Apple Final Cut Pro X

Final Cut Pro X is truly a dramatic rewrite of Apple's mature and well-developed video-editing software. It borrows some interface elements from iMovie that may disappoint seasoned professionals, and also it loses many key features that are simply an absolute necessity in the professional world, like XML export. On the other hand, those looking to upgrade from iMovie will find a lot more features in Final Cut Pro X, but there are some caveats.

Installing and downloading

Final Cut Pro X is only available via the Mac App Store. The previous Final Cut Studio came with heavy instruction manuals, which are now just help files in FCPX. We appreciate reducing paper waste, but be warned that the digital help files won't offer any images unless you are connected to the internet.

Getting started

When you first launch Final Cut Pro X, the old Final Cut loading screen is replaced by a new semitransparent load screen that let's you know this is the 10.0 iteration of the professional software. But what comes after that is nothing like the 10 previous versions of Final Cut.

You'll first notice a prominent option to Import iMovie Events right above the Import Files and Import From Camera options. If you're wondering if we skipped a step, you're wrong. According to Final Cut Pro X's help file, you don't create a project first. Instead, you import media and manage your media first. You can, however, create a project first and import later. But it just goes to show you how much Apple believes that data-based video workflows are the future of post-production.

New interface

FCPX's new interface borrows some style elements from iMovie, which will really have many editors scratching their head. But first, multiple windows have largely disappeared.

Instead of windows, like in previous versions, we now get panels. The panels have default positions, but they can fortunately be resized.

For the most part, the panel locations are generally where you want them to be, but we would have preferred more customisation options. Users can specify the Viewer or the Events panels to live on secondary monitors, but it's still no match for arranging windows to whatever your project or personal preferences are.

The Viewer

The biggest change is the new Viewer. Previous users of Final Cut Pro will wonder what happened to the Viewer and Canvas windows.

They have been combined into a single panel called the Viewer. In previous versions of Final Cut Pro, the Viewer loaded clips to edit or it let users manipulate the properties of a clip. The Canvas traditionally showed the current frame of the playhead in the Timeline. Final Cut Pro X now combines both the viewer and canvas into one panel simply called the Viewer.

Simpler is better though, right? Actually, we're not so sure.

Final Cut Pro 7 used the decades-old convention of Source and Record editing (which Apple, of course, had to refer differently as the Viewer and Canvas). It traces back to the day of linear editing, when a producer or editor would load up one clip from a video deck, mark the start and stop and then record on to a second tape.

Old as it might be, the source/record convention is blazingly fast. Watching a professional editor is like watching a pianist. Loading clips, scrubbing through to find the perfect clip, marking an in point and an out point, then laying on the timeline could be accomplished without touching the mouse at all. For Apple, it's a difference of philosophy.

Creating a new project

Starting a new project feels a bit strange because the program does little to explain new concepts like Events. Events are Apple's new way of describing media libraries. An event contains the actual media files of your project, as well as metadata information.

When you create a new project, there are no options like resolution or codec until you select custom. By default, the app will pick a resolution and frame rate based on the first clip you use.

You can select custom options, which will support most of the standard resolutions: 1080i, 1080p, 720p, NTSC, PAL, 2K and 4K. The Other options curiously do not let you set custom resolutions. Instead, you're limited to 640x480 pixels and 960x540 pixels. Apple says that you can use Compressor to scale and resize your videos.

Frame rates are also limited to standard NTSC, PAL and film rates of 23.98, 24, 25, 29.97, 30, 50, 59.94 and 60 frames per second. Again, if you have to work in a non-standard frame rate, you're out of luck. As a sign from the future of where Apple wants to take video editing, FCPX supports 4K resolutions at 60 progressive frames per second.

Importing media

Final Cut Pro X has support for natively importing AVC-Intra, AVCHD (including AVCCAM, AVCHD Lite and NXCAM), all standard versions of DV (including DVCAM, DVCPRO, DVCPRO50 and DVCPRO HD), H.264, HDV, iFrame, Motion JPEG, MPEG IMX (D-10) and standard XDCAM HD/EX/HD422. Additionally, the program can import codecs supported by QuickTime.  AVI to FCP

Gone are the Log & Capture and Log & Transfer options. Instead, we just get options for importing media files and importing files from a camera. The new Final Cut Pro X really embraces a file-based workflow.

The closest option might be the Import From Camera. This is not the same as Log & Transfer. It's sort of an attempt at combing capture from tape and capture from memory card sources. The new import interface does support FireWire and can read mounted memory cards, as well as control playback options using the classic JKL (rewind-pause-play) keys.

It doesn't support importing certain types of files. For XDCAM users, Apple recommends installing Sony's own transfer and transcoding utility. HDV is still supported, but oddly only over tape on FireWire. You'll have to wait for HDV import from MXF files. Nor does FCPX support the ultra-high-quality Red RAW natively. For now, you can either set up your RED camera to record QuickTime movie files, which FCPX can import natively, or you can use Red's own free conversion program to convert into Apple's native ProRes format. Apple says it is working with companies like Sony and Red to create plug-ins that will allow FCPX to be a one-stop-shop for importing video.

 MTS to Final Cut Pro enables users to convert any HD camcorder 1080i AVCHD (*.mts, *.m2ts), 1080 60p/50p, 720p AVCHD lite files to the supported DV, HDV, MP4, MOV formats for importing and editing with Final Cut Express on your Mac.