Just a few more thoughts after using it a bit.

I genuinely think that the slow down is with a Sony Camera format we had on the team that causes problems wherever it goes in the mac world. Other than that the 'final' cut of the school project looks pretty good and was fun to edit overall.

Set-backs? FCPX crashed a lot but after a while I realised that the error message referred to 'Audio Hijack Server'. I wonder if Rogue Amoeba are to blame with their brand of under-the-hood tricks?

Nested sequences are good but I still don't really get how to expand or shorten them from within a nest. 

Motion has an amazing feature for replicating human gestures! It seems to work pretty well - am testing it out. Anything to free me from learning tedious key-framing graphs. Human motion is the best motion. 

The first edit of a 15 minute film exported to 13 gigs. I then did a H264 1080p version and it was 1.5 gigs. Even that took a couple of hours to upload to vimeo plus. Fun.

My main feelings about how FCPX will boost stuff is in getting more quick experimental projects out of the door. The previous version of Motion never seemed to work without major pain on a 17" MBP. I did a pop video for some students but it was a real hassle. I am hoping that these feelings will be something from the past now on. 

It's all about the creativity man - give me some flexible and quick tools for playing about with lots of interesting and intriguing ideas.

I know that lots of people are moaning about various things¹ but my early feelings about this new version are that it is a pleasure. Yes it has crashed a couple of times, but the general feel is one of joy. I am editing a multi camera project for a school related event. It isn't a pro project. It does have a potential nightmare in it's bones: multiformat flip and SLR sources being imported. In the original FCP this would have caused no end of hassle, but in this version I am able to get on with the happy process of editing. So far I have just been enjoying it.

¹for a really helpful view on the issue have a look at this: http://daringfireball.net/2011/06/final_cut_pro_x_backlash

I have been a little thrown off by how good this app is: a competent, quick and attractive OCR scanner on the iPhone that has a number of very neat tricks up it's sleeve.

http://www.creaceed.com/prizmo/

On the serious side, it is pretty good at taking picture-based text and reliably converting it. If you can photograph uniform type then it can usually do something decent with it.¹ This is both a time saver and power extension of the iphone itself if you need to get hold of an important quote or two. As a teacher, it is changing the way I think about text usability and access. If you can get hold of it conveniently and stick it up on a screen easily enough then it is a tool worth having.

While the OCR function is good enough to make this a great standalone app, there are at least two other features that bring that extra something.

The Whiteboard feature is a handy tool for taking a record of your jottings and then adjusting the image for perspective (you know - when you take a picture at an angle to avoid reflections) and clarity. I have been taking whiteboard images for around ten years now and this is a genuine step up on that process. This is a great unexpected thing.²

The other 'thing' is the voice feature. I know that the Mac has this built in, but there is a convenience to having it in your hand which is pretty special. The ability to use it at any time has massive potential. I have so far been mainly larking about with my students, taking familiar text (often in the form of public warning signs and the like) and getting an alien voice to read it.³

Another experimental aspect is that these voices are likely to turn up in some animation or educational film experiment soon enough. Oh yes.

Summary - Prizmo is a useful, welcome and inspiring step forward that will make a difference to educators, clowns and the like.

¹There are a bunch of image tools to adapt whatever you capture to aid the retrieval process. It is good, although in some cases I can see myself using other pieces of image manipulation software (like Brushes or Sketchbook) to remove some artefacts that might confuse things. ²Ooh I think I'll just wear these trousers because they look good and I need some trousers to wear on account of me being in a street with bare legs and all. Hey, they fit great! Wow! Guess what? I just found a £10 note in the pocket. ³There are a bunch of in-app voices you can purchase for £1.79 each. Well worth it!

So is it fake to take some pictures at a wedding and then do this to them? Is it bad that I am enjoying doing this?