Integration is an Apple strength. Most Mac users understand the advantages of integration by virtue of the iLife Suite, which offers seemless export/import/transport of media between the various applications. Use pictures from iPhoto to create a slideshow in iMovie that is set to the beat of songs you mixed in GarageBand and that you exported to iTunes. Burn your masterpiece using iDVD or post it on your iWeb site. Integration.

Final Cut Pro users also have powerful integration capabilities in Final Cut Studio, via the “roundtripping” process. Roundtripping to and from Color involves: (1) cutting a sequence in Final Cut Pro; (2) preparing the sequence for export to Color; (3) sending to Color, where it is graded and rendered; and (4) exporting back to Final Cut Pro, where it will look better, brighter, darker, cooler, hotter, sparkling, desolate - whatever suits your needs.

The above video tutorial from our colleagues at Zoom In Online focuses on the 2nd step - preparing the sequence for export to Color.

Additional resources:

• Colorist Alexis Van Hurkman breaks down the color correction workflow here - be sure to click the “Prepping Your Sequence and Media” tab for details on this step.
• Apple’s Color user manual and Final Cut Pro user manual are both interspersed with guidance on how to properly round trip.

Editor’s notes:

• Worthy of emphasis - Always duplicate your sequence before doing any significant editing, such as roundtripping. It’s cheap and easy. Option-D does the trick.
• Added Tip - When you drag your clips down to the V1 track for consolidation, use the Shift key to ensure that you maintain the clip’s position in the timeline (i.e. to avoid tiny frame movements backwards or forwards).
• What I learned: I would have thought you should just strip out any Color Corrector 3-Way filters before sending to Color, both to avoid muddying up the sequence and because Color can do a more robust grading job than even the powerful CC 3-Way filter. According to the Zoom-In tutorial, if you leave the filter in place when you export, Color (roughly) translates the settings and makes them available on the clip during grading. Now I know.