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132 P a r t I I Producing Your YouTube Videos

Apple Final Cut Studio

Adobe’s chief competitor in the high-end video-editing space is Apple Final Cut
Studio, a Mac-only suite that retails for $999. The suite includes the Final Cut Pro
video editor, along with Color (professional color grading), Motion (3D motion
graphics), Soundtrack Pro (audio post production), Compressor (encoding for dif-
ferent video formats), and DVD Studio Pro (DVD authoring). You can find more
information www.apple.com/finalcutstudio/.

Apple claims more than one million users of its Final Cut software; it’s definitely
the first choice of professional video editors worldwide. Final Cut Studio works
with virtually any video format, including high definition and professional formats.
You can easily combine clips of different formats on the program’s timeline.

As you can see in Figure 11.6, Final Cut Studio offers a wide variety of sophisticated
video special effects—including the ability to create 3D multiplane environments.
Even better than all the cool transitions and special effects is the Color component,
which enables you to create a consistent look and feel for shots from different
sources; this elevates the quality of any production to a truly professional level. Also
useful in this regard is the program’s SmoothCam feature that automatically stabi-
lizes shaky shots while preserving the original camera moves.

Figure 11.6 Apple Final Cut Studio.

Sony Vegas Pro

Like the other high-end programs, Sony’s Vegas Pro is actually a suite of related
products. For $599.95, you get the Vegas video editor, the DVD Architect DVD-
authoring program, and Dolby Digital (AC-3)–encoding software. More information