The ConSol* Rough Cut Editor (RCE) is a server/client solution which adds rough cut editing features to Apple’s Final Cut Server workflow automation and asset management system. The RCE server will be installed on the Final Cut Server (FCSvr) system and can be accessed from Windows and Mac OS X clients.

The RCE comes with some unique features:

• Simplicity. The RCE comes with an intelligent interface which hides most overhead from the users. The tool is easy to learn and is ideal for time-critical environments.
• Works with proxy material. If there’s no proxy available, it automatically falls back to high res.
• Sends rough cuts to Final Cut Pro for final editing.
• Works with multiple Libraries without any configuration needed.

More information is available on the product website.

Installing the Final Cut Server client application is probably the easiest part of a deployment. Unfortunately, it's also very time-consuming, especially when you have alot of clients. What would be nice would be to wrap up that client in a package and push it out via ARD. There are some things to keep in mind, though. Final Cut Server doesn't behave the same as many other applications.

Step 1, of course, is to download the client from your Final Cut Server. You point a web browser at your Final Cut Server, click the Download button, and you're rewarded with a file called "Final Cut Server.jnlp". Of course, this isn't the actual client app. It's a JNLP file, which means it's simply an XML file that gets handed to your Java Runtime Environment, which then downloads the actual Java app from the Final Cut Server. If you look at this in a text editor, you'll notice one important thing - the address of your Final Cut Server is specified right up at the top of that XML:

This was pretty simple, but clients really seem to appreciate having the functionality so I thought I'd share.

Basically all you have to do is follow these steps to create a checkbox that can send any asset to your Apple TV for client viewing.

1. Create the field "Send to Apple TV".
2. Add that field to your Asset Search MD group and the MD group that you wish people to access it in.
3. Create a Final Cut Server Playlist in iTunes
4. Open Automator in OSX. Create a Folder Action using the "Add Songs to Playlist" action from iTunes. Choose your Final Cut Server Playlist
5. Assign the folder action to a folder of your choice.
6. Create a Device "Apple TV" in Final Cut Server that points to that folder.
7. Create a transcode setting for "Apple TV H.264" and import to Final Cut Server. Assign this transcode setting to your Apple TV Device
8. Create a "Send to Apple TV" Copy Response. The destination device is "Apple TV". Transcode Setting is "Apple TV H.264"
9. Open Itunes on the Final Cut Server. Setup your Apple TV. Have the Apple TV automatically get the latest files from your Final Cut Server Playlist and send them to your Apple TV.

Done!

Jason Perr
Systems Integration Consultant
Sr. Systems Engineer / Partner
MacHarmony

Apple announced updates to their Mac mini line-up today, including a new server model for $999 that sheds the optical drive to cram in twin 2.5" 500GB HDDs and a proper nVidia 9400M GPU. Snow Leopard Server is included in the price. Cheap! Seems like an inexpensive way to get into Final Cut Server.

There are also new MacBooks, new iMacs with a range topping 27" 2560x1440 screen, a gesture mouse, and tweaks to the Time Capsule and Airport Extreme products.

Details on WriteXML and ReadXML changes in FCSvr 1.5, after the jump...

I have attempted to point out various feature enhancements and I give my opinion on what I think is useful. Once I get my hands on the FCSvr 1.5 DVD, I'll post a more detail and screen by screen comparison of FCSvr 1.1.1 vs 1.5.

Note: Most of the information for this article was provided by what's Apple has publicly announced on apple.com/finalcutserver/.

Active Directory support

Final Cut Server 1.5 now supports the authentication and authorization of users against Microsoft’s Active Directory (AD). This feature is huge; it didn’t exist in Final Cut Server 1.1.1, and was a huge hurdle for Final Cut Server being adopted in many enterprises and as well education organizations that had large AD deployments. Now AD users can now log in using their same username and passwords that they used for logging into their Macs (if bounded to AD) and/or their Microsoft Exchange email accounts.

Offline editing with ProRes 422 (Proxy)


Final Cut Server 1.5 now supports a new flavor of Edit Proxies ProRes 422 (Proxy). This new ProRes codec fixes many issues that existed with the flavor of the Apple Pro Res Edit Proxies codec that shipped with FCSvr 1.1.1.

Selectable proxy format creation

Final Cut Server 1.5 now supports the ability to catalogue your media using distinct Clip Proxy transcode settings. Previously in Final Cut Server 1.1.1 a user was only allowed to use 1 specify type of Clip Proxy for all assets in Final Cut Server. This didn’t allow very much flexibility when you needed to catalogue for example SD 4:3 footage and 16:9 HD footage, because depending on the Clip Proxy transcode setting you selected your footage would be either squished or stretched.

Image Sequences


Final Cut Server 1.5 now has more robust and useful integration of image sequences. You can now view image sequences as entire asset. Before in Final Cut Server 1.1.1 or earlier, Final Cut Server would only create an asset bundle assets of image sequences. Now when cataloguing an image sequence, FCSvr allows to you create an “image sequence asset”. 

Cataloguing the asset using the “Create an image sequence option” will both preserve the image sequence as a bundle, but now also create a video clip proxy, and a ProRess 422 (Proxy) if enabled, that will allow you to use this image sequence directly in Final Cut Pro (FCP) for editing.

Production

Final Cut Server 1.5 now supports production hierarchies, which essentially allow you to store productions within productions. This will also offer administrators the ability via a new set of Permission Sets to have more granular control over which productions or sub productions a user or group has access to.

Smart Searches


Final Cut Server 1.5 now allows users to save Smart Searches Globally. In Final Cut Server 1.1.1 Smart Searches could only be saved and be reused by the user creating the smart search, which was an administrative pain. Now users have ability to save their smart searches saved and made available for use to all Final Cut Server users.

Improved search performance

Although I haven't experienced Final Cut Server 1.5, my assumption is that Apple has configured further optimization of the Postgres implementation of Final Cut Server as well.

Support for metadata in audio files

Final Cut Server 1.5 now parses and displays metadata from AIFF, WAV, CAF, M4A, SDII, and AAC files. Previously in Final Cut Server 1.1.1 this embedded metadata was not searchable and/or viewable in the Final Cut Server DB. I personally had to write a script that parsed this information out of the file and sync it with Final Cut Server. For Final Cut Server 1.1.1 users, I will post the script and implementation instruction shortly.