[Craig Seeman] ". . . and if Apple is abandoning the "pros" why would Smoke/Mac be so important?"
Like how Baselight for FCP was so important last year? Or like how Autodesk has been quietly pushing the fact that Smoke runs tolerably on an iMac or MBP?
There are just too many variables.
It's possible that Autodesk is aware of Apple's plans, and has built their software because they know there will be a platform to run it on.
It's possible that Autodesk is not aware of Apple's plans. Look back to Smoke's original requirement for NVIDIA cards, right before Apple dumped them for ATI. Oops.
It's possible that Apple is relying on Autodesk to bring the "pro" back to the Mac platform, and will not attempt to raise FCPX up to that level, ever.
It's possible that Apple is happy to have Autodesk offering a pro solution for the time being, but intends to seriously undercut their efforts in the future.
It's possible that Smoke on Mac is a long-haul product for Autodesk, and it's possible that Autodesk is making the best of a good thing while they can.
I think it's important to remember that (as of today, who knows what Sunday will bring) Smoke is not Mac-only and is not fundamentally built on Apple technologies. Like Resolve, there's an escape hatch built-in if they need it. There's only NLE that has bet the farm on the Mac platform so far, and that's FCPX.
Walter Soyka
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