14 DAY TRIAL // Apple today offers an updated version of its professional video editing software, Final Cut Pro X with new tweaks and optimizations to improve workflows and stability. The update coincides with news that the Cupertino company is officially discontinuing Aperture, its professional photo editing app.
Final Cut Pro X 10.1.2 allows users to store optimized, proxy, and rendered media at any location outside of the library, with the ability to delete this media directly from within Final Cut Pro X.
Media indicators are now available for Compound clips, Multicam clips, and Synced clips, along with an option to show only unused media in the Browser.
The update applies a standard (Rec. 709) look in real time to high-dynamic range and wide color gamut video churned out by certain cameras (from ARRI, Blackmagic Design, Canon, and Sony), and ARRI embedded 3D LUT is automatically applied if the video comes from the new AMIRA camera.
Version 10.1.2 further includes support for Apple ProRes 4444 XQ, improved speed and accuracy when syncing clips, improvements to audio recording, fast export of cuts-only in XDCAM projects.
Some new abilities are thrown in as well. Video editing professionals can now export an entire library as a single XML file, and selecting a library now displays key metadata in the Inspector.
You can adjust the relative and absolute volume of a clip or range selection, create Keywords from Finder Tags when importing media, and there’s a new option in the Libraries list to sort events by date or name. Lastly, users can now import a clip by dragging directly into the Browser, as well as share video at 4K resolutions to Vimeo.
“Optimized for the new Mac Pro, Final Cut Pro X lets you edit and deliver like never before,” Apple says. “Work with multiple streams of 4K ProRes at full resolution. Play back complex graphics and effects in real time without rendering. Even output your 4K video to ultra-high-definition displays via HDMI and Thunderbolt 2.”
“With a visual simplicity that reveals powerful professional tools just when you need them, the Magnetic Timeline in Final Cut Pro offers an exceptionally fluid, flexible way to edit,” adds the Mac maker. “Assemble shots with ease as clips ‘magnetically’ close up to eliminate unwanted black gaps in the timeline.”
Mac users can immediately download Final Cut Pro and try it out for free for 30 days. One user license costs $299.99 / €269.99 and the requirements are OS X 10.9.2, at least 3.5 GB of free disk space, 4GB of RAM, and 256MB of VRAM or more.