http://www.apple.com/la/pro/ Apple Pro profiles, solutions, Mac OS X tips, and resources en-us Copyright 2008, Apple Inc. rss-feeds@apple.com Tue, 08 Apr 2008 05:26:46 PDT Tue, 08 Apr 2008 05:26:46 PDT Apple In house http://blogs.law.harvard.edu/tech/rss/ Apple today announced that it has begun shipping Final Cut Server, a powerful software solution for media asset management and workflow automation. A scaleable server application, Final Cut Server automatically catalogs large collections of assets, allows searching across multiple disks and SAN volumes, and enables viewing, annotation and approval of content from anywhere using a PC or Mac. “With the introduction of Final Cut Server, collaboration just got a whole lot easier for millions of editors, producers and clients who work with Final Cut Studio,” said Rob Schoeben, Apple’s vice president of Applications Product Marketing. http://www.apple.com/finalcutserver/?sr=hotnews?sr=pro.rss Tue, 08 Apr 2008 05:30:28 PDT “At the end of the day, I don’t think you can currently do better than what Aperture has to offer,” concludes Erik Vlietinck (it-enquirer.com) in his review of Aperture 2.1. “It has a strong management system, excellent adjustments, a near-perfect RAW engine that gets basic corrections right in 99.90% of the cases as far as I can see, and support for plug-ins.” In awarding the application a five-star (out of five) rating, he applauds its “ vastly more streamlined” interface and its “dramatic speed boost.” And he points out that the quality of Aperture’s “built-in RAW adjustments — even in automatic mode — is simply stunning.” http://www.it-enquirer.com/main/ite/more/aperture_21/?sr=pro.rss Mon, 07 Apr 2008 15:38:32 PDT If you’ve seen The Simpsons, you’ve seen the work of Rough Draft Studios. In fact, the Glendale, CA-based animation powerhouse has been churning out hit after animated hit for decades. And they’re just as animated about the Macs they use. Says Scott Vanzo, Director of CGI and Chief Technology Officer at Rough Draft. “The work we do involves everything from traditional 2D animation to 3D CGI to video editing. An iMac can be an office machine one day, and the next day it can be put into production. Every Mac in the studio can do what we need it to do. There simply isn’t another platform out there that can do as much as the Mac.” http://www.apple.com/la/pro/profiles/rough_draft/?sr=hotnews?sr=pro.rss Fri, 04 Apr 2008 13:57:07 PDT If you plan to attend NAB 2008 in Las Vegas, you might also like to participate in the largest Final Cut Pro User Group meeting in the world. That meeting — the 7th Annual NAB Final Cut Pro User Group SuperMeet — will occur on April 16, 6:30–10:30 pm, at the MGM Grand Hotel in Las Vegas. Stop by and learn the latest news about Final Cut Studio. http://nab08supermeet.eventbrite.com/?sr=pro.rss Mon, 31 Mar 2008 09:22:43 PDT Safari does Tabs right. But don’t worry if you’ve never used tabs before. They’re super easy – and fun — to use, and this week’s Pro Tip of the Week will have you tabbing like a champ in no time. http://www.apple.com/la/pro/tips/tab_commands.html?sr=hotnews?sr=pro.rss Fri, 28 Mar 2008 16:48:43 PDT Independent filmmaker Bob Radler has two very different documentaries currently in production: “Turn It Up!” and “SS United States: Lady in Waiting,” reports Jim Dalrymple (macworld.com). While both films offered rather unique challenges, Radler overcame every one — thanks to his MacBook Pro and Final Cut Studio. “Final Cut Pro was a godsend,” said Radler. “Using Final Cut Studio literally saved me tens of thousands of dollars.” In fact, he says “he couldn’t have made the movies as efficiently and economically as he did without Final Cut Studio and his Macs.” http://www.macworld.com/article/132711/2008/03/fcpmovies.html?sr=pro.rss Thu, 27 Mar 2008 09:26:27 PDT “We’re inseparable from our Macs, and have been for a decade,” says well-known tattoo artist Guy Aitchison. “Computers and the Internet have completely revolutionized our trade,” allowing Aitchison and fellow tattoo artist Michele Wortman to move freely between digital and analog media and to bring elements from a variety of sources into their designs. “I’ve used a Mac to create almost all my designs since I started tattooing,” says Wortman. “With the Mac, we can take our art much further.” http://www.apple.com/la/pro/profiles/guy_aitchison/?sr=hotnews?sr=pro.rss Fri, 21 Mar 2008 12:41:44 PDT Aperture 2 and iPhoto ’08 customers using a variety of new Hasselblad, Leaf Aptus, Nikon, Olympus, Pentax, and Sony digital cameras and camera backs will enjoy RAW file compatibility following download and installation of Digital Camera RAW Compatibility Update 2.0. Released today, it’s available via Software Update or from the support site. http://www.apple.com/support/downloads/digitalcamerarawcompatibilityupdate20.html?sr=hotnews?sr=pro.rss Thu, 20 Mar 2008 13:11:26 PDT While it was already a great tool for reading PDFs, Preview in Leopard became even better with new features that include a new user interface, relevancy ranked searches (thanks to Spotlight), and many more. In fact, Preview now lets you annotate PDFs, offering a fast and efficient way to share comments with those you’re collaborating with. Find out how by reading our Pro Tip of the Week. http://www.apple.com/la/pro/tips/pdf_annotation.html?sr=hotnews?sr=pro.rss Fri, 14 Mar 2008 09:21:21 PDT “I’ve never had to wait less for any application to launch or process to complete,” says Michael DeAgonia (computerworld.com) in his review of the new Mac Pro. Calling it “an amazing machine that is as fast as it is stable, offering pure brute force and processing power at a competitive price,” DeAgonia concludes that the latest version of the Mac Pro “is beyond the sum of its parts. It’s the technological equivalent of a well-played symphony: Each individual piece is solid in its own right, but everything is amplified once they’re put together in concert.” http://www.computerworld.com/action/article.do?command=viewArticleBasic&articleId=9067899&source=rss_news50?sr=pro.rss Fri, 14 Mar 2008 09:05:37 PDT After describing how he shot the recent Lunar eclipse, photographer Marty German also explains how he processed his RAW images: “I used my Aperture 2 trial software to process the three shots. Thanks to Derrick Story’s, Aperture 2: New Features tutorial on lynda.com, it took only a couple of minutes for me to adjust each shot, fine tuning exposures, boosting contrast and reducing color noise.” German adds that, in his estimation, “the raw converter in Aperture 2 is as good as NX’s and both NX and Aperture produce noticeably better Nikon raw conversions than ACR does.” http://www.thedigitalstory.com/blog/2008/03/how_i_did_it_7_lunar.html?sr=pro.rss Wed, 12 Mar 2008 12:02:15 PDT “Easy and fun to use,” Aperture 2 is “an incredibly powerful tool for the professional or serious amateur photographer,” writes Russ Juskalian (macworld.com). Praising its “across the board speed improvements,” its “streamlined interface,” and such new tools as “ Vignette, Definition, Vibrancy, and others,” Juskalian calls Aperture 2 “the program photographers wanted all along.” http://www.macworld.com/article/132459/2008/03/aperture2.html?sr=pro.rss Wed, 12 Mar 2008 09:17:31 PDT With Quick Look — just one of the great new features in Mac OS X Leopard — you can get a sneak peek at the contents of a document without opening it. A single click lets you watch a video, peruse a multi-page PDF, scan a folder of photos, or enjoy an entire Keynote presentation without launching any applications. How can you take advantage of Quick Look? Find out in the latest Pro Tip of the Week. http://www.apple.com/la/pro/tips/quicklook.html?sr=hotnews?sr=pro.rss Fri, 29 Feb 2008 10:21:05 PST Ian Austen (nytimes.com) takes a look at Aperture 2 and finds that it “offers a more accessible, streamlined facade and makes it easier to handle photos in full-screen mode. It is also much faster.” http://www.nytimes.com/2008/02/28/technology/personaltech/28aperture.html?ref=personaltech?sr=pro.rss Thu, 28 Feb 2008 17:28:40 PST In the making of No Country for Old Men, Joel Coen and Ethan Coen prove “just how influential a Mac and the right software can be,” writes Jim Dalrymple (macworld.com). “The movie won four Oscars at this year’s Academy Awards, including Best Picture. In fact, it is the first movie edited with a completely digital workflow on Mac to win the Oscar. ‘They [Apple] made it really easy for us — we cut now much the same way we cut on film [using Final Cut Pro]. It’s hugely faster,’ said Ethan Coen.” http://www.macworld.com/article/132277/2008/02/coen.html?sr=pro.rss Wed, 27 Feb 2008 21:50:09 PST The film No Country for Old Men won four Oscars at this year’s Academy Awards, including Best Picture.  Find out more about the making of the film by listening to a podcast recorded during last year’s Tribeca Film Festival. In the podcast, director Barry Sonnenfeld chats with Joel Coen and Ethan Coen about their filmmaking experiences in general and their use of Final Cut Studio to edit No Country for Old Men. Enjoy. http://phobos.apple.com/WebObjects/MZStore.woa/wa/viewPodcast?i=15918423&id=202224986?sr=pro.rss Tue, 26 Feb 2008 19:50:13 PST “We’ve earned a reputation for innovation, so we get to do incredibly fun stuff for great brands,” says Big Spaceship CEO Michael Lebowitz. “We like making people laugh, and we like making people scared,” he adds. And they like working on the Mac. “The Mac is the only platform that understands one of our key principles: How you engage with something has a direct impact on the results. I truly believe that working with thoughtful, human-oriented, creative technology makes you create more, and better, work.” http://www.apple.com/la/pro/profiles/bigspaceship/?sr=hotnews?sr=pro.rss Fri, 22 Feb 2008 16:44:20 PST That’s what Stephen Shankland (c|net news) wants to know, and he’d like your help. “With the new Aperture 2 now available and Lightroom just celebrating its first birthday, I thought it opportune to survey readers. What would you buy? What would you advise somebody else?” The polls are open. http://www.news.com/8301-13580_3-9875221-39.html?part=dht&tag=nl.e703?sr=pro.rss Fri, 22 Feb 2008 10:41:13 PST Among the “pretty sweet new features“ that distinguish Xsan 2, Chris Foresman (arstechnica.com) points to the new MultiSAN feature, which “gives simultaneous access to multiple volumes that are hosted by separate controllers.” Xsan 2 “also allows file copies from one SAN volume to another directly over FibreChannel for a significant speed boost.” In addition, Foresman points to the redesigned admin tools that simplify setup and to Xsan 2’s tighter integration with Open Directory, Mac OS X Leopard, and Server Assistant on Leopard server. http://arstechnica.com/journals/apple.ars/2008/02/19/coming-to-a-storage-area-network-near-you-apples-xsan-2?sr=pro.rss Tue, 19 Feb 2008 13:03:33 PST “Apple has done well with Aperture 2.0, based on my test of ingesting and editing a batch of my own photos on a dual-core iMac,” remarks Stephen Shankland in a recent article on CNET. And, he points out, he’s not the only one to notice the dramatic performance gains: “I feel like someone snuck a new CPU into my machine,” gushed photographer Josh Anon in a Wednesday blog posting.” “On top of a general performance boost,” Shankland continues, Aperture 2 delivers “a new preview mode that specifically emphasizes speed,” an entirely “new raw-processing engine” that delivers significant advantages, and a variety of other new features, as well. http://www.news.com/8301-13580_3-9872913-39.html?tag=nefd.lede?sr=pro.rss Fri, 15 Feb 2008 13:08:49 PST Apple today introduced Aperture 2, the next major release of its groundbreaking photo editing and management software. Featuring an improved interface, faster browsing, and enhanced image processing, Aperture 2 delivers more than 100 new features that make it faster, easier to use, and more powerful than ever. Thanks to its new low price of $199, anyone can easily organize, edit, and publish photos like a pro. Owners of previous versions of the software can upgrade to Aperture 2 for just $99. http://www.apple.com/aperture/?sr=hotnews?sr=pro.rss Tue, 12 Feb 2008 06:31:07 PST DJ cum live music producer, Paul van Dyk weaves his own music on stage in real-time on a pair of 17-inch MacBook Pro computers running Logic Studio and Ableton Live. “Ever since I basically began making music, I’ve worked with Macs,” he says. “They’re in the studio as well as on the road. I’ve always had my Macs with me. They’re an essential part of my music.” http://www.apple.com/la/pro/profiles/paulvandyk/?sr=hotnews?sr=pro.rss Fri, 18 Jan 2008 15:18:19 PST Together with his intrepid film crew, documentary filmmaker Drew Wharton often found himself within feet of enormous bellowing 4,500 pound alpha males clashing mightily over females in estrus. It is A Seal’s Life, after all. The film (which debuted at the Monterey Bay Aquarium) tells the story of the world’s largest seal species—the northern Elephant Seal—behemoths that come ashore once a year to give birth, molt, and mate. “Apple technology saves me a ton of time and money,” notes Wharton, who edited the film in Final Cut Studio. “Our whole workflow is based on Macs, from field acquisition to post production. A Seal’s Life was made on a Mac from start to finish—for me, it didn’t make sense to do it any other way.” http://www.apple.com/la/pro/profiles/wharton/?sr=hotnews?sr=pro.rss Fri, 11 Jan 2008 15:05:38 PST The fastest Mac ever, the new Mac Pro has eight processor cores and a new system architecture that delivers up to twice the performance of its predecessor.* It combines two of Intel’s new 45 nanometer Quad-Core Xeon processors running up to 3.2 GHz, powerful new graphics and up to 4TB of internal storage, offering the ideal system for creative professionals, 3D digital content creators and scientists. The standard 8-core configuration starts at just $2,799. * Based on estimated results comparing a preproduction 2.8 GHz 8-core Mac Pro with a 2.66 GHz Quad-Core Mac Pro running professional applications like Maya, modo and Logic Pro. http://www.apple.com/macpro/?sr=pro.rss Tue, 08 Jan 2008 06:38:43 PST He’s not only the lead singer and rhythm guitarist for megaband Fall Out Boy. Patrick Stump is also one of the most prolific composers in pop music. And he composes that music all over the world using his MacBook Pro and GarageBand. “The beauty of GarageBand is that it’s only limited by what you want to do with it,” he says. “Ultimately, you can do anything. It’s a sequencer and you can record and edit audio. And it runs on my laptop. I’ve composed and recorded on the plane, on the bullet train in Japan. It’s made me so much more prolific because I don’t have to think about where and when I can record or write music. I can do it anywhere.” http://www.apple.com/la/pro/profiles/patrick_stump/?sr=hotnews?sr=pro.rss Fri, 04 Jan 2008 12:58:28 PST If you’re attending Macworld 2008 at the Moscone Center in San Francisco less than two weeks from today, you may also want to participate in the seventh annual Macworld Final Cut Pro User Group Supermeet. Scheduled for Wednesday, January 16, it features presentations by Apple, Adobe, SONY, Blackmagic Design, and a variety of Bay Area filmmakers. http://www.lafcpug.org/macworld_08.html?sr=pro.rss Wed, 02 Jan 2008 15:35:53 PST Next time you receive an email with a slew of attached photos, you can enjoy them with an instant slideshow delivered by Quick Look. One of the leading features of Mac OS X Leopard, Quick Look interacts with a variety of Mac applications, including Mail, Leopard’s powerful and popular email client. How can you launch a Quick Look slideshow from Mail? Find out how in the latest Pro Tip of the Week. http://www.apple.com/la/pro/tips/email_slideshow.html?sr=hotnews?sr=pro.rss Wed, 02 Jan 2008 15:17:23 PST For “Youth without Youth,” his first film in ten years, Francis Ford Coppola returned to self-funded, low-budget filmmaking and to longtime collaborator and Oscar-winning film editor Walter Murch. It took six months for Murch and crew to edit the film, and they depended on Final Cut Studio throughout the six-month editing process. “In the final stages of editing the film, we were working with the ultimate resolution of the film,” says Murch. “So really, the final film, other than the color correction, came out of our editing rooms on Final Cut Pro—in this case Final Cut literally was the final cut.” http://www.apple.com/la/pro/profiles/coppola_murch/?sr=pro.rss Fri, 21 Dec 2007 13:26:37 PST You get an email confirming your registration for a Final Cut Studio seminar. Next step: adding the event to your iCal schedule. Since you’re using Mac OS X Leopard, you don’t even have to leave Mail or open iCal. That’s because Leopard introduces a new technology called Data Detectors that lets your Mac recognize dates, email addresses, physical addresses, and other similar data. In this case, Mail can take advantage of Data Detectors to create a new iCal event for you. Find out how by reading the Pro Tip of the Week. http://www.apple.com/la/pro/tips/ical_event.html?sr=hotnews?sr=pro.rss Thu, 20 Dec 2007 11:47:25 PST “John McDermott’s workflow once consisted of handing off rolls of Kodachrome to a courier and waiting to see which images appeared in Newsweek,” writes Derrick Story (digitalmedia.oreilly). But now Aperture has transformed McDermott’s workflow. “It’s basically brought everything under one roof for me,” the assignment photographer tells Story in the latest Inside Aperture podcast. Aperture allows him to “download, edit, caption, and correct images” in the post-production tool McDermott describes as “a really elegant solution, and a simple one.” http://digitalmedia.oreilly.com/2007/12/13/john-mcdermott.html?sr=pro.rss Wed, 19 Dec 2007 11:43:31 PST