Final Cut Pro is a professional, non-linear video-editing application developed by Apple, designed to help users create, edit, and produce high-quality video content with ease and precision.
What Final Cut Pro Does
Final Cut Pro is a comprehensive tool for video editors, allowing them to import, edit, and finalize videos in various formats, from standard-definition to 8K resolution, including ProRes, ProRes RAW, and other major professional camera formats. It supports the editing of immersive 360° video, high-dynamic-range (HDR) content, and even footage recorded in Cinematic mode on iPhones.Key Features and Functionality
Editing and Timeline Management
- Magnetic Timeline: This feature allows users to assemble clips in a way that fluidly adjusts adjacent clips to eliminate gaps, collisions, and sync problems. Users can move, trim, and reorder clips without disrupting the timeline.
- Compound Clips: Users can bundle video and audio clips into a single, movable package, which can be opened in its own timeline or broken apart for further editing.
- Multicam Editing: Final Cut Pro supports the automatic synchronization of up to 64 angles of video with different formats, frame sizes, and frame rates. Users can view up to 16 angles at once and edit individual clips within the timeline.
Organization and Workflow
- Metadata and Smart Collections: Users can tag clips and clip ranges with metadata for easy searching and create Smart Collections that automatically collect content based on custom criteria.
- Workflow Extensions: The application integrates with third-party apps and services, such as Frame.io for review and approval, Shutterstock for stock footage, and CatDV for enhanced media asset management.
Visual Effects and Color Grading
- Advanced Color Grading: Final Cut Pro includes multiple color-correction tools such as color wheels, sliders, curves, and video scopes. It also supports HDR editing and tone mapping for viewing HDR content on Mac displays.
- Visual Effects and Transitions: The software offers over 300 built-in special effects, transitions, and generators. Users can create studio-quality 2D and 3D titles, apply filters, and use tools like chroma key for blue- and green-screen effects.
Audio and Captioning
- Unlimited Audio Tracks: Users can manage multiple audio tracks, including dialogue, voiceover tracks, and music, and arrange them into separate audio lanes in the timeline.
- Closed Captions: Final Cut Pro allows users to create and import closed captions directly in the timeline, supporting various formats without the need for third-party software.
Performance and Hardware Utilization
- GPU-Accelerated Processing: The application is optimized for Metal and can utilize external GPUs, leading to significant speed improvements in rendering times, especially on high-end Macs like the Mac Pro.
- Multithreading: Final Cut Pro can spread tasks across multiple CPU cores, supporting up to six streams of 8K ProRes RAW and achieving up to 2.7x faster render speeds on the Mac Pro.
Additional Features
- 360° Video Editing: Users can import, edit, and play back 360° equirectangular video in various formats and frame sizes.
- Auditions: This feature allows users to group clips together and choose between different versions of a cut while the timeline automatically adjusts.
- Tracking and Retiming: Final Cut Pro enables users to track moving objects in clips and apply cinematic fast-motion, slow-motion, and variable-speed effects.