Customer Reviews

Final Cut Pro 5 for Mac OS X: Visual QuickPro Guide

5 star:		(8)
4 star:		(4)
3 star:		(1)
2 star:		(1)
1 star:		(0)

 

 

The folks that do the Visual QuickPro Guides have developed an interesting format that they use for computer books. Basically each page has two columns. The outside column has the text that describes what is being done on that page. The column near the gutter of the book is used for screen shots that show what the screen should look like as you do the procedure described on the outside column. This philosophy is combined with an excellent index and table of contents to enable you to quickly find what you want to do.

As such, you can read the book straight through like a tutorial, or you can go directly to the part you need like a reference book. It's a book design that successfully combines the two book types.

Although beginning level users can get a lot out of this book, it will be a big help if you have at least a bit of basic video editing experience. Final Cut is a professional level program. A little work with iMovie first might be a big help.

Lisa Brenneis has done it again! This book is a great primer and a very thorough reference source. I studied it for several days before taking a course in Final Cut Pro and went into the class better prepared than I would have been without this book.
I'm sure I'll find more occasions to look through it. Kudos, Lisa, and thanks!

Lisa wirtes one of the most (if not the best) comprehensive books about Final Cut Pro enabling almost anyone to "get it" when even the Apple Manuals and on line help do not. I had her version 4 book and now the version 5 book. I only hope she updatesit for version 6, 7, 8, 9 etc, that Apple most assuredly will continue to release.

Great hands-on manual but the FCP 6 book just came out. The reality is there aren't enough changes to make this version obsolete. If you still need a manual to work in FCP then this version will get you 99% of the way.

I recently upgraded to the Mac Pro System from my PC for my digital editing and I needed the Final Cut Pro System but since I was not familiar with the system I needed a little assistance navigating through the programs so that I can use it effectively. I am so pleased with the purchase of this book. It is so through and even though I have been editing for years it is still useful for me when it comes to navigating and using advanced features of Final Cut Pro. You do not have to be an avid reader to appreciate this book and nor do you have to be a pro to appreciate the book because you can skip through and target your weaknesses because the the book is laid out just that way. A smart buy for the novice to the intermediate.

The seller was accurate on all counts, and I am trying to learn FCP now. I'm not sure I'm that happy with the book yet, it's not exactly what I thought it was, but that is my fault for bad research.

I have mixed feelings about this book, but ultimately feel that it doesn't offer much advantage over the manuals that come with Final Cut, in fact a lot of it is lifted almost verbatim from the manuals, just doesn't include all the detail. I was hoping for something that could get me up and running fast and then provide answers to questions and problems that come up. But this book takes 275 pages before it gets to editing a single frame and I found that for most answers I needed to turn to the manual anyway. Also the book doesn't address any of the other programs that come with Final Cut Studio and almost treats them like they don't exist (for instance for DVD authoring it tells you to use iDVD when the much more powerful DVD Studio Pro is included with your Final Cut software. I guess if you don't have a hardcopy of the manual it could be useful to have this book, but for me I think it was a waist of money.

I am new to fcp and currently editing a project in fcp 5.1. [i intend to eventually upgrade to fcp 6]

I purchased this item. The author is obviously very knowledgeable, however
over-all I found this book a bit too convoluted - the author takes so
long to make a point and is not as concise as she should be in 736 pages!
On the other hand, I just purchased Final Cut Pro 5 by Larry Jordan and found it to be extremely helpful and to the point in 458 pages.

Admittedly fcp is not easy to write abt as it is a versatile but very
dense/complex software - so it's high praise that I give to Mr. Jordan for
writing abt fcp in such a clear manner.

great information -- but too much detail and flows too slowly. still, I would recommend this to all beginners of Final Cut

Brenneis continues to lead the pack in producing a logical and accessible manual for the film editor's leading software.