Tuesday, June 21, 2011

64-bit Final Cut Pro X

A major improvement to Final Cut Pro X, along with its companion Motion 5 and Compressor 4 apps, is a complete rewrite to take advantage of all the power of modern Macs and Mac OS X. This includes across-the-board 64-bit support, OpenCL and Grand Central Dispatch support, and full ColorSync managed, 4K resolution-independent workflow. It brings major performance improvements, including background processing of rendering, effects, and imports, as well as the ability to fully utilize all CPU and GPU resources in any given machine.

While experienced video editors might find the changes jarring at first, the new timeline promises improved editing speed. "I use the analogy of a bike versus a motorcycle," Larry Jordan, an editor who specializes in Final Cut Pro training, told Ars. "Both have handlebars and two wheels, but there is a whole lot of different in function and performance. The magnetic timeline is amazing, and the precision editor provides a trimming view we've never seen before," he said.

Some of the new features you'll find on Final Cut Pro X:

- The Magnetic Timeline lets users arrange clips simply, so that clips slide out of the way, instead of the tracks that characterized the old Final Cut editions.

- Clip Connections can link clips to things like sound effects or titles, so that they stay synced when moved together. Other clips can be put together into a Compound Clip so that they can be edited as a single clip. Auditions lets users go between clip collections so you can compare alternative shots.

- Content Auto-Analysis scans imported content and tags it with information so that the program can create Smart Collections which could include distinction by the kind of shot it is, the sort of media it contains, or even the number of people in the shot. Clips can be manually tagged as well for easy organization.

- Rendering now takes place in background, which USA Today says contributes to faster editing speeds, and reduces interruptions. Different kinds of video footage in different formats can be put into the same file.

Final Cut Pro X has earned praise already. Macworld is impressed with the new release, writing of the software, "Apple breaks new ground—not just with its flagship video editor's interface and underlying infrastructure—but with the whole mindset of what it means to be a working professional video editor."

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