Final Cut Pro

The new closed captioning tools in Final Cut Pro 10.4 provide an easy way to create more accessible content. Closed captions are also useful for creating content that’s watchable in environments where it’s not practical to turn up the volume.

Closed captioning can help expand your reach by assigning different languages to your captions for easy interpretation. Needless to say, this is a major new workflow addition to Final Cut Pro X, one that might pay dividends as far as broadening your audience is concerned. Watch our hands-on video for a brief look at some of the high level closed captioning tool set features.

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Apple’s ‘just works’ philosophy has hit a snag for those shooting video on an iPhone for editing in Final Cut Pro X: the app doesn’t yet support the new H.265 High Efficiency Video Coding used in iOS 11.

The HEVC codec is, as the name suggests, a far more space-efficient way to compress video, reducing the space needed to store video by as much as 50%. But right now, any HEVC video footage you import into FCP X will be unusable …

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Apple this evening has released minor updates to iMovie and Final Cut Pro for Mac. The updates bring the former to version 10.1.6 and the latter to version 10.3.4, including primarily bug fixes and performance improvements for both

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Apple has announced that it now has two million Final Cut Pro X users – or ‘seats,’ in the terminology used when speaking to an audience at the National Association of Broadcasters’ annual conference.

Apple said that it hit the milestone some five and a half years after launching version 10 of the professional video editing app. Notably, it said that the pace of adoption was increasing. While the company didn’t provide specific dates, it said that it had taken much less time to grow from 1M to 2M users than it had taken to hit that first million.

The milestone is significant given initial reactions to the app …

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I mentioned in my previous Final Cut Pro Diary piece that I attended one of Apple’s free workshops, Final Cut Pro for Storytellers. There was a lot to take in, and as a complete beginner at the time, I knew I’d only really remember some percentage of it.

As the tutor had been really helpful in answering individual questions as well as covering the syllabus of the course, and I was keen to understand how to adjust exposure and boost saturation, I figured that repeating the workshop would be a good plan. This would allow me to get some one-to-one help with my specific questions, while also getting to grips with more of the core material.

As it turned out, that plan worked really well, and is one I’d recommend to any Final Cut Pro novice …

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I’ve been a photographer since I was 14, but am very much a novice when it comes to video. I’ve used bicycle-mounted action cams to put together some basic cycling videos, but these were nothing more sophisticated than taking clips straight from the camera, importing them into iMovie and adding cross-dissolves.

In an age when tech writers are increasingly expected to be videographers too, I decided it was time to take the plunge into the world of moving images. Although iMovie is a remarkably capable piece of software, I reckoned I was inevitably going to want to take the step up to Final Cut Pro at some stage, so I might as well make the transition now, rather than have to learn everything twice.

If you’re also a basic iMovie user with ambitions of getting to grips with more professional video production, you may enjoy sharing the journey with me. And if you’re an accomplished FCP X user, I’m sure that I and others in my position would love to hear your top tips …

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While I’ve been a photographer since I was 14, when my bedroom became a darkroom with a bed in the corner, I’m a complete beginner where video is concerned. The closest I’ve ever got to video production was putting together a few exceedingly basic cycling videos in iMovie to share with friends.

However, since we live in an age when tech writers are increasingly expected to be video producers, and I love to learn new skills, I’ve set myself a new goal for 2017. At some point in the year, I want to be able to produce professional-looking review videos that wouldn’t look out of place when viewed alongside the output of my extremely skilled colleagues. I’ve upgraded to Final Cut Pro, and I’ll be taking you guys along for the ride – beginning with the demo video for this review.

It’s already clear to me just how much I have to learn, so anything which makes my goal a little easier has to be worth a look. And that’s exactly what Contour’s ShuttleXpress aims to do …

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Apple has updated Final Cut Pro to allow 4k video to be exported to compatible Apple devices, with sharing support also added for the iPhone 6s, iPhone 6s Plus, iPad Pro and 4th-gen Apple TV. The sharing window also now supports multiple YouTube accounts …

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Apple has pushed out an update to its suite of pro video editing tools for Mac today, including new versions of Final Cut Pro X, Motion, and Compressor.

Final Cut has been upgraded to version 10.2, which adds support for 3D titles, improved color grading and effects tools, support for additional camera formats, and GPU-accelerated processing of RAW footage from RED cameras.

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Apple has updated Final Cut Pro with support for native import, editing, and export of MXF video files, along with the capability to edit video encoded with Panasonic’s AVC-LongG codec. Several issues are fixed in this update as well, including problems importing certain clips from specific cameras, App Nap stopping long import operations, and errors in handling of 240fps video.

Xcode was also update with fixes for common SourceKit crashes when using the new Swift language. The full change logs for both apps are included below:

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Audiovisual professionals may have had a very long wait for a new Mac Pro, and that wait may not be quite over, but from the early hands-on reviews it seems they’re unlikely to be disappointed.

The real performance of the machine is currently only being seen with Final Cut Pro, which Apple optimized to take full advantage of the dual GPUs, but it’s a near certainty that Adobe and others will follow this example.

With a price tag of anything up to $14,000 if you completely max it out, this is not a machine that will be seen gracing too many living-rooms, but for those earning their living from audio and video and where time is money, the early hands-on reviews suggest that the Mac Pro lives up to its promise … 
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Alongside the release of the new Mac Pro, Apple has updated Final Cut Pro in the Mac App Store to take advantage of the machine’s immense raw processing power. Specifically, Apple says that playback and rendering has been optimised for the Mac Pro’s dual GPUs.

Final Cut 10.1 also adds 4K support, including monitoring across Thunderbolt 2 and HDMI displays as well as 4K titles, transition and generators. The update also adds a whole slew of other minor features and changes to the modern (if controversial) video editing suite.

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Apple’s new release of Logic Pro X marks the first time in nearly six years that the company has completely overhauled the app’s UI. It’s been a long time coming for pros like myself that rely on the application, and to make things even sweeter, Apple is promising more than just a fresh coat of paint this time around.

There’s no ignoring the backlash Apple experienced just two years ago with its redesign of Final Cut Pro X and the removal of pro features in return for an elegant, streamlined interface. The question is, does Logic’s slick new interface come with compromises for professionals? Or has Apple learned from its mistakes with FCPX?
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[hulu id=_cdivytk6g8qt3ggv4rw0a width=704 start_time=206 end_time=325]
Vine version 1.0.5: Twitter’s new short video sharing app Vine ran into a bit of controversy when pornography found its way into the Editor’s Picks section due to human error. The developers have since addressed the issues and today’s update not only brings new Twitter and Facebook sharing features, but also the ability to block and report profiles. As noted by The Verge, the 1.0.5 update also increased the rating of the app from 12+ to 17+.

• Share to Twitter or Facebook after posting. Find the post you want to share, then tap the “…” button in the bottom right.
• Report or block a profile. Go to the profile, then tap the newly added “…” button in the top right.
• Fixed an issue that caused a black screen to appear and uploads to fail after creating a video on certain devices
• Miscellaneous bug fixes

ProCutX for Final Cut Pro X: Final Cut plug-in maker & production company Pixel Film Studios is out today with a new app that allows iPad users to control a FCPX session running on their Mac. At first glance the app appears to provide a pretty slick UI and the developers said it offers access to all of the software’s editing tools to “control every step of the FCPX editing process.”

• Precision Timeline Scrubbing
• Quick Retiming
• Auto-Correct Color
• Color Grading
• Compound Clip Editing
• Import, Export, and Rendering shortcuts
• Quick Keywording
• Fast access to Tools
• System Volume Control
• Timeline Zooming
• Audio Enhancements
• Record Voiceovers

Tango version 2.6.36915: The popular text, voice, and video chat app Tango was updated today with a new central gallery for pictures and videos and a number of enhancements:

✔ New! Find all your pictures and videos in a central gallery.

✔ New! Improved call handling makes connect faster.

☂ Bug Fixes

Tweetbot version 2.7.1:
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As pointed out by MacStories, Apple recently removed trials for the iWork suite and Aperture 3 from Apple.com. The webpage formerly home to the iWork trial now includes a message informing users that iWork apps, such as Keynote, Pages, and Numbers, are available through the Mac App Store. Apple removed the trial for a short while last year before returning it; however, the company also informed users last month that the iWork.com Beta service would shut down July 31. Apple does not currently offer trial versions of the $20 Mac Store apps.

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Avid, the makers of the music industry’s leading DAW called “Pro Tools”, just dropped an iPad version of its pro-sumer Final Cut Pro competitor known as “Avid Studio.” Although the latest Final Cut Pro X update brought multicam editing, broadcast monitoring, and many of the features pro users demanded be re-implemented, the Avid Studio iPad app shows why Apple should and most likely will release FCPX for iPad.

The app is available from the App Store now for $4.99, significantly less than the desktop version that retails for $169.99, but the app will increase to $8 after an initial 30-day introductory period. The Avid Studio app is the company’s first video editing suite for iPad and aims to provide most of the features offered through the desktop version.

Users will get the familiar timeline and storyboard, but new gestures will allow them to pinch and squeeze to scale images and videos, and arrange edits on the timeline for picture-in-picture effects. Users of the desktop software will also appreciate the Precision Trimmer, Razor Blade tool for on the fly cuts, and the ability to export projects easily to Avid Studio on the desktop. Projects can be uploaded to iCloud, and finished projects can be shared to YouTube, Facebook, and by email from within the app. Unlike the desktop version, there is no Flash export option.

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