Final Cut Pro X

Pro customers are Apple’s most loyal audience. It’s easy to be an iPhone or iPad enthusiast. Regular software updates are practically guaranteed, and year-over-year hardware improvements are dramatic. It’s been much harder to remain optimistic in the pro market. Software changes can make or break productivity, and hardware has, at times, felt neglected and forgotten. For pro customers, this year’s Final Cut Pro X Creative Summit in Cupertino proved that loyalty isn’t without reward.

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In cooperation with the 4th annual FCPX Creative Summit in Cupertino, Apple today showed off its latest updates to Final Cut Pro X, Motion, and Compressor. The new software was demoed on the latest pro hardware from both Apple and third-party vendors.

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Apple has released a major update to its video editing software for professionals with Final Cut Pro X version 10.4.4. The latest version includes support for third-party workflow extensions for the first time with support from  Frame.io, Shutterstock and CatDV at launch. Final Cut Pro X also adds batch sharing, noise reduction, and comparison viewer features in the latest update. Motion 5.4.2 and Compressor 4.4.2 are also available as new versions today.

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Final Cut Pro X has arguably been one of the most important pieces of software ever created, putting professional video editing tools into the hands of aspiring film-makers for a relatively affordable price.

Film editor Bradley Olsen decided last year it was time to tell the story, crowdfunding a movie about the app. That movie – Off The Tracks – is now available on iTunes, and if you are quick and can get to New York, you could snag free tickets to the premiere next month …

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Hear me out here, because on the face of it, what I’m going to propose might not seem like a natural fit for Apple. Especially as Apple’s attempts to create social network type products haven’t exactly been a great success.

There was Ping, which never really took off in the first place, failing to grow much beyond the roughly 1M users it had at launch, and which was soon drowning in spam and scams.

And there’s Apple Music Connect. Arguably, the jury is still out on that one, but I think it’s fair to say that it hasn’t taken the music world by storm …

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Apple today released an update for Final Cut Pro X that addresses a couple of annoying bugs that some users may have been experiencing. Version 10.4.2 of Final Cut Pro X arrives three weeks after version 10.4.1, a major update that brought about new features like closed captioning workflows and ProRes RAW support.
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As promised last Thursday, Apple released a major update to Final Cut Pro X this morning. Version 10.4.1 of Final Cut Pro X brings two new key features to the table in closed captioning and ProRes RAW support, along with a whole host of additional features and changes.

Those who already own Final Cut Pro X can download 10.4.1 free of charge from the Mac App Store. Everyone else can purchase the well-regarded NLE for $299 with no reoccurring subscription fees.
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It was a mere four months ago when Final Cut Pro X received a major update in the form of version 10.4. That update ushered in exciting new features like 360 VR, advanced color grading, HDR support, and more.

Today ahead of next week’s NAB 2018 in Las Vegas, Apple is announcing the next major update to its professional NLE — Final Cut Pro 10.4.1. Available for download this coming Monday, April 9th, version 10.4.1 includes support for two big new features: ProRes RAW and a powerful new closed captioning toolset.

As is usually the case, the update will be accompanied by updates to companion tools Compressor and Motion. What all can you expect from Monday’s Final Cut Pro 10.4.1 release? Have a look as we break down details related to each change.
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It’s been quite some time since my last Final Cut Pro Diary entry, and that’s not by chance. Despite my best intentions, I haven’t done that much video work of late.

That is set to change: I’m working on a small personal project that I’ll talk a little about below, but my most recent use has been editing footage from a 360-degree video camera to produce pseudo multi-camera footage …

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One of the advantages of shooting video in 4K is that it allows you to zoom and pan within a 1080p project frame while still maintaining 1080p video quality. It’s great for doing faux-panning, or zooming in Final Cut Pro X to highlight specific parts of the frame without reducing video quality. As you might imagine, using such a technique is particularly beneficial for hands-on video tutorials when referencing specific items in frame.

I recently created a custom set of areas to make it quicker to zoom with greater consistency throughout a project. If you’re someone who shoots video in 4K, but delivers in a lesser resolution, then you might considering creating your own custom set of areas as well. Watch our hands-on tutorial inside for the details.
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Recent smartphones like the iPhone X, Galaxy S8/S9 and Pixel 2 XL feature wider screens than their predecessors. In fact, this is an ongoing trend in the smartphone world, smaller bezels coupled with taller phones featuring wider screens.

Such a change has affected the way traditional 16:9 widescreen video is displayed on modern phones. The result is an image that doesn’t take up as much screen real estate as it could, leading to a more prominent pillarboxing effect.

In this hands-on video, we discuss why you should consider adopting 2:1 video to better take advantage of today’s modern smartphone displays, and how to go about doing so in Final Cut Pro X.
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I’ve used a Synology NAS to store Final Cut Pro X libraries in the past, but the process wasn’t very straightforward at the time, and performance was never good enough to convince me to use it over the long-term. This was especially true as I started to dabble more in 4K workflows.

As we all know, the iMac Pro features built in 10GbE connectivity, which opens up the possibilities when it comes to using a NAS as a Final Cut Pro X storage solution. Final Cut Pro X also received updates in the last year in order to better facilitate working from network attached storage.

Is a 10GbE NAS a viable storage solution for Final Cut Pro X users?

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Slowing down footage is something I tend to do on a regular basis when editing video in Final Cut Pro X. Slow motion footage can be used to lend a dramatic effect, better highlight a particular area of a scene, or to simply smooth out your footage. In this hands-on video walkthrough, I showcase how to improve slow motion video in Final Cut Pro using some of the app’s built-in toolset. 
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Final Cut 10.4 was released last Thursday alongside the new iMac Pro, and as we elaborated on in our hands-on walkthrough, it’s a huge update with tons of new features and enhancements.

I didn’t have time to touch on everything in Thursday’s in-depth walkthrough, I wanted to take a moment to discuss several additional smaller enhancements that Final Cut Pro X users will no doubt appreciate.
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Today is a big day for creative professionals in the Apple ecosystem. Not only does it mark the launch of the new iMac Pro, a powerful all-in-one beast specifically built with professional creatives in mind, but it also marks the launch of the next major version of Final Cut Pro X.

Although this latest Final Cut Pro X update brings it to version 10.4, don’t be fooled into thinking it contains only minor features or bug fixes. On the contrary, Final Cut Pro 10.4 contains several new major features and/or enhancements, along with a slew of other additions, making this one of the biggest releases in the app’s six-and-a-half year history.

After visiting with Apple in New York for a demonstration of the update, we’ve been testing Final Cut Pro 10.4 to learn all about what’s changed. In this hands-on post and high-level video walkthrough, we showcase many of the newest changes and features, including 360° video editing, enhanced color grading, HDR updates, iMovie for iOS support, HEVC, custom LUTs, and more.
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Freelance focused company Upwork has released a new report today with its list of the top 20 fastest-growing skills for Q3 2017. While broad categories like robotics and augmented reality were near the top, Apple specific skill sets in Final Cut Pro X and Swift also made the cut.

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Today was the first day of the third-annual Final Cut Pro X Creative Summit in Cupertino, CA. The event is geared towards professional video editors using Final Cut Pro X. Talks, demonstrations, along with a visit to the Apple campus is involved. There’s also communication with the product team behind the popular NLE.

The first day of the event started off with quite a bang, as Apple took the wraps off of the next big edition of Final Cut Pro X, version 10.4. Although there is no designated date for release, the update will be pushed sometime before year’s end and includes enhanced color tools, support for VR and HDR workflows, custom LUTs, HEVC, and lots more.
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Final Cut Pro X users will be happy to hear Apple is planning an update that will arrive before the end of the year that will include support for macOS High Sierra and iOS 11 features.

While we’ve learned the update will include support for “many” of the new features in High Sierra and iOS 11 released to the public last month, perhaps the most notable will be support for H.265 High Efficiency Video Coding (HEVC) that arrived with iOS 11 and macOS High Sierra…
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