Apple has announced that, beginning this May, the company will be taking its professional video and audio production suite for Mac OS X, Final Cut Studio 2, and the server-based tool for managing Final Cut Pro files, Final Cut Server, on a world tour. Mac owners, Apple fans and pretty much everyone else can attend a free, in-depth seminar that features workflows used by some of the industry's leading film and video production companies. Seminars hosted by Apple experts who will give step-by-step demonstrations will reveal how each customer uses Final Cut Studio 2 and Final Cut Server to achieve exceptional results.

Final Cut Studio 2 puts Final Cut Pro, Apple's legendary editing software, at the center of an integrated post-production workflow that includes Motion 3, Soundtrack Pro 2, Compressor 3, DVD Studio Pro 4, and Color - an application for professional color grading, Apple says. Final Cut Server, on the other hand, takes post-production to the workgroup, with tools that make it easy for creative teams to share assets and automate routine tasks. The package includes check-in/check-out protections for Final Cut Pro projects and automatic status notifications that keep every member of the production team up to date.

The two packages, Final Cut Studio 2 and Final Cut Server, are intended to work together to scale down your needs, whether you work in a two-person production boutique, a post-production house, a feature film studio, or a global news operation, Apple notes, offering examples.

So here's what the seminar will include: learn about the key features of Final Cut Studio 2 and Final Cut Server; view demos featuring real-world projects from leading post-production houses, creative agencies, Hollywood film studios, and broadcast television operations; see live demonstrations of Final Cut Server, including examples of how it works with Final Cut Studio.

Also, you can visit Apple's free Final Cut Solutions Pavilion, where you can talk to representatives of leading professional video companies and view demonstrations of solutions combining Final Cut Studio with third-party hardware and software.

Click here to reserve a seat for the Final Cut World Tour.