I guess it was a misconception of mine when getting the book, that this book was for people migrating from Apple's video tools over to Adobe's. Such a book would actually be very useful to me, but unhappily, this is not the book. What the book actually is, is a book for people that use Final Cut Pro, and bought the Adobe Production Premium collection to use in conjunction with Final Cut Pro. This actually seems a little far-fetched to me, since there is so much overlap between the two toolsets, but maybe not, I'll give them the benefit of the doubt on this.
The book does a good job of this, if that is what you are looking for. It has chapters on Bridge, Onlocation, Soundbooth, After Effects and Encore, each covering a very few specific workflows that you might use with Final Cut. Then as expected, there are more chapters on using Photoshop with Final Cut.
It's a very odd book in that I don't think I've seen another book that I could compare this one to. It's very focused on the sort of problem/solution sort of paradigm. It doesn't really attempt to teach you any of the tools, other than how to do a very few things, and even then it does so at a pretty high level. Don't expect a click-by-click sort of explanation. As others have said, this book is definitely focused at the experienced video editor.
If you are an experienced Final Cut editor who also owns the Adobe video tools and wants some additional tips and tricks at using the two together, this is definitely a nice book to have on your shelf. I think that pretty much covers the books niche though.
Author(s): Larry Jordan
Publisher: Focal Press
Year: 2010
Language: English
Pages: 299
City: Burlington, MA
Cover Page......Page 1
Copyright page......Page 0
Dedication......Page 3
1 Getting Started......Page 4
Just What Software Are We Talking About?......Page 5
What Can We Do in Adobe That We Can’t Do in Final Cut?......Page 6
A Quick Word about Me......Page 7
Where These Images Came From......Page 9
Thank Yous to Important People......Page 10
Time to Get Started......Page 11
Why I Like Adobe Bridge......Page 12
Workspace......Page 13
Customizing Your Workspace......Page 15
Using Tabs......Page 17
Navigating in Bridge......Page 18
Creating a Favorite......Page 19
Previewing Files and File Management......Page 20
Previewing Tips for the Preview Pane......Page 23
Previewing Media Files......Page 24
Creating Stacks......Page 27
Creating a Collection......Page 28
Other File Management......Page 29
Using Ratings......Page 31
Using Labels......Page 32
Using Keywords......Page 33
Adding Metadata......Page 34
Simple Finds......Page 36
Working with Filters......Page 37
Finding Using Metadata......Page 39
Integrating Bridge with Final Cut Studio......Page 40
Bridge Keyboard Shortcuts......Page 41
My Story......Page 42
Learning the Interface......Page 44
Understanding Recording Modes......Page 46
Creating a Take List......Page 47
Adding Metadata......Page 51
Search: The Reason behind Metadata......Page 53
Calibrate Your Camera......Page 54
Monitoring Your Video......Page 55
Staying Alert......Page 58
Capturing Video......Page 59
Adding Comments to Shots......Page 61
Special Notes on Working with HDV and DVCPROHD......Page 62
Keyboard Shortcuts......Page 63
Selecting an Audio Format......Page 64
Creating a Text Transcript......Page 65
Workspaces in Soundbooth......Page 67
Getting a File from Final Cut Pro to Soundbooth......Page 68
Creating Transcripts......Page 69
Using the Transcript to Search......Page 72
Modifying Transcript Text......Page 74
Exporting a Transcript......Page 75
Additional Notes on Soundbooth......Page 76
Integration with Adobe Bridge......Page 77
Create Musical Scores......Page 78
Support for XMP Metadata for Audio Files......Page 80
Adobe Premiere......Page 84
Integrating Transcript Text with Final Cut Studio......Page 85
My Story: A Mouse Does Not Rely on Just One Hole......Page 86
Round-Tripping versus Dynamic Links......Page 90
A Reason to Use Both Final Cut Pro and Premiere Pro......Page 91
Overview......Page 92
Details......Page 93
Workflow: Round-Tripping a Photoshop PSD File from Final Cut Pro to Adobe Photoshop; and Back......Page 100
Details......Page 101
Overview......Page 104
Details......Page 105
Overview......Page 109
Details......Page 110
Creating a Puppet Effect......Page 113
Exporting a Movie from After Effects......Page 115
Picking the Output Format......Page 118
My Story......Page 119
Explaining This Whole Pixel Mess......Page 122
Using Photoshop’s Film and Video Presets......Page 124
When Does DPI Matter?......Page 125
Sizing Single-Layer Images without Transparency......Page 126
Choosing a Still Image File Type......Page 127
Scaling Digital Photographs......Page 129
Still Images Have Durations......Page 131
Prepping to Move Inside a Single-Layer Image......Page 133
Another Way to Do Moves on Stills—PhotoMotion......Page 134
Working with PSD Files Containing Transparency......Page 137
Importing Images into Final Cut......Page 141
Creating a Freeze Frame......Page 142
Deinterlacing a Still Frame......Page 145
Resizing a Freeze Frame in Photoshop......Page 147
Thoughts on the Differences between Computer Images and Video Images......Page 149
Summary......Page 154
My Story: Sometimes, It’s the Little Things......Page 155
Moving Video Clips from FCP to Photoshop......Page 157
Moving a Clip from FCP to Photoshop......Page 158
Exporting from Photoshop......Page 162
Using the Place Command......Page 166
Using Masks......Page 167
Using Content-Aware Scaling......Page 170
Creating an Alpha Channel Using Quick Selection......Page 172
Retouching Using Cloning......Page 174
Cloning Options: The Clone Source Pane......Page 176
One More Option: Onion Skinning......Page 179
Using the Spot Healing Brush......Page 180
Using Level Controls......Page 182
Straightening an Image......Page 183
My Story: Prepping Photos......Page 186
Getting the Definitions Out of the Way......Page 188
Creating a Simple Traveling Matte......Page 190
The Limitations of Masks in FCP......Page 197
Creating Custom Shapes in Photoshop......Page 198
The Next Step: Creating a Mask Using Rotoscoping......Page 207
My Story: Using Photoshop to Match Your Text to Your Sequence......Page 214
A Quick Lookback......Page 217
So Why Bother with Blu-Ray?......Page 218
Get the Right Hardware......Page 219
Four Workflows to Blu-Ray Production......Page 220
Workflow #1: Using Share in FCP 7......Page 221
A Word about Exporting Video from FCP......Page 225
Workflow #2: Putting Blu-Ray Video on a Standard DVD......Page 227
Workflow #4: Sophisticated Blu-Ray Production Using Adobe Encore......Page 235
Compressing Blu-Ray in Compressor......Page 237
Building a Blu-Ray Disc in Adobe Encore......Page 240
My Story: Creating Blu-Ray Discs......Page 246
10 Creating Video for the Web......Page 248
Final Cut Pro 7......Page 249
Sharing Your Files......Page 250
Sending Files to Compressor......Page 254
Adobe Media Encoder......Page 259
Creating a Watch Folder......Page 260
Adobe Encore: Author Once – Write Multiple Times......Page 262
My Story: Why Encore CS4?......Page 269
What’s a Mobile Device?......Page 271
Camera......Page 272
Text, Graphics, and Transitions......Page 273
Creating Videos for Apple Mobile Devices......Page 274
Compressing Using Final Cut Pro......Page 275
Compressing Using Compressor......Page 278
Putting Video on Mobile Devices......Page 280
Step 1: Selecting the Devices You Want to Use......Page 281
Step 2: Compressing Video Using Adobe Media Encoder......Page 286
Step 3: Testing Mobile Phones Using Device Central......Page 289
Summary......Page 292
My Story: Creating Flash Videos......Page 293
Index......Page 295
