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Thoughts on Controlling Time

As video professionals and, especially, free-lancers, we have an instinctive regard for the value of time. Here are my thoughts on what is under our control, what isn’t and what splits the difference.

How to Pick the “Best” External Computer or Video Monitor

Picking a high-quality computer monitor for video editing is surprisingly confusing. Here is Larry Jordan’s explanation of what specs you need to look for, which you can ignore, and what criteria he uses for picking computer and video monitors.

Animate Photoshop Graphics In Adobe Premiere Pro

In this illustrated tutorial, learn how to animate multiple elements in the same graphic using Adobe Premiere Pro.

Animate Photoshop Graphics in Apple Final Cut Pro

Here’s an illustrated tutorial on how to animate multiple elements in a bar graph to illustrate a scientific concept. While this will work with most video editing software, I use Apple Final Cut Pro in this example.

Create Text Style Sheets in Apple Keynote

Apple Keynote, like Apple Pages, supports text styles. However, these are more limited than you might at first think. Here’s a tutorial that explains more about how to create and modify them.

What Makes a Monitor a Retina Display?

What is a “Retina Display?” What does it do and what monitors support it? This tutorial explains the term, why it’s used and what it means.

Review: ViewSonic VP2776 27″ Color Pro Monitor

No monitor is perfect, but if images are your life, you should make the effort to check out the ViewSonic VP2776. When I look at the same image on all three monitor connected to my Mac, the ViewSonic looks the best. Here’s a detailed review.

How to Configure Video Editing Storage for Maximum Speed or Capacity

Which combination of hard disk or SSD storage provides the fastest speed or highest capacity for video editing? This illustrated tutorial will answer these questions, plus provide a spreadsheet you can use to test your own numbers. This works for Adobe Premiere Pro, DaVinci Resolve and Apple Final Cut Pro editors.

Sneaky Workaround for Importing Partial Files into Final Cut Pro

Here are two very clever workarounds to create short extracts of much larger media files to save storage space when importing video into Apple Final Cut Pro.

Five Quick and Easy Final Cut Pro Tricks

Looking for ways to work faster? Here are five pretty much undocumented quick tricks – from import to export – that make Final Cut Pro work even faster.

How to Swap and Archive Hard Drives With a Forever RAID Set

Even the largest RAIDs fill up. If you own an OWC RAID, you can safely and easily archive RAID sets for archiving and storage. Loren Miller explains the process in this highly-illustrated, step-by-step tutorial.

Thunderbolt May Not Be As Fast As You Think

Thunderbolt is an amazing protocol and essential to many video workflows. However, it isn’t a magic box. Once you understand what affects the speeds it can transfer data, you can better plan for how to use it. This tutorial explains what impacts the speed of a Thunderbolt device.

When Should You Upgrade to macOS Ventura?

[Update: Dec. 17, 2022, I updated to Ventura 13.1. Mostly, it went fine. But there were issues. Read the details here.] Sometime in October, Apple will release the latest version of the macOS: Ventura. First announced at the 2022 WWDC …

All Tutorials & Reviews Published in August, 2022

August is vacation time. Still, over these five weeks, we published 19 tutorials and product reviews. Here’s a summary of everything we released this month. Something to look through during the holiday weekend.

Three Little-Known Effects in Apple Final Cut Pro

In this illustrated tutorial are three interesting, but little-used, effects in Apple Final Cut Pro that create interesting backgrounds or change the mood of a scene.

Product Review: Axle.ai Media Asset Management

Axle.ai is a fast, powerful and customizable media asset management system that is designed for the needs of a small to medium sized workgroup. This is an in-depth product review, along with an interview with Axle.ai CEO Sam Bogoch.

FutureVideo Products: A New Approach to Multicam Recording and Editing

V-Station HD is a new and uniform approach for multi-cam video projects, particularly for those who are not trained in video production. In this article, Larry Jordan interviews FutureVideo Products CEO Robert Cohen to learn more about their video products.

Video Editors Tell How They Manage Media

Last week, I asked video editors to share how they organize and manage their media for video editing. Here’s what they told me.

Don’t Let “Fear of Missing Out” Derail Buying Decisions

I’ve been thinking recently about how much the marketing of the tech industry is driven by “Fear of Missing Out” (FOMO). Rumor sites are in the business of generating page views by emphasizing “what we might miss.” But speculating on what Apple will announce is a smoke-and-mirror-filled rabbit hole. Don’t let FOMO derail your buying decisions.

Seven Stylize Effects Create Illegal Video Levels in Final Cut Pro

There are seven Stylize effects in Apple Final Cut Pro that create illegal video levels. This tutorial shows what they are, the problems they cause and how to fix them before final export.