Title creation and CG in Final Cut, although a bit unorthodox, is a big plus. You approach titling as if you were using a standard compositing program. You use the Viewer and Canvas windows together in title creation. In the Controls tab on the Viewer (Source) window you have control over all the parameters like font, size, color, etc. You can then see your results in the Canvas (Record) window. You also have a variety of motion and opacity functions when you access the Motions tab, also in the Viewer window. It’s not typical CG for an NLE program, but once you “Old Dogs” paw the ground a bit you’ll find a deep, robust titling function with many layers to explore. And you always have the option of importing more complex titles, CG titles and graphics built in programs like Photoshop.
Now
we come to the feature which makes Final Cut stand out from the rest of
the crowd. Apple has had the vision to incorporate a compositing/animation
subprogram within the edit interface. It’s very similar to Adobe’s After
Effects (a favorite of ours), and will even utilize After Effects plug-ins.
Smart…very smart. This gives you the ability to create complex, layered
animations that can easily be referenced to the existing project you’re
editing in the timeline. No bumping back and forth between programs as
you import and export an animation. The compositing program worked quite
well, and even imported Photoshop files with layers intact. Creating a
program so similar to After Effects, however, begs comparisons, and there
were few small details that Apple might want to borrow from its Adobe
competitor. The timeline in the viewer window when compositing is less
legible than After Effects. The bezier controls for smoothing in/outs
also seemed less accurate. A major oversight is the mask tool. It seems
you can’t draw masking shapes very easily, if at all. There is an eight
point garbage matte where you can awkwardly move points, but it isn’t
very precise and eight points ain’t a lot. There is no pen tool that we
could find that would allow the drawing of shapes and the adding/subtracting
of points. And the ability to copy and paste keyframes over a timeline
would be a welcome, time saving addition. Overall, however, it’s a great
start, and I’m sure Apple has its ear to the ground, ready to make changes
in future versions that will incorporate tools suggested by their users.
Once a project is completed, playing back to a DV tape source is seamless. Gone are the crossing of the fingers and gritting of the teeth as you pray you won’t drop a frame or have audio lose synch if the project runs over three minutes. Apple has made good use of incorporating the DV support within QuickTime to make clean, long form playback with no loss of audio synch. We even completed an hour long project, filled with transitions and titles, that played back to tape without a hitch.
Overall, I’d have to say this Old Dog was pretty impressed. Sure, there were numerous fleas to scratch; less than elegant audio controls, limited transition control and a compositing subprogram that’s a version or two away from competing with the established big boys, but Apple’s first stab at an NLE program is a giant step in the right direction. That fact that they packaged the compositing within the editing interface is reason alone to give Final Cut a try. It’s a significant money savings when you think of purchasing two separate editing and compositing programs, not to mention the bother of having to jump back and forth between the two in the middle of a project. And Final Cut’s ability to capture and play back seamless, in-sync video is a blessing for those of us battle-scarred from file size limitations and drifting audio. Any program can dazzle you with high end effects and transitions, but what good are they if you can’t effectively get them back to tape and to the client? Add in to that Apple’s commitment to video in the future, with high definition desktop capture and editing unveiled at this year’s NAB, and you have a program that will only grow and improve upon itself to become an established NLE program for professionals and home video enthusiasts alike.
Even Old Dogs like yours truly.
Anthony
Wood is an award winning producer, 3D graphic artist, screenwriter
and actor. He's also one-half of the creative team behind Smoking Monkey
Media, a production company producing short films, animations and graphics.
Contact him at smokemonk3d@hotmail.com.