Final Cut Pro X Updated With Remote Workflow Improvements, New Social Media Editing Tools, and More

[Alan Wynn]

$300 as an argument as to why this software is supposedly worth more doesn't really stand.
I mean most people are fine with iMovie. Fact.

It is not the price tag, it is the fact that one owns it that matters. Just like DaVinci Resolve. Renting software creates lots of issues, and Adobe’s update “process” is a nightmare for those of us who have to manage longer duration projects.

Any reasonable managed business that makes money eats the yearly $599 like it didn't even happen because it is literally a no issue. Add photoshop, ilustrator, indesign and tons more into this bucket and all of a sudden that doesn't look like much. Hell, quite cheap really that's if you actually use it to make money not memes.
On top of that you have access to a PC environment which is very scalable and can be managed / upgraded with a flick of a finger quite often for cheap.

People like you amuse me. On one hand you argue that no one should care about spending $600 a year, for something that ones uses to make money, but on the other you argue that buying hardware that does not lasts longer and needs less management support is too expensive. None of the studios nor professional shops with whom I work, upgrade individual components. Not worth the time, downtime, cost and related instability (true for both Macs and non-macOS intel systems).

 

[TETENAL]

It's insane that Apple hasn't charged for a single update since Final Cut Pro X ($300), Compressor ($50), and Motion ($50) launched on June 21, 2011.

The AppStore doesn't support upgrade pricing.

 

[Nicole1980]

Fcpx runs circles around Adobe premier. You should look into it as the workflow is much faster and more versatile.

Completely subjective. For many, myself included, Premiere is more intuative and faster to edit with.
Yet you somehow have decided to frame your opinion as if it were a fact.

 

[chirpie]

It sure does, but it still comes down to the editor and in many cases the post house. FCPX is still utter garbage when it's compared to something like Avid connected to a NEXIS system and a simple plugin like phrase find makes FCPX look like Casablanca's Kron

I'm confused, that's a hardware solution. How does that make the Avid editing software itself better? Am I to understand I have to pay a premium just to make AVID edit faster? Considering the world we're in now, that'd be the opposite direction I'd be running in.

There are similar workflows on FCPX for dialogue as well. Not the same surely, but it's not like they don't exist for all NLEs.

I totally agree with you on the roundtripping on the motion graphics though with AE. If Apple had a more elegant solution there, that would be the biggest productivity update they brought in a while.

 

[Canubis]

Did they really just add "Close Project" finally? OMG sometimes dreams come true… and nope, this is not meant sarcastically.

 

[Virtuoso]

Did they really just add "Close Project" finally? OMG sometimes dreams come true… and nope, this is not meant sarcastically.

Whatever next? Keyframe easing?!

 

[martinX]

Hmmm. The film that won Best Picture last year, Parasite, was edited in Final Cut Pro X.

Parasite was cut using FCP7.

 

[MacBH928]

I just want to know is FCP the kind of tool Hollywood uses to edit blockbuster films?
Somehow it seems so niche...Even back in early 2000's it seemed more popular they even had a prosumer version.

 

[martinX]

Hmmm. The film that won Best Picture last year, Parasite, was edited in Final Cut Pro X.

Parasite was cut using FCP7.

 

[Digital Skunk]

I'm confused, that's a hardware solution. How does that make the Avid editing software itself better? Am I to understand I have to pay a premium just to make AVID edit faster? Considering the world we're in now, that'd be the opposite direction I'd be running in.

There are similar workflows on FCPX for dialogue as well. Not the same surely, but it's not like they don't exist for all NLEs.

I totally agree with you on the roundtripping on the motion graphics though with AE. If Apple had a more elegant solution there, that would be the biggest productivity update they brought in a while.

In the world of NLEs its all about hardware and software. The Apple afterburner card is a "hardware solution" that greatly increases encoding and decoding ProRes.

H.264 is offered as a proxy option because the coprocessor on most Macs can handle encoding and decoding.

Avid in the hands of a proper editor with a decently spec'd machine is no faster than FCPX.

Add in 7-8 editors cutting different portions of the same timeline, ProTools, and Nexis and FCPX isn't in the same ballpark.

As for the video, that's cloud based transcription dependent on the network and 3rd party services. Avid's PhraseFind is baked into the software, and real time. Additionally, there's no need to export transcription (unless you have ScriptSync which works exactly like this but isn't the same beast) from one project to the next. It's just always there and allows an editor to put the playhead or marker right on the phrase. It also parses your bin as you type and with Nexis can parse your media library as you type.

The only downside, as with everything Avid, it's STOOOPID expensive.

Whatever next? Keyframe easing?!

HA! Another of the reasons why I loved the speed and lightweight FCPX but am still using Premiere is because of After Effects. I used to be rather decent in Motion, and it had it's benefits over AE, but AE is just powerful, and with Illustrator, Photoshop, and Premiere talking to each other it's just hard to drop another $300 on an NLE that is essentially an island even with it's own sister apps (Logic and Motion)

I just want to know is FCP the kind of tool Hollywood uses to edit blockbuster films?
Somehow it seems so niche...Even back in early 2000's it seemed more popular they even had a prosumer version.

Yes. But .... almost any NLE is. DaVinci is fast becoming a competent, cross platform, almost as fast as FCPX competitor.

 

[Jorgos]

Our company used Avid DNxHD files that FCPX can no longer read. If it wasn't for that I would be using FCPX almost exclusively. But for now I use Premiere because it doesn't care what I throw at it and talks to the Avid Systems quite happily.

 

[kohlson]

I just want to know is FCP the kind of tool Hollywood uses to edit blockbuster films?

Dunno. Certainly sure I don't care - I'm not creating blockbuster films. To me, there are several steps on the learning curve, and Apple has a nice enough pathway staring with iMovie.

Just like I don't want a NASCAR for my daily driver (or really, at all), and I wouldn't hand an air compressor, 50 feet of airline, and a fully loaded nailer to someone who just wanted to hang a picture, I'm not sure why this is the (only?) benchmark. Hundreds of people works on blockbusters. The orchestration tools alone require a master's degree. Usually it's me, but sometimes 2-3 others. If I were to start over again today, I would probably pick Resolve. But I am happy enough that I'm not on the hook for several hundred dollars a year, in perpetuity.

 

[Digital Skunk]

Our company used Avid DNxHD files that FCPX can no longer read. If it wasn't for that I would be using FCPX almost exclusively. But for now I use Premiere because it doesn't care what I throw at it and talks to the Avid Systems quite happily.

AH! That's something I totally forgot about. FCPX doesn't recognize many EDLs.

 

[Avalanche66]

Wish they updated/ gave a facelift to iWeb....i cant be the only person asking for this....

 

[FasterQuieter]

“Users can also now create proxies in either ProRes Proxy or H.264 in dimensions as small as 12.5 percent of the original.”

I requested this feature many years ago. They ignored me of course.

 

[Gwendolini]

Has anyone else the problem of the updates not showing up in the Mac App Store?

 

[ignatius345]

Has anyone else the problem of the updates not showing up in the Mac App Store?

Try hitting command-R to reload

 

[hot-gril]

I found this a lot more convincing if you want something recent:

Why I Switched to Final Cut Pro X After 25 Years of Working on Avid

I spent a quarter of a century editing on Avid and several years on Premiere Pro, so why did I decide to ditch them both and go with Final Cut Pro X? I'll tell ya.

nofilmschool.com

That looks like a great article. So, FCPX turned a lot of people away, and the author argues that it's misunderstood. I don't have time to read past the intro for now, but if I get back into editing, I will. Was a hobbyist video editor a while back using Final Cut Express.

 

[MoXoM]

I wish they'd bring back Save As..

 

[Funky_Alphonzo]

AH! That's something I totally forgot about. FCPX doesn't recognize many EDLs.

EDL’s ???

Haven’t seen those in the wild in 15 years, AAF’s and XML on the other hand ( and allready forgot about OMF) ...
EDL’s were more a thing for linear editing suites i guess ( grass valley or sony editors )...

Also too bad FCPx doesnt recognise CMX at all!

;-)

 

[Funky_Alphonzo]

I wish they'd bring back Save As..

I get that...

Meanwhile i would;
Copy the library on finder level and rename it...

 

[Digital Skunk]

That looks like a great article. So, FCPX turned a lot of people away, and the author argues that it's misunderstood. I don't have time to read past the intro for now, but if I get back into editing, I will. Was a hobbyist video editor a while back using Final Cut Express.

You'll love FCPX then. The article is a good read, but the TL;DR version of it is that a lot of the rudimentary functionality that is missing from FCPX is due to the magnetic timeline. You don't have to "lock tracks" or select "target tracks" etc. etc. because you can just drop clips in and the timeline will just move the clips over. Or you can use shortcuts to over-write or superimpose.

For single editors, or anyone that's free to move around NLEs it's a nice app.

EDL’s ???

Haven’t seen those in the wild in 15 years, AAF’s and XML on the other hand...

Those are programming formats, not EDLs. It's good practice to ask for either/and.

Going from PC to PC ... I probably wouldn't stress the EDL as much. Going from PC to Mac, I want the AAF/XML and the EDL just in case.

Either way, EDLs are still as relevant as PDFs and .txt files.

 

[Chung123]

Our company used Avid DNxHD files that FCPX can no longer read. If it wasn't for that I would be using FCPX almost exclusively. But for now I use Premiere because it doesn't care what I throw at it and talks to the Avid Systems quite happily.

Idustrial Revolution for Final Cut Pro FCPX Plugins and Templates

FCPX, Final Cut Pro X, Motion, Templates, Titles, Themes, Transitions, Generators, Tutorials, Tools and more.

www.fcp.co

Supposedly:

Apple will provide 64-bit decoders for DNxHR and DNxHD codecs within the Pro Video Formats package that is available from Apple as a free download for all users.

Still haven't seen this yet though.

 

[ian87w]

This is all nice, but where’s vertical support for iMovie? Come on Apple.

 

[Hank3rd]

Anyone else getting the beach ball of death since the update? I tried deleting preferences, rebooting and reseting NVRAM. Not sure what else I can do. It locks the app up and my fan starts to go crazy. The only thing I can do is kill the process.