Screenshot Final Cut Pro X |
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| Developer(s) | Apple Inc. |
| Stable release | Final Cut Pro X - 10.0.2 / November 16, 2011 |
| Written in | Cocoa |
| Operating system | Mac OS X |
| Type | Video editing software |
| License | Proprietary |
| Website | Final Cut Pro |
Final Cut Pro is a non-linear video editing software developed by Macromedia Inc. and then Apple Inc. The most recent version, Final Cut Pro X, runs on Mac personal computers powered by Mac OS X version 10.6.7 or later and using Intel processors. The software allows users to log and transfer video onto a hard drive (internal or external), where it can be edited, processed, and output to a wide variety of formats.
Since the early 2000s, Final Cut Pro has developed a large and expanding user base, mainly video hobbyists and independent filmmakers. It has, in later years especially, made inroads with film and television editors who have traditionally used Avid Technology's Media Composer. According to a 2007 SCRI study, Final Cut Pro made up 49% of the US professional editing market, with Avid at 22%.[1] A published survey in 2008 by the American Cinema Editors Guild placed their users at 21% FCP (and growing from previous surveys of this group), while all others were still on an Avid system of some kind.[2]
Final Cut Pro provides non-linear, non-destructive editing of any QuickTime compatible video format including DV, HDV, P2 MXF (DVCProHD), XDCAM (via plug-in), and 2K film formats. It supports a number of simultaneously composited video tracks (limited mainly by video format and hardware capability); up to 99 audio tracks; multi-camera editing for combining video from multiple camera sources; as well as standard ripple, roll, slip, slide, scrub, razor blade and time remapping edit functions. It comes with a range of video transitions and a range of video and audio filters such as keying tools, mattes and vocal de-poppers and de-essers. It also has a manual 3-way color correction filter, videoscopes and a selection of generators, such as slugs, test cards and noise.
Final Cut Pro 7 claims better integration with Apple's other professional applications and improved codec support for editing HD, DV and SD video formats, including encoding presets for devices such as iPod, Apple TV, and Blu-ray discs. A technology called DynamicRT built on the RT Extreme technology was released with Final Cut Pro 4. DynamicRT allows a real-time multistream effects architecture, which can be set to automatically adjust image quality and frame rate during playback to maintain real time effects. For example, when there are a large number of video streams playing simultaneously it will, in real time, switch to a mode that reduces the quality of the playback so that all of them can be seen in real time; when the computer is capable it will automatically return playback to native quality (that is, when there are fewer simultaneous video streams). Final Cut Pro also supports mixed video formats (both resolution and framerate) in the Timeline with real time support.
In 2003, Apple launched Final Cut Express, a less expensive version of Final Cut Pro. It uses the same interface as Final Cut Pro, but it lacks all of the film-specific tools and other advanced options, limiting the feature set for non-professional editors.
In January 2005, Soundtrack and LiveType, previously only available with Final Cut Pro, were added to Express, and features were added to edit HDV. Soundtrack was subsequently removed with Final Cut Express 4.
Final Cut Express projects can be imported into Final Cut Pro, but not vice versa.
In June 2011, Final Cut Express was officially discontinued, in favor of Final Cut Pro X.
On June 21, 2011, Apple released a new version of Final Cut Pro, renamed to "Final Cut Pro X", heavily based on iMovie (leading some users to call it "iMovie Pro"). Described as a complete rewrite of the original application, FCP X is a 64-bit application with Grand Central Dispatch and OpenCL support, allowing it to scale and use all available cores for background rendering. FCP X supports up to 4K resolutions and during import, can analyze footage and audio for automatic sorting into groups such as close-ups, medium shots, shots with two people or group shots as well as prepare the footage for quick, automatic fixes for defects such as lens flare, camera shake, rolling shutter, color balance. Audio can also be analyzed in an attempt to automatically remove hums, pops or other noticeable defects. It also features a 'Magnetic Timeline' which edits footage in the middle of the Timeline without knocking any other clips or audio out of place at other points of the Timeline. It has been available on the Mac App Store since June 21, 2011 for $299.99, along with Motion 5 & Compressor 4, both selling at $49.99. [3]
Some professional users of earlier versions of Final Cut Pro have been critical of FCP X shortly after its release, giving the application more 1-star reviews than 5-star reviews in the Mac App Store on June 22.[4] [5] Among other missing features, disgruntled users cited lack of edit decision list (EDL), XML and Open Media Framework Interchange (OMF) support, inability to import projects created in previous releases of Final Cut Pro, the inability to have more than one editing sequence in a project, removal of the multicam editing tool and the inability to use 3rd party IO hardware for capture and output (all features present in the previous Final Cut Pro version). In response to critics, Apple has stated that they only plan to incorporate multicam support in future releases of the software.[6] Unlike its competition from Avid and Adobe, FCP also doesn't offer support for native raw editing, as required for high-end digital cinema cameras as the Red One, 3D editing and advanced Blu-ray creation. As a response, those competitors are trying to win back the market share by offering return discounts to convince professionals that if they plan to upgrade systems, that they should convert to systems that still have the professional features lost in the new version of Final Cut Pro X. Some are taking the stance that migrating away from Final Cut Pro is inevitable for professionals.[7] In the 10.0.1 update of Final Cut Pro X, Apple has upgraded XML support. Apple has promised to add multicamera support in early 2012. Apple has also promised to update Broadcast-Quality Video Monitoring in a later version. [8]
The Final Cut (Pro and Express) interface was designed around traditional (i.e. non-computerized) editing work-flows, with four main windows that replicate tried-and-trusted methods of organizing, viewing and editing physical tape or film media. The Browser, where source media files (clips) are listed, replicates the editor's traditional film 'bins' or stacks of videotapes. The Viewer, where individual media files can be previewed and trimmed, replicates the source monitor of older tape-based systems. The Canvas replicates the 'program' monitor in such systems, where the edited material is viewed. The Timeline, where media are cut together (assembled) into a sequence, replicates the physically edited film or master tape of earlier systems. There is also a small Toolbox window and two audio-level indicators for the left and right audio channels.
Both the Viewer and Canvas have a shuttle interface (for variable-speed scanning, forwards or backwards through a clip) and a jogging interface (for frame-by-frame advancing).
As in most digital non-linear editing applications, the Browser is not an interface to the computer's file-system. It is an entirely virtual space in which references to clips (aliases) are placed for easy access, and arranged in folders called 'bins'. Since they are only references to clips that are on the media drive of the computer, moving or deleting a source file on the media hard drive destroys the link between the entry in the Browser and the actual media. This results in a 'media offline' situation, and the media must be 'reconnected'. Final Cut Pro can search for the media itself, or the user can do this manually. If multiple clips are offline at the same time, Final Cut can reconnect all the offline media clips that are in the relative directory path as the first offline media clips that is reconnected.
The browser has an 'effects' tab in which video transitions and filters can be browsed and dragged onto or between clips.
The canvas outputs the contents of the Timeline. To add clips to the Timeline, besides dragging them there, it is possible to drag clips from the Browser or Viewer onto the Canvas, whereupon the so-called 'edit overlay' appears. The edit overlay has seven drop zones, into which clips can be dragged in order to perform different edits. The default is the 'overwrite' edit, which overwrites at an in point or the space occupied after the playhead with the incoming clip. The 'insert' edit slots a clip into the sequence at the in point or playhead's position, keeping the rest of the video intact, but moving it all aside so that the new clip fits. There are also drop zones to have the application automatically insert transitions. The 'replace' edit replaces a clip in the Timeline with an incoming clip, and the 'fit to fill' edit does the same thing, but at the same time, it adjusts the playback speed of the incoming clip so that all of it will fit into the required space [in the Timeline]. Finally there is the 'superimpose' edit, which automatically places the dropped clip on the track above the clip in the Timeline, with a duration equal to the clip below it. Unless an in or out point are set, all edits occur from the position of the playhead in the Timeline.
Using the wireframe view on the canvas, the clip can be manipulated directly - dragging it around in the canvas to change its position, for example, or resizing it. Precise adjustment controls for these things are in the viewer.
The viewer has tabs for each channel of the selected clip's audio, in which the waveform for the audio can be viewed and scrubbed, and where its volume can be keyframed. The filters tab is where effects for the clip appear and where their parameters can be adjusted and keyframed. If the clip selected is a generator (such as an oval shape), a control tab appears for changing its geometrical properties. Finally, the viewer's motion tab contains tools to adjust the scale, opacity, cropping, rotation, distortion, drop shadow, motion blur and time remapping properties of the clip. Mini-timelines to the right of each parameter allow the property to be keyframed. The Viewer is not present in Final Cut Pro X.
Clips can be edited together in timelines called sequences. Sequences can be nested inside other sequences, so that a filter or transition can be applied to the grouped clips.
The Timeline in Final Cut Pro allows 99 video tracks to be layered on top of each other. If a clip is higher [in the timeline] than another, then it obscures whatever is below it. The size of a video clip can be altered, and the clips can be cropped, among many other settings that can be changed. Opacity levels can also be altered, as well as animated over the course of the clip using keyframes, defined either on a graphical overlay, or in the Viewer's 'motion' tab, where precise percentage opacity values can be entered. Final Cut also has more than a dozen common compositing modes that can be applied to clips, such as Add, Subtract, Difference, Screen, Multiply, Overlay, and Travel Matte Luma/Alpha.
The compositing mode for a clip is changed by control-clicking or right-clicking on the clip and selecting it from the cascading contextual menu, or by selecting the mode from the application's 'modify' menu. For either matte modes, the clip that will perform the key is placed overneath the fill clip on the Timeline.
For more advanced compositing Final Cut Pro is compatible with Apple's Shake (discontinued) and Apple Motion software.
Like other Apple software, Final Cut Pro offers a variety of keyboard commands that allow the user to increase the speed of edits. This combined with the nonlinear approach that digital editing, provides Final Cut Pro users with several editing options. Below is a list of common keyboard commands used to help editors.
Command-A: Select all clips in the sequence Command-Shift-A: Deselect all clips in the sequence N: turns snapping off and on Command-N: creates a new sequence Command-O: Opens a project B: Selects the Razor Blade tool M: sets a marker in the Timeline X: Mark the full length of a clip RR: Turns the Ripple Tool on E: Extends the selected edit points to the playhead location R: selects the Roll Tool S: selects the Slip Tool SS: selects the Slide Tool Command-S: Saves the current project Command-Q: Quits out of Final Cut Pro
Users are also not strained to follow these specific keyboard commands and can set their own customizable keyboard preferences for projects.
Randy Ubillos created the first three versions of Adobe Premiere, the first popular digital video editing application.[9] Before version 5 was released, Ubillos' group was hired by Macromedia to create KeyGrip, built from the ground up as a more professional video-editing program based on Apple QuickTime. Macromedia could not release the product without causing its partner Truevision some issues with Microsoft, as KeyGrip was, in part, based on technology from Microsoft licensed to Truevision and then in turn to Macromedia. The terms of the IP licensing deal stated that it was not to be used in conjunction with QuickTime. Thus, Macromedia was forced to keep the product off the market until a solution could be found. At the same time, the company decided to focus more on applications that would support the web, so they sought to find a buyer for their non-web applications, including KeyGrip; which, by 1998, was renamed Final Cut.
Final Cut was shown in private room demonstrations as a 0.9 alpha at the National Association of Broadcasters (NAB) exposition in 1998 after Macromedia pulled out of the main show floor. At the demonstration, both Mac and Windows versions were shown. The Mac version was working with a Truevision RTX dual stream real time card with limited real time effects. When no purchaser could be found, Apple purchased the team as a defensive move. When Apple could not find a buyer in turn, it continued development work, focusing on adding FireWire/DV support and at NAB 1999 Apple introduced Final Cut Pro. ProMax was the first vendor to demonstrate Final Cut Pro on the show floor. A third party training CD from DVcreators.net called "Final Cut Pro PowerStart" was also released at NAB 1999, the first FCP training product available.
After the introduction of Final Cut Pro, Adobe Premiere's market share remained strong on Windows but began to decline on the Mac as its older codebase was more difficult to maintain. In 2003, Apple announced a program for Premiere users to trade in their discs for a free copy of Final Cut Express or a $500 discount on Final Cut Pro.[10]
Final Cut Pro benefited from the relative maturity of QuickTime and its native support for then-new DV cameras connected with FireWire (IEEE1394), such as Sony's initial DCR-VX1000 camera and later cameras by Sony, Panasonic and Canon. ProMax (Brad Pillow) made and sold PCI cards that added FireWire to a Mac, but Apple soon had FireWire ports on every Mac.
The first fully Broadcast quality, Worldwide Distributed TV show produced on Final Cut Pro was 2000's WOW! Women of Wrestling, using the Pinnacle CinéWave uncompressed video card. The Oxygen Network was a beta site for Final Cut Pro in late 1999 through network launch in early 2000. Shows like ShE-Commerce were cut using FCP.
In late 2001, the studio motion picture The Rules of Attraction was edited on beta versions of Final Cut Pro 3, proving to the film industry that successful 3:2 pulldown matchback to 24fps could be achieved with a "consumer" off-the-shelf product.[11] Roger Avary, the film's director became the spokesperson for Final Cut Pro, appearing in print advertisements worldwide. His advocacy of the product gave confidence to mainstream editors such as Walter Murch, that the product was ready for "prime time."
In August 2002, the application won a Primetime Emmy Engineering Award for its impact on the television industry.[12]
Final Cut Pro 4 was announced in April 2003. It included three new applications: Compressor, used for the transcoding between video formats; LiveType for advanced titling (such as the creation of animated lower thirds); and Soundtrack, for royalty-free music soundtrack creation. It also bundled Cinema Tools, which was previously sold separately for filmmakers working with telecine.
In April 2004, version 4.5 of Final Cut Pro was introduced and branded by Apple as "Final Cut Pro HD" due to its native support for Panasonic's tape-based DVCPRO HD format for compressed 720p and 1080i HD over FireWire. (The software had been capable of uncompressed HD editing since version 3.0, but at the time had required expensive video cards and high speed storage.)
Final Cut Pro 5 was announced at a pre-NAB event in April, and shipped in May 2005. Final Cut Pro 5 added support for the burgeoning HDV format for compressed HD, which had previously been supported in Final Cut Pro's "scaled-down" cousin, Final Cut Express. Final Cut Pro 5 also added support for Panasonic's P2 format for the recording of DVCPRO HD video to memory cards rather than tape.
In January 2006, Apple stopped selling Final Cut Pro as a stand-alone product. In March 2006 the Universal Binary 5.1 version was released as part of Final Cut Studio. Upgrades were achieved by sending the original installation discs back to Apple with a fee. One noticeable difference is that the Intel versions of Final Cut and Motion no longer recognize After Effects plug-ins. Instead, Apple released its own universal plug-in architecture FxPlug.
On Sunday, April 15, 2007, Apple revealed Final Cut Pro 6.0, as the cornerstone of the Final Cut Studio 2 bundle. Once again, Apple did not have a booth at NAB 2009, however the product was well represented on the show floor in various booths. The RED Camera team relied heavily on FCP during development.
On July 23, 2009, Final Cut Pro 7/Final Cut Studio 3 (not officially designated as such by Apple but adopted by most users to describe the 2009 changes) was released, but it was not yet a 64-bit application.
On April 12, 2011, Apple announced Final Cut Pro X, a 64-bit application completely rebuilt with a new interface, workflow enhancements and automation, and new features such as ColorSync integration, resolution independent playback system, system scaling with Core Animation, and more.[13] Apple then released Final Cut Pro X on June 21st exclusively as a $299 download from the Mac App Store.[14] The three apps, 'Color,' 'Soundtrack Pro,' and 'DVD Studio Pro' were dropped, while Motion 5 along with Compressor 4 were released onto the Mac App Store as individual apps for $49.99 each.
Apple offers Final Cut Pro certification at several Apple retail stores internationally. Providing a range of training lessons to editors looking to improve their Final Cut Pro skills. To help pass these tests Apple has released an Apple Pro Training Series with each new version of Final Cut Pro. The latest version written by Diana Weynand expands and reveals new key features of Final Cut Pro X. The Apple Pro Training Series also extends to other software that Apple has released and includes Motion and Composer. Other books that dealt with older versions of the Final Cut Pro suite have been discontinued.
A Final Cut Pro Project technically consists of separate files:
The location of the Media and the Render/Cache Files is not standardised. Final Cut Pro can be configured where to store them. Some users have a central directory where they store all their Source/Render/Cache files, some set those file paths to their specific project directory, so that they have all project files at one place.
After having finished a project, one can erase everything but the project file, to save disk space, and at a later time Final Cut Pro can re-capture/re-link all source data and recalculate all render and cache data, provided it can access all linked sources.
The first versions of Final Cut Pro and Final Cut Express used a binary file which contained all montage information such as timecode information, clip's in/out-points, size/crop/position, composition nesting, filter settings, automation data, etc. It didn't have a file suffix, instead it used the Creator code KeyG and the Type code FCPF and it started with the magic byte sequence \162 K e y G \n (0xa24b6579470a).
More recent editions of Final Cut Pro and Final Cut Express, before Final Cut Pro X, used the file extension .fcp.
The latest version of Final Cut Pro, Final Cut Pro X, uses a new file extension; .fcpx. Apple has come under some criticism for not supporting the older .fcp project files, when it does support importing iMovie projects (.imovieproj files).[15]
Either captured from tape or loaded/imported from the file system.
Files which are generated by Final Cut Pro, i.e. audio waveform display, filter effects, etc.
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