Eight months in and no news of any updates to hitfilm?
DreamArchitect
Website User Posts: 595 Enthusiast
in General
So we are eight months in to 2014 and as yet nothing has been said about any new version of hitfilm. We've had Mac versions, great but no interest to me as I don't own a Mac. We've had the plugins, great but no interest to me as I don't own After effects or indeed any of the other platforms that support them. So as a windows hitfilm 2 ultimate user I have to ask about 2014, What's in it for me? While I'm sure it's not the case it does feel like Hitfilm has become a little forgotten. I know I will just get the marketing spiel about how there exciting things in the pipeline etc etc but will there actually be anything released for the stallwarts among us that were here from hitfilms start before the end of the year?
I'm not wanting to come across as negative, that's not why I'm asking the question. I'm asking because when I ask at the beginning of the year it was all about exciting developments but so far, none of those are of use to me. So I want to know, quite fairly I think, what's happening with hitfilm? Should I be jumping ship? Will there be something worthwhile for me this year?
I'm not wanting to come across as negative, that's not why I'm asking the question. I'm asking because when I ask at the beginning of the year it was all about exciting developments but so far, none of those are of use to me. So I want to know, quite fairly I think, what's happening with hitfilm? Should I be jumping ship? Will there be something worthwhile for me this year?
Comments
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Will there be something worthwhile for me this year?
Yes.
*gets dragged away and thrown in the dungeon* -
The HitFilm dungeon is actually what we've been spending most of our time working on this year.
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Well if you guys have spent that much time on the dungeon it must be amazing. Enjoy Simon!
Seriously though, yes is good enough for me. To paraphrase homer Simpson I was a little discruntled but now I am relatively gruntled :-)
Win, I was referring to after effects. I'm Still tempted by the 17 pounds a month option with CC but more to complement hitfilm rather than to replace it. They both have things they are better at. Not sure though. Still love hitfilms' nle integration and as you say transferring from app to app can be tiresome. -
The whole scene is changing in very interesting ways - it's definitely a good time to be a low-budget/indie/no-budget/beginner filmmaker.
As always, sorry I can't say anything actually useful at this point, but I'm pretty sure you'll be happy with what we've been working on. -
Triem23 Moderator Moderator, Website User, Ambassador, Imerge Beta Tester, HitFilm Beta Tester Posts: 19,240 AmbassadorTo speculate wildly. It's now August. New product announcements often come in November...
And thousands of people just filled out a wishlist-survey.... We need to give FxHome some time to best use this data.. -
It's pretty much what I was thinking too Win. Makes perfect sense really. I hope at least. All I would say is that hitfilm plugins are designed to work on a number of platforms. Does this not suggest they already conform to some kind of widely used standard? Or did I miss something. It wouldn't be the first time.
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Triem23 Moderator Moderator, Website User, Ambassador, Imerge Beta Tester, HitFilm Beta Tester Posts: 19,240 AmbassadorSince Sony Vegas is OFX (and Premiere and AE and FCP and AVID) support OFX, it's a reasonable guess that the next iteration of software will be OFX.
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Would that therefore mean that OFX plugins from other sources would work with hitfilm?
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Triem23 Moderator Moderator, Website User, Ambassador, Imerge Beta Tester, HitFilm Beta Tester Posts: 19,240 AmbassadorNot at the moment. While the core OFX libraries are identical, you still need custom coding to interface with a software package--for example, to bring the interface in line with the host, and, of course, dealing with capabilities of the host. Sticking with the Hitfilm plug-ins as an example, if you look at thr product page you will see one or two of them don't work in Final Cut or Vegas because those hosts don't support certain functions the Plug-Ins require. And certain effects won't be able to be parented to nulls/points as those hosts have no nulls to link to.
However, it's possible that it's now possible for third-party developers to code for Hitfilm in the future. We'll see. -
It is pure speculation of course, but I don't think it would help FXHome to make the interface OFX compatible. While editing is a feature of Hitfilm it is not its strong point. It is more like AE than Premiere Pro. Third party effects are primarily filters. The strength of Hitfilm is the compositor and particle generator.
My personal desires would be to improve the blemish tool integration with masks. And a new auto-mask that finds edges as per Adobe. A Macro interface would be nice too.
My $0.02 -
Triem23 Moderator Moderator, Website User, Ambassador, Imerge Beta Tester, HitFilm Beta Tester Posts: 19,240 AmbassadorFair enough. I've put my pennies in the Wishlist thread, but most of my priorities on the Wishlist are 3D improvements: being able to paernt spotlight targets, camera targets, particle trajectory targets, deflectors and forces to points. Bump and transparency maps. True bezier interpolation and position curves. Color Curves... I like being able to seperate 3D stacks with 2D layers, but hope eventually 3D models will occlude with 3D layers and particles without workarounds. Distance/Depth maps...
Of my Wishlist items, I suspect additional point-targets are easiest to implement as all the items I mentioned are already position-keyframable. -
Triem23 Moderator Moderator, Website User, Ambassador, Imerge Beta Tester, HitFilm Beta Tester Posts: 19,240 Ambassador[quote name="Tooshka (Win Conway)" post="45090" timestamp="1407899556"]I don't think you could be further from the truth, coding two sets of near identical products as two separate sets of source is just not economical for any team, integrating the two packages makes perfect economic sense for FXHome, and also means that when new feature X/Y/Z appears in the plugins, it is automatically ready and built in to Ultimate.
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And FXhome has stated that's just what they intend to do... I expect the few Hitfilm Plug-ins that aren't already in Hitfilm Ultimate to be in the next version. -
Fair enough: It helps FXHome with minimizing coding. However, I already have plenty of OFX filters, as a consumer I want to see Hitfilm do what it does well even better, rather than try and add a bunch of stuff that I won't use in Hitfilm, (I edit in Vegas). There is nothing in the OFX bundle that makes me in anyway want to purchase it or upgrade Hitfilm to get.
That's just IMO. I'm sure there's plenty of folks that want more plugins/presets.... -
I think if hitfilm maintains a closed system it will keep Hitfilm running smooth. Sony Vegas may take OFX but for a lot of the fan base Sony Vegas Pro is far from a smooth experience.
I want Fxhome to grow and expand as a company and I think that will really happen when they prove to be a bridge between low budget indie and big budget productions. The reason why BlackmagicDesign's camera's started catching fire(even with a host of issues) is because it was pretty much bringing fire down from Mt. Olympus. People saw raw, good color science, non proprietary media and flipped out. Now I know one is hardware from a company that has an established name for many other aspects of production and the other is a smaller company that's fighting for name recognition. What can FXhome add to Hitfilm that would make it a instant hit? What is the software equivalent to raw recording, good color science and non proprietary media? What is something all the big companies are refusing to do for us mere mortals? If you can answer that question then you don't need a big media hype train to get attention. -
*observes*
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@Tooshka, FXhome did give away their free software for a bit. Their OS is not unified and the updates that are finally being released now have been in the works for a long time. They are also being rolled out unevenly. The 1.9 update is only for the production camera and not for the cinema camera.
The point I was making with the comparison is that if FXhome found the software equivalent to those features, they would bridge the gap between big productions and indie filmmakers.
I did not compare software sales to camera sales.
Its fair to compare 1 company to another in terms of saying keep growing and find a opportunity to spread like wild fire.
I asked the question at the end of it that just says what can FXhome do that is the equivalent? Its worth trying to answer. -
Triem23 Moderator Moderator, Website User, Ambassador, Imerge Beta Tester, HitFilm Beta Tester Posts: 19,240 Ambassador(As I still speculate that part of the HFP project was creating a unified code base, I still think that HFU3 will be based around this unified code structure. I further hypothesize that this shift in code requires HFU3 to be a ground-up rewrite. I can, of course, totally be wrong. That said, I still best-guess that the next major FxHome announcement will me Oct/November, in time for Holiday Shopping. Plug-ins were, of course, announced just in time for Trade Show season, which is when one would expect a new product LINE. For a new project ITERATION--yeah, Oct/November.)
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I call out the updates as slow because adding a histogram and audio meters was requested 2 years ago for the bmcc. It should of rolled out to the bmcc first.
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Some interesting observations/guesses/hypotheses here!
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@Tooshka
Yea I guess it was silly to respond to part of your comment.
Yes I am allowed to moan about BM at any opportunity I can, just like you are allowed to moan about me changing the subject.
Its the internet, please don't take it so serious.
@Simon
I think part of answering what Hitfilm needs is making it easier to integrate into someone's work flow. In both importing and exporting. People want to bring in whatever files they have and keep them at the same quality in taking them out. Isn't that really akin to what BMD did? Raw provided the highest fidelity. In that also allow for a higher color bit float point. That is not going to set the world on fire, but its part of that move.
What are some of the frustrations that new users and old users have when it comes rigging things up in 3d space? Is there a way to have pre-structured rigs and have them shareable? What else can be made easier to share/use later.
Its not necessarily the features people have listed, but just the features that make things easier. -
So besides allowing for CinemaDng... can we get some modifications on the color correcting tool set for log grading? Like can we add Offset? Its a feature in resolve that allows for and overall shifting of colors evenly.
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Actually may of spoke too soon, looking to see if the exposure's offset handles the same.
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Lol color curves are so basic lol. I love playing with resolve... No need for curves when you have proper tools;).
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Triem23 Moderator Moderator, Website User, Ambassador, Imerge Beta Tester, HitFilm Beta Tester Posts: 19,240 Ambassador
Color Curves are, in my humble opinion, way more powerful, flexible and useful than many, many other grading tools. Michael, you're a Videocopilot fan--surely you've noticed Andrew Kramer does the majority of his color grading, color correction, colorizing, brightness and constrast adjustments with curves... Proper use of Curves replaces color correct wheels, brightness, contrast, exposure, gamma correction, levels, white balance adjustments, etc. Simple, yes, but still the most versatile grading tool.
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@Triem23 I am a VideoCopilot fan, but when i look at all the work that has amazing color and clarity. Its not done with curves. I use wheels a lot because of Resolve.
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Triem23 Moderator Moderator, Website User, Ambassador, Imerge Beta Tester, HitFilm Beta Tester Posts: 19,240 Ambassador
Does Resolve have LAB color curves? If so, I will buy it immediately. I have craved LAB curves in anydamneditor for a decade!
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@Tooshka There are a couple other things that i think are really what makes Resolve powerful and professional. When i took Warren Eagle's online series through fXphd and seen other professional colorist work they aren't using curves. Curves impact on color grading is similar to DSLRs impact on filmmaking. It allows more people the ability to get a higher quality of look out of their work. Not gonna say people on those higher levels who work near exclusively as colorists do not use curves ever.
When i was blown away by how Eargle graded a scene at a church and relit it and did power windows to create a ray of light out of a window onto someone kneeling. Then with power windows he changed the exposure of the rest of the scene to be lower excluding the new "light" then gave it a rich tone using the wheels. I was like wow thats how you get a job as a colorist
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Curves is 1 way just 1 way to skin a cat. There are many ways to accomplish the same thing. If you weren't aware of that, then maybe theres a gap in what you know about color correction and grading?
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@Triem23 you know, I do really, really like coffee.
