NAB: Apple To Release Final Cut Studio 2
At the annual convention of the National Association of Broadcasters in Las Vegas, Apple today announced an all-new version of Final Cut Studio, the company's video, motion graphics, and DVD authoring suite. The new version is expected to ship next month.
The new suite include Final Cut Pro 6, DVD Studio Pro 4.2, Motion 3, Soundtrack Pro 2, Compressor 3, and a new application called Color.
Final Cut Pro 6, the latest version of Apple's popular NLE (with 800,000 users) includes several enhancements, such as a new Open Format Timeline, which allows mixing multiple video formats (with divergent frame rates) in the timeline and the new ProRes 422, a 10-bit 4:2:2 post-production format that supports uncompressed HD video at SD file sizes, according to the company. (We'll provide more information about this soon.)
Also new is Motion 3, Apple's motion graphics application tat was originally designed as a complement to applications like Adobe After Effects and Autodesk Combustion. In its latest incarnation, it now includes all of the features of the previous release but in a 3D environment. It also adds:
- Vector-based paint tools, with support for particles, video, images, and color;
- Match moving;
- New retiming behaviors;
- New audio behaviors;
- And additional stock imagery.
Soundtrack Pro 2 offers new multi-track editing and recording capabilities and both stereo and surround sound (5.1) mixing. And it now includes more than 5,000 foley and surround sound effects.
Compressor 3 offers a new interface and workflow capabilities, including new batch-processing functions, and offers expanded support for MPEG-2 and H.264 formats.
The new application in the suite, Color, is a finishing tool--the first available from Apple--that includes advanced color correction functions (gamma, lift, gain) and independent R, G, B, and luma curves controls. It also provides custom scopes (waveform, 3D scopes, and histograms) and comes with preset "looks" for producing color-based effects on the fly.
Details about DVD Studio Pro 4.2 were not available at press time.
Campus Technology is at the NAB show this week and will be meeting with Apple tomorrow to discuss details of the new suite in the context of education. We'll bring you more details as they become available.
Apple said it expects to ship Final Cut Studio 2 in May for $1,299 (retail). Upgrades from Final Cut Studio run $499. Upgrades from Final Cut Pro will go for $699.
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