(Final Cut 7 and the $199 junior version, Final Cut Express, are no longer for sale. However, unlike previous upgrades, an install of Final Cut Pro X will not delete the previous version. Both can co-exist side by side.)
This is such a radical overhaul that Apple considers it an all-new program, not an upgrade.
FCPX looks totally different, and many of the letter shortcuts and commands we've known over the years are toast.
The good news: much faster editing. You now can take multiple types of video footage from different sources — say an iPhone, point and shoot camera, digital SLR and a video camera — and put them altogether for editing without any issues. (And believe me, there were lots of issues with multiple video formats before. The program would just clog up.)
In the past, Final Cut would come to a complete stop when graphics or transitions were added, asking the editor to wait for "rendering" before continuing. I recently had to wait 90 minutes when editing a video of a recorded Skype interview.
With the new Final Cut, rendering is done in the background. That same Skype clip went into place immediately, with no issues.
The new Final Cut is targeted towards today's videomaker, who shoot on memory cards — not videotape, like days of yore.
Larry Jordan, a veteran Final Cut Pro trainer — who teaches everyone from students to Hollywood editors — has been testing the new program for the past 4 months. While he calls the new version "as profound a change for production as the introduction of the railroad," he also thinks some of the Final Cut faithful will find the new look "polarizing."
"Some people will hate it," he says bluntly.
"This is so radically different from anything we've worked with before," he adds.
Apple is taking a huge risk. Final Cut is so popular that everyone from major filmmakers (The Social Network and True Grit were both edited in it) to students, documentarians and the growing legion of "fusion" photographers who are learning to mix video swear by the program.
What’s changed:
•The interface. In opening up Final Cut, you wonder if this is still a professional program. It looks so similar to iMovie, Apple's bare-bones video editor that comes free with new Macintosh computers. Those tabs to tap into your Apple iTunes and iPhoto libraries on other Apple programs weren't there before. Now they are. And just like iMovie, Apple asks you to create new projects as "events," not "sequences." Luckily, Final Cut is not iMovie Pro. It's a real, serious video editor.
•The magnetic timeline. This is a new feature aimed at answering many complaints from the old program — clips getting out of sync (and resembling a badly dubbed Japanese movie from the 1960s) after they've been moved around on the timeline. With the new timeline set-up, clips just snap into place.
•Tagging. You get tools to better tag and title your master material, aimed at making it easier to find the appropriate clips during the edit process. This is a really cool addition. You can literally highlight a section of a clip, click the Key tab (for keyword) on the timeline, add a keyword to describe the portion, and the program indentifies the clip with the keyword in place. So, for instance, I was able to import a 12 minute interview into Final Cut, and break it up with four keywords that described what the subject was talking about.
•Titles and themes. Here's where Final Cut has driven into iMovie territory, with dozens of new and way prettier titles than before. The good news for novice video editors upgrading from iMovie, it will pretty up your video and make it look more professional. The bad news for serious video editors is that if everyone uses these tools, you can't because they will make your production look cookie-cutter.
•Syncing multiple video clips, shot at the same time. Two and three camera shoots —with a close-up, wide shot and wider shot — has become easier to do. (On Talking Tech, we often do this, using a Canon 5D Mark II for the subject, a Canon 60D for the interviewer and a second 5D for a wide shot of the two of us.)
But how to sync the clips so that the audio from all three cameras plays at the right time? In the past, many users opted for Singular Software's terrific $149 Plural Eyes plug-in, which worked flawlessly. But Apple's sync process is pretty seamless in Final Cut X, and Plural Eyes — like most FCP plug-ins — is not yet available for the new program. Singular CEO Bruce Sharpe promises that he can do better than Apple and says anyone who buys his product now will get a free upgrade once it's ready for the new Final Cut. "This is a feature for them, not a main focus.," Sharpe says. "This is something we pay attention to 24 hours a day."
What’s missing:
•Chapter markers. Anyone using Final Cut to make a fully functional, deliverable DVD will be disappointed. You can burn a DVD from within the program, but not with chapters. Apple has taken away the ability to add chapter markers, although the feature can be added with an extra $50 purchase for an add-on Compressor.
•High-resolution JPG still frames. In the old program, Apple offered tools to save high-res JPGs from the video. No longer. While you can save them as big TIFF or PNG files, Final Cut now saves the JPGs as low-res images.
•The ability to export videos in many different formats and sizes. That functionality was standard in the old program but is missing in the new version. (Again, go to Compressor for help there.)
•The ability to open a previous Final Cut 7 project. Say you finished a project, delivered it to a client, and then the client asked for changes, months later, after you've upgraded. You either have to re-open it in the previous program — which you wisely choose not to delete —or start all over again.
Bottom line: If you're a veteran Final Cut Pro user, you'll need to spend a few days learning a new way around the timeline. But once that's behind you, the editing process will go by so much faster, you'll be glad you made the effort.
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