Following the announcement that Apple was discontinuing support for its Aperture application, the company announced several updates to its other professional video-editing applications on OS X around the same time.
These changes bring optimization improvements and some small news to Final Cut, Motion and Compressor that improve the user experience in each of the programs and are also perhaps a measure by Apple to reassure professionals that the destination of Aperture was only limited to that application.
Updating Final Cut Pro to version 10.1.2 brings a variety of enhancements to the program, including:
- Optimized content storage, proxy and rendering in any location outside the library
- Easy removal of optimized, proxy, and rendered content from Final Cut Pro X
- Content indicators used in composite, multicam, and synced clips
- Ability to only view unused content in the browser
- Applying a standard aspect (Rec. 709) in real time to videos with a wide color gamut and high dynamic range made with ARRI, Blackmagic Design, Canon and Sony cameras
- Automatic application of a 3D LUT with ARRI embedded from the new AMIRA camera
- Apple ProRes 4444 XQ compatibility
- Faster and more accurate clip syncing
- Audio recording enhancements such as countdown and automatic audition creation from multiple takes
- Quick export of cutting projects with XDCAM content only
- Exporting an entire library as a single XML file
- Displaying key metadata in the inspector when selecting a library
- Adjusting the relative and absolute volume of a clip or interval selection
- Creating keywords from Finder tags when importing content
- Option to sort events by date or name in Libraries list
- Importing a clip by dragging it directly into the browser
- Publishing 4K videos to Vimeo
The update in Motion 5.1.1 brings support for Apple ProRes 4444 XQ along with optimizations and 4K by-products:
- Apple ProRes 4444 XQ compatibility
- Improved "Sequential Text" behavior when animating characters, words and lines
- Enhanced contrast filter parameters for fine tuning
For its part, Compressor 4.1.2 brings new bug fixes and stability improvements, including:
- Apple ProRes 4444 XQ compatibility
- Status indicator and best response of the "Send to Compressor" function from Final Cut Pro X and Motion
- Higher performance and color accuracy when encoding H.264 source files from GoPro cameras
- Troubleshooting alpha channel transcoding in image sequences
- General stability improvements