works with your version of FCP Studio all you need to do is choose from the drop down menu and select the company and your software and you get a result of Driver, Software version and links to get them . This seems to be pretty up to date way to go Apple for this one.Also here is the Final Cut Studio resource page  Resource Link

Stu Maschwitz’s blog ???????? ????? ????????Prolost is a daily stop on my blog reading list . Stu always has useful insight into all different areas this entry on clipping being a problem we all face in production. Make sure to take some time to read it one day it may just save your life. Clipping post from Stu

My good buddy Shane Ross whose blog is the very well known Little Frog in High Def has a nice little interview over at another good site called Mac Video.tv . Shane works on both Final Cut Pro and Avid systems so who better then he to explain some of the ups and downs of being an editor working in both workflow’s. We all know if you are a good editor/story teller it does not matter if you are in front of a Moviola or the most tricked out FCP system if you can’t bring all the aspects of the story together the software is not going to do it for you (well unless you check out Philip Hodgett’s The Assistant Editor ). Shane and I talk almost everyday over iChat and share battle stories of edits, talk about the differences between the LA or NYC scenes or just talk about funny things out kids are doing . I do appreciate people whose blogs/sites I went to before Nate and I(Jim) had FinalCutuser like Shane, Mike Curtis and the countless others who make no money off of what information they are giving out but do it to share with the community at large to put the correct information out there and help others learn from there own mistakes and day to day experiences.  So here’s to all the bloggers , user group leader’s and helpful forum leader’s THANKS. 

 A good friend Peter Wiggins who is not only a great editor and graphics guru also parades his chops with making fxplugs for Final Cut Studio with his idustrial revolution plug ins for use with Noise Industries FxFactory.   The great thing about this plug in it that it is free to download and it is also free to get FxFactory and some of the plug ins that come with it are free as well(You can upgrade to FxFactory Pro with many other features and plug ins for$399). If you have ever wanted to recreate iTunes like actions of  CoverFlow from Apple then this is the best and simplest thing for you .”CoverFlux takes a folder of up to 25 images and automatically displays them in the 3d fan style of Cover Flow . The reflection ,preview stack and displayed stack are all calculated equally “. You need to be running FxFactory and Leopard (OSX 10.5) to enjoy this.Peter was showing this off at the Noise booth at NAB and got alot of WOW’S and buzz around it.Check out the example movie Sample Movie. Between what FxFactory already has under the hood and the combination of idustrial revolution plug ins you will surely take your effects up a few notches  with FCP and Motion. The links will take you to the install and demos.Noise Industries- FxFactory.??????Idustrial Revolution- CoverFlux.  

 redcentre @ fxguide.fxguide already has a list of why it is a daily stop for me and alot of others but now you have another reason to click the link above and check out a new podcast series geared toward all things Red . redcentre is lead by Mike Seymour and Jason Wingrove who explore all options for working with Red cameras and all the people, equipment,accessories and workflows involved while working(playing) with Red . One of the recent episodes #4 is very interesting besides the great talking points between Jason and Mike they had on a good friend and uber tech Graeme Nattress mainly known for his great plug-ins for FCP,Motion and Color @Nattress.com.I have a little write up planned for Graeme’s plug-ins coming but more on that later.Here are the show notes for ep#4 EP 4 Show notes This is a must have in your podcast line up if you are at all interested in Red and all its goodies. Check out fxguidetv while you are there another huge resource along with FXPHD  FXPHD.COM. Graeme puts the sometimes very technical aspects of Red ,the imager and how linear and log info are managed.This can put to bed some misinformation that may have been passed by others so i suggest for your homework today download ep4 and subscribe to all fxguide related podcasts.

Flip4Mac

Episode Pro/Flip4Mac tools have been a go to applications for me since it was acquired with a name change by Telestream (previously Compression Master) . It works fast and seamless with Compressor 3 via the plug-in set when installing Episode Pro.Episdoe Engine on the server side makes batch encoding with watch folders a breeze “Set it and forget it ” moto.It is also great to see ,ProRes,RED,Cineon and DPX support for high end workflow’s.Did I mention this is a FREE update. Way to go Telestream team . 

Episode Series Version 5.0 is our latest update for Episode, Episode Pro, Episode Engine and Episode Engine Pro media encoding software applications. This is a free update which adds new features, formats and enhancements in response to your feedback and evolving market needs.Note: Existing Episode Engine customers must receive a new version 5.0 license before they can upgrade to the new version. Customers can request a version 5.0 license by completing the License Request form.

Episode 5.0 Highlights include:

Episode desktop (Episode & Episode Pro) adds:

Encode to new Flash 8 VP6s, Flash 9 (H.264) and Blu-ray (MPEG-2) formats for content authoring and repurposing

Import and export support for ProRes HQ (with corresponding QT component installed)

Log and capture video from tape or live sources with Telestream’s Pipeline network video capture device (available with Pipeline v1.2 in May)

Support for Flip4Mac MXF plug-ins in Episode and Episode Pro enables browsing and importing of content from Grass Valley K2, Profile and 360 Systems servers, plus Sony XDCAM, Ikegami Editcam and Grass Valley Infinity disk-based cameras

High-quality NTSC/PAL video standards conversion, plus other new video and audio filters 

Episode Engine & Episode Engine Pro - in addition to above, adds:

Input support for RED camera, Cineon and DPX formats - preserving end-to-end 10-bit processing, providing the speed and quality required for digital film/telecine workflows

Integration with Final Cut Server, Apple’s powerful new media asset management software - Episode Engine extends support to virtually any format

Edit or transcode while capturing video with Pipeline - for faster throughput

SDK for managing encodes and easy Episode Engine integration into any workflow

Downloads: For complete details on all features, enhancements, fixes and known issues, be sure to read the 5.0 Release Notes document. View all our Episode product literature and download the software on the following sites: 

Episode desktop: http://www.flip4mac.com/episode.htm

Episode Engine: http://www.telestream.net/products/episode_download.htm

Support: As always, our helpful Support staff will be available to provide you with any assistance that may be required.

Contact Episode desktop support by sending email to: supportf4m@flip4mac.com

Contact Episode Engine support by sending email to: support@telestream.net 

I have been checking out some of the Adobe TV channels and the presentations that i missed while working at the Gridiron booth and man i can’t believe i missed Steve Holmes and Jacob Rosenberg (og Plan B ,H-street skateboard cinematographer).So here are some of the links and vids for you to check out . I did get to catch the technology preview which was awesome to see that Adobe is working on some nice new tools like Cinema DNG (one RAW codec to rule them all) for digital cinema cameras,speech to transcript and what looks like the Thermo beta from TedTalks which is like Flash,Actionscript for non coders to make interactive work. So check out the main link here Adobe Presentations at NAB 2008.

Studiodaily has a nice little post up about post workflow with Final Cut in a episodal situation on the series “Everybody Hates Chris.” Take a quick read if you have a chance. My favorite part of the article is about time/cost savings over previous seasons. Check the grab below.