DV for Teachers » QuickTime

New 64 bit Final Cut Pro? | Philip Hodgetts

Tim Merritt — Tue, 08 Mar 2011 14:55:13 +0000

Philip Hodgetts, long a Final Cut authority, asks if the rumors about a new 64 bit Final Cut Pro might be true and speculates on what that would mean. It’s only speculation, and the comments include lots of wishful thinking, but it’s informed speculation. After the unveiling of the new iMovie for iPad and the praise it’s had, there’s apparent reason for anticipation.

Compressor 3.5 Basics

Tim Merritt — Mon, 23 Nov 2009 14:52:37 +0000

Ken Stone offers another screenshot-rich tutorial opening up some intricacies of Final Cut Studio. This time it’s Compressor 3.5 Basics. I’m still using 3.0.5, and a cranky unreliable crash-prone beast it is, but I don’t want to upgrade with several projects still incomplete. I hope to upgrade by January though. (January! Only 38 days away! Yikes!)

Old Versions at OldApps.com

Tim Merritt — Tue, 17 Nov 2009 18:49:57 +0000

The fine community at Macintouch points to the Mac-specific area on Old Version Downloads – OldApps.com. Find old versions of lots of software, for Mac and PC: older email programs, audio editors, picture editors, FTP programs, and more. They even have older versions of Apple’s QuickTime. Looks like a great resource, especially if you’re spiffing up an older machine to save money.

And teachers always want to save money.

QuickTime X Pref Pane

Tim Merritt — Tue, 08 Sep 2009 18:21:41 +0000

Megabyte Computing offers a QuickTime X Preference Pane, adding some options back to the interface that Snow Leopard, a.k.a. OS X 10.6, removed. I’ve asked the developers for more information and hope to hear back from them soon.

Tricks with iMovie and iDVD

Tim Merritt — Fri, 24 Jul 2009 17:40:16 +0000

I didn’t know about these nice tricks.

Add locations to Maps in iMovie
Extra Keyboard-plus-mouse shortcuts
Change clip speed
Smart titles, maps, and photos

Chapter markers and send to iDVD (and turn off Auto Play)
They’re from Jeff Carlson, author of Peachpit’s iMovie ‘09 and iDVD for Mac OS X Visual QuickStart Guide. Well done.

QuickTime X has Screen Capture in Snow Leopard

Tim Merritt — Mon, 08 Jun 2009 23:25:24 +0000

This is nice:

Catch the action taking place on your screen with screen recording. Start recording and QuickTime Player captures the activity on your screen and creates a movie file. It’s perfect for creating instructional media or when you need more than a simple screen shot.

Via Daring Fireball.

Ken Stone: iMovie 09 In-Depth

Tim Merritt — Wed, 03 Jun 2009 20:34:10 +0000

Well, I am re-evaluting my opinion of the not-so-new “new” iMovie. I was so used to the older version, iMovie HD, which had been expanded but not fundamentally changed, since it was introduced in 1999 (Ten years? Yow).

Ken Stone, a source for so much great Final Cut information, posted the most complete one-page overview of iMovie I’ve ever seen. He loves it:

So why am I writing about iMovie 09 if I work in FCP? The answer is simple. At the demonstration I saw a number of features in iMovie 09, that I wished were in FCP and I wondered if there was a way to use iMovie 09 in conjunction with FCP, utilizing some of its features to supplement the FCP workflow, most importantly in the rough cut phase of editing, as ‘09’ has an amazing skimming/edit tool. iMovie also sports a new and modern tool for exact clip trimming, the Precision Editor, and it’s stunning. And, iMovie provides full Real Time playback, no rendering required, ever.
[...]
iMovie is very intuitive and easy to use, despite the fact that it has some very advanced features, features that it would be nice to see incorporated into Apple’s other editing application, Final Cut Pro. iMovie is a very modern editing application and it works in a much more visual way than editing applications that were first created over a decade ago. This graphical aspect of iMovie is more persuasive and powerful than one might first suspect. And don’t let the fact that iMovie ships in the iLife package and comes free on new Macs fool you, this is an amazingly modern and capable editing application.

The article has 25 sections in a single page, all linked for easy navigations, and it’s full of screenshots to illustrate just what Ken likes and why. Ken even provides instructions for downloading and saving the page for offline use—printed it would go to more than 120 pages!

This is not only a detailed examination of iMovie but a great and generous example of technical writing

HyperTRANSCRIBE – Easy to Use Transcription Software

Tim Merritt — Fri, 24 Apr 2009 14:52:34 +0000

A quick post on my day off to HyperTRANSCRIBE 1.5, an inexpensive at $99 QuickTime-based transcription tool. Many in our college need such tools, and they have a Windows version. Must look into this.

Ars Reviews iLife ’09: making the cut with iMovie and iPhoto – Ars Technica

Tim Merritt — Tue, 03 Mar 2009 15:24:55 +0000

I used to use iMovie much more often; now I do almost all my video editing in Final Cut Pro. Many in the college either use our small Mac lab for video and DVD creation or have their own Macs now. The new iLife, which incorporates iMovie, iDVD, iPhoto, and more, has achieved hit a sweet spot in power and usability. It’s still not a piece of cake for those used to Windows, but it’s stable, flexible, and really easy. Read through this exhaustive review from uber-tech site Ars Technica for a solid learning experience whether you’re a Mac rookie or experienced user.

Ars Reviews iLife ‘09: making the cut with iMovie and iPhoto – Ars Technica.

Online Video: Codecs, Encoding and Compression

Tim Merritt — Thu, 26 Feb 2009 21:56:29 +0000

Debra Kaufman reports on a Digital Cinema Society session on encoding video for the web: Online Video: Codecs, Encoding and Compression for the Studio Daily Blog It’s a quick report of what must have been a much more in-depth discussion, but go for the take-away formats that have, for now, the widest reach among potential viewers.