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Apple Motion 4

Helmut Kobler — Mon, 23 Nov 2009 06:51:00 -0600

Motion 4 isn’t a standalone product--it ships with latest version of Final Cut Studio. Yes, this video effects program might be a mere “component” of a larger software suite, but because it competes with standalone applications, we decided to distinguish it with its own review. And we went all “deep focus” on it, because Motion 4 has come a long way since the days when Apple was selling it as solo software.

Motion came into the world as a rather immature competitor to Adobe After Effects, the respected and feature-rich standard-bearer. Since that time, Apple has steadily improved Motion to the point where it’s a credible alternative to the Adobe stalwart. The fact that you get Motion in Final Cut Studio 3 (along with a number of other fantastic, pro-level apps) makes it pretty hard to ignore Apple’s stake in the video-editing game.

The software helps you create slick motion graphics for everything from commercials to DVD menus to film and video title sequences. When Apple released the previous version (about two and a half years ago), it was the first time we thought Motion was really ready for a wide variety of projects, thanks to new features letting you set up cameras, lights, and objects in 3D space. But those 3D features only went so far, because Motion still couldn’t cast realistic shadows or reflections. Sure, you could fake those effects by creating duplicate objects and morphing and blurring them until they looked like shadows or reflections, but it was a painstaking process.

Motion 4 offers precise control over light sources and shadows.

Motion 4 fixes all this. For starters, light sources can now cast realistic shadows on everything in your 3D world. You can toggle lights to cast shadows or not and toggle objects to receive shadows or not. You can also tweak other parameters, such as a shadow’s edge softness and its color. Similarly, Motion 4 now lets an object--say, a video layer, shape, or paint stroke--cast reflections on its neighbors, giving you precise control over how reflections fall off.

Apple also adds more 3D realism by way of realistic depth-of-field effects, which enable you to control the relative sharpness and softness of foreground and background elements in a scene. Keeping some elements in focus and others out of focus helps direct the viewer’s attention to what’s important and imbues a scene with true filmlike qualities. Motion 3 had no way of knowing what should be in focus and what should be blurry; again, you had to manually blur elements to simulate depth-of-field effects. But now Motion 4 lets you easily set a point in 3D space where the camera will focus--anything closer or farther away will automatically fall off into fuzziness, depending on the characteristics you’ve given your camera. And speaking of the camera, Motion 4 has added Camera Framing, which enables you to pick an object on which to keep the camera pointed, no matter where you move the camera or objects in your scene.

Rolling credits are a staple of film editing, but it’s never been easy to actually animate a basic credit sequence. Motion 4 makes the process a piece of cake. You can import a text file containing your credits, set type properties, and use a custom navigation tool to quickly jump to any part of the credits to perform last-minute edits. Finally, just apply a Scroll Text behavior to your credits, and then adjust scroll speed, direction, and other useful attributes. Voilà! Instant and professional scrolling credits.

Apple Soundtrack Pro 3

David Biedny — Mon, 09 Nov 2009 11:37:56 -0600

Soundtrack Pro is a multitrack audio editor intended to be used as part of a video workflow, though it’s equally adept at standalone audio projects. It was once sold separately, but for the last few years, it’s been available exclusively as part of the Final Cut Studio and Logic Studio bundles. The latest incarnation, version 3, offers a wide range of fine-tuned interface tweaks and a few new tricks that will make anyone who produces pro audio take notice.

The most significant new feature is audio-level matching, which allows you to raise the overall volume levels of one track and match them to another, a boon for podcasters and anyone who works with multisource audio. The big caveat with this new feature is that it only works with isolated voices on separate tracks. Anyone recording an interview with a single recording device, or via Skype, won’t be able to use the feature.

Audio-level matching equalizes the sound of two different tracks.

Field recording enthusiasts are often stymied by ambient noise in anything but the most isolated environments. Soundtrack Pro 2 had some noise-removal filtering and version 3 significantly improves upon it. The software allows you to select multiple harmonics of the base frequency--audio-geek speak for “it catches all the hum.” Previously, users often turned to third-party noise reduction plug-ins to handle these problems, but the new built-in stuff does a great job. And if you still need specialized third-party add-ons, advanced users will be pleased to see that their plug-ins show up in the same pane as Apple’s built-in tools--a great practical touch.

Time-stretching is a key aspect of creative audio editing, and you’ll be thrilled to find some new time-remapping mojo in Soundtrack Pro 3. There are three different remapping options, making us think it’s based on the tools in the new Logic 9 software, which we totally dig, because it produces some very nice, transparent results. Another feature ostensibly lifted from Logic is the ability to edit audio directly in the Multitake editor, a seemingly minor improvement that will make folks using this feature very, very happy.

MacHeist Gives Away Free Software

Arvind Srinivasan — Sat, 07 Nov 2009 21:36:40 -0600

We really like free stuff. Any time we go to the mall, we spend half our time at the Apple store, and the other half sitting in the free massage chairs at Brookstone. However, you don't often get expensive things for free on the internet (those "free ipod" scams don't count).

MacHeist would like that to change. The MacHeist Bundle is a software bundle released annually, coupled with an online puzzle-esque event that gives you a bunch of free software and discounts on the final bundle. The puzzle itself is pretty interesting, albeit incredibly complex, but this year, they are offering a free "nano-bundle" of software for those who don't want to attempt the puzzle.

To put it simply, anyone can go to www.macheist.com, create an account, and download 5 applications, normally worth $154, for free: WriteRoom, Twitterific, TinyGrab, ShoveBox, and Hordes of Orcs. If 500,000 people end up downloading the bundle, they will add another app -- Mariner Write. Overall, this is a great deal, and you should check it out here.

Aperture X (3.0) on the horizon?

Andrew Villa — Mon, 26 Oct 2009 12:41:51 -0500

A new book added to Amazon.com for preorder implies that Aperture 3.0 could be just around the corner coming in Spring 2010.

According to AppleInsider a new book, "Apple Aperture X(3) UNDER NDA: A Workflow Guide for Digital Photographers," which has a release date of May 26, 2010.

The book's ISBN number is 978-0240521787 and according to isbn.nu, it is not available anywhere else except Amazon, suggesting the posting was a mistake and the book is still under a non-disclosure agreement.

The Worst Idea Ever? Ad Supported OS.

J Keirn-Swanson — Thu, 22 Oct 2009 21:50:39 -0500

This latest Apple patent application isn't for anything cool or fun like touch screen gestures requiring both hands or anything tablet related. No, this is for an ad-supported OS that could make an operating system either entirely or partially funded by advertisements, meaning free to the end user.

While such a scheme might make business heads whir, the idea of a computer that features "visual or audible" advertisements that disable "one or more functions while the advertisement is being presented," sounds like user hell. We can just imagine writing really starting to come together, you're in the zone and the words are simply flying out of you, when all of a sudden the keyboard ceases working and up pops a cheesy Mentos commercial. And all your inspiration is gone.

Count us out, Steve-o.

An Apple Through Their Windows

J Keirn-Swanson — Mon, 19 Oct 2009 22:15:56 -0500

With the upcoming launch on October 22nd of the newest Windows OS, Apple's Senior VP of Marketing, Phil Schiller, sees a huge opportunity for Cupertino to snag a few more customers away from Redmond. "It presents a very good opportunity for us."

One such tactic is explained thus. "Any user that reads all [these] steps is probably going to freak out," Schiller explains. What steps? Well XP users who want to upgrade will have to save all their documents and data to an external hard drive, reformat their PC's hard drive, install Windows 7, then reload all their software and all their documents. And somewhere around 80% of Windows users are still on XP as opposed to Vista. Notes Schiller, "If you have to go through all that, why not just buy a Mac?"

The process does sound rather complicated and time-consuming, though Apple may have an uphill battle in a depressed economy. While users may be put off by the hassles in reinstalling software, the question remains whether or not they'll want to purchase the higher-end Mac as well as all new Mac versions of software they already own in a PC iteration.

Schiller didn't state whether or not Apple was planning any specific sales around Windows 7's launch date nor did he mention any price reductions, though such a short-term move might pay off with long-term dividends. Convincing users of Mac's better safety against virii and other malware and its greater operating stability are only of limited appeal, but paired with price cuts the effect could dampen Microsoft's sales numbers.

The one thing you can count on, though, will be all new pitches targeting Windows users with older, limping along XP machines wary of upgrading after the disaster of Vista. We expect to see returning characters of Mac (Justin Long) and PC (John Hodgman) get in on the action sooner rather than later.

Apple Final Cut Pro 7

Helmut Kobler — Thu, 15 Oct 2009 03:54:00 -0500

Apple’s newest edition of Final Cut Pro polishes an already mature, dominant video editor. That’s good news, since every Final Cut user will find clever, thoughtful refinements in version 7 that make life easier. But the focus on smaller tweaks has one drawback: it’s kept Apple from some fundamental infrastructure work that’s also needed.

One of the Final Cut 7’s standout features is a new version of the popular ProRes codec, ProRes Proxy. Proxy lets you encode video into tiny file sizes that even low-end laptops and iMacs can edit, but keeps the video--even HD--looking surprisingly good (though not perfect). Final Cut makes it easy to convert existing video into ProRes Proxy, and for Web or DVD projects, Proxy’s visual quality may be good enough to use for your project’s final output. If not, it’s easy to reassemble your work in a higher-quality version of ProRes and then output from there.

Final Cut Pro 7 is heavy on polish, but we wish it addressed a fundamental or two as well.

Apple has also redesigned its Speed Change feature, which lets you speed up and slow down a clip at precise moments (you’ll see this effect in any number of commercials or music videos). Of course, Final Cut has been able to ramp between speed values for years, but mastering this effect previously meant working with arcane speed graphs. Now you can simply place key frames in a clip and then drag them together or apart to change the video’s speed or freeze it. It’s all very visual and intuitive.

For editors who work off-site, Final Cut 7 has built-in support for iChat Theater, so you can create a videoconference with another iChat user and then play the video from your Viewer or the Canvas. It worked remarkably well for us using a 5Mbps cable Internet connection and should make life considerably easier for freelancers and those who edit remotely.

iChat Theater gets a little choppy when showing video with quick cuts and fast-moving camerawork, but generally does the job well.

Another improvement is the new Share menu, which lets you export your movie to preset or custom formats destined for websites, DVDs, and so on. The beauty of Share is that it works directly in Final Cut--no more loading up the busy, slightly intimidating Compressor application. Also, while Final Cut renders the video into your chosen format, it lets you keep editing, which is a major time-saver. Finally, Share will even let you burn a Blu-ray version of your movie (provided you have a third-party Blu-ray burner), along with simple menus.

Final Cut sports many other small, useful features, but we also hoped to see more fundamental, deeper improvements. A perfect example is Final Cut’s ancient Browser view, which lets you organize and find all the media in your project. Using the Browser is an essential part of editing, but Final Cut’s current rendition, neglected for years, now feels clumsy and primitive. In the last few years, OS X users have enjoyed new organizing/previewing tools like Smart Folders, Stacks, Spotlight searches, and Quick Look, but none of these tools has made its way into the Final Cut Browser. Even in 2009, the Browser’s most sophisticated tools don’t go far beyond basic folders with colored labels. Apple hasn’t even changed the size of thumbnail icons in the Browser--the largest thumbnail size available is tiny on today’s big 24- and 30-inch monitors.

Radio on the iPhone

J Keirn-Swanson — Wed, 14 Oct 2009 23:04:50 -0500

Like lots of people these days, I get most of my music either from my collection or through on-demand internet radio sources like Pandora and Last.fm. The last time I actively listened to the on-air radio must have been years ago.Clearly, I am not the target market of this rumored in-house app for the iPhone and iPod touch.

Of course, I'd be happy if such compatibility arrived in an update to the iPhone software. As little as I do listen, there are occasions where I have been listening to reporting of an incident of national importance or to a locally broadcast event and circumstances force me away from the radio. To be able to jack into the iPhone and pick right up where the story left off would be a nice feature.

Source: RF Cafe

According to Seth Weintraub over at 9to5mac.com, a tipster has alerted him to an FM radio app being worked on in-house at Apple for the iPhone and iPod touch. According to said tipster, the app would be one of only a couple that run in the background, allowing you to listen as you do other things. Whether or not the app would be a standalone or would be integrated into an update of the iPod app wasn't precisely spelled out.

While the iPhones and iPod touches have had the hardware capabilities to receive FM signals, the functionality has lain dormant (save for the Nike+ peripherals). Apple is said to be working hard to get the app to play nicely with the iTunes app to lead to something like in-app purchases for a seamless transition from listening to a song to owning it. Right now there's a version of such a feature available in apps like Pandora, though those require you to exit the music streaming app and enter the iTunes app. With the ability to run in the background or to sync up with iTunes, Apple's FM app could provide an interruption free experience.And that would be something I'd definitely be interested in.