Avid, the makers of the music industry’s leading DAW called “Pro Tools”, just dropped an iPad version of its pro-sumer Final Cut Pro competitor known as “Avid Studio.” Although the latest Final Cut Pro X update brought multicam editing, broadcast monitoring, and many of the features pro users demanded be re-implemented, the Avid Studio iPad app shows why Apple should and most likely will release FCPX for iPad.
The app is available from the App Store now for $4.99, significantly less than the desktop version that retails for $169.99, but the app will increase to $8 after an initial 30-day introductory period. The Avid Studio app is the company’s first video editing suite for iPad and aims to provide most of the features offered through the desktop version.
Users will get the familiar timeline and storyboard, but new gestures will allow them to pinch and squeeze to scale images and videos, and arrange edits on the timeline for picture-in-picture effects. Users of the desktop software will also appreciate the Precision Trimmer, Razor Blade tool for on the fly cuts, and the ability to export projects easily to Avid Studio on the desktop. Projects can be uploaded to iCloud, and finished projects can be shared to YouTube, Facebook, and by email from within the app. Unlike the desktop version, there is no Flash export option.
Other features include multi-layer 3D animations, titles, and transitions, high-quality fades and dissolves, and “professional-looking motion titles and graphics with full control over text, font, color, size, position, and rotation.” Users can also import their own audio or select from included sound effects with full control over trimming, setting levels, and fading audio in and out.
While admitting that the company is trying to do the same thing with Avid Studio as Apple has done with Final Cut Pro X, Avid’s Tanguy Leborgne noted some pro users have opted for Avid instead, which the company began offering discounts for to FCPX users whom considered switching. AllThingsD pointed out Hollywood production company Bunim/Murray is one major pro user that has already made the switch. Leborgne said the following about Apple’s strategy to AllThingsD:
