Final Cut Express
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| Final Cut Express | |
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 Final Cut Express HD (3.5) |
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| Developed by | Apple Inc. |
| Initial release | ? |
| Stable release | 4.0 (November 15, 2007) [+/−] |
| Preview release | none (none) [+/−] |
| Written in | ? |
| OS | Mac OS X |
| Available in | ? |
| Genre | Digital video editing |
| License | Proprietary |
| Website | Final Cut Express |
Final Cut Express is a non-linear video editing application created by Apple Inc. It is the consumer version of Final Cut Pro and is designed for advanced editing of digital video as well as high-definition video, which is used by many amateur and professional videographers.
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[edit] History
Final Cut Express 1.0, based on Final Cut Pro 3, was first released at Macworld Conference and Expo in San Francisco in 2003. The second version, based on Final Cut Pro 4, was released Macworld San Francisco in 2004. The third version, capable of editing high definition video, was also announced at Macworld San Francisco a year later, and was released as Final Cut Express HD in February 2005. It was based on Final Cut Pro HD (version 4.5) and included LiveType 1.2 and Soundtrack 1.2.
Final Cut Express version 3.5 was released with little fanfare in May 2006 as a Universal Binary. In addition to improving real-time rendering with Dynamic RT, version 3.5 upgraded LiveType to version 2.0 and Soundtrack to version 1.5.
In November 2007, Apple released Final Cut Express 4, which supports real-time editing in the AVCHD format (currently for Intel processors only), as well as other enhancements, such as importing iMovie '08 projects and 50 brand new filters. Though the price was dropped from $299 for version 3.5 to $199 for version 4.0, the new version no longer includes Soundtrack 1.5.
[edit] Features
Final Cut Express's interface is identical to that of Final Cut Pro; however, it lacks some of the film-specific features. For example, it does not include Cinema Tools and it does not have a multi-cam editing feature. Most significantly, it lacks a batch capture facility and a timecode view. The program can perform 32 undo operations, while Final Cut Pro can do 99 [1].
Features the program does include are:
- The ability to keyframe filters
- Dynamic RT, which changes real-time settings on-the-fly
- Motion path keyframing
- Opacity keyframing
- Ripple, roll, slip, slide and blade edits
- Picture-in-picture and split-screen effects
- Up to 99 video tracks and 12 compositing modes
- Up to 99 audio tracks
- Motion project import
- Two-way color correction.
One feature of Express that is not available in Final Cut Pro is the ability to import iMovie projects (though transitions are not preserved).
[edit] RT Extreme
Inherited from Final Cut Pro, Final Cut Express features RT Extreme - a software-based real time engine that supports the real-time previewing of a number of video filters and transitions. Other effects and transitions require rendering before they can be played back in real time. Audio that is not in the native AIFF file format also needs rendering before it can be played back. RT Extreme has three modes: 'Safe', for seeing multiple video layers at a quality that more or less guarantees a smooth playback; 'Unlimited', which allows the maximum number of composited video layers to be viewed at the same time; and 'Dynamic', which alternates between these settings depending on how many simultaneous video tracks are present. Frame dropping may result from using 'Unlimited' on low-resource machines.
[edit] Boris Calligraphy
Like Final Cut Pro, Express also comes with Boris Calligraphy, a plugin for advanced titling and scrolling/crawling titles more sophisticated than the ones that can be created with the built-in title overlays. Calligraphy has a WYSIWYG interface and features wrapping, alignment, leading, kerning and tracking features, as well as allowing up to five custom outlines and five custom drop shadows to be defined for a selected portion of the title. For even more sophisticated titling, the included LiveType application is the next step up.
[edit] Soundtrack
Final Cut Express includes Soundtrack 1.5, a program with similar functionality to the consumer-level GarageBand, but designed for videographers. It comes with around 4000 professionally-recorded instrument loops and sound effects that can be arranged in multiple tracks beneath the video track. To take advantage of Soundtrack features, users export their Final Cut Express sequence, or a marked portion thereof, as a reference file, which can optionally include any scoring markers that have been defined in the timeline. This reference file can then be imported as the video track in Soundtrack.
Soundtrack is functionally and visually identical to Soundtrack Pro's multitrack editing mode, but includes fewer Logic plugins than the Pro counterpart. Most notably, Soundtrack lacks the noise removal tool, which is highly regarded in Soundtrack Pro.
Soundtrack was cut from the program with the release of Final Cut Express 4. This was done in an effort to encourage people to buy and use Logic Express and an effort to lower the price for Final Cut Express.
[edit] External links
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