With the introduction of Final Cut Pro 3, Apple has intensified the competition in the editing software arena. Significant additions to this upgrade are “realtime” effects, added color-correction features, an offline compression format, a voiceover tool, and media-management enhancements. These additions edge Final Cut Pro closer and closer to its high-end brethren. I gave FCP3 a test drive using a Dual 800MHz G4 with 384MB of RAM running OS X. The useful added features performed as advertised. The program ran in OS 9 as well as OS X with equally acceptable results.
While Apple's implementation of “realtime” effects moves FCP closer to high-end, hardware-assisted systems, there are some caveats. Realtime effects are available only if you are running FCP3 on what Apple calls a “qualified” Power Mac G4 or PowerBook G4 with 384MB of RAM. Find out which systems meet these qualifications by checking the Final Cut Pro page on Apple's website: www.apple.com/finalcutpro.
Further, realtime effects cannot be viewed via a system's FireWire output. FireWire has to be disabled in order for realtime effects to work. And, at the end of the day, all effects have to be rendered to allow Fire-Wire output back to tape. So it's probably more accurate to refer to this new capability as realtime preview.
Of course, realtime preview is a definite improvement to this software. The program applies 13 transitions and filters in realtime. These include cross dissolves, six iris transitions, five wipes, and the new three-way color-correction filter. Six motion effects are also previewed in realtime: opacity, scale, center, offset, crop, and aspect. In addition, still frames and imported graphics play back in realtime at preview resolution.
The benefit of this feature is the ability to immediately show a client in the edit suite what the final program will look like. It speeds up decisions about alternative ways to present content. And the client does not have to sit and wait for edits to render. Rendering now can be done in off hours once all the editorial decisions have been made.
The most complex additions in this version of the software are the color-correction tools. Almost 40% of the guide that spells out what's new in version 3 is devoted to these tools, and it includes a well-written tutorial on the color-correction process. The software provides control over the color space of your project on a level that approaches that of a professional colorist, and getting the most out of this feature requires significant study and practice. Thankfully, Apple has included some very useful features that are automatic and easy to use.
For example, say you have an improperly white-balanced clip that looks a bit green. Inside the Color Balance Controls is an eyedropper icon. Simply click the eyedropper on a known white area of your scene. The balance control automatically adjusts the entire clip based on that white value.
Another valuable automatic tool is the Broadcast Safe filter. Applying the filter to a clip accurately adjusts the luminance and chrominance levels so that they do not exceed broadcast limits for NTSC and PAL video.
The Limit Effect controls can increase the “wow” factor of productions by changing a specific color throughout a scene. Using the familiar eyedropper tool, identify the color you want to change and manipulate the controls to create the new color. This allows changes like an instant paint job for a car within a scene.
For producers and editors on the move, FCP3 debuts a new compression format called OfflineRT. This format allows over 40 minutes of 320×240 resolution video per gigabyte on standard hard drives. Capture to OfflineRT via FireWire or convert a full-resolution project to OfflineRT in order to take it on the road. OfflineRT footage operates within FCP3 just like full-resolution footage — plus it accommodates those realtime effects. A project completed with OfflineRT footage can be reloaded and rendered at full resolution for final output.
The OfflineRT footage I loaded was noticeably lower-resolution but certainly sharp enough for editing. The smaller screen size should make it easy to work on a laptop, and the smaller file size allows real projects to be loaded.
Enhancements to the Media Manager are key to the use of OfflineRT. The streamlined Media Manager introduces an options layout that is easier to work with when copying and moving projects, sequences, and clips. It is also more straightforward to remove unused media from a project or create an offline duplicate of one or more sequences. Also very helpful is a graph that shows the total amount of media in a project before and after the operations executed from within the Media Manager.
Apple also paid attention to the growing need to transcode footage by adding an easy-to-follow interface to the Media Manager. Often you might load Betacam SP or DV footage but need to output with a different codec. The Media Manager simplifies this process by bringing together the necessary parameters and options on one page.
The straightforward voiceover tool is another enhancement that makes FCP3 more competitive. This feature, standard in most high-end editing systems, allows narration or commentary to be added while you watch an edited video sequence. The only warning from Apple is that if you are running the software in OS 9, you need to allocate additional memory to the application.
Minimum system requirements for the new software are a 300MHz or faster PowerPC G3 or G4 processor and built-in FireWire. A 500MHz or faster single- or 450MHz dual-processor Power Mac G4 or PowerBook G4 is required for realtime effects. A 667MHz Power Book G4 is required for mobile realtime effects in DV format. Systems must be running Mac OS 9.2.2 or Mac OS X version 10.1.1. A minimum of 256MB of RAM is recommended, and 384MB is needed for realtime effects.
My tests, while not exhaustive, convinced me that version 3 is a significant upgrade and certainly worth the price. I still see a level of complexity in the program that can frustrate the casual user. This is a professional program — one that rewards the dedicated and determined user with professional results.
