
Our Final Cut Pro X tutorials are now updated to reflect 10.0.6! See this article for a list of Final Cut Pro X tutorials that have been updated and/or replaced in the 10.0.6 release:
Since its initial release, Final Cut Pro X has become the fastest evolving, most often updated non-linear editing application on the market, thanks to the App Store and a very admirable team of developers who aren’t afraid to break new ground. The update version reviewed here is 10.0.6, the most sweeping update so far.
This release has a lot of new features and enhancements. I’ll look briefly at the major ones in normal workflow order. Refer to the users manual for details as there is too much to cover in this article.
This update consolidates “Import Files” and “Import From Camera” into one window with Command-I. The sidebar categorizes Cameras, Devices, Camera Archives and Favorites. For camera cards, you can switch between List and Filmstrip views, plus simultaneous multiple range selections.
10.0.6 now features improved and streamlined import features. (The video in this image was used in the iOS game, Bucket Dan).
Edit your REDCODE RAW footage natively with RED ROCKET support. Access non-destructive RAW adjustments via the adjustment HUD which reads and writes to the RMD metadata file. Alternatively, edit from ProRes or Proxy files and export back out full resolution ProRes files with the simplest on/offline workflow available. Download the FCP X plugin at http://www.red.com.
Native REDCODE RAW support.
Ranges in the Browser are remembered when you leave and return later to a clip. You can also select multiple ranges in the Event Browser. Click and drag to select a range as normal, then hold the Command key while clicking and dragging a second section, and third, and fourth, etc. Keyword, tag, edit to timeline multiple ranges in a single long clip at one time by highlighting one or more of the multiple ranges.
Event Browser Multiple Ranges.
In the Window menu select “Show Event Viewer” (Control-Command-3). This brings up a second viewer window to the left of the regular Viewer. This new “Event Viewer” shows clips selected in the Event Browser and has options to show scopes, angles, fields, alpha channels, action/title safe guides and full screen preview. When using a dual computer monitor setup, the “Show Viewers on Second Display” option shows both side by side.
We can now change video scopes from being horizontally split from the video preview, to being vertically split.
Switching between horizontal to vertical split video scope orientation is now possible.
10.0.6 gives us nicer playhead behavior. Clicking inside of a clip only selects that clip, leaving the Playhead where it is. Clicking on the Timeline Ruler or in an empty space in the Timeline will jump the Playhead to that location. Holding the Option key while clicking does the opposite.
When holding the Tilde (~) key while moving a Primary Storyline clip that has a Connected Clip attached to it, or if you delete it, slip it, trim it, move it, the Connected Clip no longer moves or vanishes. Tilde essentially means “stay connected to the Primary Storyline, not a specific clip” and has an unmistakable orange and black icon showing “no stem involved”.
Deleting the Primary Storyline clip with the tilde key allows the Connected Clip to not move, reconnecting to whatever ripples into place. If no other clip is available during a ripple edit it invokes a Gap Clip.
In addition to the familiar “Hold Frame” in the Retiming menus, place the playhead or skimmer on frame. In the Edit menu, “Add (or Connect) Freeze Frame” (Option-F) creates a 4 second still in the Timeline. Performing this in the Browser offers to create a connected clip. In the Timeline it does an Insert Edit with the new clip.
A new second Freeze Frame option
When you create a marker and open the Marker Edit window there’s now a third option for Chapter Markers, with a unique yellow marker icon. Upon export, chapter markers add chapter marker metadata to .mp4, .mov, .m4v export formats, including the name you give it in the marker edit window.
Chapter markers apply to DVD output files as well, with a Thumbnail Pin that you can place on any frame of your Timeline, assigning that frame as the image it adopts in your DVD chapter menu. Chapter Markers can even act as subtitles with DVD output.
Chapter markers come with a third useful option.
Old function, new look. Copy a clip in the Timeline and in the Edit menu we now have Paste Attributes (Shift-Command-V). This will bring up a much prettier version of the Paste Attributes window from legacy FCP. You know exactly what’s going from what to where and you can select all or only individual video and audio attributes that include: color, crop, distort, spatial conform, transform (position, rotation, scale, anchor), compositing, filter attributes, volume, and pan including any keyframes assigned to those attributes.
There is also the option to force keyframes of the selected attributes with to keep their original timing, or “Stretch To Fit” the timing of the new clip.
The new paste attributes are a welcome addition to FCP X!
This is one of the most amazing enhancements of 10.0.6. Once we configure a Browser clip’s audio channels in the Inspector’s Audio tab, then drop it into a Timeline, you can right-click the clip and chose “Expand Audio Components” (Command-Option-S). This spreads out all enabled audio channels in the Timeline so you can edit each one independently: volume, pan, EQ, filters, slip, trim, etc. You can select a range in one channel, hit ”V” to mute only that range. Enabling and disabling the clip’s channels in the Inspector updates in the Timeline. The number of audio channels in a clip is an option for columns, too.
Create a Multiclip, edit it in a Project Timeline, then in the Inspector for each individual shot inside your edited Multiclip, you can turn on or off and configure the audio channels of ALL clips for that one edited angle. In the Timeline you can see all enabled channels for that shot.
Possibly the marque feature of the 10.0.6 update is multichannel audio editing.
Selecting a Range in a Timeline or Browser causes only that range to export. The Share menu is now available in the File menu, or a button at the far right of the Tool Bar. It’s got a new look, gives more information including estimated file sizes, device compatibility and more. Customize your Share options in the Preferences “Destination” tab. Create custom export “Bundles” to export to multiple destinations at once. No more Share Monitor, exporting is a background task and GPU accelerated. There is even an “Open With” function that opens your exported file(s) in any other app.
There's new export enhancements.
With limited space for this review here are some of the other new enhancements. We'll jump into specific features in upcoming articles right here on MPVHub.
The 10.0.6 update is the largest so far and shows FCP X is a professional, fully featured, groundbreaking NLE that is constantly evolving, getting better and faster. Though much needed network collaboration is still painfully lacking, this update is evidence that Apple is moving in the right direction. It will be exciting to see what the next twelve months brings.
Ben Balser studied educational psychology at Loyola University, and after retiring from a 20+ year IT career, now produces, consults, teaches, and rents equipment for media production as a full time job. As an Apple Certified Master Trainer, he ran the Louisiana Cajun Cutters FCP user group for 8 years, taught post-production at Louisiana State University and has lead their annual teen filmmaking bootcamp. He teaches currently for AATC facilities across the USA and for The Orchard Solutions. He has consulted for higher education, government, broadcast and private production facilities.
I love playing with FCPX but, sadly, I am still waiting for FCPX/Motion round-tripping before I can convert my studios workflow to X. Looks like I will have to wait a bit longer now.