fcp swiss army apps

Based on this post by Dylan Reeve I have put together a list of mac apps that I carry around on a usb drive in order to get myself and others out of sticky situations. There is a bit of overlap, but I think that this is a great start to making a final cut power tool. There’s nothing worse than sitting down at a machine and realizing you have nothing but a bare-bones install. Here you go MacGuyver, get yourself out of that sticky situation.

apps
perian – codecs for tons of odd formats all wrapped up into one package.
mpeg streamclip – great for batch encoding to prores, deinterlacing, or a lot of other useful procedures.
vlc – an alternate to quicktime when you find yourself dealing with a tricky file. VLC also correctly reads in pixel size more frequently than quicktime does.

helpers – not full apps, but still useful
compressor presets / droplets.
some applescripts like these
magic bullet looks

etc – not necessary, but will save you some googling
bookmarks to resources
after effects expressions

Oh yeah, one other thing. I don’t actually put this on a usb drive. I wash/lose/forget them far too frequently to keep one in my pocket. I put all of this up on my dropbox (free!) in a folder so I can access it anywhere the internet is.

UPDATE – 03.03.2010
Apps from Alex, linkified for your viewing pleasure

– BigTime (if the client has a pre FCP7 version)
– Flip4Mac (watching WMV files)
– Handbrake / MacTheRipper (for DVD ripping)
– Jes Deinterlacer
– NameMangler (for mass renaming – such a time-saver)
– VisualHub (for speedy conversions and DVD burning) seems to be discontinued.
– Senuti (Useful for ripping songs quickly off of my ipod)

~ by ross on March 3, 2010.

Posted in compressor, FCP, Plugins, shortcut
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4 Responses to “fcp swiss army apps”

  1. Nice one. Some other apps I like to carry:
    – BigTime (if the client has a pre FCP7 version)
    – Flip4Mac (watching WMV files)
    – Handbrake / MacTheRipper (for DVD ripping)
    – Jes Deinterlacer
    – NameMangler (for mass renaming – such a time-saver)
    – VisualHub (for speedy conversions and DVD burning)
    – Senuti (Useful for ripping songs quickly off of my ipod)

    As an online editor, I keep a folder full of big channel’s tech specs too as well as various whitepapers for various codecs, cameras and software.

    Aja DataCalc is also useful to have on your iPhone/iPod touch!

    Alex said this on March 3, 2010 at 2:18 pm

  2. MPEG Streamclip is something I use everyday for pulling video off DVDs and converting files.

    Philip Ohler said this on March 3, 2010 at 7:45 pm

  3. Great work, am really enjoying reading your blog. Keep it coming!

    Jonny Elwyn said this on March 4, 2010 at 6:53 am

  4. Alex – where do I find “big channel’s tech specs”? Thanks!

    Kris said this on March 10, 2010 at 9:23 am

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