Apple Final Cut Pro X Released

Apple has released Final Cut Pro X, the latest version of the company's professional video editing app. Available for download immediately from the Mac App Store, where it's priced at $299.99, Final Cut Pro X introduces a new Magnetic Timeline which allows for easier placement and rearrangement of clips, rather than the strict timeline in previous versions of the app. There's also two new companion apps, Motion 5 for professional motion graphics and Compressor 4 for advanced media encoding, which are available as individual downloads priced at $49.99 each.

Apple has also introduced Content Auto-Analysis, which scans imported media and tags it automatically; Final Cut Pro X uses those tags to sort clips into Smart Collections, with close-ups, medium and wide shots separated out as well as common characters grouped together. It's also possible to group clips in the Magnetic Timeline, using the new Clip Connections feature, so that titles and sound effects are kept in-sync even if the footage is shuffled around. Related story elements can be grouped into a Compound Clip and global edits made.

Using Auditions, collections of clips can be flipped between so as to make deciding the best take more straightforward. Processing is meant to be faster and less intrusive, too, with Final Cut Pro X built for 64-bit systems, taking advantage of multi-threaded processors and whatever GPU is available, and background rendering so that you can continue to use your Mac even as footage is being processed. Apple has also thrown in a ColorSync-managed color pipeline to make sure that they're consistent all the way through.

Various audio editing tools and color correction functionality is baked in, and of course there's Motion 5 and Compressor 4 available too.