So much to talk about! The big news this week was the release of the latest version of
Final Cut Pro X. (And the iMac Pro, which I'll talk about in a future issue.) FCP X 10.4 adds support for
360° VR, more complete support for
HDR, totally revised
color correction tools and lots of smaller tweaks throughout the application.
I've written a
First Look illustrating what's in the new release.
Read it here.
The new versions of FCP X, Compressor and Motion also support
HEVC output. This is a new compression codec that creates smaller files without damaging quality. I created another
First Look article about HEVC in Compressor and discovered some
surprising insights. It's linked in the Articles section, below. (Keep in mind that HEVC requires upgrading to High Sierra.)
Apple has published a new white paper: "
Working with Wide Color Gamut and High Dynamic Range in Final Cut Pro X." I find all their white papers interesting. If you plan to work in HDR, you need to read this.
Here's the link.
For
Premiere folks, I have a video tutorial from last week's webinar showing how to create a
two-color chroma-key effect using Premiere. This is very impressive, yet a surprisingly easy to create effect. I show you how in this tutorial. (I also have a second video tutorial showing this same effect in Final Cut.)
Thinking of webinars, we are taking a holiday break from now till January 3rd to give our team a chance to enjoy time with their families.
The
Digital Production Buzz had a fascinating show on story-telling in VR. I especially want to point out
Kain Teitzel's interview. Excellent information!
The release of the latest version of Final Cut Pro X gave me a chance to update all my training. And, before I talk about that, I want to thank
Trevor Horton for his invaluable help in editing 227 movies under very, very tight deadlines. I also want to thank
Sam Mestman and his team at
LumaForge for loaning me a
JellyFish shared storage system for our post-production work.
The last time I updated my Effects training was early in 2015 with the 10.2 FCP X release. Since then, Final Cut has had major changes in interface and features. So, with this release, I completely revised my training and recorded all new movies.
This allows me to offer a variety of
upgrade options:
- If you own FCP X 10.3: Workflow and Effects, you only need to upgrade 21 movies. This update is what you need.
- If you want to learn all about effects, including 360° VR, color grading, LUTs, as well as two amazing effects "cookbooks," this is the title. As a special incentive, save 25% if you purchase this before the end of 2017. 100 new movies, 11 hours of training. (There's also a thumb drive version.)
- If you feel frustrated that you aren't faster or better with FCP X, I strongly recommend you purchase FCP X 10.4 Complete. This covers everything you need to know to edit faster, better and more efficiently in Final Cut Pro X 10.4. 227 movies, 26 hours of training. (Here's the thumb drive version.)
I am very proud of my latest training. I know you'll learn techniques that will make you a faster and better editor. I encourage you to purchase a copy.
Hmm... let's see. My latest training is released, school is done for the semester, and webinars are taking a break for the holidays. Now... I'm bored. Time to go bake some cookies. Have a great holiday. Chat with you next week. In the meantime,
edit well!
