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Apple Pro Training Series: Optimizing Your Final Cut Pro System

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If it's good enough for the legendary Hollywood film editors, it's good enough for you! This guide is aimed squarely at Final Cut Pro users just like yourself--at corporate, commercial, and independent post-production houses--who want to move beyond simple Final Cut Pro installations for their film and video masterworks. Through project-based lessons and step-by-step instructions, this self-paced guide shows you how to integrate high-end capture cards, storage systems, and other industry-standard hardware into a Final Cut Pro workflow, as well as how to install and configure Final Cut Pro to make the most of your professional non-linear editing system. This is the technical information most frequently requested by Final Cut Pro users, pulled together into one book that is both a self-paced learning tool and the official curriculum for the Apple Pro Training and Certification Program. The guide covers everything from system configuration, storage, and device connectivity to the intricacies of SAN solutions, and includes special sections on optimizing short-form/broadcast workflows and long-form/HD workflows. It offers troubleshooting advice at every turn: for dropped frames, mismatched audio and audio distortion; imported graphic file issues, media management, file recovery and archiving strategies, and much more. DVD with lesson files and media included.

Customer Reviews

7 of 8 people found the following review helpful
5.0 out of 5 stars How to cram years of experience in 888 pages, February 7, 2006
This review is from: Apple Pro Training Series: Optimizing Your Final Cut Pro System (Paperback)
First off, finding everything contained in this book will take you on a

very long surfing safari, plus many trips to your friendly

neighborhood post facility. Save yourself some time and money,

learn how to be an expert in your field, and spend more time doing

what you love.

Second, this is Apple-certified courseware, which means that it

comes in the regular APTS lesson-based format, with lesson reviews

at the end of each chapter, and material on the DVD-ROM. There are

now instructor-led classes devoted to the subject, as more and more

facilities switch from another platform to Final Cut Pro, or move up

from miniDV to the broadcast world. Now's your chance to learn from

the masters and become one yourself.

All in all, this is one of the best books of its kind that I've read. It fits

right in with the Apple philosophy of giving power to the... Read more
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7 of 8 people found the following review helpful
5.0 out of 5 stars A must-have FCP book for Editors, Assistants and Techdorks, August 6, 2006
By 
Doug Luberts "VFX Editor/Assistant Editor/Dig... (Los Angeles and San Francisco, CA, USA) - See all my reviews
(REAL NAME)   
This review is from: Apple Pro Training Series: Optimizing Your Final Cut Pro System (Paperback)
I picked up a copy of this book just after Walter Murch and Sean Cullen's appearance at a LAFCPUG meeting last October. At the time I thought I was buying a techdork's guide to FCP that would help me optimize my system and get it flying, but it turned out to be so much more ...

Optimizing Your Final Cut Pro System is a far more comprehensive book than its title would imply. It his a handbook of how-tos and valuable get-it-done information that make it a must-have for anyone assisting on a show using Final Cut Pro, or whose job involves supporting FCP and integrating FCP workstations into Networked environments.

That the book has the feel of an Assistant's reference should come as no real surprise. Sean Cullen, one of the lead authors of the book, has been Walter Murch's Assistant (now Associate Editor) for about a dozen years. During this time he has been responsible for convincing Murch to make the leap over to Final Cut Pro for Cold Mountain, and taking up... Read more
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5.0 out of 5 stars OMG This is a must have, August 15, 2009
This review is from: Apple Pro Training Series: Optimizing Your Final Cut Pro System (Paperback)
I purchase this book thinking I was getting something different. When it arrived I began reading and I was shocked at the information it provided. I purchased every book in the series from the Apple Pro Training line up except two at this point but this book is a must have after you learn Final Cut Pro buy this book you will not be disappointed....
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Online Sample Chapters

Gathering and Editing Video

Gathering and Editing Video in Final Cut Pro

Table of Contents

Contents at a Glance

Using Final Cut Pro in Real World Workflows
Lesson 1    Introduction to Online and Offline Editing
Lesson 2    Setting Up for Online and Offline Workflows
Lesson 3    Gathering and Editing Video
Lesson 4    Gathering and Editing Film
Lesson 5    Distributing Video Projects
Lesson 6    Distributing Film Projects

Fundamentals of Video Standards and Hardware Primer
Lesson 7    Video Standards and Fundamentals
Lesson 8    Hardware and Interfaces
Lesson 9    Storage Overview5

Configuring Final Cut Pro and Managing Your System
Lesson 10    Configuring Mac OS X
Lesson 11    Configuring Final Cut Pro
Lesson 12    Managing Final Cut Pro

Integrating Your System
Lesson 13    Implementing Stand-Alone Uncompressed Systems
Lesson 14    Integrating FCP Systems into Networks
Lesson 15    Xsan Implementation

Troubleshooting Final Cut Pro
Lesson 16    Introduction to Troubleshooting
Lesson 17    Operational Troubleshooting:Video and Audio Issues
Lesson18    Operational Troubleshooting:File,Format,or Device Errors

Appendix    Final Cut Studio Workflows

 
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