The big feature of the new Final Cut Pro
is the Libraries feature that takes a cue from iMovie to combine events and projects in one library. Thus helping to keep the raw footage and project together somewhat alleviating the breaking of the links between raw footage and the project. I am sure it will still be able to be broken but at least this will help keep Final Cut Pro better organised.
Also a surprise is that the update is again free – and has improved features that would have justified a paid upgrade. Other improvements include optimised playback and rendering using dual GPUs in the new Mac Pro, video monitoring up to 4K via Thunderbolt 2 and HDMI on select Mac computers (not many at this point in time), 4K content including titles, transitions, and generators, easy opening (and closing) individual libraries to load just the material you need, an option to import camera media to locations inside or outside of a library, automatic backup of libraries to a user-specified drive or network location, “Project Snapshots” to quickly capture the project state for fast versioning, audio fade handles on individual audio channels in the timeline, precise retime speeds by entering them numerically in the timeline. XML support has further been improved, ACHD is fully and natively supported.
Mac Pro-specific assets include optimization for the computer’s standard dual-GPU setup, as well as video monitoring at up to 4K resolutions via Thunderbolt 2 and HDMI.
Apple’s Final Cut Pro version 10.1 can be purchased now through the Mac App Store for US$299.99, or as a free download for existing customers.
One word of warning – you will be asked to update your current events and projects to version 10.1. Personally I would avoid updating current project until the ramifications of the new libraries feature is fully understood. make a back up of your current Version 10.0.9 of Final Cut Pro so that if things go wrong you will be either able to create a separate user on your mac to be able to continue to use 10.0.9.
Apple has written an online guide for the purpose. If you use Final Cut Pro X for important projects, I strongly suggest you follow their advice before updating the app.
Also released with Final Cut Pro are new versions of Compressor and Motion that also are optimised for The new macPro
Compressor 4.1 now has a unified interface and looks more like a 21st Century app than it did before. It now also supports hardware-based H.264 encoding in supported Share operations, Dolby Digital Plus encoding and direct sharing to YouTube at 4K resolution.
Motion 5.1 now supports optimised playback and rendering using dual GPUs in the new Mac Pro, FxPlug 3 with custom plug-in interfaces and dual-GPU support, faster project loading, especially for complex projects and here as well “Share” directly to YouTube at 4K resolution.
Apple’s release notes for Final Cut Pro
Apple’s release notes for Compressor
