The famous Final Cut Pro
Final Cut has become kind of a classic in the film and video editing world, overall is almost a devotional icon for the independent filmmakers. Behind the software is Apple Inc ( they changed the name in 2007 dropping the “Computer” part ) the company founded in 1977 and credited with introducing the first personal computer with graphic user interface and the first mouse (1983).
The revolutionary stylish design combined with the quality of its hardware and software products makes Apple’s editing solution, Final Cut Pro a thought contender in the preference of Video Editors delivering a robust Non-linear editing system.
Final Cut Pro 6 is a high-performance digital nonlinear editing software offering native support for virtually any video format and great interoperability. You can edit from uncompressed SD to uncompressed HD (passing through many formats such as HDV, DVCPRO HD as well as Panasonic P2 and Sony XDCAM HD tapeless formats. Even now Apple offers to editor the use of ProRes 422 as a new post-production format that can create uncompressed HD quality at SD file sizes. Final Cut Pro 6 is designed with an open format timeline that allows to mix many formats and even different frame rates.
If you are involved in film editing Cinema Tools 4 is a great application that helps in your working speed. You can manage with this software the keycode and timecode data associated with the shooted or scanned film (scanned to DPX or Cineon files) in a database that tracks clips and sequences back to their original film frames or scanned files for final finishing. After editing you can export film lists with timecode and keycode in both PDF and XML formats plus use the pulldown removal functions to turn 29.97 video into 23.98 and modify 25-fps footage to edit at true 24 fps. No matter with video standar you are using, Cinema Tools 4 allows you to track the relationship between film frames and their corresponding video frames, In Final Cut Pro 6 you can set the timecode display format to Feet+Frame units (includes options for 35mm 3-perf, 35mm 4-perf, and 16mm) in the Timeline ruler and timecode fields throughout the application
Another great feature is the RT Extreme system that delivers real-time performance for more than 150 filters and effects in DV, SD, HDV, DVCPRO HD, and fully uncompressed HD video as well as for multistream video used in multicamera editing and effects. Also you have the SmoothCam feature to automatically stabilize shaky shots while preserving standard camera moves. Many of the real-time effects use high-resolution 32-bit float image processing to produce stunning film-quality results. Color Correction is available in a comprehensive set of real-time color tools with primary and secondary color correctors; image control filters; broadcast-safe filters; tools for matte and key operations as well as luma and chroma range checking; real-time scopes and monitors; and a frame viewer for comparing your shots. In the audio side you can mix up to 24 channels with the onscreen mixer or use a Mackie Control Protocol device with faders.
Final Cut Pro 6 extends its capabilities through the other applications in Final Cut Studio 2 which takes you beyond mere editing. Discover the intuitive power of new creative tools and send your project to Color for professional color grading, complete with sequence metadata from Final Cut Pro. Use the new Conform feature in Soundtrack Pro to automatically update your audio project to match your video edit after you make changes in Final Cut Pro. You can also send files round-trip between Motion and Final Cut Pro and they will update after modified and open standards such as QuickTime and FxPlug encourage interoperability with a host of third-party tools. In larger workgroups, multiple Final Cut Pro editors can share media using a consolidated storage pool powered by Xsan. For deeper workgroup support, Final Cut Server — with or without Xsan — offers powerful media asset management and workflow automation that is closely integrated with Final Cut Studio. Use Compressor 3 to create pristine-quality output for a wide range of delivery formats — including the web, iPod, iPhone, Apple TV, and broadcast servers and DVD Studio Pro 4 for your DVD needs.
To install this software the minimal requirements are Macintosh computer with a 1.25GHz or faster PowerPC G4, PowerPC G5, Intel Core Duo, or Intel Xeon processor, 1GB of RAM, an AGP or PCI Express Quartz Extreme graphics card (Final Cut Studio is not compatible with integrated Intel graphics processors) , a display with 1024-by-768 resolution or higher and also will need Mac OS X v10.4.9 or later , QuickTime 7.1.6 or later and a DVD drive for installation. With its great acceptation among many professional editors Final Cut Pro 6 will remain a key post-production tool in the future.