Apple has today announced the release of its popular video-editing tool Final Cut Pro X, launching on the Mac App Store today with a $299.99/£179.99 price tag.
The latest version of the software has been completely overhauled and specifically tailored for the 64-bit architecture of the latest MacBook and iMac computers, allowing users to take advantage of a Magnetic Timeline, new Content Auto-Analysis features and background rendering.
Apple’s press release details each of the new features in Final Cut Pro X:
At the heart of Final Cut Pro X is the Magnetic Timeline, a trackless approach to editing your footage that lets you add and arrange clips wherever you want them, while other clips instantly slide out of the way. You can use Clip Connections to link primary story clips to other elements like titles and sound effects, so they stay in perfect sync when you move them. You can even combine related story elements into a Compound Clip that can be edited as a single clip. The groundbreaking new Auditions feature lets you swap between a collection of clips to instantly compare alternate takes.
Content Auto-Analysis scans your media on import and tags your content with useful information. Final Cut Pro X then uses that information to dynamically organize your clips into Smart Collections, so you can easily find the clips you want by close up, medium and wide shots as well as media type and the number of people in the shot. You can also tag parts of clips with Range-based keywords to add custom search criteria to your media.
Completely rebuilt from the ground up, Final Cut Pro X is a 64-bit app that takes full advantage of the latest Mac hardware and software so you never have to wait for the next edit, even if you’re working with 4K video. Final Cut Pro X uses multi-threaded processing and the GPU on your graphics card for blazing fast background rendering and superb real-time playback performance. Additionally, a ColorSync-managed color pipeline ensures color consistency from import to output.
Apple has also launched two new companion apps; Motion 5 – for motion graphics – and Compressor – an advanced media encoding application. Both are available on the Mac App Store for $49.99 each.
At the time of writing, Final Cut Pro X isn’t live on the Mac App Store, with the dedicated page only showing a placeholder. We expect the download to go live soon, allowing the video professionals amongst you to download the new editor.
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