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FCS 2 Manuals
Was just a little surpised when going through the manuals in my FCS2 upgrade box that there’s no individual manuals for COLOR, MOTION2, or COMPRESSOR3, just 4 volumes of FCP and the COLOR setup guide. I imagine there’s PDFs included so I’m not horribly concerned. But… why for?
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11 Replies
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Compressor has never had a manual that I can recall, Motion might have in the last run, but I don’t recall that either. As for Color, I’m betting because Apple purchased it so late, there was not enough time to get one to the printer. There is an excellent manual in PDF form though.
Honestly, I wish they would stop printing them and just go with the PDF’s which are entirely searchable. Would cut down on a lot of useless paper and they could just ship a much smaller box.
Walter Biscardi, Jr.
https://www.biscardicreative.com
HD Editorial & Animation for Broadcast and independent productions.All Things Apple Podcast! https://cowcast.creativecow.net/all_things_apple/index.html
Read my blog! https://blogs.creativecow.net/WalterBiscardi
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Walter, I think that there should be the option to have a printed manual or not, and certainly there should be a cost difference for having the manual. I personally prefer to have something i can hold and flick through. Whilst i usually know what i’m trying to find…i don’t always know the correct terminology and so a search would bring up spurious results at best. Pdf’s are great, but i don’t think they are a complete replacement for a big fat brick of a manual.
Plus, with a manual, you can always take 10 minutes to go sit in the sun and read it (just say the mac is rendering!)
regards
AdamEditor/Mixer
Character Options Ltd
Oldham, UK -
I am on both sides with this one.
I agree that a PDF is preferable. But only if the ‘searchable’ function works correctly and it doesn’t bring up irrelevant rubbish; which I’ve found it tends to do every now and then.
Being able to sit on the couch with a drink and chill out with the manual for 30 minutes is priceless for me. I sit in front of the bloody computer all day as it is and a paper manual gets me away from all those tiny lights in my face.
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What I don’t get is why I get 4 volumes of FCP6, of which 90% is excactly the same as the last manuals, but no manual for the entirely new COLOR application.
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[11thIndian] ”
What I don’t get is why I get 4 volumes of FCP6, of which 90% is excactly the same as the last manuals, but no manual for the entirely new COLOR application.”As I answered earlier in this thread, my guess is that it was added to the suite so late in the game (Apple has owned it for three months), there was no time to get it to the printer. Just be happy there is a manual at all. When I purchased Final Touch HD over a year ago, there was a setup guide. That’s it.
Walter Biscardi, Jr.
https://www.biscardicreative.com
HD Editorial & Animation for Broadcast and independent productions.All Things Apple Podcast! https://cowcast.creativecow.net/all_things_apple/index.html
Read my blog! https://blogs.creativecow.net/WalterBiscardi
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Probably right, I suppose.
So, would someone buying FCS2 for the first time be getting a different box than my FCS1 upgrade? I would have thought they would have been exactly the same except that mine sniffs for my original serial, but I’d thunk someone buying for the first time woud want the full manual set including SOUNDTRACK, DVD STUDIO PRO and MOTION.
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It is the exact same box, the cd is different in that it looks for a prev. serial number if it is not founds it ask for it before installing.
I would hoping for a Color manual and disappointed that it was not one. But I also think all the FCP books are a waste of paper (trees) and would like the option to save even $25 an not get them. I bet taking them out of the box would save Apple thousands in shipping alone.
But wait a month and get the Color training book that is published by peachpit press. those books are worth their weight in Gold. In my opinion that are the best way to learn a new piece of software.
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I’ve never understood why they don’t ship it with some basic paper docs, then offer a full document set for an extra fee.
That would save some trees but still give us paper manual obsessives our fix.
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[11thIndian] “but no manual for the entirely new COLOR application. “
Funny
I thought the “Color setup guide” to be extremely well written (with a few errors – like HDCam is a 4:2:2 codec) and an excellent guide to exactly what a starting user needs.
and it is a written manual.
gary adcock
Studio37
HD & Film Consultation
Post and Production Workflows -
The manual for Color is a pdf located on the install disks. Not sure exactly where, but it is mentioned in the booklet and on the excellent DVD instruction disc included with the install disks. It also seems to be available by hitting “help” while in Color.
I agree with Walter about saving paper and shipping costs, but it is good to sit down with a good old-fashioned manual. Or is that sit down with a good maual and an Old Fashioned?
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