Apple Unveils Final Cut Studio 2

NEW ZEALAND, Auckland—16 April 2007—Apple today unveiled Final Cut Studio 2,a significant upgrade to the industry’s leading video production suite that delivers newcreative tools designed expressly for editors. Final Cut Studio 2 includes Final Cut Pro6, which introduces Apple’s ProRes 422 format for uncompressed HD quality at SD filesizes and support for mixed video formats and frame rates in a single Timeline; Motion 3featuring an intuitive 3D environment, paint and new behaviors; Soundtrack Pro 2 withdozens of innovative tools for multitrack editing, surround mixing and conforming sound topicture; Compressor 3 delivering powerful batch encoding for multiple formats with a singleclick; and DVD Studio Pro 4.2 for SD and HD DVD authoring. Final Cut Studio 2 also introduces“Color,” a professional colour grading and finishing application for ensuringconsistent colour and creating signature looks.

“Final Cut Studio 2 was specifically designed to enable the rapidly growing community ofover 800,000 Final Cut editors worldwide to animate, mix, grade and deliver their work as anatural extension of the editorial process,” said Rob Schoeben, Apple’s vicepresident of Applications Product Marketing. “Final Cut Studio 2 is the most powerfulproduction suite on the planet.”

At the core of Final Cut Studio 2 is Final Cut Pro 6, the latest version of Apple’s Emmyaward-winning editing software which includes a new Open Format Timeline that lets editors mixand match virtually any video format and frame-rate in a single Timeline without transcoding.ProRes 422, a new full raster, 10-bit 4:2:2 post production format produces stunning HDquality at SD file sizes, making it ideal for working efficiently across a SAN or on a MacBookPro in the field. Companies including Panasonic, Sony and RED are embracing ProRes 422 as theycontinue to innovate on the next generation of cameras. Final Cut Pro 6 also includes opticalflow based SmoothCam technology to remove unwanted or jarring camera movement with simple,easy-to-use tools. Deep integration with Motion includes the ability to edit Motion templateswith video drop zones and editable text fields directly in Final Cut Pro.

New to Final Cut Studio is Color, which puts a logical task-based color grading and finishingworkflow in the hands of every Final Cut Pro editor. The primaries in Color include advancedcolour correction tools such as gamma, lift and gain adjustments, as well as custom R, G, B andluma curves, and the secondaries provide the ability to isolate specific areas of an imagewith soft-edged mattes and custom-shaped vignettes, which can be tracked with ease.Professional scopes provide precise monitoring of chrominance and luminance values viawaveforms, histograms and new 3D scopes. Color includes over 20 signature looks which can becustomised to create a unique mood for any given project, and offers a seamless roundtripworkflow where projects can be sent from Final Cut Pro 6 directly to Color for grading,finishing and final rendering with 32-bit float 4:4:4 image processing.

Motion 3, the latest version of Apple’s groundbreaking motion graphics software, takesall the familiar Motion tools and extends them to a 3D environment. New camera behaviours adddepth and realism with drag-and-drop simplicity. Vector based paint tools allow editors toeasily create brushes with colour, particles, video or pictures. A simple, yet highly precisematch moving tool automatically maps any image or effect to the path of any other object. Newretiming behaviors enable editors to slip and slide retiming effects on the Timeline withoutkeyframes, while new audio behaviors allow users to easily create animations that respond tosoundtrack volume and frequency. Motion 3 includes over 1500 new design elements includingprofessional stock imagery, beautifully animated line drawings and stunning vector artwork.

Soundtrack Pro 2, a brand new version of the audio editing application in Final Cut Studio 2,features powerful new multitrack editing and recording tools in a streamlined interface thatsimplifies every aspect of the audio post production process. Soundtrack Pro 2 introduces abreakthrough heads up spotting display that lets editors precisely align effects and dialogwith picture. Advanced take management tools enable editors to quickly combine pieces of thebest takes to craft seamless performances. Stereo and surround mixing tools enable users tocreate 5.1 and stereo mixes in the same project, saving time and eliminating costly errors.Editors can work with a royalty-free library of over 5,000 professionally produced foley andsound effects, including over 1,000 surround sound effects and evocative multi-channel musictracks. A powerful new Conform tool enables users to synchronise and track changes betweenpicture and sound editorial.

Compressor 3, the latest version of Apple’s industrial strength encoding tool, comeswith a new streamlined interface and simplified workflows that make encoding and delivering inmultiple formats easier and more efficient than ever. Powerful batch processing and jobchaining capabilities enable editors to create pristine quality output for a wide range ofdelivery formats with a single click. Compressor 3 extends support for industry-standardcodecs such as MPEG-2 and H.264 to include new drag-and-drop presets for delivery to broadcasttelevision, web, iPod, Apple TV™, DVD and mobile phones. Dynamic filters applied duringpre-processing now support timecode overlays, audio/video fade in and out, and animatedwatermarks that can be applied directly from Motion projects.

Apple today also introduced Final Cut Server, a powerful new server application that worksseamlessly with Final Cut Studio 2 to provide media asset management and workflow automationfor post production and broadcast professionals.

Pricing & Availability
Final Cut Studio 2 is expected to be available in May through the Apple Store (www.apple.co.nz) and Apple Authorised Resellers for arecommended retail price of NZ$1,999 inc GST. Registered users of the current version of Final Cut Studio can upgrade for NZ$749 inc GST and registered users from any previous version of Final Cut Pro can upgrade for NZ$1,099 inc GST. Full system requirements and more information on Final Cut Studio 2 can be found at www.apple.co.nz/finalcutstudio.

Press Contacts:
Fiona Martin
Apple
fmartin@asia.apple.com
+61 2 9641 8320

John Marx
Apple
jmarx@asia.apple.com
+61 2 9641 8399