As announced and discussed on the Wetpixel forums, Apple released a long-awaited update to Final Cut Pro X (FCPX) just before Christmas. Version 10.1 is a free update for those that have already purchased the App, and is available via the App Store or via the Apple FCP support pages. It is also worth mentioning that Motion and Compressor were also updated to versions 5.1 and 4.1 respectively.

FCPX has provoked a great deal of debate since its original release, and the moniker “iMovie Pro” is perhaps a good way of looking at it. Certainly, 10.1 does not seem to have impressed the editing community significantly, although most agree that it is a step in the right direction.

Part of the rationale behind the upgrade seems to be in order to leverage the power of the new Mac Pro desktop computer that was also announced. Although there is no doubt that FCPX 10.1 will work very well with the new hardware, it is worth noting that other vendors software is not (yet) so optimized.

One critical issue for those upgrading to version 10.1 is to disable the App Nap function. Failure to do so will result in FCP not carrying out any background rendering. Full details on how to do so are below:

One of the key new features of the 10.1 update is the addition of Libraries. These act as containers for Events, which in turn contain footage, music, effects and projects. Ripple Training has published a series of primers on upgrading to and using 10.1 onto YouTube, and their episode about libraries is below:

The full list of updates and new features in FCP 10.1 is below:

• Optimized playback and rendering using dual GPUs in the new Mac Pro.
• Video monitoring up to 4K via Thunderbolt 2 and HDMI on select Mac computers.
• 4K content including titles, transitions, and generators.
• Libraries allow you to gather multiple events and projects within a single bundle.
• Easily open and close individual libraries to load just the material you need.
• Option to import media to locations inside or outside a library.
• Automatically back up libraries to a user-specified drive or network location.
• Project Snapshots let you quickly capture the project state for fast versioning.
• Audio fade handles on individual audio channels in the timeline.
• Add precise retime speeds by entering them numerically in the timeline.
• Non-rippling retime option.
• One-step Replace and Retime.
• Custom project frame sizes.
• Through edits displayed on all clip types.
• Join Through Edit command removes bladed cuts to clips in the timeline.
• Detach audio from Multicam Clips in the timeline to manipulate audio and video separately.
• Make video or audio-only edits into the timeline with Multicam Clips as sources.
• Blade and move audio in J- and L-cuts.
• Roll audio with J- and L-cut splits open.
• Option to hide the Browser to gain more screen space for viewing.
• Native support for .MTS and .MT2S files from AVCHD cameras.
• Used media indicators on source clips.
• Improved performance with large projects.
• Improved performance when modifying or adding keywords to many clips at once.
• Easily move, copy, and paste multiple keyframes.
• Option for linear animation with Ken Burns effect.
• Improved image stabilization with InertiaCam and Tripod mode.
• Import photos from iOS devices.
• Proxy and playback quality controls accessible in Viewer menu.
• Support for portrait/landscape metadata in still images.
• Effects parameters, fonts, and text size included in XML metadata.
• Improved support for growing media and edit while ingest.
• FxPlug 3 with custom plug-in interfaces and dual-GPU support.
• API for custom Share operations using third-party software.
• Share directly to YouTube at 4K resolution.
• Share directly to Chinese video sites Youku and Tudou.
• Spanish language localization.

For those who use Motion, that also got an update to 5.1 which included:

• Optimized playback and rendering using dual GPUs in the new Mac Pro.
• FxPlug 3 with custom plug-in interfaces and dual-GPU support.
• Faster project loading, especially for complex projects.
• Share directly to YouTube at 4K resolution.
• Spanish language localization.

Compressor got a few additions as well:

• New interface with a single-window layout and streamlined controls.
• Preset Destinations for common encoding tasks.
• Simplified setup for distributed encoding.