Now in its second generation, FCP makes it clear that in the world of editing, the Mac is back.
There was a time when the Apple Macintosh computer and the software that ran upon it ruled the land of professional video and audio postproduction. Through the years the PC and Windows caught up with the Mac and for a time surpassed it.
With the introduction of the G3 in 1999 and now the G4 Macs and applications like iMovie and Final Cut Pro, Apple has regained its throne in the eyes of many video professionals. At the very least it has given the Windows/Intel platform a real run for the money. New applications like the high-end HDTV-ready CineWave board from Pinnacle Systems and solutions from Matrox, Avid, Digidesign, and Media 100 are also helping the Mac regain its popularity among those who edit video for a living.
At NAB 2001, Final Cut Pro 2 was one of the applications everyone was talking about, as Apple partnered with industry heavyweights Matrox and Pinnacle Systems. The second generation of this editing solution features realtime editing, an improved character generator for titles, additional third-party editing software, and a scalable architecture that allows users to output digital content in almost any video format. FCP is written by some of the folks who brought us the early versions of the popular Adobe Premiere editing package. They certainly did their homework.
The application's feature set is so deep that it would take you six months of hard work to learn everything it can do. But that's not to say that you can't install it and get right to work doing basic editing — you can. Perhaps the best indication of how much one can do and of the depth of the program is the documentation. The manual and tutorial book is perhaps the largest and best documentation ever produced for a desktop video application. Clear and well-written with large, screen pictures, the 1,400-page manual is three or four inches thick.
Video and audio postproduction can be a busy business: hundreds of video clips, cutaway shots, graphics, audio files, and music beds. Multiply that by however many hard drives you have, and it can become a mess. Fortunately, Final Cut Pro has great content management features. Divide elements and projects into different folders or bins and name them. Productions get more complex all the time, and now you can divide them into different sequences and play back each one with its own timeline for more control.
Version 2.0 allows a search for audio and video clips using a wider variety of criteria than ever before: name, size, kind, stats, etc. I hope Apple will soon fully adopt the Metadata search standard. Once the media is found, you can specify what you want FCP to do with the clips. For example, you can search for unused media within a project and delete it from your hard drive. Final Cut Pro 2 allows you to delete unused portions of individual clips, thus saving hard drive space. With these new content management tools you'll be able to keep track of everything and ultimately save time.
In GUI Land, nothing on the surface has changed. The interface is identical to that of the first version, with multiple windows, a drag-and-drop timeline, and lots of keyboard shortcuts. But inside, it's a new vehicle: 25% to 30% faster and optimized for the G4 Velocity Engine CPU. Many of the new features are subtle, but with a little use you wonder how you ever got along without them. For example, the new Cutting Station provides a simpler interface. You can configure it to be just a basic cuts-only editor or a complex NLE application with three-point editing, compositing, etc.
After working through the series of tutorials included, I was easily able to take two or three video clips, vary the transparency and size of each, and composite them together. A sophisticated look can be created as fast as your computer will render.
Another new helpful feature is the automated Scene Detector. I hooked up my DV camera via IEEE-1394/FireWire to the Mac and batch-captured video, and the software automatically cut the clips based on the start and stop codes encoded on the DV tape by the camera. Then all I had to do was add a few appropriate transition effects and some titles, and voilà, a finished production.
The character generator has been greatly enhanced, with new animation tools including rolls and crawls. For the end of a friend's music video I was able to create a nice credit roll where the titles faded in at the bottom, traveled to the top, and faded out before leaving the screen. Pretty cool and something that you couldn't do in version 1.0. The only downside is the CG still only works with True Type fonts — you cannot use Postscript fonts. I hope Apple addresses this with the next revision of the software.
For the music video project, I also found the new audio features especially useful. FCP 2 supports the Open Media Framework (OMF) protocol, so I was able to export and import audio files easily, then enhance them in Pro Tools 5.1 and the included Peak DV.
Though not yet compatible with the new Mac OS X, Final Cut Pro does utilize the capabilities of the new multiprocessor G4 Power Macs. These new dual-CPU machines significantly reduce the time it takes to perform different rendering functions. This new FCP version also supports the realtime features of Matrox RTMac, the new solution from ProMax Technology, and other third-party realtime boards that are bound to spring up in the near future. (See the review of the RTMac in the November 2001 issue.)
There's no doubt that at $999, one needs to seriously consider investing in this tool. But even when compared to the expense and feature set of the Adobe programs — Premiere, After Effects, Photoshop, etc. — for me Final Cut Pro 2 with its higher price tag is a better solution. The inclusion of Peak DV for audio editing is smart and especially effective in the often-overlooked area of sound for video. Too bad Apple couldn't incorporate this tool within the FCP interface so that it could be a true all-in-one solution. The same is true for the included Media Cleaner 5.0 EZ, which encodes streaming video for the Internet. In a future version 3.0, if Apple incorporates these tools within the interface and adds those audio and streaming features to the superb editing, effects, and compositing tools of Final Cut Pro 2, the company will have created the best less-than-$1,000, all-in-one media-creation tool yet.
Having used Premiere 6.0 ($599) on both the PC and Mac, I now prefer FCP on a G4. I also think it's a positive step that Apple provides a $249 upgrade from the 1.0 version. While Premiere may be a bit easier to use, once I learn all of the tools in FCP 2 and the bundled third-party programs, I doubt I'll need anything else.
For just under a grand, Final Cut Pro 2 is state-of-the-art editing, effects, and compositing software. If you have a Mac and are serious about professional video editing and digital media content creation, you need to invest in this software.
