With all of the (mostly) negative press that Final Cut Pro X has received since its introduction last month, one particularly vital group has been all but drowned out -- third-party developers such as CrumplePop, who are throwing their support firmly behind Apple’s next-generation editing software.
CrumplePop has posted a blog entitled “Why we’re betting everything on FCPX,” outlining a handful of key reasons why the company plans to flow against the tide and start concentrating development efforts on Apple’s new Final Cut Pro X. The third-party effects maker has a lot to gamble with, since their entire business model is built around augmenting Final Cut Pro.
“Our conclusion is that FCP X will be the best option for the largest number of professional editors going forward,” explains co-founder Gabe Cheifetz. “We have started to port all of our products to FCP X, and hope to have this complete by late summer 2011. We won’t be supporting another NLE.”
While the move might be considered suicidal by video professionals angry that Apple has completely reworked their favorite non-linear editing software, CrumplePop makes a convincing argument in favor of Final Cut Pro X, even going so far as to introduce their first third-party plug-in for Apple’s new wonder.
First and foremost, CrumplePop claims that FCPX users can stop worrying about codecs -- as later versions became increasingly more tech-minded, the latest version accepts pretty much everything you can throw at it. “This means that editors can now spend more time editing, and less time being video technicians,” Cheifetz explains.
CrumplePop is also a big fan of FCPX’s 64-bit performance, allowing layers of filters and effects in real-time with no foreground rendering getting in the way. FCPX also “makes your existing hardware more valuable,” with the company’s dual-core iMacs and Mac mini front and center, but a 2007 Mac Pro also gained some new life with a $250 ATI Radeon HD 5770 graphics card available direct from Apple’s website.
Last but not least, FCPX offers an “open effects environment” thanks to Motion 5 being fully integrated into the software, allowing developers to purchase the $49 motion graphics program and “develop high-performance effects for Final Cut Pro X, without learning an API or even coding.”
To celebrate their support of FCPX, CrumplePop is offering a new $75 effect called Noir Moderne, featuring 19 stylish, dark effects, three transitions and one royalty-free font for only $39 using a coupon code available on their blog (scroll to the bottom to find it). Still on the fence about FCPX? The effect also supports Final Cut Pro 6 and 7, so you’ll have the best of both worlds as CrumplePop ramps up moving all of their existing effects over to FCPX by the end of this summer.
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