Is iMovie a cut down version of FCP?

[Thunderbird]

Just curious, is iMovie a cut down version of FCP, or is it a completely separately built app?

Both are Apple software so I was wondering if I could use iMovie as training wheels for FCP later on.

 

[hg.wells]

Yes all of the basics you’d learn using iMovie are transferable to Final Cut. It’s a great starting point.

 

[R S K]

Yes, iMovie, as of v10, is effectively "Final Cut Express," as the 'reduced' Final Cut was called in legacy versions. It uses the exact same elements, such as titles, generators, effects, etc., as Final Cut Pro does, and it is identical under the hood as well. This is why you can send your project directly to Final Cut Pro with just a click of the respective menu command without losing even the tiniest percent in translation. Unlike every other NLE. For example, LumaFusion has to go via XML. Something that will be lossy 9 out of 10 times. Keyboard shortcuts for identical commands are also identical.

The same goes for iMovie and Final Cut Pro for iPad, btw.

 

[dandeco]

Yes, iMovie, as of v10, is effectively "Final Cut Express," as the 'reduced' Final Cut was called in legacy versions. It uses the exact same elements, such as titles, generators, effects, etc., as Final Cut Pro does, and it is identical under the hood as well. This is why you can send your project directly to Final Cut Pro with just a click of the respective menu command without losing even the tiniest percent in translation. Unlike every other NLE. For example, LumaFusion has to go via XML. Something that will be lossy 9 out of 10 times. Keyboard shortcuts for identical commands are also identical.

The same goes for iMovie and Final Cut Pro for iPad, btw.

Well, in a way, the current iMovie is more limited than Final Cut Express, but it's definitely great for beginners, as having only two video tracks and a title overlay track is definitely all you need to get started. And you still get virtually unlimited audio tracks and the ability to do rubberband-style volume editing, and a decent library of transitions and effects and title templates. The current iMovie is definitely more feature-packed than the initial rewritten iMovie from 2007! Also, while the current iMovie does everything in real time, the modern Final Cut Pro still renders stuff first, but does it all in the background. In some ways, the current Final Cut Pro has some traits inherited from the older iMovie HD, such as the aforementioned background rendering, the ability to export only part of a video project, DVD chapter mark creation, third-party plugin support, and some of the same flashy video effects (such as Earthquake, Ghost Trails, Mirror, N-Square and Rain, with the names changed on a few of them), and they're even better because you can use keyframes on them, something iMovie's never had. Also, while the modern iMovie only lets you work in a 16:9 aspect ratio, Final Cut Pro lets you work with a wide variety of aspect ratios.
So yeah, iMovie is indeed pretty much like a cut-down version of the current Final Cut Pro, but it makes the upgrade path a lot easier, along with the ability to import iMovie projects into Final Cut to fine-tune them even more. (Final Cut Express has always had the ability to import such iMovie projects, but I don't think the old Final Cut Pro did.)

 

[R S K]

How can it be "more limited"? It's an entirely different app. Just as FC Express iMovie is merely a subset of the full apps features set. That's kinda a given and the whole point. Just as GarageBand is a subset of Logic (but less so than iMovie & FC) and what Photomator will eventually be to Pixelmator.

And background rendering in Final Cut Pro is entirely optional and I hardly know anyone who actually uses it intentionally.

And sorry, but FC Express most certainly did not import iMovie projects of the day. And if it had, Final Cut Pro would have done it as well since, again, Final Cut Express was a subset of Pro, not its own app with its own unique features.

 

[XboxEvolved]

If you really want to try FCP, you can get a 90 day trial on Apple that is fully unlocked. Trial end? Just delete it and redownload it. I saved you $300. You're welcome.

 

[dandeco]

How can it be "more limited"? It's an entirely different app. Just as FC Express iMovie is merely a subset of the full apps features set. That's kinda a given and the whole point. Just as GarageBand is a subset of Logic (but less so than iMovie & FC) and what Photomator will eventually be to Pixelmator.

And background rendering in Final Cut Pro is entirely optional and I hardly know anyone who actually uses it intentionally.

And sorry, but FC Express most certainly did not import iMovie projects of the day. And if it had, Final Cut Pro would have done it as well since, again, Final Cut Express was a subset of Pro, not its own app with its own unique features.

That's a good way of putting it. But I do recall Final Cut Express 4 had the ability to import some form of iMovie '08 projects.
Here's an interesting page that used to be kind of hidden on the Apple website, from 2005 to early 2007 you could compare the featureset in iMovie HD, Final Cut Express HD and Final Cut Pro 5...
https://web.archive.org/web/20070105061359/www.apple.com/finalcut/

As for using the background rendering, I do use it often but that's probably because I'm used to it from iMovie HD and back when I used Pinnacle Studio in my Windows days with its similar background rendering.

 

[Thunderbird]

Yes, iMovie, as of v10, is effectively "Final Cut Express," as the 'reduced' Final Cut was called in legacy versions. It uses the exact same elements, such as titles, generators, effects, etc., as Final Cut Pro does, and it is identical under the hood as well. This is why you can send your project directly to Final Cut Pro with just a click of the respective menu command without losing even the tiniest percent in translation. Unlike every other NLE. For example, LumaFusion has to go via XML. Something that will be lossy 9 out of 10 times. Keyboard shortcuts for identical commands are also identical.

The same goes for iMovie and Final Cut Pro for iPad, btw.

Thanks. Yeah, that's what I was wondering....if it has the same GUI and same way of doing things. That's also nice to be able to send to FCP if I want to edit the file with more features and effects.

I'm an absolute beginner and afraid I might be a bit overwhelmed jumping straight into FCP.

 

[JamesMay82]

Thanks. Yeah, that's what I was wondering....if it has the same GUI and same way of doing things. That's also nice to be able to send to FCP if I want to edit the file with more features and effects.

I'm an absolute beginner and afraid I might be a bit overwhelmed jumping straight into FCP.

I started with iMovie for family videos etc and then moved to Final Cut Pro.

I must admit the novelty wore off a bit for me after a couple years.

I tend to just watch individual clips of family vacations etc

iMovie is way better than it was so you might. Find it’s all you need.


Have fun with it

 

[dandeco]

I started with iMovie for family videos etc and then moved to Final Cut Pro.

I must admit the novelty wore off a bit for me after a couple years.

I tend to just watch individual clips of family vacations etc

iMovie is way better than it was so you might. Find it’s all you need.


Have fun with it

I still use iMovie for many of my fursuit vlogs and any simpler 16:9 video projects. But I use Final Cut Pro for all my YTPs nowadays and other certain elaborate video projects. Sometimes for other fairly elaborate videos of some kind I'll use Adobe Premiere Pro or Cyberlink PowerDirector. Which brings up a point; if you eventually feel restrained by iMovie's limitations (such as if you want more than two video tracks or more video and audio effect options or more video aspect ratio options besides 16:9) but aren't ready to jump up to Final Cut Pro or Premiere Pro or DaVinci Resolve yet, you could move up to the more affordable PowerDirector for Mac or Adobe Premiere Elements or Wondershare Filmora. (And with Premiere Elements, it makes eventually upgrading to Premiere Pro pretty easy, similar to going from iMovie to Final Cut Pro!)

 

[eRondeau]

Yes, iMovie, as of v10, is effectively "Final Cut Express," as the 'reduced' Final Cut was called in legacy versions.

Big FCE fan here so I just had to +1 it. About five years ago I bought a Dual-G5 Power Mac to run it on, just for old time sake. Makes me want to fire-up LiveType again LOL

 

[dandeco]

Big FCE fan here so I just had to +1 it. About five years ago I bought a Dual-G5 Power Mac to run it on, just for old time sake. Makes me want to fire-up LiveType again LOL

Nice! I've only occasionally used Final Cut Express, as it does have a somewhat steeper learning curve than Premiere Pro or Vegas Pro or DaVinci Resolve.

Running it on a 2012 unibody 15" MacBook Pro running Mac OS X 10.11 El Capitan, just for the heck of it.

Also, I recently made a vlog on how Adobe Premiere Elements really changed consumer video editing...

It was one of the first video editing applications aimed at consumers where for $100 you got pro-level features like 99 video and 99 audio tracks, keyframe control for video and audio effects and image motion, and 16:9 widescreen support. In a way, this was kind of like the FCE equivalent to Premiere Pro, but cost $200 less, and the interface was also simplified a little for consumer appeal, and it worked. (FCE didn't even have keyframes until the third version for motion effects and the fourth for all video and audio effects!) While iMovie still only lets you use two video tracks, you still get virtually unlimited audio tracks, and now many other video editing applications for consumers (like the aforementioned PowerDirector and Filmora) let you also work with 100 video and 100 audio tracks. This is definitely a big step up from 20 years ago where if you used a Mac, your only real expansion option beyond iMovie was Final Cut Express.

 

[dandeco]

The same goes for iMovie and Final Cut Pro for iPad, btw.

Also, when looking at the iPad version of Final Cut Pro...

...the interface kind of gives me pre-2007 iMovie vibes, with the placement of the preview window, the clips pane and the buttons underneath, and the volume control under the timeline...

Of course, I REALLY doubt it was intentional. But I've often noted how the 2011-present Final Cut Pro versions have some of the same features as the older iMovie versions, like the ability to export only part of a video project, background rendering, some of the same video effects (like Earthquake, [Ghost] Trails, Mirror, Rain and Tile [formerly N-Square]), DVD chapter markers and third-party plugin support, but of course they are better (like the effects having keyframe support).

 

[iUniqueUser]

I see iMovie and FCP have similar features, but is FCP easy to use?

 

[hg.wells]

I see iMovie and FCP have similar features, but is FCP easy to use?

No iMovie is the entry level app and best to start with if you’ve never edited movies before.

 

[lin2log]

No iMovie is the entry level app and best to start with if you’ve never edited movies before.

That wasn't the question.

I see iMovie and FCP have similar features, but is FCP easy to use?

If you can work iMovie, you can work Final Cut Pro. Both are operated virtually identically, only FC is more feature-rich, obviously. E.g., all relevant shortcuts for working in the timeline are identical. Any and all titles and effects are identical. You can literally send an iMovie project over to FC with a single click without losing anything whatsoever in translation.

 

[dandeco]

If you can work iMovie, you can work Final Cut Pro. Both are operated virtually identically, only FC is more feature-rich, obviously. E.g., all relevant shortcuts for working in the timeline are identical. Any and all titles and effects are identical. You can literally send an iMovie project over to FC with a single click without losing anything whatsoever in translation.

Pretty much. Though Final Cut Pro does offer more effects than iMovie, and they are fully customizable with keyframes!
iMovie used to have no customization to video effects, but a few years ago they added a simple slider to change the intensity of an effect...

Of course, like I said, you get more control over visual effects in FCP, even more so than in pre-2007 versions of iMovie (like the aforementioned keyframes).

For the purposes of YTP-making, I also discuss the advantages Final Cut Pro has over iMovie and Adobe Premiere Pro here...

Final Cut - Chewiki Archive - YouChew

chewiki.youchew.net

(After all, I've been making all my YTPs exclusively on FCP for ten years now, and it just keeps getting better for it!)