Singular Software creates Presto for Final Cut Pro
updated 08:50 pm EDT, Wed May 4, 2011
Program creates professional presentation videos
Singular Software, best known for its PluralEyes video-synchronizing software, has leveraged that technology into a new product now available for Final Cut Pro called Presto. The program takes separately-shot videos of a slideshow presenter, along with the screen showing their slides and a copy of the original slideshow and marries them all together so that the presenter's image remains at the bottom-left of the screen, beside crisp, clear images of the slides, all in sync.
The software is able to match the timing of the video of the screen shot during the presentation and replace that with the original slides for dramatically better clarity. A second video of the presenter uses face-tracking technology to keep them in picture even when moving around and is placed in the corner in an effect very similar to iChat Theater.
Additional "b-roll" footage (for example, crowd reactions) or separate audio can also be added to the mix, synched together either manually or using the company's own PluralEyes software, then processed using Presto to add high-resolution images of the slides drawn from the original slideshow (from PowerPoint or Keynote). The video shot of the screen -- which can be taken with any consumer video camera -- is used to synch the original slides. The process takes minutes rather than the hours required to accomplish this effect manually.
Presto is now being offered for Final Cut Pro at an introductory price of $200 until the end of May, whereupon it will revert to its normal price of $250. The company is offering a bundle of PluralEyes along with Presto for $250 until the end of May, after which the bundle will be priced at $300. A 30-day fully-functional trial, including a sample project, is available from the company's website. A Windows version for Sony Vegas Pro is also available.
