[Michael Heckman]

“it’s really nothing you can’t do in FCP and/or Motion yourself already, with perhaps more style.”

Very true. The key feature I needed was the image recognition– so that the slide images could be synced with the speaker quickly, automatically, and cost effectively. We have a number of these presentations– for internal use only– where we need the speaker and the PPT on screen and in sync.

If we had more hours and resources, there would be dozens of ways to do this in Premiere, Motion, FCP, Adobe Presenter, Adobe Captivate, Articulate, and maybe a dozen other tools. But for this particular project, we needed something that a junior-level editor could do without investing a lot of time.

[Michael Heckman]

Finally found the product I was referring to: Presto from Red Giant.

[Michael Heckman]

Much as I appreciate guessing, please only post if you actually know the product to which I’m referring. Articulate Presenter is not remotely close to a product that;

1. Requires you to use a second camera trained on the computer with the PPT deck.
2. Imports the deck into video editing software.
3. Outputs a synced presentation in a VIDEO format
4. Is oriented towards the needs of people who shoot with real video cameras and edit video

Presenter is an eLearning tool that:

1. Outputs Flash, not a video format
2. Operates as an extension within PowerPoint
3. Requires you to sync your video with PPT slides manually
4. Has the capability (and works best) when you shoot selfie video with your computer’s webcam

Apparently, few people have even heard of the product I’m trying to find. But if any of you have, I really really really would appreciate a post. To save some time and guessing, this product is NOT:

1. Adobe Captivate
2. Articulate Presenter or Storyline
3. Microsoft anything
4. TotallyHip.com
5. Apple Keynote
6. A substitute for skill
7. Prezzie

[Michael Heckman]

Thanks… It’s definitely not MS producer or any free tool. It’s oriented specifically toward the needs of corporate video professionals. Any guidance would be appreciated.

[Michael Heckman]

Are you saying Tim Cook, who has been at Apple since 1998 and who has been acting CEO twice in the last few years (Apple’s most successful years by far), is going to be another Scully?

Not necessarily. A hallmark of the Scully era was management by committee. Without boldness at the helm, the distance from greatness to mediocrity grows shorter. I hope that Cook has such boldness, but that remains to be seen. And without Steve, it’s by no means a sure thing.

[Michael Heckman]

My guess is that Steve had lithe or nothing to do with Final Cut X (not in any way Pro). It probably was nowhere near the top of his list during his final months at the helm. Sadly, I think it’s a preview of Apple in the post Jobs era. Anybody remember “awesome genius” John Scully, and how he ran the company into the ground? Iceberg, dead ahead.

[Michael Heckman]

Love my Macs, but it’s a relief to know that my next workstation CAN be a PC powerhouse that I can custom configure. It probably will come to that if Apple decides not to upgrade the Mac Pro. Or discontinue it in order to push all of those new Final Cut X users onto iMacs.

[Michael Heckman]

I’m one of the many who downloaded Premiere Pro CS5 shortly after Final Cut X was released. I’ve been an FCP fanboy for 9 years– but realized immediately where Apple was going as soon as I saw Final Cut X. I refuse to use the word “Pro” in the same sentence!

Anyway, my point is: I was able to pick up the Premiere basics in just a few hours, and found the switch intuitive. I find Premiere superior in almost every way (for the work I do), and am beginning to wonder how I got along without it.