Apple Announces Final Cut Pro X, Coming In June

Yesterday Apple previewed a new version of Final Cut Pro version X at the National Association of Broadcasters conference in Las Vegas.  The upgrade will be available on the Mac App Store in June for $299. Apple promised that the new version of Final Cut Pro will be "as revolutionary as the first version of FCP."

Apple is promoting the new FCP X as a complete and total rebuild. As reported by Photography Bay, new features in Final Cut Pro X include:

• Fully color-managed Final Cut based on colorsync.
• Resolution-independent playback system up to 4K formats.
• Background rendering built into application.

Automatic import features

• Media editing before ingest.
• Image stabilization.
• People detection.
• Shot detection, can detect medium shots, close-ups, etc. during import.
• Non-destructive color balance as media is being ingested.
• Audio clean-up, with options to eliminate hum or rumble during import.

Media management

• Range-based keywords, allowing users to add keywords selected ranges within a clip without subclipping.
• Smart collections, a method for categorizing media by type, number of people in shot, framing, etc.
• Clip connections: "primary audio and video are locked synced together," with no way to accidentally knock them out of sync.

Improved timeline

• Magnetic timeline: "If you slide a clip down the timeline, long clips (i.e., secondary audio) won’t collide with other clips. The other clips will drop down to a new drag and nothing is pushed out of sync."
• Compound clips: "You can combine multiple clips into a single clip to make sequence easier to understand. Everything that is associated with compound clips is still accessible, but moves together with later edits."
• Inline precision editor: "You can double-click on the seam between 2 clips and the timeline opens up to show what’s outside the handles."
• Auditioning: A non-destructive way to compare edits and effects, allowing users to "throw effects or b-roll into timeline" during the organization process.

Streamlined audio editing

• Auto-syncing audio waveforms, "like a built-in PluralEyes."
• Playhead scrubs for aligning audio in between frames.
• Pitch-corrected audio skimming.
• Fade heads are built-in to audio wave forms. No more keyframes.
• Built-in clip retiming.
• Color matching.
• Mix and match footage.