New tool: Lens Angle Calc

We've just released a new online tool: Lens Angle Calc. This allows you to calculate the horizontal or vertical lens angle from a given frame width / height and lens focal length.

This is very useful because it allows you to plan your shoot on paper and work out exactly where the camera should be placed before you even arrive on set - saving valuable time and avoiding awkward situations in small locations where you can't see the subject on your widest lens with your back against the wall. It is invaluable for effects work, where everything must be planned out in meticulous detail.

It can also work out the focal length of the lens from a given lens angle and frame width or height - very useful for working out which lens should be used in a certain situation.

Lens Angle Calc
Lens Angle Calc (iPhone version)

See our other web applications here.

FCS Remover 1.0.7 released

We've just released FCS Remover 1.0.7.

The biggest new feature is Final Cut Server support (thanks to Morten Schmidt for helping with this). Clicking "Remove Final Cut Server" will remove the Final Cut Server software but not Compressor or Qmaster. To remove these as well, you will have to click "Remove Final Cut Studio" as unfortunately these two applications overlap into both pieces of software.

It also removes some Final Cut Studio support files that were missed out in previous versions.

FCS Remover allows you to remove Final Cut Studio 1 and 2, Final Cut Express and Final Cut Server at the press of a button.

Bug report
Feature request

Preference Manager 1.0.4 released

We've just released Preference Manager 1.0.4. There's only one new feature but it's a big one.

We've completely overhauled the backup system so that backups are now stored in one compressed file instead of several folders. A lot of users want to synchronize settings between, say a work machine and a home machine. This new feature makes it much easier - just keep a copy of the file and Preference Manager on an external disk, install Preference Manager on the second machine and double-click the file. Easy.

However, these changes have caused old backups to be completely incompatible with the new version. They won't even appear in the Restore list. Don't worry though - I added a function to convert old backups to the new format. Just go to File > Convert Backups to New Format. Browse to your backup folder (default is ~/Library/Application Support/Digital Rebellion/Preference Manager/Backups), select all of your old backup folders and click the Open button to convert them to the new format. The old folders will remain on the disk in case you need them but if not, they can be safely deleted.

Preference Manager is a utility for trashing, backing up and restoring Final Cut Studio preference files, button bars, keyboard layouts, window layouts, user plugins, column layouts, track layouts and custom settings. This allows you to repair problems and copy useful settings to a second machine.

Thanks to everyone who put in feature requests and bug reports. Keep them coming.

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Preference Manager 1.0.3 released

We just released Preference Manager 1.0.3. This is a quick bug fix version that repairs a rather annoying bug some of you were getting - the dreaded "The volume 'Digital Rebellion' does not exist" message.

I was aware of it and had fixed it a couple of days ago. I was planning to delay the release until early next week, as I had several features I wanted to implement over the weekend but unfortunately the number of reports I received about this bug prompted me to release this fix early.

Lots of people have been contacting me with suggestions for future versions, some of which excited me a lot because they were such great ideas. Keep it up, I appreciate it a lot.

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Preference Manager 1.0.2 released

Sorry for the lack of blog updates recently; I have been working in Italy with intermittent internet access. But I'm now back and we've just released Preference Manager 1.0.2. It offers the following changes:

• Bug fix: A check is now performed for unmounted external volumes. If you set your backup location to an external disk and unmount it, the app will copy files to the default location until you plug it back in.
• Feature: Added New Folder button to Browse dialog.
• Feature: A lot of you requested it and here it is: you can now back up FCP button bars, keyboard layouts, column layouts, window layouts, track layouts, custom settings and user plugins.

("User plugins" refers to plugins residing in your ~/Library/Preferences/Final Cut Pro User Data/Plugins directory)

For those not yet aware, Preference Manager is an application that allows you to trash, backup and restore your Final Cut Studio preference files. This allows you to create a "working configuration" backup and restore to that when things go wrong. It also allows you to copy across your settings, window layouts, button bars etc, when you switch to another machine.

To be notified of future software updates, use the built-in application updater, subscribe to this blog or subscribe to our appcast.

Preference Manager v1.0.1 released

I've been getting a lot of feedback about our new application, Preference Manager. A lot of you have really good ideas and we've just released Preference Manager 1.0.1 to take some of these suggestions into account. Here are the new features:

• Bug fix: The help link is now correct.
• Feature: You can now set a custom backup location (in Preferences). This feature was highly requested.
• Feature: If a backup exists, you now have the option of overwriting it.
• Feature: There is now a "Show in Finder" button in the Restore dialog.

Keep that feedback coming in via the bug report and feature request forms.

New tool: Preference Manager

We've just introduced a new tool - Preference Manager. This application allows you to trash, backup and restore your Final Cut Studio preference files.

Preference files store information about user preferences, window and toolbar placements, and launch settings. Sometimes these can become corrupted, causing problems. Preference Manager allows you to trash corrupted preferences and keep backups of working preference files in order to quickly restore your settings.

Now, I know there are a few other apps on the market that do this as well, so what makes Preference Manager unique? Well, for a start, it works for the entire Final Cut Studio suite, not just Final Cut Pro. In addition, it is completely free, you are not limited by the number of backups you can perform, you can assign names to your backups, and it is Leopard-compatible.

As always, we are trying to create a genuinely useful application, so your comments and suggestions are encouraged.

FCS Remover 1.0.6 released

We've just released a new version of FCS Remover, taking it up to 1.0.6. This update offers no new features but makes changes to some elements of the automatic updating facility. It is a recommended update because in the next few days we are going to make some changes that will cause problems with it.

FCS Remover is a program to automatic the uninstallation of Final Cut Studio and Final Cut Express. It has many uses such as wiping an old version before updating, downgrading to an older version or simply removing the entire suite from your machine.

FCS Remover 1.0.5 released

We've just released FCS Remover 1.0.5, based on much-appreciated user feedback. This new version offers Final Cut Express support (version 3.5 (HD) and 4, although earlier versions may work as well) plus a couple of bug fixes.

If you don't know, FCS Remover is a tool that allows you to completely remove Final Cut Studio (and now Express as well) and its associated components. Why would you want to do this? Well, maybe you are planning to upgrade to a later version and want to fully uninstall the previous one in order to improve the stability of your upgraded system and reduce issues. Or you might be one of the unfortunate few experiencing problems with a particular patch and wish to downgrade.

Alternatively, you may be swapping project files between your up-to-date machine and a machine running an earlier version, although an XML export is the recommended way of dealing with this problem.

Whatever the reason, we always appreciate your feedback, bug reports and feature requests.

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Major blog overhaul

Just wanted to let everyone know that we've completed a major overhaul of this blog. It's now much faster to load and puts less of a strain on the server, which is something that was worrying me as its popularity increased.

The most important change is to the page URLs. Instead of having one central page, each post now has its own separate page. The old page will forward requests to the correct place but for improved speed and general ease-of-use, you are advised to update your bookmarks.

Also, I have noticed that a lot of people are using the category RSS feeds instead of the main feed. That means they are missing out on a lot of other posts. The old blog didn't make this clear so if you don't want to miss half of the posts on this forum, subscribe to the global feed listed above (if you can even read this, that is).

P.S. There might be a few teething problems over the next few days so please bear with us.