Video Editing Software

[Hustle]

I've been in the Mac world now for a month and i've been using iMovie a lot, however, i've come to the conclusion that its missing a few vital features....

-It lacks ability to edit videos that you put into it from a video camera (like cut bits out of a video etc etc)

Thats the main feature i think is missing. Say i record a video from my cam corder and put it on my PC, i want to cut bits out of that video, do some affects on certain parts. Maybe do some other cool things, but iMovie seems to be to basic for this sort of stuff. I also cannot seem to cut a song in iMovie so it only plays 1/4 of the song etc etc....

So whats my best bets at getting some good software... I know final cut is meant to be good, however its price tag is 1000+...

Is there just one part of Final Cut that you can buy, or do you have to buy the full studio......

Can you edit and cut parts out of your own video on Final Cut....
Also, whats the best programe to do stop motion pictures.. (i think its called?)

What do you think i should get.....

Thanks

 

[GulfVetSAF]

Hey. I don't know much about Final Cut... however, I use and am big fan of Photoshop Elements (you can get the combo of both Photoshop Elements & Premiere Elements for less than $100). I'm an amateur photographer and I shoot lots of video as well. Honestly, it goes beyond my personal needs. Hope this helps...

 

[KB3GZW]

I dont believe that you can only buy certain parts of FCS. You can cut out parts of a video that you made in iMovie. I also believe that iMovie was made for any non-professional movies like home movies where you can add some effects but nothing real spectacular. And what else do you expect from free software? To cut out a part of a movie that you dont want you need to put the playhead at the spot you want the cut part to start at and go to the EDIT menu and selest "Split video clip at playhead" then go to the end of the part that you want to omit from the final video and put the playhead there and then select "Split video clip at playhead" and then select the part that you want to delete and delete it. Hope this helps.

 

[rs2sensen]

iMovie is actually a pretty versatile piece of software, and can do everything that you mentioned. I do professional video editing, and use Final Cut Pro 5, which is an incredible piece of software, but there is a slight learning curve if you want to properly do it. I also believe that there is a Final Cut Express, but I've never used it. Honestly though, if I have a job that I need to do quickly and doesn't require truly professional customization, I've used iMovie in the past.

 

[inertkinesis]

Final Cut Express, perhaps? I have never used it but I plan on using it soon for a school project. Just a thought...

 

[bmcgonag]

I have to re-iterate what the 2 posters said, that iMovie actually does everthing that you just said it won't do.

Look around in it, and You will find these things, it's just a matter of knowing how to do it.

Search google for some tutorials, and I'm sure that Apple.com has some too.

Best,

Brian

 

[xstep]

As others have said, you can do what you have described.

First you need the content of interest in the editing timeline on the lower part of the screen. You also need to put it into timeline viewer rather than the clip viewer. You do that by clicking the clock symbol that is to the lower left of the video picture.

OK. Now that you have timeline viewer setup, you can click on either a video or audio track if one appears. Move the play head to where you want to cut and type the Command-T (see the Edit menu option) to split the track. Left and Right arrow keys allow you to fine tune the placement of the playhead. Repeat once again and the select the piece you want to remove and hit the delete key.

If you want to cut audio that is embedded into the video you downloaded from a camera, I think you first have to use Extract Audio under the Advanced menu selection. This will create an audio track you can edit.

Final Cut Express is the Prosumer software. It has alot of the features from Final Cut HD that only comes with the Final Cut Suite. I'd wait for the next version to come out since Apple has recently announced the newer version of Final Cut Suite, so I'd expect an upgraded FCE in the next few months.

Honestly, you are not ready for fancier software if you haven't even figured out the basics of iMovie HD. You would be better off buying a book.

For stop motion software you could try iStopMotion.