Color versus Color Corrector in FCP
 

I just recently upgraded to FCS2 and now have access to Color. I've always used the 3-way color corrector in the past, but I figured that Color was going to be a better way to color correct/enhance.

However, after reading most of the documentation and watching the videos on Color, and then trying it out myself, it seems like extra steps with no extra benefit.

Am I missing something?

I'm not really fond of the Color interface. It looks like you can do some really impressive things, but the interface is killing me right now

Yeah, it's definitely NOT as intuitive as a typical Mac software interface. I'm also not real fond of my color-corrected project becoming "separate" from my original project in FCP. It just seems like an extra step.

Has anyone found an advantage to using Color?

To make it simple, color is more for creating a look for the entire project. Ie, "300" look.

Color correction is really more for individual clip color correction.

You can do it clip by clip in color, it's just more time consuming. IMHO it's overkill if your just trying to correct certain clips within your project.

It's a great program none the less.

I definitely want to use it to create the looks, but I'm just getting killed trying to figure it out, is there any decent books on color yet, or even online tutorials?

On the 9th Final Cut Studio DVD, the tutorials disc, there is a folder hidden in there that is called "drag this folder to iTunes" Do just that.
There are 4 movies in there about color, it gives you a nice basic to somewhat medium based explanation on how to use Color, and what it does. After I watched it, I loved using color. Those videos are great reference material.

My-wife watched them, and picked up Color within the hour.

Look for tutorials on 'Final Touch'. This is what the program was called before Apple bought it. That's the reason why the interface is so different. This used to be a $25K stand alone program used by professional colorists. Bringing this much raw power into the hands of us mere mortals leads to confusion at first. Our local FCP group just recently had a two day paid class on this application, taught by a professional out of the Austin area.

-gb-

There is a "Apple training series" book about color in the make, to be released later this year. Check www.peachpit.com