» Posts Tagged ‘mac’
ProCutX, an iPad Control App for Final Cut Pro X, is Now Free for a Limited Time
We’ve seen a few apps capable of controlling different programs on your computer with an iPad. A recent app that caught our eye, ProCutX, is capable of controlling Final Cut Pro X with your iPad, and replacing many of the functions normally done with a keyboard. For a limited time (possible only a few more hours), the full app, which is normally around $25, is now free on iTunes. Click through for a video walk-through of ProCutX. More »
If you’ve been waiting on a Retina Macbook Pro, now might be a better time than ever to take the plunge. Apple recently cut prices on their 13″ Retina Macbook Pro, and also updated its capabilities at the same time. They’ve also brought some spec upgrades to the 15″ Retina Macbook Pro for the same base price, and the Macbook Air saw a price slash of its own. Check out all of the new deals below. More »
Your iPad is Now a Controller for Apple Final Cut Pro X with Pixel Film Studios' ProCutX
The keyboard can certainly be a powerful and efficient control surface for non-linear editing, especially with the mastery of hot-keys and short-cuts. Despite this, some editors desire a more visually intuitive way of interfacing with their NLE. There are those that prefer specialized color-coded editing keyboards or keyboard covers, while others swear by their tactile controllers. Those can go for around $80, but what about using an infinitely configurable iPad to take the place of one of these consoles? We’ve already seen one iOS app capable of controlling a wide range of video software, but with a new iPad app called ProCutX, Apple editors have yet another way to turn their tablet into a Final Cut Pro X console. Check out some images and details below. More »
It’s no secret that the ‘new’ Mac Pro isn’t here yet, but if it’s not coming anytime soon, you’re going to be Mac Pro-less in Europe for the foreseeable future. That’s because the Mac Pro does not comply with a new European regulation set to go into effect March 1st. No one really knows what’s coming in the next version, though we had a terrific guest post talking a bit about what the new Mac Pro could be like. But what if Apple went even more radical (but still functional) with their new design? Peter Zigich, a designer, has taken a stab at what he thinks would be a perfect replacement to the current model: a modular Mac Pro that isn’t one-size-fits-all, but accommodates a wide range of professional and consumer applications. More »
$250 Matrox DS1 is Your New (or First, At Least) Apple Thunderbolt to Multi-Peripheral Hub
Apple is steadily abandoning its own FireWire standard, continuously simplifying the ports on its machines, and pushing for the growing acceptance of FireWire’s successor — the Thunderbolt protocol. Given all this, Mac users find themselves in a bizarre transitional phase. It may be frustrating, because while Apple surges forward, peripherals’ acceptance of Thunderbolt has been lackluster at best. Much to the relief of perennial Mac users finding themselves unable to blend their legacy gear with, say, their fresh iMac or MacBook Pro, Matrox has finally released it’s DS1 Thunderbolt docking station — the first solution of its kind — which looks to seamlessly marry almost everything you could want between the old and the new. More »
Adobe to Natively Support Apple Macbook Pro Retina Display with Software Updates
In what will surely be welcome news for those who routinely use Photoshop and Premiere, Adobe is planning to natively support the higher resolution display of the new Macbook Pro (as well as any other HiDPI displays in the future). While there are certain creative applications that immediately supported the Retina resolution with software updates (namely Apple’s Final Cut Pro X and Motion), Adobe was not able to offer this support right away. For those who are loving the extra screen resolution, it’s disappointing to then have to open Adobe products only to see them not share the same crispness as the native apps. Not all Creative Cloud applications will receive support (at least at this time), but you can read the full list of programs that will get software updates below. More »
Last we heard, Apple CEO Tim Cook wrote an e-mail shortly after the WWDC stating that Apple is “planning a new Mac Pro for later next year.” Now, it looks like there is some additional evidence to support this assertion in Mountain Lion’s configuration files, and it also points to a significant potential hardware change in the Mac Pro update: More »
A Colorist’s Perspective: Practical Comparisons of DaVinci Resolve and Apple Color
This is a guest post by Tristan Kneschke.
With the release of Apple Color several years ago, the once-niche field of high-end color grading trickled down to the average user. When Blackmagic released DaVinci Resolve on Mac it became more obvious that color grading was the next big wave. Having already been grading professionally with Color shortly after it was released, I quickly decided to invest in a traveling DaVinci Resolve Mac Pro tower. The client demand for color grading in particular, and a traveling station specifically, has grown my business at a rate I never thought possible. Now, with Resolve 9 nearing its official, non-beta release, Blackmagic has separated itself even more from Apple’s killed product. More »
Today Apple released the update to OS X Lion — this time called OS X Mountain Lion (version 10.8). As with any new Apple operating system release, there is always excitement mixed with some eventual dread. New OS versions tend to break (or at least make unstable) some large and complicated programs we use every day that haven’t had the chance to update — like Premiere Pro or Avid (I would hope that Final Cut X wouldn’t have any issues since it’s an Apple product). Many don’t have any problems, but often the kinks are worked out by manufacturers in a short amount of time. I haven’t yet installed the update, but if you’re wondering what’s new in this version, here is a great 5 minute video that will show most of the major updates: More »
Today Apple refreshed their current line of MacBooks across the board, and also showed off a brand-new MacBook Pro, which quadruples the resolution of their previous laptop to 2880×1800. Among other things, this allows editors to set their viewing window to a full 1080p — while maintaining a full editing interface around it. Furthermore, one of the biggest arguments against 4K cameras is the lack of high-resolution displays in the home. If no one can see higher resolution imagery because we don’t have capable displays, then what’s the point (whether our eyeballs can see the difference is another argument entirely)? The redesigned 0.71-inch thin, 4.46lb laptop sports a next-gen featureset: USB3, Thunderbolt, nVidia Kepler graphics card, up to 768GB of SSD storage, quad-core processors, a 7-hour battery, and a new lower-glare display. It starts shipping today, starting at $2199. More »
First there were rumors of its demise, then there was a plea from users for information, and now according to 9to5 Mac, reliable sources say that Apple will be unveiling a new Mac Pro at the World Wide Developers Conference (WWDC). More »
For screenwriting, I’ve been a long-time Final Draft user, but I’ve never been a huge fan. It’s like the Microsoft Word of screenwriting software — ubiquitous and adequate, but not something you’re particularly excited about. I’ve been using it since Version 4, and it has definitely improved since then, but for a $250 program I’ve never felt that it has evolved as much as I’d like. What am I looking for? More structuring and outlining tools. This is where Movie Draft comes in. Note that it’s Mac only available for Mac, Windows, and Linux, it’s rated nearly 5 stars in the Mac App Store, and it only costs $30. More »
Video takes up a lot of hard drive space. HD video more so than SD, 4K more than HD… and since the flooding in Thailand, hard drive prices have spiked precipitously. So there’s always room in an editor’s toolkit for an app to analyze drive space and zero in on the largest directories to delete or move. Similar to my approach to tracking time, freeing up space is all about focusing on what’s important: in this case, the largest files. DaisyDisk is a paid Mac app that I find myself using frequently; here’s a review from NextUpMac (and a free alternative). More »
One of the reasons I haven’t updated my How to Build a Hackintosh guide (which, I should note, is even more popular now than the DSLR Cinematography Guide — probably because most people have the PDF of the Guide and don’t need to visit the latter as often) is that my machine has been working perfectly and so I haven’t feel the need to constantly search for new components. However, I recently upgraded my machine to OS X Lion (it’s working great), and so I also updated the guide to reflect an easy way to do it, courtesy Unibeast from Tonymac: More »
Since OS X Lion was released, if you wanted to build a Hackintosh (and I would like to think the tutorial on this site is the most comprehensive how-to out there), you had to get your hands on a copy of Snow Leopard, install that, and then upgrade to Lion. There were often complications along the way, to the point where I refrained from upgrading to Lion. Thanks to tonymacx86, however, hackintoshers can now grab Lion from the Mac App Store and install it natively from a USB drive. Here’s the blurb: More »
Despite the scheduled release of new Intel chips appropriate for a new Mac Pro, reports are surfacing that Apple may cancel the Mac Pro line. The full-sized, overpriced Apple desktop hasn’t seen an update since July of last year and makes up such a small percentage of Apple’s sales that company executives are reportedly considering giving the machine the axe. Also consider the prosumer-ization of Final Cut Pro and the release of a simple, low-cost high-speed interface like Thunderbolt. Here’s what the AppleInsider report says: More »
Upstart Screenwriting Application Movie Draft Looks Promising
First of all, industry standard screenwriting software Final Draft is $70 off until Sept 30. But thanks to @navesink on Twitter, I found out about a new screenwriting program that brings some appealing changes to the table. Movie Draft SE is available through the Mac App Store for just $30 (“for a limited time,” though I don’t know how limited of a time we’re talking) with some very promising features. It’s also available for Windows and Linux. Chiefly I’m interested in the modularity of the scenes and the navigation sidebar, as demonstrated in this video: More »
Because it doesn’t necessarily make sense for filmmakers to upgrade to OS X Lion just yet, I haven’t done any testing of this myself. But if anyone running a hackintosh is itching to get their hands on OS X Lion, by partitioning your disk and following these instructions, you should be able to transition to Apple’s latest. If and when you do, please report back with your results. Here’s how: More »
As expected, Apple today released Mac OS X Lion on the Mac App Store for $29.99. Also debuting are new Sandy Bridge MacBook Airs, which are said to be “up to” twice as fast as the previous generation (on which I’m typing this), and now include high-speed Thunderbolt ports, Bluetooth 4.0, and backlit keyboards. The Mac Mini also received a refresh, dropping its optical drive and adding a Thunderbolt port, and Apple also released a new 27″ Thunderbolt display. For filmmakers, Lion and Thunderbolt are the main stories. More »
Ever since VisualHub was discontinued, there’s been a dearth of freeware transcoding apps on the Mac. I’ve since recommended MPEG Streamclip, but a true “everything to everything” program hasn’t been available in the free arena. As of a week ago you can grab the new version of Apple Compressor for $50, but they didn’t update the program to 64-bit or even change the interface from the last version (which I was never a fan of). Thus newcomer Adapter, while still in beta, looks promising: More »
Joe Marine: That's pretty much what he's saying above.... Richard Linklater on 'Before Midnight' & Not Bothering Studios with S…
Carlos: Studio blah blah studio Is that the only thing people talk about? We can… Richard Linklater on 'Before Midnight' & Not Bothering Studios with S…
Futurus: Insightful and exactly what I needed to see right now. Thanks for sharing. 'Palindromes' DP Tom Richmond: 'The Grammar of Filmmaking is a Good Place …
Luke: Sounds like he means for M-mount lenses, not bodies. However I doubt that'… Micro 4/3 Metabones Speed Booster Now Shipping for Leica R & Contax L…
Joe Marine: Technically you could. You need a mirrorless mount, like Sony NEX or possi… Micro 4/3 Metabones Speed Booster Now Shipping for Leica R & Contax L…