Last week's webinar looked at the New Features in Apple's Media Software: Final Cut Pro, Motion and Compressor. These detailed tutorials give you a head start in including them in your workflow. Especially Compressor's new Watch Folders which can automate your workflow, regardless of what NLE you are using.
My next webinar will be next week and look at the New Features in Premiere Pro, Audition and other Adobe media software. Adobe is continuing to push the envelope on what video editing software can do. If you use Premiere, you need to watch this session. And, as always, registration to our live events is free.
Frankly, while new features are always nice, I was disappointed with Apple's implementation of object tracking. When compared to Adobe Premiere or Color Trix's Color Finale, the tracks created by Final Cut are far less stable and require much more tweaking. This much-needed feature has a clean interface, but Apple needs to spend more time getting it to work right. This short video illustrates what object tracking is, compares it to Premiere and explains the problems it still has.
In the latest version of Premiere, Adobe added an automatic way to clean up messy sequences: Simplify Sequence. Whether you are sharing a project with another editor, or just want to do some house-keeping, this is a very quick and simple way to clean things up.
Apple added a Neon text effect to Motion which makes you feel like you are living right next to a seedy motel. Very cool! But the interface is a bit tricky. Here's a short video that shows how this works and how to add a second behavior to make it even more effective.
Back to Premiere, as I was writing about the new features in Premiere introduced last week, I rediscovered several keyboard shortcuts that I had forgotten about - all revolving around editing and trimming. So, I collected fifty of them into a downloadable PDF. Here it is.
The new Watch Folders in Compressor are incredibly useful - first because they don't require an NLE, second, because they can process audio, video or still images and third, because they can easily be configured to accomplish highly complex tasks. Here's a short video that showcases how these work.
Finally, I stumbled across a piece of history recently - an 1897 camera lens test chart from Cooke Optics (then called Cooke Lenses). That put me in mind of a conversation earlier today with a reader depressed that her iMac Pro is not the speed demon it used to be. And THAT got me thinking about what it takes to do great work. Feel free to share your comments.
Fall is rushing on here in the north, days are getting colder and shorter. That means folks are outside less and inside more - which leads to more available time for viewing our work. Hopefully, also, this winter will see a continuing wind-down in this frustrating pandemic and a return to life, if not more "normal," at least more stable as we figure out what our new reality looks like.
We continue to be surrounded by challenges. The key is to find ways to overcome them, not become paralyzed by them. During this time, I hope you remain healthy and safe. And, until next Monday, edit well.