Final Cut Pro 3 & DVD Studio Pro Handbook [With DVD]

All the previous reviews people are talking about things like the labels on the clips. You need to write those labels in yourself. That was designed from a teaching stand point. You have to start working right from chapter one with the tutorials. They all build on each other. All I can say is this my second time though the book. A lot of the things people are unsatisfied about, are missed due to hasty studying. You have to label those clips yourself, right from the start! That book has helped me tremendously. I made the same mistakes the first time through the book. Final Cut Pro is very complicated, first time through you are going to miss things. You are getting taught with this book. Making it though the book is not easy,however once you do make it. You will have a very good skill. This author is a teacher! The way he writes makes you think! He really takes you through at a good fast pace, and it is tough for the student(reader) to keep everything staight. There are so many details. Everyone tends to think that it is the author who is incorrect, I can tell you from experience that it is the reader, not the author or the book. I get that, Ohhhhhhhhhhh Yes, now I get it. But it took me the second time through. This book gets you rolling. This book will get you right into it. You will learn extremely fast. If you take the free downloaded manual from Apple with this book you are set. Even better is Lisa Brenneis's and the DVD studio Pro manual too. I had these manuals for a year and did not get anything going. Then I got the Watkins book. I thought the same thing hey these clips are not labeled, I was in chapter four or five, I thought it was the author. No NO No you have to lable the clips yourself. And chapter stops are on page 289. You finish Adam's tutorials you will be able to take the book, computer, camera hook them all together and get very nice work accomplished. It is not an easy study it takes effort. Once you learn it, you can do a big project. You learn a lot from Adam Watkins, he is good teacher. I would easly buy this book again, I would only buy it sooner. My past I used imovie for two years. I bought FCP and did not due a project for a while. Then I got Adam's book and started to get my hands dirty right away. I am not afraid to do anything with final cut pro. I learned a lot. The tutorial is great, good beat beat sound to set clips to. I can match sound and a clip together. I learned an awful lot from this book.

Final Cut Pro 3 & DVD Studio Pro Handbook by Adam Watkins (Director of Computer Arts, University of the Incarnate Word, San Antonio, Texas) is a straightforward user manual and self-teaching guide to making the most of the Final Cut Pro 3 and DVD Studio Pro computer softwares for editing and delivering computer animation. Covering everything from technical specifications, to step-by-step how-to instructions, Final Cut Pro 3 & DVD Studio Pro Handbook is an excellent resource which is especially recommended for novice digital editors who seek to take full advantage of these fine softwares to produce work to professional standards of excellence.

In my initial review of this book (8/23/02, just after it shipped), I noted that the included DVD's contents didn't match the tutorial in the book, making the package "worthless". The publisher has now posted on their website a list of corrections to the filenames & organization, and the author has sent me a replacement DVD with all of the problems fixed. I can now justify giving the book the five-star rating that it deserves for its clearly-written, interesting and useful content.

Overall, I found this book and accompanying DVD to be an excellent value. The writing style was very accessible and the tutorials were exactly what I needed to get a handle on the technology. The only bad news is that the DVD installs in such a way as to mislable and poorly organize files needed for the tutorials. The good news is that the publisher provides a file that downloads instantaneously and clearly shows how to overcome the file labeling/organization issues in very short order. Again, very high value for the money and time I invested. Can't wait for Watkins' next book.