by Alan Sheckter, Videomaker news editor
Apple recently announced the release of Final Cut Pro 3.0, the latest incarnation of its highly-touted video editor. Not only does Version 3 boast preview, voiceover and auto-save modes, but it fills the obvious need as an editor for Mac OS X.
With Apple receiving flack from some industry insiders that it released the OS X operating system without supplying compatible versions of its own software, the release of 3.0 was good news, if not a bit overdue. Final Cut Pro 3.0, in fact, according to Apple, is the first professional video editor for OS X. Adobe, not to be left too far behind, announced it will deliver After Effects 5.5, which is expected to work with OS X, early next year.
While it may not live up to Apple’s claim, It’s like getting $50,000 worth of editing tools for under $1,000, the new release does come with some impressive attributes.
Final Cut Pro 3 new features include real-time G4 DV effects, such as wipes, dissolves and color correction without an add-on card. In addition, Apple said, OfflineRT, the company’s new offline format, will let Power Mac G4s or Titanium PowerBook G4s hold up to five times as much footage as it can with DV. It is designed to allow users to capture 40 minutes of video t about 1GB, edit the footage in real time, then recapture the final edit to the desired format.
Other announced new features include QuickView, a new preview mode that should let editors quickly preview complex effects before rendering them, and Autosave Vault, which saves and time-stamps projects at user-specified intervals, allowing editors to return to previous stages of their projects.
Final Cut Pro 3 also hypes integrated compositing, including Adobe After Effects plug-in support, and advanced media management and export tools to consolidate, reconnect and move sequences, and convert to various offline or Web formats. New, included plug-ins from Boris and CGM allow the creation of 2D and 3D animated titles and transitions. In addition, Final Cut Pro 3.0 comes bundled with Bias’ PeakDV audio editing tool.
Final Cut Pro 3.0 has a list price of $999 and registered users can upgrade to Version 3.0 for $299. For a limited time, those who purchased Version 2.0 between Nov. 4 and Dec. 31 2001 can upgrade to Version 3.0 for $49.95. For more information, visit www.apple.com.
