Final Cut Pro X 10.0.1 adds promised fixes
updated 12:10 pm EDT, Tue September 20, 2011
Free 30-day trial being made available
Apple says it has released Final Cut Pro X 10.0.1, a long-awaited update to the company's professional video editing software. The upgrade adds several promised features, including XML import and export of both project and event information. The addition should make it possible for Final Cut to be better integrated with outside software. Apple’s director of pro video product marketing, Richard Townhill, notes that companies like Blackmagic and Square Box have been experimenting with beta versions of the new XML interchange and integrating into existing programs, like BlackMagic's DaVinci.
"Final Cut Pro X is [no longer] an island," says Townshill. "It works and plays well with others… we have a healthy network of third-party developers, and are very excited about what they’re going to do."
Another improvement is intelligent stem export from project timelines using a feature called Roles. By applying tags to content, such as "Dialogue" or "Sound Effects," material can be selectively exported without having to disable and then re-enable tracks. This should help in collaboration, particularly as Pro X now supports Xsan, Apple's storage area network platform.
Other additions include timecode start customization, GPU acceleration for export, a fullscreen mode in OS X Lion, and a camera import SDK designed to ensure Pro X-compatible hardware. Townhill admits, however, that several promised features have yet to be implemented, above all multicam editing and broadcast video monitoring. He elaborates that Apple is "fully committed" to adding the options in a 2012 update.
In an unusual twist, Apple is trying to win back alienated editors with a 30-day free trial. The software does not overwrite any Final Cut Studio installation, and Apple has in fact prepared a PDF booklet introducing Pro X to Pro 7 editors.
Shortly after launch, the initial version of Pro X was widely derided by professional video editors, including even those for Conan O'Brien, who put together an internationally-aired comedy sketch.
Grizzled Veteran
Joined: Oct 1999
Little Fixed
Sorry but Apple have NOT "fixed" much of what is wrong with FCPX. Adding new unwanted features that continue to insist that the way we've worked for twenty years is wrong and Apple is right just doesn't cut it. Apple seem to have completely misinterpreted the criticisms in relation to XML support to the extent that this update suggests that Apple are now completely deaf to the requirements of professionals. The 30 day trial is for the kiddies that Apple are now targeting since they became a consumer retail toy company.