One of the downsides to NLE software driven editing is the need to render. Whenever effects are applied to a clip or a sequence, there is always a need to render. Final Cut creates a folder in your Final Cut Pro Documents folder to store all these render files. When you are finished with a project, archive the files and remove the media, your drive is still filled excess material from your renders. You can can safely and easily render files from the confort of your Final Cut application.

From Final Cut click Tools>Render Manager. Final Cut has kept track of all render files from all projects. You can remove some or all of the render files stored on your drive by placing a check mark in the appropriate column. This should only be done when you are finished with a project and ready to archive it for storage.

This is a quick little way to help save valuable storage space and to clean your system when you complete projects.

Growing up in Georgia, my dad made sure that I was a brain washed to be a true CHEVY man. He has a 1949 pickup that he bought when he was a teenager. All he has ever owned are Chevrolet’s. I don’t know why he has had such an affinity for the Chevrolet, but Fords were always portrayed as lemon’s. In our household Ford meant Fix Or Repair Daily. Is one really better than the other? I don’t know. All I know is that I now drive a Hyundai.

The debate over PC and Mac is pretty much the same as the debate over Chevy and Ford. Both platforms have applications that will do the job you want. Some variations exist in methodology, but they both work. Traditionally, the argument has been PC for office/home use and MAC for video/audio/graphic use. I don’t know if those divisions are all that valid anymore, the important thing to note is that technology never replaces creativity. And since they both have

I personally use both platforms. My PC is used to do all of my graphics and web work. I have a Sony Viao that I purchased a couple years ago for the purpose of video editing. I now use it exclusively for graphic work in Photoshop or web work with Dreamweaver. My MAC is used for all of my video production and post-production work.

In my opinion, with both platforms using the Intel chip, the real deciding factor rest more on applications and budget than platform. For video editing and post-production I prefer to use Final Cut. I like the fact that I can get all the applications I need in one bundle for such a great price. It is a growing in the television/film industry and taking alot of market share from AVID. Which means that it will be around for along time and it should get attention for updates and revisions to keep up with the direction television and film are moving.

There are several significant factors that seem to make this discussion fairly volatile and heated. We will engage in some of these issues to help you make a better decision when it comes to purchasing your hardware. The purchase of a computer for video production is going to be a significant cost, so it is wise to learn all you can before making that purchase.

A common mistake that many beginners make when starting the video editing process, is setting their capture catch to the wrong drive. I have encountered many newbies who have a massive hard drive and feel that they should put everything on their system drive. This is a mistake.

If you set your capture drive to be the same as your system drive, you take a tremendous risk with you media and project data. System drives have a tendency to crash or fail and if all your media resides on that same drive, you loose hours, days or months worth of work. NOT a good strategy.

This is why Apple suggest you set you Final Cut Express or Final Cut Pro capture scratch to a seperate drive. This can be achieved by setting a partition on your “massive drive” and putting the system files on one partition and let the other be used exclusively for media projects. A better solution is to have a second drive installed in your tower or an external drive connected via firewire.

To change your capture scratch in Final Cut Express and/or Final Cut Pro. Open the application and click Final Cut Express or Final Cut Pro, depending on the application you are using. Then click System Settings. A window with the Scratch Disk tab selected will appear.

System Settings - Final Cut Pro

Click the Set button at the top of the screen and select the drive you want to serve as your capture scratch. Make sure the Video Capture, Video Render, and Audio Render boxes are checked. Once you have have made the change, click OK and Final Cut will reset your capture scratch to the new drive.