Larry Jordan's Newsletter

NEWS - March 8, 2021

My lead story this week is a look at two dozen hidden interface secrets in Final Cut Pro. (Don't worry, Premiere editors, I've something special for you next week.)

Link: Apple Final Cut Pro: Hidden Interface Secrets

Last Monday, I was planning to upgrade my system to Big Sur. I'd reserved the entire day, only to discover that my mouse - the Contour Design Unimouse - which I like a great deal - needs updated drivers to work. And those drivers are not yet available. So, I continue to wait on the upgrade. At this rate, Apple will announce a new version of macOS before developers catchup to the last one. Sigh...

In the news:

Apple released updates for Final Cut Pro, Motion and Compressor last week. These are all bug fixes, there are no new features. However, Maxon announced that Magic Bullet Colorista and Looks were NOT compatible with these new versions. If you use them, hold off updating until Maxon announces an "All Clear."

Link: Apple Updates Final Cut Pro to Version 10.5.2

Thinking of changes, Apple last Friday evening confirmed with several websites that sales of the iMac Pro will stop when current inventory is exhausted. Instead, Apple recommends that users consider the 27" iMac in its place. The iMac Pro was released in Dec. 2017, but not substantially updated since then. Apple is in the middle of its transition to Apple silicon on all its computers and the iMac Pro, I suspect, was a victim of this change.

Link: MacRumors Confirms End of iMac Pro

Digital Anarchy released updates to two of their plug-ins to support Big Sur and M1 Macs: Beauty Box v.4.3 for FCP and Flicker Free 2.1 for FCP. Samurai Sharpen 1.1 for FCP is in beta and will be released in a couple of weeks.

Link: https://digitalanarchy.com

FXFactory continues its roll-out of effects for Final Cut Pro, Premiere Pro and a variety of other software. The latest is CallOut Pop 3, with 60 callout templates with built-in tracking and a brand new on-screen configuration UI that is simple to use!

Link: https://fxfactory.com

Callout Pop 3 link: https://fxfactory.com/info/calloutpop/

Last week, Maxon announced it has completed the acquisition of forger, a digital 3D sculpting and texture painting application for iOS. Conceived over a decade ago by Javier Edo Meseguer, forger offers desktop-class, professional-level sculpting workflows on mobile devices.

Link: Maxon Acquires forger

New Riders, a division of Peachpit Press, is offering a 35% discount on my book - Techniques of Visual Persuasion. (Enter the coupon code "VisualPersuasion" during checkout.) I was talking with my publisher last week who told me they are pleased with the book's sales - even in these troublous times. For everyone who has purchased a copy - THANK YOU! And, if you are thinking about it - now you can buy a copy and save money. (This offer expires March 31, 2021.)

This week's webinar looks at audio in Final Cut Pro. Presenting audio in a live webinar is always challenging. Still, audio is an essential element to almost every production so we need to cover it. Registration is free - and the link below has more details.

Link: https://larryjordan.com/weekly-webinar/

EditMentor is a new, online training service to teach the craft of editing, rather than the technology. It is coming out of stealth mode and is in late beta. I take a First Look at this new service and it looks truly amazing - especially for educators.

Link: First Look: EditMentor – An Ideal Tool to Learn Editing

My other new article covers a feature in Motion that is extremely well-hidden, but it can make a big different when you are creating text graphics in Motion for Final Cut Pro: Auto-Shrink. Using it is easy - once you find it.

Link: New Feature: Auto-Shrink Text in Motion 5

Finally, I added two links you might find helpful: The first are books I recommend for media editing and production. The second is a collection of articles that are a useful reference for when things go wrong - or when you are doing something you haven't done for a while and just need a refresher. You'll find all these links in the Tutorials & Reviews section below.

Vaccination rates are up, pandemic infection rates are dropping and spring is just around the corner. Summer has never looked so promising. All we need to do is get there.

Stay healthy, stay safe and stay hopeful. Until next Monday, edit well.