NAB Final Cut/Motion Seminars

[Thom Steinhoff]

Anyone think these are worth while? I really want to lift my entire final cut chops up from "getting by" to expert as well as learn how to get the most out of motion.

I am a bit fuzzy on some of the advanced issues around conforming and have some real blank spots with advanced audio editing. I'm entirely self taught on both and I realize, though I can get by, I am using maybe 20% of what Final cut has to offer and 10% of Motion.

On the NAB sign up it says:
" POST|PRODUCTION WORLD CONFERENCE $895.00 - Includes access to 6 days of post-production training--plus free access to Digital Tech Guru Workshop, Director of Photography Workshop, Super Sessions and Spotlight Series"

Then lower it lists individual certification preps. I have no interest in being certified--but don't want to miss the classes if the $895 is just basic overviews and doesn't really teach anything.

Does anyone know if I will get access to great classes at the $900 pass or is it not really worth it.

Thanks in advance,

Thom

[MikeCurtis]

My take, based on NOT having attended and just guessing here - they are aimed at general purpose users, most likely in broadcast, and if you are trying to learn more about conforming etc., look to other resources. Get a list of what is covered in detail if you can, and judge for yourself if those are worth it.

[Blaine Golden]

There are a good series of books (with DVDs) that can really help in all areas of FCP/Motion/SoundtrackPro/Shake

http://www.amazon.com/s/ref=nb_ss_b/002-3284770-9618452?url=search-alias%3Dstripbooks&field-keywords=apple+pro+training+series+&Go.x=8&Go.y=2&Go=Go

[Phil Becque]

Hi Thom

You might want to take a look at this see if it covers what you want:

http://www.totaltraining.com/

Another good place is Creative Cow (don't laugh!):

[url]http://forums.creativecow.net/viewforum/8

There are a lot of helpful people/articles there.

As a production company one man band, I've had to learn to use Edius Pro, After Effects, Illustrator CS2, WaveLab, DVD WS2, Procoder 2, Cubasis, Cake Walk, PERL, TCL, XML and all sorts of other stuff. I haven't been on a single training course - errm not even a Film or photography one!

I'm not saying that's a good thing - but it is a cheap thing!

[Hrvoje Simic]

The best and fastest way of learning today is by multimedia. For $900 you can get 2-3 complete dvd courses.
After a few weeks you will forget at least 30% of the stuff you saw at the seminars.
You can reopen any dvd course again and again.
Add to that an option of dual screen watching and practicing in the same time, and you will see the benefit.

However, if you can afford both ways I would recommend both.

[Thom Steinhoff]

Thanks, all for the advice, I think the overwhelming response is "use the $900 toward Red Raid or Red Rails."

I'm a self taught software developer by trade, so I'm used to road of going it alone and learning it the hard way (faster way). I guess I was just looking for a magic bullet but in the end there is no substitute for eyes to the book/dvd/web and working through the issues on my own.

Maybe I was just looking for more compelling reasons to spend more days in Vegas.

[Jason Francois]

also, check out lynda.com. I spent $150 on the beginning series of DVD's and then found that for $25 a month you can download the training for many programs including FCP. i can't remember how advanced it gets, but I know that it worked, because i'm usually very bad at learning from books, etc.

[Graeme Nattress]

The only way to learn is to do. For $900 you could fund a fair bit of self training, books, DVDs, etc. But you yourself have to know the way that YOU learn best.

Graeme

[Jeff Kilgroe]

I second Graeme's opinion.. Spend your money elsewhere, even if it's getting training locally from someone who knows more about the application than you do.

I've tried NAB seminars before and while both were for software applications (once for SoftImage XSI, the other for Lightwave), I was not impressed. It's kinda like others have mentioned here... The seminars don't last long, they usually slam-dunk a lot of information at high speed. For example both 3D application seminars I attended taught us how to model, texture and render something from scratch... The instructor had to spend most of his non-lecture time helping the beginners get caught up. More experienced users had little opportunity to really pick the brain of the master. The few new tricks I did learn were difficult to remember due to all the other events, excitement, etc... And just the speed at which everything was presented. No real time to play and experiment, just on to the next step and then the next...

Buy the DVD courseware or something you can go back and refer to. If you're already at the point where you can get by using the software, then the best thing you can do is just experiment on your own. Give yourself new challenges and figure out how to get it done. ...Or like I mentioned above, find someone who knows the software better than you and ask them questions... Have them give you a few lessons in exchange for pizza and beer.

[Mark Thorpe]

Have you tried the LA Final Cut Pro Users Group? I think they are at: www.lafcpug.org

Never know who you could bump into there seeing as its in LA. I've heard they make a few movies out there ........

Best,
Mark.

[Gregory Karydis]

I have used the Houdini Video Tutorials from www.cmivfx.com and they are really good, I've also watched a few of the Fusion free tutorials (available as a podcast as well) so I trust the Final Cut, Shake and Motion tutorials to be of a simillar quality.
http://www.cmivfx.com/products.asp

I think I will order the Shake tutorials some time next week.

Hope this helps.

[tj williams]

final cut pro 5 essentials fm Total Training on Ebay for 190 incl shipping.
I did the one on Premiere a couple of years ago and it was quite good, well written easily understood, pretty good organization. and of course you can repeat unlikje a seminar.
Heres whats on the disks.

first basic stuff then:
4. Getting Around: the Timeline (53 min)
Lesson 1: Customizing Your Timeline
Lesson 2: Navigating the Timeline
Lesson 3: Zooming Inside the Timeline
Lesson 4: Navigating Gaps
Lesson 5: Timeline Audio & Video Controls
Lesson 6: Source & Destination Controls
Lesson 7: Viewing Clip Keyframes & Overlays
Lesson 8: Setting & Navigating Markers in the Timeline
Lesson 9: Setting & Editing Markers in a Clip
Lesson 10: Modifying Marker Durations
Lesson 11: Making Practical Use of Markers
Lesson 12: Navigating & Deleting Markers

5. Editing With the Tools (61 min)
Lesson 1: Assembling Clips in the Timeline
Lesson 2: Selecting, Linking & Stereo Pairs
Lesson 3: Reordering Clips with the Insert Edit Function
Lesson 4: Making Ripple Deletes & Ripple Cuts
Lesson 5: Using the Roll & Ripple Tools
Lesson 6: Slipping & Sliding in the Timeline
Lesson 7: Making a Match Action Edit
Lesson 8: Keyframing & Layering Audio Tracks
Lesson 9: Adjusting Audio Levels & Adding Transitions
Lesson 10: Creating & Rendering Audio Effects in Real Time
Lesson 11: Using the Track Selection Tools

6. Setting Up a New Project (34 min)
Lesson 1: Changing Your Easy Setup
Lesson 2: External A/V Devices & HDV
Lesson 3: How Easy Setup Affects Your Project
Lesson 4: Working with Non-Standard Compressors
Lesson 5: Creating Your Own Easy Setup
Lesson 6: Creating an Easy Setup from Scratch

7. Using Transitions (52 min)
Lesson 1: Setting Your Scratch Disks
Lesson 2: Using the Real Time Options
Lesson 3: Introducing Transitions
Lesson 4: Applying Transitions
Lesson 5: Understanding the Render Color Codes
Lesson 6: Rendering Transitions
Lesson 7: Modifying Transitions
Lesson 8: Adjusting Pre-roll & Post-roll Options
Lesson 9: Customizing Transition Parameters
Lesson 10: Creating a Page Peel
Lesson 11: Setting a Default Transition
Lesson 12: Selecting Multiple Transitions at Once

8. Setting Preferences (47 min)
Lesson 1: Introducing Preferences
Lesson 2: Setting Values for Levels of Undo & Recent Clips
Lesson 3: Adjusting Audio Tracks, Quality & Real Time Video
Lesson 4: Setting Autosave Vault Options
Lesson 5: Activating Warnings & Dropped Frame Settings
Lesson 6: Setting the Auto Render Values
Lesson 7: Changing the Duration of a Still & the Editing Prefs
Lesson 8: Turning On Dupe Detection
Lesson 9: Setting Labels & Timeline Options
Lesson 10: Choosing Render Control Options
Lesson 11: Setting the Scratch Disks
Lesson 12: Setting Search Folders & Memory & Cache
Lesson 13: Adjusting More System Settings
Lesson 14: Backing Up Your Preferences

9. Logging & Capturing Clips (40 min)
Lesson 1: Setting Up for Capture
Lesson 2: Introducing the Log and Capture Window
Lesson 3: Setting In & Out Points & Setting the Logging Bin
Lesson 4: Entering Clip Information
Lesson 5: Capturing Logged Clips
Lesson 6: Deleting Unwanted Clips
Lesson 7: Adjusting Log and Capture Clip Settings
Lesson 8: Capturing Footage & Applying DV Start/Stop Detect
Lesson 9: Creating New Clips on Start/Stop Capturing HDV Footage
Lesson 10: Capturing Clips with Batch Lists
Lesson 11: Final Comments & Credits
Disc 2

1. Storyboarding & Trimming (40 min)
Lesson 1: Preparing for Storyboarding
Lesson 2: Storyboarding the Clips
Lesson 3: Adding Clips to the Timeline & Opening the Trim Window
Lesson 4: Introducing the Trim Edit Window
Lesson 5: Rolling & Rippling within the Trim Edit Window
Lesson 6: Finding the Best Point to Make a Cut
Lesson 7: Trimming Using the Mouse & the J, K, & L Keys
Lesson 8: Dynamic Trimming Using the J, K, & L Keys
Lesson 9: Understanding In Shift & Out Shift

2. Working with Graphics (74 min)
Lesson 1: Working with Adobe(R) Illustrator(R) Files in FCP
Lesson 2: Importing an Illustrator File into Adobe Photoshop(R) for use in FCP
Lesson 3: Sizing Graphics to Import into an HDV Timeline
Lesson 4: Resizing Images in Final Cut Pro
Lesson 5: Importing PSD Files as an Image & as a Sequence
Lesson 6: Using the Photoshop Levels Command to Fix a Scanned Image
Lesson 7: Straightening an Image in Photoshop
Lesson 8: Making an Image a Layered File with Transparency
Lesson 9: Removing Anti-Aliased Edges from an Image
Lesson 10: Working with Alpha Channels
Lesson 11: Working with Aspect Ratios & Resolutions
Lesson 12: Understanding Pixel Aspect Ratio
Lesson 13: Setting the Correct Alpha Channel Type
Lesson 14: Making New Layers Via Selections inside Photoshop
Lesson 15: Importing a Photoshop File with Layer Effects into FCP
Lesson 16: Potential Problems Changing the Contents of a Layer

3. Controlling Motion (61 min)
Lesson 1: Importing Still Images
Lesson 2: Creating a Container Sequence
Lesson 3: Introducing the Motion Settings
Lesson 4: Adjusting Scale & Rotation in the Viewer
Lesson 5: Adjusting Scale & Rotation in the Canvas
Lesson 6: Adjusting Center Values & Anchor Point
Lesson 7: Adjusting the Anchor Point
Lesson 8: Using the Crop Tool & Feathering an Edge
Lesson 9: Using the Distort Tool
Lesson 10: Adding & Adjusting a Drop Shadow
Lesson 11: Using Keyframes to Create Motion
Lesson 12: Animating a Wipe Effect
Lesson 13: Changing the Velocity of an Animation

4. Affecting Video (43 min)
Lesson 1: Introducing Speed
Lesson 2: Working with Frame Blending & Motion Blur
Lesson 3: Slowing Down a Clip that was Shot at Normal Speed
Lesson 4: Playing a Clip Backwards
Lesson 5: Gaining More Control with Time Remapping
Lesson 6: Using Time Remapping to Freeze Video
Lesson 7: Working with Freeze Frames & Deinterlacing
Lesson 8: Using Artistic Filters
Lesson 9: Using Corrective Filters
Lesson 10: Looking Closely at Color Correction
Lesson 11: Pasting Attributes

5. Audio Fundamentals (38 min)
Lesson 1: Introducing Audio in Final Cut Pro
Lesson 2: Identifying, Converting & Importing Audio Files
Lesson 3: Fine-Tuning Your Stereo & Mono Tracks
Lesson 4: Audio Scrubbing & Playback
Lesson 5: Setting Keyframes
Lesson 6: Introducing the Audio Mixer
Lesson 7: Advanced Functions & Controls in the Audio Mixer
Lesson 8: Applying Audio Effects

6. Output & Export (34 min)
Lesson 1: Using the Print to Video Command
Lesson 2: Converting HD to DV
Lesson 3: Using the Edit to Tape Command
Lesson 4: Making an Insert Edit on Your Master
Lesson 5: Creating a Media File of Your Content
Lesson 6: Exporting Content for the Web
Lesson 7: Final Comments & Credits


1. Storyboarding & Trimming (40 min)
Lesson 1: Preparing for Storyboarding
Lesson 2: Storyboarding the Clips
Lesson 3: Adding Clips to the Timeline & Opening the Trim Window
Lesson 4: Introducing the Trim Edit Window
Lesson 5: Rolling & Rippling within the Trim Edit Window
Lesson 6: Finding the Best Point to Make a Cut
Lesson 7: Trimming Using the Mouse & the J, K, & L Keys
Lesson 8: Dynamic Trimming Using the J, K, & L Keys
Lesson 9: Understanding In Shift & Out Shift

2. Working with Graphics (74 min)
Lesson 1: Working with Adobe(R) Illustrator(R) Files in FCP
Lesson 2: Importing an Illustrator File into Adobe Photoshop(R) for use in FCP
Lesson 3: Sizing Graphics to Import into an HDV Timeline
Lesson 4: Resizing Images in Final Cut Pro
Lesson 5: Importing PSD Files as an Image & as a Sequence
Lesson 6: Using the Photoshop Levels Command to Fix a Scanned Image
Lesson 7: Straightening an Image in Photoshop
Lesson 8: Making an Image a Layered File with Transparency
Lesson 9: Removing Anti-Aliased Edges from an Image
Lesson 10: Working with Alpha Channels
Lesson 11: Working with Aspect Ratios & Resolutions
Lesson 12: Understanding Pixel Aspect Ratio
Lesson 13: Setting the Correct Alpha Channel Type
Lesson 14: Making New Layers Via Selections inside Photoshop
Lesson 15: Importing a Photoshop File with Layer Effects into FCP
Lesson 16: Potential Problems Changing the Contents of a Layer

3. Controlling Motion (61 min)
Lesson 1: Importing Still Images
Lesson 2: Creating a Container Sequence
Lesson 3: Introducing the Motion Settings
Lesson 4: Adjusting Scale & Rotation in the Viewer
Lesson 5: Adjusting Scale & Rotation in the Canvas
Lesson 6: Adjusting Center Values & Anchor Point
Lesson 7: Adjusting the Anchor Point
Lesson 8: Using the Crop Tool & Feathering an Edge
Lesson 9: Using the Distort Tool
Lesson 10: Adding & Adjusting a Drop Shadow
Lesson 11: Using Keyframes to Create Motion
Lesson 12: Animating a Wipe Effect
Lesson 13: Changing the Velocity of an Animation

4. Affecting Video (43 min)
Lesson 1: Introducing Speed
Lesson 2: Working with Frame Blending & Motion Blur
Lesson 3: Slowing Down a Clip that was Shot at Normal Speed
Lesson 4: Playing a Clip Backwards
Lesson 5: Gaining More Control with Time Remapping
Lesson 6: Using Time Remapping to Freeze Video
Lesson 7: Working with Freeze Frames & Deinterlacing
Lesson 8: Using Artistic Filters
Lesson 9: Using Corrective Filters
Lesson 10: Looking Closely at Color Correction
Lesson 11: Pasting Attributes

5. Audio Fundamentals (38 min)
Lesson 1: Introducing Audio in Final Cut Pro
Lesson 2: Identifying, Converting & Importing Audio Files
Lesson 3: Fine-Tuning Your Stereo & Mono Tracks
Lesson 4: Audio Scrubbing & Playback
Lesson 5: Setting Keyframes
Lesson 6: Introducing the Audio Mixer
Lesson 7: Advanced Functions & Controls in the Audio Mixer
Lesson 8: Applying Audio Effects

6. Output & Export (34 min)
Lesson 1: Using the Print to Video Command
Lesson 2: Converting HD to DV
Lesson 3: Using the Edit to Tape Command
Lesson 4: Making an Insert Edit on Your Master
Lesson 5: Creating a Media File of Your Content
Lesson 6: Exporting Content for the Web
Lesson 7: Final Comments & Credits