iMovie vs Final Cut Express

sheepofblue · 01-07-2007, 09:30 PM

First iMovie is a great program. Easy to use and yet capable of making amazing videos. So why would you PAY for Final Cut Express
1) Final Cut Express (FCE) is non-destructive so when you make and edit clips it does not alter the original footage
2) LiveType comes with FCE. It takes a bit to learn as the instructions that come with it are HORRIBLE but once it clicks you can make great menus, splash screens and transisition screens very easy
3) The effects in iMovie are good but there are things you just can't do. For instance I made a 4 movie quad window to display four views of the video at the same time.
4) Audio editing is more flexible
Now for the downs
1) Exporting to iDVD is very non intuitive
2) There is a much bigger learning curve for FCE
3) Cost

Some tips on things I found.
1) When exporting a movie for inclusion into iDVD do not bother making the movie standalone. There is no advantage to this and it saves a bunch of time on rendering to make it not self contained.
2) When you make a screen in Livetype just include the Livetype file and pre-render it. If you need updates you can launch the editor right from FCE and no need to reimport it as you would a movie
3) Rendering individual items seemed faster than a mass all at once.

Buy FCE and spend the time to learn it

01-07-2007, 09:30 PM	#1
sheepofblue Not a screen of death Join Date: 01-03-2007 Location: Huntsville Age: 47 Posts: 698	iMovie vs Final Cut Express First iMovie is a great program. Easy to use and yet capable of making amazing videos. So why would you PAY for Final Cut Express 1) Final Cut Express (FCE) is non-destructive so when you make and edit clips it does not alter the original footage 2) LiveType comes with FCE. It takes a bit to learn as the instructions that come with it are HORRIBLE but once it clicks you can make great menus, splash screens and transisition screens very easy 3) The effects in iMovie are good but there are things you just can't do. For instance I made a 4 movie quad window to display four views of the video at the same time. 4) Audio editing is more flexible Now for the downs 1) Exporting to iDVD is very non intuitive 2) There is a much bigger learning curve for FCE 3) Cost Some tips on things I found. 1) When exporting a movie for inclusion into iDVD do not bother making the movie standalone. There is no advantage to this and it saves a bunch of time on rendering to make it not self contained. 2) When you make a screen in Livetype just include the Livetype file and pre-render it. If you need updates you can launch the editor right from FCE and no need to reimport it as you would a movie 3) Rendering individual items seemed faster than a mass all at once. Buy FCE and spend the time to learn it __________________ A man who carries a cat by the tail learns something he can learn in no other way