TECH TIPS
An All-Access Pass
Managing Media with Final Cut Server
by Stephen Kanter
As an Avid editor who became an early adopter of Final Cut Pro, I’ve seen the gulf between the two systems narrow quite a bit since FCP version 1. With each revision, Apple added “missing” features such as audio meters, keyboard mapping and multi-cam editing, but there was one limitation that never seemed to get addressed: media management. As more and more editing facilities switch from Avid on Unity to Final Cut Studio on Xsan, managing the huge amounts of media between various editors, graphic artists, composers, etc. has become a significant challenge.
When an Australia-based company, Proximity, released a robust media management service called Artbox that integrated with Final Cut Pro, the folks at Apple took notice, bought the company, and announced the re-branded product, Final Cut Server, at NAB 2007. After more than a year of development, the application has finally been released, and it may just remove the final reservation against switching from Avid to Final Cut Pro––not just for larger facilities, but also individual editors on a single system.
Collaborating in Your Pajamas
Since the dawn of the Internet, the dream of digital NLE editor and
non-editor alike has been: “How can I maximize my productivity
and interact with my collaborators without actually having to be in
the same room with them?” Final Cut Server offers a solution
for not only cataloging and searching the media on your system, but
also for serving it out to just about anyone with an Internet connection.
While the hardware can vary (just like Final Cut Pro, Final Cut Server
is scalable to different hardware architectures), the heart of the
software is a platform-independent Java application that allows Mac
and PC users to access the same media while enjoying the exact same
user experience (see Figure 1).
 Figure 1: The Final Cut Server main interface. Assets can be viewed as thumbnails in the assets pane, or grouped into productions displayed in the production pane. |
A Final Cut Server deployment consists of essentially three major elements: the server itself, the client applet and various devices to store the media. The server can run on either OS X Leopard or Leopard Server––the latter intended for Xsan or other shared storage networks, the former for more simple deployments. Clients can access the server over the Internet or intranet, depending on whether they are inside or outside the server facility’s subnet. Devices can be anything from a folder on a local hard drive to an Xsan volume or network file server.
So, whether you’re running the server off a single editing system or as part of a large networked facility, Final Cut Server is the gateway through which anyone, anywhere, can access your media as if sitting in the room with you. The kicker, of course, is that the Java applet permits this access from either a Mac or a PC, granting access privileges to the widest spectrum of users. (For complete system requirements, visit www.apple.com/finalcutserver/specs/)
Final Cut Server Workflows
Final Cut Server can be integrated into a variety of existing workflows, where
it offers enhancements like metadata-based searching, a review-and-approve
process, and automations that can do anything from sending e-mails to implementing
external scripts to transcoding and uploading media files to a file server.
The first, and most essential, step is to upload media to the catalogue. During
installation, Final Cut Server creates two separate devices to store the production
media and proxy media, although you can add as many devices as you wish later.
When you upload a file to Final Cut Server, a copy of the file, called the primary representation, is placed in the library or media device. At the same time, a lower-resolution clip proxy is generated by Compressor and stored on the proxies device, along with a full-size poster frame and a small thumbnail image for catalogue browsing purposes. The primary representation and proxy’s are bound together as resources of a single asset (see Figure 2). Assets are not limited to Final Cut Pro projects and media, but can include Final Cut Studio projects, Microsoft Office docs, Adobe docs, etc.
 Figure 2: The primary representation and its proxies: an H.264 Clip Proxy, JPG thumbnail and poster frame. |
The lower-resolution clip proxies, which take up considerably less space and bandwidth than the uncompressed primary representation, can be quickly cached to the local drive of any offsite client, who can then view and annotate the assets with metadata and time code specific notes. Editors offsite can use the cached proxies for editing and can upload finished cuts for review and approval, from any remote location.
Onsite systems with direct access to a device, such as an Xsan or any other properly configured edit-in-place device, allow editors instantaneous access to proxy and primary representation alike, without waiting for the files to cache. Non-Xsan volumes can also be configured as edit-in-place devices, so that when users upload or catalogue their existing media, the primary representation remains in place instead of being duplicated to the library or media device; only proxies need to be generated in order to create assets.
Integration with Final Cut Studio
Final Cut Server’s integration makes it an invaluable tool for
anyone using Final Cut Studio applications. When an FCP project file
is uploaded to the server, all the sequences and media in the project
are uploaded as elements bound to the project file (see Figure 3).
Any metadata from the FCP browser columns are attached to the elements,
and for uncompressed and HD projects, edit proxies can be generated
in the Apple ProRes format to lower storage and bandwidth requirements
for editors wishing to work disconnected from the server. LiveType,
Soundtrack Pro and Motion artists can upload their projects and media
into a common production––or tag them with common metadata
keywords––in order to streamline searching for related
assets.
 Figure 3: An uploaded Final Cut Pro project asset showing all uploaded project media. |
Once found, assets can be dragged and dropped from the Final Cut Server window directly into any Final Cut Studio application for easy import (see Figure 4). Projects and media are shared between multiple editors using a check in/check out process, similar to Avid’s Unity protocol, that allows many editors to view (read) media, but only one at a time can modify and save changes (write). Final Cut Server also has a versioning feature that stores previous versions of a project or media file so that you can restore to a previous version if the need arises.
 Figure 4: Dragging and dropping assets from the FCP Server window. |
The Power in a Pop-Up
Cataloging and searching assets are nice, but freelance editors who already
know how to organize and find their media without FC Server might balk at
the $999 price tag (for a 10-seat license; unlimited for $1,999). Luckily,
there is a powerful feature that, since setting up my own Final Cut Server
system, I can never again do without: automations. Automations come in two
flavors––file system watchers and metadata subscriptions. File
system watchers watch folders for new files, whereas metadata subscriptions
watch a particular metadata field, but both trigger automated responses when
a change in status occurs.
For example, an assistant editor could set up the Capture Scratch folder to be watched, and configure a response to copy any newly added assets to the library and send an e-mail to notify the editor and post supervisor that the project is ready for editing. When the editor is done with a cut, he or she can upload a QuickTime export to the server and set the status pop-up menu to “ready for review,” which could trigger a copy with transcode response that automatically posts the movie to a network server in a web-friendly codec and/or sends an e-mail response to notify required reviewers that the cut is ready for review (see Figure 5).
 Figure 5: FCP Servera metadata subscription automation window. |
Another type of automation is a device scan, which regularly searches devices for new files, then uploads them to Final Cut Server. On an Xsan, each editor’s Capture Scratch could be scanned so that all captured media is automatically uploaded to the server.
The Bottom Line
Since implementing my stand-alone Final Cut Server, I am definitely happy
with it, if not perfectly content. There are still a few missing features.
I’d like to see the ability to import annotations as markers into Final
Cut Pro, or use Artbox’s shot selection feature, which allows producers
to make cuts-only sequences in Final Cut Server and then send them to FCP.
Still, for a version 1 application, Final Cut Server is very robust and surprisingly
stable. I look forward to watching the evolution of this newest addition to
Apple’s suite of post-production tools. l
Stephen Kanter is an Avid- and Apple-certified editor and one of only 13 Final Cut Studio Master Trainers in the United States. He has trained for Apple, UCLA, Moviola Education and Weynand Training, and for the past six years has served as a technical editor and contributing writer for the Apple Pro Training Series. He can be reached at steve@editdog.net.
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