Apple Final Cut Pro X Update 10.4.9 brings many improvements
[21:52 Tue,25.August 2020 by Thomas Richter]
Apple has released the 10.4.9 update for Final Cut Pro X, which brings a number of exciting new features to improve remote workflow, social media content creation, and faster editing for Content Creator.
Enhanced Proxy Workflows To improve the remote work via proxy workflows it is now possible to create proxies as ProRes Proxy or H.264 with a size of only 12.5% of the original. Proxy media, images and audio can be merged on an external or network connected drive. A Final Cut Pro library can now be linked to already created proxies. Proxy media from third-party applications such as the Frame.io cloud service and media management tools like Keyflow Pro and PostLab can also be linked via XML. If no proxy is available for clips, either the original file or an optimized version can be displayed.
Final Cut Pro X
Automated social media editing Also new is a DeepLearning-based feature to automatically adapt content to the special social media formats for popular platforms such as Instagram, Snapchat and Twitter. Similar to Adobe's Auto Frame, this involves analyzing the footage and scaling, rotating or cropping it in such a way that the most important part of a video is in the center of attention even if the video is extremely cropped for a different aspect ratio, as is necessary when a 16:9 video is converted to a vertical 9:16 format.
Tool for Social Media Formats
Media content outside of the bleed limit is displayed, so that the user can easily reposition the cropping manually. A custom overlay can also be added to make it easier to place text and graphics within a frame in a different format.
Workflow improvements The update also brings several workflow improvements to Final Cut Pro, including the first-time display of ProRes RAW camera settings such as ISO, color temperature, and exposure correction in the Inspector. Other new features include the ability to copy audio crossfades to adjacent clips; a new context menu to close a project or delete the history of the Timeline; and the ability to sort clips and projects in the List View by the last modification date of each file.
Audio crossfades also for adjacent clips
The new version also achieves significant performance improvements with new plug-ins with Metal support when working with the RED RAW and Canon Cinema RAW Light formats. For example, encoding 8K RED RAW video in ProRes 422 is up to two times faster on the Mac Pro and up to three times faster on the MacBook Pro. And for the first time, 8K Canon Cinema RAW Light material can be played back and edited.
Stereoscopic 3D video can now be quickly stabilized and the material can be viewed in the 360-degree viewer with separate streams for each eye. Remote content can also be worked with instantly while it is still being downloaded in the background from web-based media management systems such as Frame.io.
Updates for Motion and Compressor Motion and Compressor also get new features thanks to the update, allowing third-party 3D models to be imported or selected from an integrated library of 3D models in USDZ format for use in titles, generators, effects and transitions in Motion. Users can also use behaviors or keyframes to change the position, rotation and scale of a model, and use existing replicators, emitters, lights and cameras in the further creative process.
Import of 3D objects in Motion
Also new is the new Stroke Filter, a tool that automatically creates the outline of an object or text element based on the alpha channel, saving users the time-consuming work of manually cropping the outline of objects. Outlines can be adjusted by animating the offset, applying multiple stroke filters to the same object, or using gradient tools to create multiple strokes of different colors.
Compressor now includes support for custom LUT effects, the ability to use camera LUTs to convert logarithmically encoded material to SDR or HDR output, and other workflow improvements.
Price and availability Final Cut Pro 10.4.9 is available today as a free update for existing users and for around 330 euros for new users in the Mac App Store. Motion 5.4.6 and Compressor 4.4.7 are also available today as free updates for existing users and for approximately €55 each for new users on the Mac App