Apple Announces Cinema Tools For Final Cut Pro

by , 1:00 PM EDT, April 8th, 2002

Apple has released a new addition to Final Cut Pro called Cinema Tools for Final Cut Pro. This new app is designed to allow 35mm and 16mm film to be edited digitally from with Final Cut Pro. The company made the announcement at NAB. From Apple:

Apple® today announced Cinema Tools for Final Cut Pro™, a new software package that enhances Final Cut Pro 3's 24 frames-per-second (fps) editing capabilities with support for film cut lists and 24-frame edit decision lists (EDLs) for high-definition (HD) video. The 24-frame EDL support allows off-line HD projects to be finished using significantly more affordable Final Cut Pro®-based HD finishing systems, such as Pinnacle System's CinéWave HD.

"With support for 24-frame EDLs and cut lists, Cinema Tools for Final Cut Pro makes HD and film editing more accessible than ever before," said David Moody, Apple's senior director of Applications Marketing. "Final Cut Pro's support for 24-fps editing enables video and film professionals to affordably create content for digital cinema, regardless of the resolution they are working at."

"Apple's Cinema Tools for Final Cut Pro is the link that allows CinéWave to be used as the ultimate finishing system for all types of wide screen creative work, whether originating in film or 24P HD," said Laurin Herr, vice president, Broadcast and Professional Division at Pinnacle Systems. "By enabling efficient workflows from film to video and back to film, or between off-line and online HD systems, Cinema Tools for Final Cut Pro expands the range of CinéWave HD project support by providing 24P tools at a fraction of the cost of competitive solutions."

Cinema Tools technology was used to edit two upcoming Miramax Film releases, "Full Frontal," from Academy Award winning director Steven Soderbergh and "Blue Car," an audience favorite at the 2002 Sundance Film Festival.

Cinema Tools for Final Cut Pro is the ideal solution for filmmakers who shoot and finish with 35mm or 16mm film, but want to take advantage of the cost and time benefits of digitally editing on a Final Cut Pro system. Cinema Tools converts "telecined" content to its native 24-frame rate for editing, then generates a 24-fps cut list for negative conform.

With its support for 24-fps EDL import/export, Cinema Tools for Final Cut Pro not only provides video professionals with an affordable path to online HD finishing, but also the EDL conversion capabilities required to create high-definition 24P universal masters used to efficiently meet the needs of varying international distribution formats.

System requirements include Final Cut Pro 3.0.2, Mac® OS X version 10.1.3, a Macintosh® computer with a 300 MHz or faster PowerPC G3 or G4 processor with built-in FireWire®, 256MB of RAM, QuickTime® and 10MB of available disk space for installation.

Cimena Tools for FCP is priced at US$999, and is expected to be released in May. You can find more information on the product at Apple's Web site.

The Mac Observer Spin:

Apple just took a step up in the digital video wars, and fired a shot across the bow of some heavy hitters in the process. We ask that you forgive our mixing of several metaphors, but they all seemed appropriate. Cinema Tools for FCP makes it possible for film makers to do some very cool things on a MUCH smaller budget than would have possible without it. This officially gets classified as a Good Thing™.

Cinema Tools for Final Cut Pro