Apple Unveils Final Cut Pro X

At the National Association of Broadcasters conference in Las Vegas, Apple previewed a beefed-up version of the popular Final Cut Pro film and video editing app.

Final Cut Pro X, as this update is called, will feature 64-bit support for enhanced performance, as well as a redesigned user interface.

Ars Technica details more of what users can expect from this new version of Final Cut Pro:

In particular, the rewritten app takes full advantage of underlying Mac OS X technologies introduced in Snow Leopard, including OpenCL, GCD, Quicktime X, and Core Animation, to deliver background rendering. "The render dialogue is gone!" said Steinauer during the preview, noting that editors no longer have to wait for certain edits and effects to render before continuing—a major workflow improvement

Final Cut Pro X will be available in June at the Mac App Store for $299. Curious buyers should note, however, that the software exists as an add-on to the $999 Final Cut Studio editing suite.

Comments

[LightShadow62]

12:45 AM on 04/15/2011

A $300 dollar patch to a $1000 dollar program.

[adam smolkowicz]

07:08 AM on 04/14/2011

Smolkowicz this is pretty cool

[kwnewman]

06:07 AM on 04/14/2011

The preview of Finalcut X wasn't unveiled at the NAB convention but instead at the Finalcut Pro User Group's "Supermeet" held at Bally's hotel. The description in the short article does not do justice to how revolutionary the changes to the interface appear. Of course we all have to wait until June to discover everything that will be included in the release but if it lives up to the preview Apple will have one of the best non-linear editing software offerings available and should cause the other companies to go running to catch up. At a price point of $299 it may cause a few of the less profitable companies to close up shop.

[lilylee86]

01:51 AM on 04/14/2011

That is amazing.
Joyfax Server

[Sol76]

01:10 AM on 04/14/2011

After a decade there would be a lot of legacy code in any application so a major rewrite for the current processors and OS will improve performance. The new interface will be a challenge for those editors comfortable with the current version but not so much for anyone starting to edit now. Personally I have most iterations of FCP since university and look forward to this major new version for the new interface and background rendering.

[RyanRugbyTighthead]

03:50 PM on 04/13/2011

Final Cut has always been a weak imitation. But it would be good if you needed to cut together a video of a school play.

Avid DS is 10x the NLE.

[fuzzynormal]

07:37 PM on 04/13/2011

Tee hee. I'm sure you wish you were right.

Fact is, FCP is on close to on par w/AVID, but FCP isn't as hardware demanding.

I cut fast on both platforms and I respect AVID for it's refinement, but FCP is a value; can't deny it.

[arthurvibert]

12:36 AM on 04/14/2011

I work as a pro editor, and FCP can do most of what Avid can do - more, in some cases - at a fraction of the price. If what you say were true, FCP wouldn't have become the defacto go-to NLE platform that it, in fact, is.

[RyanRugbyTighthead]

05:10 PM on 04/14/2011

I work as a pro editor as well. FCP is the defacto go to NLE because of price. To compare FCP to Avid DS is the equivalent of comparing a Yugo with a Ferrari.

[DRaymond]

02:48 PM on 04/13/2011

Wow, 64 bit, can handle 8 core processors?

Wow, that brings them all the way up to where Avid and Vegas were a couple of years ago.

Color correct me to unimpressed.

[theveggiedude]

08:38 PM on 04/13/2011

No, it can automatically scale up to use *any* amount of processors in your machine. There is no reason now to pay big bucks for Avid or Vegas when you can buy this, and the top of the line Macintosh and still save many $1000's.

[KevinCasey filmcritic]

12:39 PM on 04/13/2011

It's a sexy platform. However, nothing connects you with the medium like a good ol' Steenbeck flatbed!

[DaneAZ]

09:42 PM on 04/13/2011

Coolest comment.

[arthurvibert]

12:37 AM on 04/14/2011

I'm a KEM man, myself!

[Stuzzadelic]

12:14 PM on 04/13/2011

Don't care for Final Cut much. Avid Media Composer all the way.

[garumphul]

11:35 AM on 04/13/2011

Wow. Apple catching up to 64-bit is news now?

No mention of Microsoft releasing an IE10 preview or Windows 8 running on ARM... but Apple farting is headline news.

[CaptainObvvious]

05:53 PM on 04/13/2011

You read it.

Putting more money into HuffPosts pocket.

People read Apple news so they post it... Take it up with the complaints department that you think they should post news nobody will read and nobody cares about... I am sure they will get right on it.

[theveggiedude]

08:42 PM on 04/13/2011

Don't forget that Windows currently 'only' supports 127 GB RAM while Apple's Snow Leopard supports 16 TB. With that in mind, this is a big deal because FCP is fully 64-bit (not just partial) and now supports Grand Central.

[garumphul]

09:22 PM on 04/14/2011

Your figures are wrong - as expected from an Apple fanboy.

Windows 7 Professional supports 192GB and 2008 Server supports 2TB. The HPC version supports the full 64-bit address space, which is way up in the exabyte range.

All of which is entirely irrelevant when a top-of-the-line i7 has a maximum address space of 24GB. You've got to get up to a Xeon before TB ranges are even supported by the hardware.

16TB is a theoretical maximum. Let me assure you that NOBODY is going to run an iToy on a system with anywhere *close* to 16TB.

[baxtron]

10:30 AM on 04/13/2011

give birth to more commercial boring scripts so that everyone can produce bad video.

[Guy Incognito]

10:44 PM on 04/13/2011

For $1300, you too can create the next 'Keyboard Cat'...