Discreet, a division of Autodesk, Inc., today announced that it will support Apple's Final Cut Pro .XML interchange format in upcoming versions of Discreet's editing and visual effects systems. This integration will greatly improve the workflow for creative professionals using both Final Cut Pro and Discreet systems such as smoke, fire and lustre. Editorial decisions made in Final Cut Pro will be directly transferable to Discreet systems, thereby simplifying the post-production process. "Many customers are adopting multi-vendor workflows. Discreet's strategy is to support standards that give customers maximum flexibility in their production environments," said Marc Petit, vice president of product development at Discreet. "Final Cut Pro has become a mainstay of Hollywood. It is the editorial tool of choice for numerous professionals -- many of whom also rely on Discreet products to provide interactive visual effects and to conform editorial functions. The integration of Discreet products with Final Cut Pro will provide a streamlined exchange of compositions and accelerate the creative process." Creative professionals doing feature film, episodic or broadcast work have post-production environments in which Final Cut Pro is used alongside Discreet's smoke or lustre systems. Discreet is committed to empowering digital workflows by supporting both industry standards and specific interchange formats. "Final Cut Pro's scalability from DV to HD and its high-performance tool set are making it the perfect fit for professional editors," said Ron Okamoto, Apple's vice president of Worldwide Developer Relations. "We are thrilled about Discreet's support of Final Cut Pro's open standards XML interchange format, which greatly improves the workflow and allows professionals to focus on their creativity." Final Cut Pro is Apple's creative, professional and extensible tool for editing and finishing. Discreet systems that will support the Final Cut Pro .XML interchange format are: -- the smoke and fire non-compressed RGB, nonlinear, resolution-independent editing and finishing systems that are helping drive new HDTV and 2K digital intermediate workflows around the world; and -- lustre, a real-time digital grading and color correction system for all resolutions from SD through to 4K and larger film. Availability Discreet expects to demonstrate the exchange of metadata between Final Cut Pro and Discreet systems later this year, and plans to include Final Cut Pro .XML file format support in future versions of its editing, color correction and visual effects systems.