Software updates - and lack thereof August 2024

 A quick list of updates and not so updated applications I use regularly. 

The Affinity Suite: This has had a few bug fix updates since it recently was bought by Canva but no sign of where they might be going after this major change in the company. It will take time to hire new people to add new features to be sure and while things seems as they always were in most ways after such a huge shift I wish there was some indication what will be happening down the line to assure me. Insecurity on my part but we have been waiting for a few things for a LONG time that now might be in reach like a Digital Asset manager, Epub tools in Publisher that can be worked on live in the program, the ability to save export presets on iPad, improved selection tools and a host of other things. I have noticed and uptick on the forum of posts bitching about various things that are identical in tone to when it updated to 2.0 and suddenly Adobe bots were (it seemed obvious to me) were stoking discontent. 

Adobe: I am free of all Adobe products, including "back up" versions in case I need them for something. In many years, I have not and getting it all off my system was a relief. They are company non-grata at the moment because of their predatory subscription and licensing agreements that people finally starting reading and this has led to a huge uptick in Affinity users which bodes well for the software I use instead of Adobe. They burnt the bridge to my computer before the subscription thing with their poor service but the subscription thing sealed deal for me to move to other things. 

Blender 4.2 : It's out and I am terrified to update for fear of losing any of the addons I have from the previous version. I am being extra cautious but so far it doesn't seem that I need to be. I will need to put a day aside to set up the new version and reinstall my addons. Since leaving Cinema 4D I have produced one new animation I am extremely happy with but I am little hesitant for a new project. Newbie jitters I am sure. 

Final Cut pro: A recent update added some "AI" features that might be handy but won't work unless you have an M_chip Mac which is a bummer. I can't buy a new computer every year because they change the chips they use and won't support not so much older machines that were top of the line 2 years ago. I am more and more afraid they will go with a subscription model as they have with the iPad version, In that case I'll be moving to DaVinci Resolve. 

Toon Squid and Procreate Dreams: Procreate Dreams was released with some pretty amazing new features but has struggled to add some that most other animation software have had for years and the promised addition of some of those amazing features to Procreate itself have not materialized either. Toonsquid, a one man band situation is in Beta of V2.0 with a TON of new features I can't wait to try out and use. Not sure when the release version will be ready but the sooner the better for me. It is looking like it will become my go to for 2D animation app. Only on iPad but that is fine, the iPad pro is more and more becoming my laptop alternative. 

Topaz Labs Photo AI & Video AI: Constantly updating and improving I can't find fault with the products or service I use from them. I can't afford the latest update to Photo AI, it would be about 135$ CAD and I need more work to come in to justify that. One thing that has given me pause is the release of "Pro versions" of some of their software that need a subscription to access. I have not looked into what that means too much, subscriptions are a non starter for me but depending on what client needs are, I could see signing up for a month, doing the work and letting it go until the new client needs something. The real issue I have is... weren't the products I have been using "Pro"? They were certainly sold as that and I found them pretty useful. Makes it sounds like the last few years I have been sold inferior products to entice me into a subscription service. This is probably paranoia from all the Adobe controversy but it is in the back of my mind now. 

Animation: The Solar System 2022 by:Vincent-louis Apruzzese

 

I did not want to go an entire year without animation something. I have several space mini-docs planned but this was the easiest to pull off bit by bit over the last few months as the research was minimal and I already have decent models of the entire solar system made. I learned a different way to handle the atmospheric haze over planets that worked out well and it is just good to keep doing something as I forget the basics easily when I haven't done something in a long while.

I have been more confident to use Garage band to make my own music. It's not exactly Gerry Goldsmith but it works and it's something that I can do myself and have no copyright worries. 

Animation: The Cask of Amontillado 2020 6 minutes 14 seconds

After about two years of preparation and animation my animated "The Cask of Amontillado" is finished. Mike Luce is the voice of Montresor and Michael Z. Keamy is Fortunato. I tried to be the voice of Montresor at first but I was beyond terrible and Mike Luce kindly redid that audio for me. I went with human like animal characters this time instead of cartoon humans. I thought it might work better and give me more options with the animation plus added some symbolism. 

I used Cinema 4D as I am not ready for something like this in Blender yet. It was edited in Final Cut X and I did not use After effects for the compositing but used Apple's underrated and often ignored Motion software instead and it worked out great. The animation still has some issues I am having trouble with, such as decent walk cycles and some of the movements were not as smooth as I would have liked but overallI am very happy with the results. Nothing is ever perfect, is it? The settings were a long haul to make as the upper and lower catacombs are huge and cavernous and lit by torches. The sound was a little more complex as I had to record a bunch of foley and sound effects to flesh out the sound and add more atmosphere and detail to the short. 

During the final edit, I noticed a bunch of things I had somehow missed, one was the wrong source files were used for a sequence which made the image looked pixelated and another was a terrible clicking noise during a dialog scene I can't believe I had not heard during the editing process. My excuse is that the noise here is non stop between the construction and the fact I am not in glorious isolation but home with my spouse which does not give me the solitude I need to work efficiently. Constant distraction is death to a project like this so I am glad I was able to get it done and be happy with the end result. 

I have two posters ready in case I decide to enter it in some festivals. I have had the luck to be in one or another over the last 6 years so having promotional stuff ready is a fun way to tie up a project in a nice bow. 

If you like the animation, tell me! Like it on Youtube and pass it around so maybe it can get some attention and love! 

Final goodbye to Final Cut Studio and Flash

Not a surprise to anyone, but Adobe is pulling the plug on Flash, the animation turned practically independent OS application originally developed by Macromedia. I have along history with Flash, and loved using it under Macromedia. When Adobe bought Macromedia, it was almost exclusively for obtaining Flash which it saw as the future standard of the internet and aggressively pushed it way beyond it's limits and original functions into a space no one asked for. They also pretty much abandoned all the other great Macromedia products, including Dreamweaver which had become the best WYSIWYG html editor around.

At first, mostly because of the advantages for flash video, the newer version caught on but quickly the hack-ability and lack of stability became apparent to anyone opening a Flash file. Steve Jobs notoriously banned the format from Apple's mobile devices and the long, slow death knell began to sound. HTML 5 and other new internet advances soon took over most of the functions only Flash could offer and to be frank, I haven't opened the program in about 5 years.

Sadder for me is the knowledge that the next Mac OS update will kill Final Cut Studio for once for all. I actually used it just last week to export a video in a format for Amazon Video Direct that Final Cut X can not do... for reasons I'll never understand and Amazon refuses to explain. The Final Cut debacle is well known and hate for the Final Cut Studio replacement isn't unfounded, or wasn't unfounded at the time. The application has changed a lot, bringing back old functionality and new better workflow over a slow development period but without demanding an upgrade fee in all that time. I still use some of the suite as well. While programs like the DVD creator and Colour have been obsolete for a long time now, Sound track Pro still has been very useful to me time to time. I have the new Motion X and it's a slight improvement over the studio version (why won't Apple give that software some real love?) but I haven't bought the new Compressor which exports to different formats... and I might have now that the old Final Cut will be no more. Adobe's premier Pro has become what Final Cut likely would have been in some respects but it's also stuck in older ideas about editing and part of the heinous Adobe Creative Cloud ripoff, so I won't be using that and keeping Final Cut X at the top of my video editing list for now.