With the QuickTime real-time architecture that’s part of the foundation of Final Cut Pro 2, you can see what your effects will look like after they’re rendered — before they’re rendered.   This real-time capability lets you streamline your workflow, and it’s great when you want to see what a sequence would look like with a number of different effects and combinations thereof. Because real-time editing lets you see your effects played back in real time, on the fly, without waiting for them to render first.   When you’re brainstorming visually and having one idea after another, you want to be able to see what effects would work best in a particular situation — and you want to be able to see them without having to wait while they render.   Seamlessly integrated real-time capabilities Thanks to its QuickTime foundation, Final Cut Pro has built-in support for real-time effects, and is optimized for a real-time PCI card. And once you pop a real-time PCI card into your Power Mac G4, you’ll never look back. In fact, the moment you install your real-time PCI card, Final Cut Pro detects the card and shows all available real-time effects in boldface. This includes effects available under the Effects tab in the Browser and the Effects menu.   Not all real-time systems are created equal. Final Cut Pro’s real-time capabilities are seamlessly integrated into the Motion tab. They don’t require you to learn anything new, and they don’t force you to use restrictive hardwired effects. Fact is, with Final Cut Pro you’re free to use the entire keyframe control for real-time, located in the Motion tab.   You apply and modify motion effects for a clip in this tab. Every graphics, animation or video clip in a project has a set of corresponding motion settings that can be edited in the Motion tab of the Viewer. These settings include scale, rotation, center, anchor point, crop, distort, opacity, drop shadow and motion blur, among others. By adjusting a clip’s motion settings, you can change its geometry to move, shrink, enlarge, rotate and distort just about any way you like.   For the professional, the advantage of using a real-time system for editing, effects and compositing is obvious. Since you don’t have to automatically render each time you choose a particular effect, you’re free to spend more time being creative as you experiment with different combinations of effects.

Matrox RTMac delivers real-time benefits Experiment to your heart’s content — there’s no penalty for changing your mind. The Matrox RTMac is powered by Matrox Flex 3D, the video mixing and effects architecture that harnesses the explosive performance of Matrox graphics accelerator technology to deliver broadcast-quality digital video effects in real time. With the Matrox RTMac, video transitions and keyframeable motion effects happen instantly in Final Cut Pro. With the RTMac, you can work with three layers of video and graphics in real time. You’ll feel free to try out any number of different effects and transitions, view them instantly on your monitor, and get exactly the effect you’re looking for every time.   In addition to the productivity boost you get from real-time editing, the Matrox RTMac helps streamline your workflow in other significant ways. For example, RTMac complements the FireWire support built into your G4 with analog video capture and output. Using the RTMac breakout box, you can digitize source material from analog devices to use in your DV editing projects, and record your finished projects to videotape for distribution. You can also get full-resolution viewing on an NTSC or PAL video monitor without connecting a DV device to your Power Mac G4.   Dual-screen editing is another added benefit that comes with the Matrox RTMac. It’s as simple as connecting a second monitor to double your screen real estate — and greatly increase your Final Cut Pro workspace. The Matrox RTMac is fully optimized for Final Cut Pro. Available: April.   Do your audio mixing in real-time Great sound is half the picture. Final Cut Pro can mix and play back multiple audio tracks in a sequence in real time, even when you’ve set dynamic levels and stereo panning, and add audio filters. How many tracks can be played back while being mixed and filtered? It depends on your G4’s capabilities, including its processor speed, the seek time and sustained transfer rate of your hard disk, and the amount of RAM you’ve made available to Final Cut Pro.