Pixelmator Pro 3.2 "Lumière"

 Pixelmator Pro is out with version 3.2. It adds video editing capabilities, integration with Apple Motion, and more! Very, very cool!

Now is the time to buy this great piece of software if you haven't already for a mere $19.99 (50% off.) Current users like me get to update for free!

Pixelmator Pro 3.2

Released on December 6, 2022

Pixelmator Pro 3.2 introduces some incredible new ways to create designs with full support for video layers, adds support for popular video formats, includes all-new video and social media templates, brings major improvements to Motion document support, and more.

New Features

With full support for video layers, you can now edit videos and create stunning video designs with all the same tools you use to edit images.

Use the new on-canvas controls to easily control video playback, set video start and end frames, select poster frames, and more.

Work with a number of popular video formats, including MP4, QuickTime Movie, and even moving image formats such as animated GIFs and PNGs.

Quickly create eye-catching designs with cinematic social media story templates and 4K movie title templates.

Video Layers Support

Video layers in Pixelmator Pro work just like any other layers — you can mask or crop them, add effects, change colors, and more.

Find useful information about video length in the video layer description.

Work with videos with transparency, compressed using HEVC or Apple ProRes 4444 codecs.

Import Live Photos from the Photos browser and edit them as photos or videos.

Use quick video editing settings in the video layer shortcut menu, and the menu bar, or use handy, on-canvas controls.

Easily start and stop video playback, mute, and unmute audio.

You can also press the Space bar on your keyboard to play all layers, or Option + Space to play only the selected layers.

With additional video editing settings, adjust the length of the video, scrub through individual frames, or select a poster frame.

For compositions with multiple video layers, use Advanced Settings to delay, loop videos, or choose the behavior of the first and last video frames.

Use playback delay to specify when each of the videos in a composition will start to play.

Keep your videos playing on repeat with Loop or Bounce effects.

Enjoy top video playback performance and a smooth, real-time video editing experience, powered by AVFoundation.

On devices with Apple silicon, harness the power of M1 and M2 chips to edit and export videos of up to 8K resolution.

Optimize videos for export with options for adjusting video size, quality, and frame rate.

When exporting to QuickTime Movie format, make the most of additional video compression formats, including HEVC and Apple ProRes.

Enjoy automatic video color management thanks to ColorSync integration.

Use Quick Export to quickly export videos to MP4 file format.

Export original, unedited videos from Pixelmator Pro by choosing Format > Video > Export Unmodified Video.

Automate video import, editing, and export with AppleScript and Shortcuts apps.

Motion Support Improvements

Enjoy support for video layers and many other improvements when exporting to Motion.

Motion projects will now keep the custom fonts included in Pixelmator Pro documents.

Basic vector clipping masks are now supported.

Color adjustments and effects layers are now supported.

Grain, Vignette, Black and White, and Gradient Map adjustments and effects will now be replaced with equivalent filters in Motion.

RAW layers will now open as bitmap layers in Motion.

To emulate nondestructive gradient and color fills from Pixelmator Pro, shapes will be used in Motion instead.

Fill and Gradient Fill styles now open as Fill filters in Motion.

Positioning of layers with complex transforms has been improved.

Other Improvements and Fixes

You can now show or hide layer handles by choosing View > Layer and Selection Handles from the View menu.

Arabic texts would sometimes be displayed incorrectly. Fixed.

In some situations, Pixelmator Pro would stop responding when upscaling images using Super Resolution. Fixed.

Adobe Media Encoder Create New Ingest Preset Bug on Silicon Mac

 Adobe is such an unnerving company. If you try to create a new Ingest Present for Premiere Pro on a Mac Silicon using the AME Silicon version, you're out of luck and you will go crazy trying to figure out why the stupid app refuses to create a new Ingest Preset.

If you click on Create New Ingest Preset, you will not go anywhere, the Preset won't be saved, and as a matter of facts, the window that opens is not even the correct one, it shows only a "Save As" button that doesn't save the Preset as Ingest Preset, but strictly as an Encoding Preset, unusable for Proxies creation.

It's a BUG Adobe. And it has not been fixed as of AME v 22.5.

To be able to create a new Ingest Preset, one has to use the INTEL version of AME. Accessible to launch under Creative Cloud app, AME, the three dots on the right, Open (Intel.)

Then with AME Intel running, on clicking Create new Ingest Preset you do get the proper window and the Save button, and it does save your preset as an Ingest Preset that works with Premiere.

That no one at Adobe bothered to check if this worked with the Silicon version is telling.

PS: AFTER you've created your first user Ingest Preset using AME Intel, for some reason AME Silicon allows you to create more and behaves as it should. Maddening.

Cannot Make Bootable Backups Of macOS System Anymore With M1 Silicon, macOS 11 Big Sur, And Forward

 I am stunned reading this explanation by Mike Bombich of the new way Apple is treating macOS security on Silicon Macs.

https://bombich.com/blog/2021/05/19/beyond-bootable-backups-adapting-recovery-strategies-evolving-platform

No more cloning your system on an external drive, ready for a quick swap in case of an internal system drive failure. With the help of CCC I was always ready in case of a catastrophe, well not any more!...

According to Bombich and Apple, "An Apple Silicon Mac won't boot if the internal storage has failed".

Read that again. Do you get it? Whoa, the ramifications are huge! A Mac lifespan now equals the lifespan of its internal storage. Since all current M1 Macs have a non replaceable ssd, that means when the ssd fails, the whole Mac is worth shit.

My Macs from 2009, 2012 are still functioning perfectly, I've swapped their boot drives countless times. How long is the life expectancy of a Apple NVMe SSD internal storage??? No one knows. Could be anywhere from 3-4 years to 9-14 years for the most optimistic. If it's the latter, OK. If it's less than that, no good.

Apple Care would extend the warranty after the first year, although you have to buy it 60 days after purchase, for the Mini it's $99 for three years, during which Apple will replace whatever hardware craps out, after that... good luck.

Replacing a Silicon Mini every 3 years I might stomach. Replacing a Silicon Mac Book Pro, iMac or future MacPro every 3 years? Forget it.

Also I've made an habit of starting with a clean install when upgrading macOSes: new drive, new OS, fresh start. It has served me well as all the small add-ons and stray files disseminated everywhere and accumulated along the years were zapped with a clean install. Now maybe that's not needed anymore, maybe that's what the new Apple compartmentalizing means: The macOS itself, being immutable, is not polluted by installs and stays clean no matter what. I hope so.

More reading:

https://tidbits.com/2021/05/27/an-m1-mac-cant-boot-from-an-external-drive-if-its-internal-drive-is-dead/

https://eclecticlight.co/2021/05/28/why-cloning-big-sur-isnt-as-useful-for-an-m1-mac/

My RED Camera Final Cut Pro X Workflow

My RED Camera Final Cut Pro X Workflow

Read this Apple White paper:
https://www.apple.com/final-cut-pro/docs/RED_Workflows_with_Final_Cut_Pro_X.pdf

Install RED plug-in for FCPX:
https://www.red.com/downloads/options?itemInternalId=16135

While you're at it, install RED CineX:
https://www.red.com/downloads/options?itemInternalId=16144

Keep the media external to FCP Libray: Library Properties/Storage Location/Modify Settings/Media/ Choose a Folder on your HD. All Media Links/Optimized Media and Proxy Media will live in this folder, making it easy to track at the Finder level.

Make sure to Import the RED clips without Transcoding them. In the Media Import Window, make sure Transcoding Create Optimize Media and Create Proxy media are turned OFF.

The operation can be done at a later time, after you have tweaked the RED RAW Settings in the Inspector. All Transcoded Media is deleted as soon as you modify the RED RAW Settings.

Selecting the Clip(s) will show a skimable, properly adjusted image in the Import Window.

After Import, Show the Inspector, and Show the Info. At the bottom you will see the "Modify RED RAW Settings Button. It automatically reads all Camera settings and adjust settings, but if you want to tweak the look, this is where the magic happens.

For smooth Playback, depending on your machine/hardware, make sure you are on Better Performance Playback settings, which plays at 1/4 resolution.

After you are happy with the RED RAW Settings, selects the clips and Transcode. Create Optimized Media will generate ProRes 4444 Full Res files, and these are quite large. Create Proxy Media will generate ProRes 422 Proxy Half Res files and these are small. Depending on the space you have available you will want to skip Creating Optimized Media and work on your edit exclusively in Proxy mode. Switch Playback Quality from Original (R3D) / Optimized (ProRes 4444) to Proxy (ProRes 422 proxy.)

With Proxy skimming and playback are super fast and snappy. The timeline is very responsive, and I'm on a classic Mac Pro.

Exporting 1min. of Proxy Timeline to ProRes Proxy takes about 45s on my old system. Exporting 1min. of R3D originals to ProRes 4444 takes about 5min. That's also the time needed to Transcode to Optimized ProRes 4444 if you choose to do that upfront. When exporting from an Optimized Prorez 4444 Timeline on the other end, the export time is cut in half, 2.5min. for 1min.

I edit with Proxy and I don't bother with Optimize Media. Especially when finishing in Resolve, there is no need. Now if I finish in FCP, then yes I must Transcode to Optimized ProRes 4444. I will only Transcode a locked cut Project, and only the clips used in the Project. That usually saves space, although FCP will Transcode the entire media, not just the I/O section of clip used in the Timeline.

How to create a bootable High Sierra Flash USB installer

Download High Sierra from the AppStore. When prompted to install, CANCEL the installation: Quit High Sierra Installer.

In your Application folder you will see a "Install macOS High Sierra.app" that's in my case 5.18GB in size.

Get a Flash USB drive that's 8GB or more. Mount it on your Desktop. Rename it "MyVolume" (or change the name of the volume in the command below to reflect the name of your device.)

Open Terminal, type:

sudo /Applications/Install\ macOS\ High\ Sierra.app/Contents/Resources/createinstallmedia --volume /Volumes/MyVolume --applicationpath /Applications/Install\ macOS\ High\ Sierra.app

It will ask for your password and if you wish to erase your "MyVolume" device.

Let it rip! It will takes several minutes to complete.

Enjoy your new installer!

Apple support page for making USB installers with various OSes:

https://support.apple.com/en-us/HT201372