For video editors on the mac, there are a few options. Those doing home videos usually stick with iMovie, Apple’s editing program included with iLife. But those that want to do more advance things, or even want to become professional usually turn to Apple’s Final Cut Studio. Apple released the second version of Final Cut Studio in mid April this year. It includes 6 main applications, Final Cut Pro 6, Motion 3, SoundTrack Pro 2, Color, Compressor 3 and DVD Studio Pro 4. This is the first major release to support the Intel Processors, a .1 release was made available as a crossgrade, but it was not a full release. There have been tons of upgrades to all of the applications.
In this review I am going to cover all 6 of the applications included in Final Cut Studio 2.
Final Cut Pro 6
Final Cut Pro 6 is the main application in the Final Cut Suite, in my opinion. It is one of the best, if not the best editing application for the Mac. It allows you to edit almost any format, from footage shot on a cell phone, to footage shot with the new Red One at 4k. With a pretty easy to understand interface, and tons of easy to operate effects, it is a pleasure to work with. New in Final Cut Pro 6 is an Open Format Timeline which allows you to mix multiple formats in one sequence in real time. This is great when dealing with both HD and SD at the same time.
There are 4 main widows of Final Cut, which all look pretty much the same as they did in previous releases of Final Cut. It is a simple, yet effective interface to allow you to edit your content, and it is also very adaptable. You can change the window layouts to dual display, 2-Up, audio edit and a few more, you can also make your own custom one and save it for the future. Overall the interface is good, but I would enjoy a redesign in a future version, but I think it is completely solid in its current design.
My favorite feature though has to be the great new integration with Motion, this includes Motion templates with allow you to create a template within Motion, then edit the text and images from Final Cut, including drop-zones. This is very useful when making introductions, lower thirds and other content that will get changed frequently throughout the show, series, movie or short. It is also particularly useful in videos when introducing a new location, event or speaker with out major editing. You can also easily send your content directly to Motion for 3D motion graphics and other effects. There is also nice integration with Color, Apples new application for color correcting and fine tuning of footage.
Overall Final Cut Pro adds quite a few nice new features, and it successfully builds on many of the old features. It is an amazing editing application for all, and I highly recommend learning it.
Motion 3
Motion 3 is Apples latest release of its motion graphics application in the Final Cut Suite. It has many new filters and feature, all which are very good. There is also a big library of Apple Designed graphic elements to assist you in creating your motion graphics. Apple has added full 3D support in the latest release, enabling you create great motion graphics and view them from many angles and perspectives, this is especially handy when creating a scene from multiple transparent clips such as green screened footage.
The biggest new feature in Motion 3 is a 3D graphics environment. This means that you can have your cameras, lights and images fly around with full perspective, in real time. The lights help add depth and character to your scene, creating a nicer final product, what every editor and motion graphics designer wants. Apple makes it easy to make this happen for past Motion users by employing to same basic toolkit and design for editing and composing in 3D. Apple has also added over 100 new GPU powered effects, making the who editing process a lot easier. They have also added Smoothcam, a feature taken from Shake and now in both Motion 3 and Final Cut Pro 6, that allows you to make your camera motions smooth in post, say you shot a shaky scene, you can use Smoothcam to quickly, easily and efficiently make it much more stable and preserving the original pans, tilts, and zooms.
Soundtrack Pro 2
Soundtrack Pro is the audio application in the Final Cut suite. It includes many loops, but I personally do not use it for loops. It works great for editing the actual sound, and making things flow better. My personal theory is that we have 2 channels of sound (2 ears), and 2 channels of video (2 eyes), I believe that the audio should be as focused on as the video, and Soundtrack Pro makes that possible. My favorite feature of SoundTrack is the ability to view your video with Soundtrack as you edit, so you can jump between Final Cut and SoundTrack, and everything is perfectly synced. In the new version Apple has added many more professional multitrack editing tools, full surround sound support, including the ability to view a graphic diagram of where the sound will be on a full surround sound system.
Color
Color is the newest application in the Final Cut Studio suite. It is for unparalleled color correction and fine tuning of footage, and all in real time. Powered by the GPU (graphics processing unit), Color is extremely fast with great tools to get the job done. It, just like the rest, it has amazing integration with Final Cut, to allow your workflow to be very simple, with no need for exporting and importing unneeded files. You can also import 3D color lookup tables into Color to help you make sure you have the same color on your monitor as you would see on the big screen.
Compressor 3
Compressor 3 is the latest version of the Apple’s compression application in the Final Cut Suite. It now features a much easier to operate interface, and ton of compression presets to make compressing your projects much easier, these include iPhone, DVD, Web, Podcasting and many more. The nice thing about compressor is that I can go directly from Final Cut to it, then I can do multiple exports at different settings, usually, my final high resolution file, to be archived, a DVD quality one to be burned, and sometimes even a web one for uploading and sharing across the web. Compressor makes all my tasks easy and worry free, I have never had an export fail, so I can go to sleep or grab a snack while Compressor is exporting, and I know it will finish.
New in Compressor 3 is a much cleaner and updated interface, with a streamlined workflow, tons of new formats including support for compressing for burning to HD DVD and Blu-Ray, as well as chaptering tools for those doing podcasts with Final Cut. There are also tons of Dynamic filters to add watermarks or time codes.
DVD Studio Pro 4
DVD Studio Pro 4 is the DVD burning application included in Final Cut Studio. It is great for burning any DVD, and has tons of professionally designed templates including nice animated and effects within. For those who want to take it one step further, there is the ability to make you own templates and styles. Apple has also added HD DVD support, which may mean they are backing HD DVD, but that will come in another post. It is extremely easy to create professional DVDs that all clients enjoy seeing with the movies. I enjoy making the DVDs as well because the quality is very nice, and the time it takes is not a lot. Overall I don’t use this Application a lot because it is just for finalizing, and more and more often I don’t even go to a DVD in the end.
User Quotes on Final Cut Studio 2
As I mentioned in my AppleCare Review, I have decided that no review is complete without some feedback on the topic discussed. I have gotten a few users responses to Final Cut and what they think about it.
“I really like final cut because of it’s power and simplicity. Relatively, Final Cut (Or at least FCE) is insanely cheap but is powerful enough that I can greenscreen iEye on my low end mac with a low end camera, and easy enough that I can greenscreen, edit, and compress iEye and do my homework in one night”
“”… it has a steep learning curve (I’ve used it before; years back), but it’s certainly capable……”"
– Neil Clayton, iShowU and Stomp Developer
“Final Cut Studio 2 is one amazing product. It and Shake together are amazing software to make amazing video.”
– Andy H.
Conclusion
Final Cut Studio 2 is a sure upgrade for all existing Final Cut Studio owners, with tons of new features it is perfect for almost any editor. I would highly suggest if you want to make movies and you have the money to go right up to Final Cut Studio 2 right away. It is a great way to learn, and there is tons of room to grow with unparalleled editing, amazing motion graphics, great sounds, perfect compression, beautiful burning and now in the latest version, superb color enhancement and fine tuning. I recommend Final Cut Studio 2 to everyone and anyone, as anyone can use it, professionals, consumers and now prosumers alike. There is room to grow, and tons of capture cards, plugins and extras available for you down to line.
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