'Rig' feature makes appearance

Pre-release screenshots depict Motion 5 and other aspects of Final Cut Pro X, according to an AppleInsider tip. The software is due to ship later this month for $299, but Apple has remained extremely quiet about the software; even Apple's official Final Cut page has no hint of the upcoming product. Some of the leaked screenshots show a new "rig" function in Motion, though what exactly this entails hasn't been made clear.

One of the most anticipated features of Pro X is actually support for multi-core processing, since video editing is an extremely CPU- and/or GPU-intensive task, on par with 3D rendering or games. The suite will also be expected to handle 4K resolutions, and tasks like simultaneous editing and import. Other planned features include face and shot detection, image stabilization, and automatic color balance based on ColorSync.

For various reasons, Apple could be waiting until after this week's WWDC to ship the suite. The event has seen the introductions of OS X Lion, iOS 5 and iCloud, which would likely leave Final Cut buried in terms of publicity. The software could also be unfinished, even though Apple has had a relatively long time to develop it.

by MacNN Staff