When I first wrote my book I wrote based on version 10.0.2. Since then there have been a great many changes. My second book Final Cut Pro X Beyond the Basics was based on version 10.1.2, and of course that too was soon superseded. My third book, really the second edition of the original book, From iMovie to Final Cut Pro X, was based on the early version of 10.3, as will be the second edition of Beyond the Basics. 

Details of these many changes in the application can be found on these pages. There have been upgrades and updates on a regular basis since FCPX was first released in 2011. Upgrades are significant enhancements or changes in the application and appear here in bold. Updates have included minor enhancements and bug fixes, some of which I haven’t even listed. Here they are in reverse order, the newest upgrade at the top with with its updates directly below it. 

November2024: Final Cut Pro 11 was released.

The application finally drops the old 10 point numbering scheme. This major version of FCP introduces Transcription to Captions. With the clip selected in the Timeline, you can use either Edit>Options>Transcribe to Captions or right-click on the clip and select Transcribe to Captions.  It’s also in the Enhancement menu under the Viewer, or Shift-Cmd-C. Like most Apple Intelligence features, this requires Apple Silicon and macOS Sequoia.

The other big feature is the Magnetic Mask to isolate something in the shot and remove the background. Magnetic Mask is in the Effects browser in the Mask and Keying category. There is also a Magnetic Mask in color effects such as Color Wheels. 

There are also workflow enhancements. Option-Down Arrow and Options-Up Arrow to move timeline clips vertically, up or down. Shift-Cmd-+ or Shift-Cmd- - increases and decreases the track height. Shift-Z fits the project to the timeline window horizontally. Now Shift-Opt-Z fits the project vertically in the timeline.  There are now functions to hide selected clips in the browser. Also, when creating a multicam clip, the hide selected clips is on by default and will hide the clips contained in the multicam. 

You can now create projects at high frame rates, such as 90fps, 100fps, or 120fps. When you make a new project, from the Video popup, you can select Custom. This will include high frame rate options. There are a number of new keyboard shortcuts and workflow enhancements.

Another important  feature is the ability to edit Spatial Video for Vision Pro. 

24: Final Cut Pro 11 was released.

June 2024: Final Cut Pro 10.8 was released.

About seven months after the last full point release Apple pushed out Final Cut Pro 10.8. (I don’t know why they didn’t drop the 10.) It has a number of interesting features, but not a great advancement. AI-based Enhance Light and Color is the headliner. It’s added to a new Color Adjustments effect. Unlike earlier auto color corrections, Enhance has visible manual controls to make adjustments to automatic changes. You can also rename any effects in the Inspector and, a long awaited features, the ability to drag an effect from the Inspector onto a clip in Timeline. There are new advanced search and filtering in the Timeline Index. It does require a library update, but keeps the same system requirements as the previous version.

November 2023: Final Cut Pro 10.7 was released.

More than two years after the last point release a modest, “major” upgrade is released. 10.7 features timeline collapsing, letting the user select items above or below the primary storyline and combining them into secondary storylines. It allows the user to clean up the project timeline. The process trims overlapping stacked clips with the upper clip taking precedence. If you break apart the secondary timeline the clips will still be clipped and appear in a single layer. Extended, overlapped is not trimmed however, except at the head of the storyline. The new version also has automatic timeline scrolling that keeps the playhead centered in the Timeline. A third feature is the ability to show video role colors in the Timeline. Previously the audio role color would take precedence, but now if you switch the Timeline to display audio lanes the video clips will show their assigned video role color. Systems on Apple Silicon with Sonoma or later now have export segmentation to use multiple cores when exporting to HEVC or H.264. The feature really works best on long form projects. Perhaps this will be the last 10.x version, and Final Cut Pro will finally be able to move on to version 8.

October 2021: Final Cut Pro 10.6 was released.

The principal new features are motion tracking and controls for iPhone’s Cinematic Mode. It requires macOS Big Sur 11.5.1 or later. Cinematic Mode requires macOS Monterey. Compressor is also updated with watch folders for automatic encoding and compression. It’s also capable of handling Cinematic Mode files using Monterey. Click here for more information about these updates. 10.6.1, a desperately needed update with bug fixes, was released a month later.

10.6.2 was released in April, 2022 with two significant new features: Dupe Detection and Voice Isolation. There’s more on this here. Less than a month later the 10.6.3 update was released to fix bugs that appeared in 10.6.2. This was followed in August with a 10.6.4 update that fixed a playback and export issue that plagued M1 Max and Ultra systems. In late October, 2022, with the release of macOS 13 Ventura, version 10.6.5 was released with some bug fixes and performance enhancements for Apple silicon systems. The new version can still run 10.6.3 libraries without updating them. Oddly, Ventura will no longer run version 10.5.4, though it will run version 10.4.10.

10.6.6 was released on May 23, 2023 in conjunction with the subscription service Final Cut Pro for iPad. It includes of course libraries from iPad FCP, Automatic Color Conform for mixing HDR and SDR media, a Scene Removal keyer that works well for material shot specifically for it. There are also new titles and generators, enhanced ProRes RAW tools, HEVC export, and a number of bug fixes. This is the first version since 10.6.3 that requires a library update and comes with Pro Video Formats 2.2.5. Two months later a bug fix version 10.6.7 was released, with updates for Compressor, Motion, and  Pro Video Formats 2.2.6. It also was a version that needed a library update.  There were major bugs in 10.6.7, which required an update two weeks later: 10.6.8. In mid-September Apple released 10.6.9, which included support for log video from iPhone 15. It does not require a library update, so libraries from 10.6.7 will still work. I does however require a later version of macOS Ventura for later. 10.6.10 was released two weeks later with some bug fixes.  

November 2020: Final Cut Pro 10.5 was released.                         

Despite its point number it was not a major upgrade (probably should have been 10.4.11). The update was primarily to optimize performance for Apple silicon machines and enhancements to social media project duplication. One feature is ability to duplicate a library and create proxies for the duplicated project. The application requires Catalina 10.15.7 or Big Sur and comes with a new iOS shaped logo. The X in Final Cut Pro X has been dropped. It’s now just Final Cut Pro.!0.5.1 contained some bug fixes and the removal of direct export to Facebook and YouTube. Vimeo of course has its own upload application as a watch folder on the Mac.10.5.2 was bug fixes and stability. 10.5.3 in June 2021 introduced the Column Editor to customize the Browser column layouts and save custom layouts like the Commands Editor. It also enhanced Browser search and filter features.

December 2017: 10.4 released. Advanced Color Correction. 360 VR. HEVC. HDR. Check it out here.

10.4.1 released in April 2018 introduced ProRes RAW and ProRes RAW HQ as well as built-in Closed Captioning and a number of bug fixes. Read about it here.

10.4.4 released in November 2018 is another major update with application extensions, batch export, video noise reduction, timecode window, comparison viewer, and more. You can find an overview of the new features here.

10.4.5 released in late January 2019 for performance enhancements and minor bug fixes. About two months later 10.4.6 was released, the 30th version of the software.

With the release of macOS 10.15 Catalina, Apple released 10.4.7. This contained performance improvements aimed at the Mac Pro and Pro Display, enhanced HDR color correction, and some important bug fixes. The application was not supported in High Sierra. 10.4.8 was released about two months later together with macOS 10.15.2 for bug fixes and performance improvements.

In August 2020 Final Cut Pro 10.4.9 was released with important enhancements to proxy workflows, automatic vertical and square project adaptation, ProRes RAW, audio cross fades and more. There were also updates for Compressor and Motion as well as for Pro Video Formats in Software Updates. An overview of the new features to 10.4.9 can be found here. A month later 10.4.10 was released with bug fixes. This update does not require a library update.

Oct. 2016: 10.3 is a complete redesign of the FCP interface and adds important features for Roles and Workspaces. Check it all out starting here.

10.3.1 through 10.3.3 are mainly bug fixes, the first principally fixing major failures in the Spanish language version, while the second fixes a number of other important bugs and improves performance, such as dragging elements in the Timeline. 10.3.3, in addition to some bug fixes, includes a horizontally expandable Inspector and more Roles colors. 10.3.4 fixes some annoying bugs.

April 2015: 10.2 is available. It requires Yosemite 10.10.2 or later. Click here for information about the upgrade.

10.2.2 adds native support for XAVC-L and AVC Intra 4444 plus additional Canon support. There are bug fixes and also the option to export interlaced H.264 both from FCP and Compressor. Also, the text box in the Title inspector is once again resizable.

10.2.3 comes four months after 10.2.2 and is another bug fix version, which does not update the FCP libraries. It does include some new features, whose main improvements can be seen here. There are also updates for Motion and Compressor.

Dec. 2013: The most important upgrade to the application foundation is in 10.1.

10.1.2 has arrived with some great new features.

Oct. 2012: For new features in 10.0.6 start here.

The 10.0.7-10.0.9 updates are interim versions with bug fixes, though a few really useful keyboard shortcuts have appeared in 10.0.8 along with Log support for Alexa cameras and support for Sony’s XAVC.

Jan. 2012: Instruction for Multicam editing in 10.0.3

Other New Features in 10.0.3 and 10.0.4

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JNov 28, 2024