Final Cut Pro X 10.1 update: New features, commentary and resources

Apple updated Final Cut Pro to version 10.1 today.

What’s new

The list from Apple’s Final Cut Pro X 10.1 online help (my commentary in italics):

Performance and Mac Pro optimizations

Optimization to take advantage of multiple GPUs in the new Mac Pro

– Hidden inside Final Cut: code that distinguishes between CPUs and different GPUs:

* HOpticalFlowAnalyzer2, oflow v1, use display GPU only
* HOpticalFlowAnalyzer2, oflow v1, use aux GPU only
* HOpticalFlowAnalyzer2, oflow v1, use CPU only

HDMI and Thunderbolt output at frame sizes up to 4K (UltraHD and DCI 4K)

Final Cut Pro X 10.1: Mac computers capable of viewing 4K resolution via HDMI

Better playback and rendering performance, plus faster opening of the application and projects

– 10.1 seems to open much faster than before

Improved performance when modifying or keywording large numbers of clips at the same time

Selected titles, effects, and other media content scaled for 4K projects

– You can choose to only show elements scaled for 4K when you are editing 4K timelines:

Project and media management

Improved media management with the introduction of libraries, a new way to organize multiple events and multiple projects in a single container

– Apple’s white paper on using libraries includes this image:

– For a very interesting PDF on 10.1 workflows for multi-user projects, visit 10 dot 1. Here’s a sample illustration:

Project snapshots: on-demand backups that allow you to quickly return to an earlier version of a particular project

Media file storage on disk locations external to the Final Cut Pro X library, making your media accessible in specific folders on a wide range of SANs

– The Consolidate command moves all the files associated with an event (or a library) to an external folder which can be stored anywhere

Direct importation of MTS/M2TS files into Final Cut Pro

– At the request of Seth Hardwick I attempted to import a folder from a Sony MRC1 into 10.1. It didn’t work.

Used clip range indicators that show you at a glance which clips are already in a project

Direct import of photos from iOS devices using the Media Import window

Support for portrait/landscape metadata in still images

Playback and effects

Significant improvements in the Final Cut Pro playback interface and powerful new effects features will empower your workflow.

Improved retiming lets you set custom speeds easier than ever—by typing frame rates directly in the interface. You can also create jump cuts at specific frames, replace and retime in one step, and retime clips without rippling the Timeline. For more information, see Retiming clips overview.

A new stabilization method called Inertiacam has been optimized to smooth video footage containing camera moves such as pans and zooms. Tripod Mode creates the effect of a static camera, as if it were mounted on a tripod.

An improved optical flow algorithm makes retiming and frame rate conform speedier than ever. In addition, for Macs with two GPUs, the optical flow algorithm now makes use of both GPUs, providing a more than 2x speed increase over a single GPU.

You can now create custom project resolutions for web video, digital signage, and other nonstandard frame sizes.

– I successfully created a 10,557 by 1080 29.97fps project. The frame rates are currently limited to standard ones, and if you have any clips on a timeline, you cannot change the project frame rate

– Here you can see a timeline that renders ProRes 422 LT and is 102,032 by 1080 pixels:

Doesn’t look like there’s a limit!

New controls in the Viewer menu let you switch between better playback quality and better playback performance. There’s also a control to switch between proxy media and original or optimized media.

– Very useful for editing 4-5K content in proxy format on less powerful MacBook Pros

And you can now view all pixels of a 2K frame on a MacBook Pro with Retina display.

Editing

Through edits are now supported in all types of clips. The new Join Clips command removes cuts from bladed Timeline clips.

– Some commands have been moved to a new Trim menu – maybe to make space for more trim-related comands in future versions:

The Trim to Playhead command does different things depending on where the playhead is. If it is in the first half of a clip, it trims the start to the playhead, if in the second half, it trims the end to the playhead.

If you use the Range tool to select a range in a timeline clip, the command returns to 10.0’s Trim Selection, trimming the clip to match the selection:

You can detach the audio portion of multicam clips in the Timeline to manipulate audio and video separately. You can also make video-only or audio-only edits into the Timeline with multicam clips as sources.

You can blade audio cuts in J and L cuts separately from the video. And you can now roll the audio in open split edits.

If no clips are selected in the Timeline, a white dot now appears on the playhead to indicate the clip whose attributes are shown in the Inspector.

Moving clips with transitions is now easier.

You can share 4K finished videos directly to YouTube.

You can share videos directly to the Chinese video sharing websites Youku and Tudou.

And you can receive notifications on the status of items you shared.

– You can also use Compressor 4.1 to set up a Share Destination that runs an Applescript-based Automator workflow once your movie is transcoded

Audio

Audio fade handles have been added to individual audio channels in the Timeline. For more information, see Fade audio in or out.

Third-party support

Developers can utilize a new API for customizing Share operations.

– Other apps can send an ‘Open Document’ event to Final Cut Pro to make it import using XML and custom metadata fields to metadata views

– Final Cut Pro can send Apple Events to Asset Management applications during export

If you have an Apple Mac developer account (free from Apple):

– More on third-party application developent for Final Cut Pro workflows

FXPlug 3 has been updated to include the ability to design custom effects interfaces.

– What’s new in FxPlug 3.0

– Plugins Human Interface Guidelines

Effect parameters, fonts, and text size information are now preserved in XML files.

– About Final Cut Pro X XML Version 1.3

Apple have also defined what metadata stored in MP4 files it recognises.

For Apple developers: Final Cut Pro X – Metadata in MP4

Last but not least

You can now hide the Browser to free up more screen area for color grading and other operations that are improved by larger video images.

Commentary

There’s at least one new title: Date/Time, which appears to support iMovie 10 projects. It shows the time and date the clip it is attached to was created:

It is odd – no controls apart from fade in and fade out. You can’t change the typeface, size, colour or position in Final Cut Pro. It is designed to give that 90s ‘X-Files’ look (as inspired by ‘Silence of the Lambs’) to a clip.

When opening this title in Motion, there doesn’t seem to be a way of getting any clip information from the clip a title is attached to – Final Cut Pro X must modify the title content to show the clip date and time.

To change the time displayed by the Date/Time title, select the clip it is attached to, use the ‘Reveal in Browser’ command (from the File menu or press Shift-F) to select it in the browser, and use the ‘Modify:Adjust Content Created Date and Time…’ command to pick a new date and time to show in the connected title.

No special treatment for SAN locations

There is no longer is an “Add SAN location” command in Final Cut Pro X 10.1.

Libraries can be anywhere, including on Storage Area Networks.

Apple on updating from 10.0.X to 10.1.X:

If you’ve been using SAN locations on an Xsan volume, you can click Locate to navigate to and then update SAN location folders. You can select a volume, a SAN location, or any folder containing a Final Cut Projects or Final Cut Events folder, and update it. This creates a new library next to the folder where the original projects and events were located. This manual update can be done at any time; for example, a SAN location may not be connected when you first open Final Cut Pro 10.1

Read only locations

Final Cut Pro X 10.1 will not open libraries that are stored on locked storage locations:

iMovie to Final Cut Pro X 10.1

Final Cut Pro X cannot open iMovie files directly any more. If you run iMovie and Final Cut Pro X 10.1 on the same computer, a new command appears in iMovie 10’s File Menu: “Send Movie to Final Cut Pro” – it sends an editable timeline and the required clips to Final Cut Pro. Final Cut creates a new library for the event and project:

New commands

Better Playback Performance
Better Playback Quality – ?

Consolidate Library/Project/Event Files – ?

Cut / Copy / Paste / Delete Selected Keyframes – Shift-Option-X / Shift-Option-C / Shift-Option-V / Shift-Option-Delete

Custom Speed – Control-Option-R

You can type in a speed or required duration, and choose whether to ripple the timeline or not. If you don’t ripple, the sped up section is followed by a gap clip of the required length not to change the overall duration of the project:

Looks like 10.1.0 has a slight fault when it comes to displaying the custom duration control in the right place.

Duplicate Project as Snapshot – Shift-Command-D – ?

The Duplicate as Snapshot command creates a self-contained copy of a project containing compound clips or multicam clips. Specifically, duplicating a project as a snapshot makes copies of the compound or multicam “parent” clips and embeds them in the project so that any changes to other instances of the clips do not affect the snapshot.

Exit Full Screen – You can choose which key stops full screen playback. Perhaps useful for remote control applications that simulate key presses

New Folder – Shift-Command-N – ? – You can organise event keywords and smart collections into folders:

New Library – There is no menu command to create new libaries (to create a new library you go to File:Open Library:Other… and click the New button), but you can add a keyboard shortcut to do this using the command editor.