Rating: 
Summary: Perfect for new to intermediate user!
Review: I teach DV in a high school. When FCP4 came out I really needed to brush up on the changes. Many people thought this book would do the trick and boy were they right.If you need a self paced course to walk you through the in's and out's of the FCP4 then this book is for you. I recommend it to all of my students who want to go the extra mile. Great book - I can not wait for the FCP4 Advanced book to be released
Rating:
Summary: A Must Have for FCP4
Review: I'm only through Lesson 4 of the book and thus far it's been extremely simple to follow. The pages fly by real fast without boring you. The DVD that came with it includes clips you can practice on. I love this book and I feel that upon completing it, I'll be able to use FCP4 with skill. I also purchased the Advanced volume of this series and can't wait to get started on that. The Apple Pro Training Series books are definitely the only books to buy to learn Apple software. If they only wrote books on After Effects and Photoshop, I'd be in heaven.
Rating:
Summary: A Must Have for FCP4
Review: I'm only through Lesson 4 of the book and thus far it's been extremely simple to follow. The pages fly by real fast without boring you. The DVD that came with it includes clips you can practice on. I love this book and I feel that upon completing it, I'll be able to use FCP4 with skill. I also purchased the Advanced volume of this series and can't wait to get started on that. The Apple Pro Training Series books are definitely the only books to buy to learn Apple software. If they only wrote books on After Effects and Photoshop, I'd be in heaven.
Rating:
Summary: As good as it gets!
Review: I've worked in Final Cut since FCP 2.0. and am currently editing a feature documentary in FCP 4.0. Even though I am comfortable with Final Cut, I crave new information and tutorials addressing it's potential and capabilities. Hands down, Diana Weynand's FCP4 training epic is unparalleled for indepth content and inspired, cohesive teaching. This is as good as it gets!
Rating: 
Summary: Bad quality control on companion dvd
Review: Ok, I didn't read this book yet, I only read the instructions on how to copy the lesson files, and a lot of them have errors on the dvd. I use a Dual G5 2 GHz with super drive, it's a very recent machine and I read a lot of dvd disks without problems. I call to a friend who also just purchse the book. He also have a super drive machine, a Dual G4 800 MHz and his Mac can't read the entire dvd.
Rating:
Summary: jump start
Review: This book (and the others in the series are a great way to jump start your understanding of the products. Easy to follow tutorial takes you through most of what you need to know to get started.
Rating: 
Summary: A good start
Review: This book is simplifying a lot the basic understanding of FCP 4, and is very easy to go through. But there's no in-depth explanation of what the functions are. Nothing in details about capturing and exporting. No real explanation on how the files outside FCP are being handled, and what kind of space it will take on your hard drive. Obviously this book is good to read if you've never touched FCP. In a week you will go through it. You don't even need to do the exercises, as the book shows you every single menu and has visual representations of all the functions it's taking you through. And in this way this book is worth having. But going through it I thought I was missing a lot of technical details, which is hopefully covered in the advanced version.
Rating:
Summary: Terrific lesson plans for learning Final Cut Pro 4
Review: This book is terribly helpful in getting up to speed, the lessons are easy to understand with lots of actual editing examples and a great DVD filled with interesting video clips. I recommend if you are either a new user to FCP or are updating your skills from FCP3 to FCP4
Rating:
Summary: Excellent for learning Final Cut Pro 4
Review: This book is the official Apple Pro training course for Final Cut Pro 4. All of the lesson files for the training are on the included DVD-ROM. Upon completing the course material in this book, you can become a certified Apple Pro by taking the certification exam at an apple Authorized Training Center. If you had to pay for classes to get certified, you would pay thousands of dollars, so this is a great bargain for those who are motivated to follow the book's course. You don't have to be on the path to certification to use this book. If you're a hobbyist, beginner or pro who wants to learn more about Final Cut Pro 4, its all in here. The book begins by explaining the Final Cut Pro interface including the projects, bins, timeline and canvas. It tells you how to open, hide and quit FCP. There are chapters on marking and editing clips, editing in the timeline, trimming, master clips, subclips and markers. There are chapters on capturing video, importing and exporting, working with audio, mixing audio tracks, and creating a music soundtrack. Toward the end are the chapters on adding filters, building composite images, creating motion effects, adding text and graphics, and creating an animated title. The last chapter is on finishing and outputting. Each chapter builds logically on what came before. Each chapter begins with a section called "Preparing the Project." It tells you what to open on your desktoop and in what order to be able to do that lesson. They all end with a section called "What You Have Learned." That section lists the specific tasks in the chapter and all of the keyboard shortcuts associated with those tasks. (Nice touch.)
Rating:
Summary: Great way to learn Final Cut Pro
Review: This book won't teach you how to be a good editor. I assume that takes lots of practice and is beyond the scope of this or any book but it will most definitely teach you how to use FCP. I've been reading the book even without the program in front of me and it's covered so well I don't even have to. I highly recommend this book to anyone who wants to learn FCP.
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