Intelligent Assistance is shipping the immodestly named GREAT visualFX for Final Cut Pro #1 on Mac OS X. A Mac OS 9.x version should arrive in about a week.
GREAT visualFX for Final Cut Pro #1 is a collection of compositing tutorials designed for following along and recreating effects common in commercial television, or for using the 17 effects as the basis for learning Final Cut Pro’s powerful compositing features, according to Intelligent Assistance President Philip Hodgetts.
You use the product to recreate 17 commercial TV visualFX including a “Transporter” effect using only the features and filters supplied with Final Cut Pro. You follow the tutorial movies and recreate the effect exactly like it is on TV, or, study what’s being done and learn the secrets to nesting, composite modes, animation, chroma key, extracting mattes and much more of Final Cut Pro’s advanced compositing interface, according to Hodgetts.
GREAT visualFX comes with 17 Effects (18, if register online) with 61 tutorial movies. All tutorials are presented in a work-along interface that floats over Final Cut Pro while you work along with the tutorial movies. The new interface is a development of the Intelligent Assistant technology optimized for viewing “work-along” tutorials where every step in every effect is shown as a movie, according to Hodgetts. The media used — as well as start and end projects — are included on a second CD.
The Mac OS X version of GREAT visualFX for Final Cut Pro #1 is shipping now at an introductory price of US$65. That price is good until the Mac OS 9 version ships; then both versions will have a suggested retail price of $75.