Well, it seems that on the heels of Avid’s recent award by the Amercian Editor’s Association   Apple has released it’s new NLE system with a proposed large addition of codec’s and workflow upgrades.  FCP has generally faired well on the market grabbing an apparent 50% of the share of systems used, but it has always been regarded as a second tier editing platform to the majority of big wig editors and studio’s, who seemingly prefer Avid.  Apple isn’t giving up, and really why should they with the split on the market share what it is, so here come Final Cut 7.

One of the biggest upgrades will be to Apple’s ProRez codec, which was much needed in my opinion.  Apparently Apple added a ProRes 444 format at the high-end for compositing, effects, and digital cinema work.  Among other additions there is also improved XML metadata support for footage that is round-tripped through third-party software, which I’ll believe when I see it, as well as proper 4k support.  FCP7 will be packaged with Studio3 so of course Motion has it’s upgrades as well, the most drastic being the ability to support three-dimensional effects, including 3D shadows and reflections, depth-of-field control, and individual glyph adjustments.  Color & Soundtrack were given upgrades but nothing dramatic other than “isn’t this neat…” type fuctions, although Color now supports 4K cameras which is a plus.  And for the love of God, I won’t even bother discussing Compressor which has to be Apple’s worst attempt at conversion software.  The only possible upgrade to that program would be to ride the DeLorean back in time to when Apple was in pre-conception for it and eliminate all the headshrinkers involved.

Although all of this hasn’t hit the stores yet, when it does i’ll be eager to get my hands on the full FCPS3 to see what it can do.  I don’t expect much from Motion, never have,  After Effects still holds the consumer roost when it comes to most anything involving motion graphics.  Motion has always been used for simple, yet effective, CG’s that don’t need a lot of twindling or specific assets, but FC7 could  finally be what Apple’s been looking for to put them over that professional hump.