Some catching up

Posting yesterday's series of 'following in the footsteps' turned out to be an exercise in decrypting error messages (from blogspot) which weren't messages as such, just lack of response.   In the end, I concluded that this blog doesn't like posts with too many photos in them (no matter how small) - so I may be making changes!

In other news:  Nick Wilcox-Brown pointed me towards the fcp.co blog, who in turn are all excited about their own detective work, an exclusive look at collaborative working that Apple has taken patents on.   (Hasn't Peter W had enough to do with the Tour de France?).

Like all patents, I guess, the real details are left to the imagination.  And like much recent hype over 'cloud' working, there's a supposition of bandwidth availability that's over-optimistic for many.   (Not so much here at Bright Filament, though, where we've had the joy of fibre-enabled 76Mbps for the last month - at a monthly cost less than the 128kbps ISDN line of 15 years ago.  Sometimes progress really does happen).

I've been exploring collaboration too - inspired by the guys at MacBreak Studio, specifically Steve Martin (not the comic, the FCP master trainer) who have come up with a work-round for sharing FCP X project files.   Two caveats:  FCP X is very sensitive in its project/events file system area, and you monkey around there at your peril;  and the workflow relies on having two identical sets of event files at each site.   That's easy to do at the beginning, but how does this method cope with extra shoots, and the inevitable complexities that projects accrue as they're worked on.   See the video here.   You can also find the MacBreak Studio videos on their dedicated YouTube channel.    If I may be so bold though - Steve's explanation of this cunning plan is a little confusing because of the way he's had to set up the studio demo.   So at one point he's effectively using the same laptop as remote and as local edit station - he's not wrong, but you have to pay attention!

And of course, there's Lightworks, whose byline is 'the smart way to edit together'.   Still at Windows only, but with a small update this month to version 11.0.1 and with a newly designed quick-start guide to whet your appetites.    It's a well designed, and mercifully brief, highly visual guide to the first steps on the road.

So, Mr Bond, we meet again

The wefcpug will have a belated June meeting (blame the weather and the Jubilee) tomorrow, that's Monday 18th June.   Venue isn't a hollowed out volcano (though looking around, you might be forgiven for wondering) but instead it's the usual BBC Bristol club.   Names to Richard so the guys at the gate will expect you and have the red carpet ready.

Probably talking about FCP X and Lightworks (guess who's doing what) and whatever you bring to the bar, I mean table.

Lightworks - the countdown begins

Some time back, I reported on the Lightworks beta project, and even gave a demo on the dual-boot MacPro I brought to a wefcpug meeting.   Since then, not a lot has happened, as far as the outside world was told:   I began to wonder if the app would ever move out of beta stage to the promised freemium/pro upgrade version.

I need wonder no longer.   According to the Lightworks beta site, there'll be news on May 28th:

On 28th May 2012, Lightworks comes back to the future

It’s time to take Lightworks to the next stage in its evolution. Starting with the Windows release on 28th May 2012, over the next year we will rock the world of video editing, because never before has such power been available for so little cost - and on so many platforms (Lightworks for Linux and OS X are Works In Progress).
For the first time, you’ll be able to download the Free and Pro versions of Lightworks for Windows, which have been completely re-engineered to run on modern, multicore hardware. You’ll be able to use the same software that Hollywood editors use to craft films like The King’s Speech and Hugo.

That's when the beta site goes offline, to be replaced by lwks.com

Following on from the Avid Symphony crossgrade offer, and the launch of Adobe's latest Creative Suite, NLE apps are beginning to arrive like buses.   (And I haven't even mentioned the FCP X incremental upgrades).

The new day dawns

The now traditional cursory notice that the January wefcpug will indeed take place, next Monday, being the 9th January 2012.  Usual place and time (BBC Bristol, 7pm onwards).   The ink is still drying on the running order, but currently it looks as though Richard will be in motion, sorry in Motion, and Phil will be talking about What he Did on his Holiday.  With a magic lantern show, all being well.

So shake the dust of 2011 off your feet, start the New Year with a stimulating argument discussion, and let's be having you.

A tale of two launches

That's launches, not lunches (just checking).   The successful launch first, of the NASA Mars lab yesterday afternoon our time.   How times change - whereas in the previous century we had to make do with grainy black and white coverage courtesy of the BBC, complete with techno-babble commentary from the likes of Sir Patrick Moore or James Burke, now it's possible to watch a live HD stream from Cape Kennedy itself, complete with NASA's own voice-track.

There's a good service provided by the folk at wired.com which offers a couple of links to streams - and you can add comments too.  Still here.

The countdown is something of a strange non-linear affair - as happened yesterday, the clock is stopped at T-4 minutes for status checks, which took around 10 minutes on yesterday's launch.   All went off well in the end, of course - let's hope for a succesful landing and mission, in 8 months or so.   One fact that I'd forgotten:  unmanned launches presumably can allow higher G forces - yesterday's acceleration was such that, 5 minutes after launch, the payload was moving at 10,000 mph.

News arrives today of a delay in a second launch.   The countdown to the launch of 'Lightworks' is currently on hold - with news today that the planned 29th November date won't be met.   The good news is they're now talking about both the Windows and Mac/Linux versions.   Let's hope it's not an 8 month wait for this.   (And that it's not over Christmas week).

Sep '11 report - moving on with Lightworks

The September meet and another year begins for the wefcpug, and the only thing we can say for certain is that this will be another year of changes and innovation. To begin with a report. Phil demo'd both FCP X and Lightworks on the same machine, a MacPro tower.

Admittedly the Lightworks demo was courtesy of BootCamp and Windows7 (and thus slightly disadvantaged in terms of system access). A fuller write-up will be along shortly when I've finished another project or so, on both systems.

But in brief, the subjective results I presented:

> FCP X is fast, powerful, easy to use and well suited to self-contained file-based workflows. Compressed long-GOP camera formats are no longer a problem - conversion to ProRes (in FCP newspeak 'optimised' formats) takes place in the background and doesn't delay editing. Much better handling than classic FCP 7.

> The 'magnetic' timeline is very useful for certain edits (and editors) - especially when working with cutaway (or B-roll) shots that aren't inserted into the main video track, but left floating (with their audio tracks) to delay decisions. FCP X promises to remove the danger of overwriting clips that aren't seen in the timeline window and will preserve sync at all cost. (But it has done away with out-of-sync indicators).

I'm less impressed by the interface, which is too crowded and inflexible. Other current negatives are, of course, the lack of integration with video hardware (eg Matrox) and audio fader panels, (and for that matter the lack of audio tracks in the conventional sense), inability to export OMFs natively, though I can probably live without EDLs now, and lack of tape support (excepting dumb 'capture now' through firewire).

I think the main disappointment I have is with the inflexible, gloomy interface.

I came to Lightworks without expecting much. It's a beta release of an open source version of a 20 year old product. Furthermore, it's running in a slightly crippled version because I don't have a native Windows machine any more, hence it's on a BootCamp drive sitting atop Windows7. Just tweaking the hardware to work properly (NOT the fault of Lightworks, requiring a bit more compatibility between BootCamp and W7 - now fixed by updates) took a couple of days. But, as I said at the meeting, what I found was surprisingly easy to work with, and a good intuitive piece of editing software.

In total contrast to FCP X, you can't get a more minimal desktop than Lightworks: it's just about blank. You populate it with clips and assemblies, which you fit into racks when you feel like it. You can be as tidy or as messy as you like - have as many clip 'tiles' in view as you need: and for that matter any clip can become an assembly - ideal for adding auxiliary or replacement audio tracks. 

Input on my setup is Firewire, with the ability to log and capture.   Setting up the deck control was quick and easy - the dialogues had obviously been written by people with TV engineering experience - and offered the surprise option of capture into MXF files. I really like the edit/trimming methods which are intuitive and fast to operate.

I could go on, and I will in the fuller document - but it's obvious that I am very impressed by Lightworks. Just 10 minutes was enough to convince me that this is software I can work with: best of all, I found myself thinking more about pictures and sound than about menu options or keyboard shortcuts.

So, where does the future lie? Jason mentioned on Monday that there was the promise of a statement from Lightworks this week, and it's here . There's the promise of a port of the beta version to Mac and Linux this year, with a launch of the commercial Lightworks (windows) in November. This offers free and paid options, the paid version giving access to pro codecs. And there's Matrox support too.

In the meantime, we must surely soon see an update to FCP X to bring it up to pro level. So, watch this space (and I haven't even mentioned the A's: Avid and Adobe).

Today's meeting - open software, closed formats, open minds? FCP X and Lightworks

Another reminder that 'today' in the title refers to Monday 5th Sept 2011 - kickoff for the new season. We've had a couple of months, and by no means has the dust settled, but it's time for the wefcpug to form our own opinions of FCP X. See the capabilities (and missing features) and judge for yourself at tonight's meeting, when Phil (with nothing up his sleeves, and aided only by a MacPro) runs the app through some of its paces in a live demo. (If there's electricity, a room, and a monitor!). But that's not all. Before your very eyes, the same MacPro will transform itself into a Lightworks edit station, using the magic of BootCamp, Windows7 (and the benefit of a week's hacking the setup until it ran). Why put yourself through all the pain of reading other people's reviews - come and make up your own minds. In what will probably be the first of a long series run..... 7pm onwards, BBC Bristol, meet in the club: in you're not yet on the list for security email phil before 4pm today.