Final Cut Pro X 10.4.4 was released almost five months after the last update. It was a significant interim upgrade with some exciting enhancements. There are six important new features, application extensions, batch export, video noise reduction, caption burn, comparison viewer, and timecode window. There are a number of others interesting items as well.
Workflow Extensions
Workflow extensions is a new capability that allows developers to access FCP and integrate their software interfaces into the application while it’s running. The first developer to take advantage of this is the collaboration application, frame.io. The extensions can be accessed from a new popup button to the right of background tasks. With the extension you can move clips and projects from the frame.io interface to the FCP library. You can also move between markers and address notes and comments from collaborators in realtime. Shutterstock and CatDV, stock footage and assets management interfaces, are being made available in FCP. Keyflow Pro is also developing workflow extension support, including replacing proxies with full resolution files. Some applications, such as frame.io and Shutterstock are available from the App Store, others from the developers site.You can have multiple application extension windows open at the same time and access them from the Window menu.
Batch Share
A regular feature on wish list has been batch export. While the application has had sequential exporting without waiting, batch export allows for exporting multiple clips or projects from the Browser. It also allows for exporting clips with or without LUTs applied. Now if you select multiple clips or multiple projects you have the option in the File menu to Share x Clips or
Share x Projects to the standard or custom Destinations in FCP, or to share the batch directly to Compressor. You can also right-click on multiple selected projects and have the batch share option. If you have multiple clips selected you can use Command-E to access master file export. Selections made in clips will export separately.
You can also Batch Share using a custom bundle, which will create separate files for each clip in the custom format.
Comparison Viewer
A comparison viewer has been added to allow you to compare shots in the timeline or to act as a frame store for color correction comparison. It’s called up from Window>Show in Workspace>Comparison Viewer, or the keyboard shortcut Control-Command-6. At the top of the viewer you can select Timeline or Saved. The timeline option lets you display either the last frame of the preview clip or the first frame of the next clip. Each viewer, the project playhead and the Comparison Viewer can have its own scopes open. It’s useful to set them to vertical layout so they are underneath the viewers.
The Comparison Viewer can hold up to 30 images per library. To save a frame select Saved at the top of the Comparison Viewer and then click Save Frame at the lower right. To see all the saved frames for the library click Frame Browser in the lower left. You can also add a frame to the browser by clicking the + in the lower left of the browser. You can also save frames from the Event Browser. Additional frames are added at the top left, which seems counterintuitive to me.If you add a 31st image to the store, the oldest will automatically be deleted.Each frame is listed with the name of the project it comes from but with no other information, like clip name or timecode. To remove a frame from the Frame Browser simply select it and delete it. The saved frames don’t actually hold any color correction controls that can be referenced or copied.These are all features that can perhaps be developed further in future releases.
Video Noise Reduction
A new effect in the Basics category is Noise Reduction. This is video noise reduction, nicely done, with two popup controls to set the Amount of reduction and the Sharpness. Be careful with the latter. Even at the Low it produces hard edges, and the higher settings are quite extreme in my view. The effect processing and rendering is quite slow, but not as slow as some noise reduction effects. There’s also a separate noise reduction effect for 360 video.
Caption Burn
Quite a few users were puzzled when creating captions in FCP that the titles didn’t appear in their video. Closed Captions are a broadcast tool to create text on the screen that the viewer can switch on and off as desired. Captions are not titles. The new version of FCP allows the user to burn the captions created in the application in the finished export file. Using the Roles section of the export pane you can click on Captions and select which caption type and language you created.
Any of the three available caption types can be converted to titles on export. In addition SRT captions can be created from any CC format for Facebook and YouTube delivery.When exporting to YouTube or Vimeo there are options to embed the CC file or to burn in the CC as open captions, or both. When preparing for Facebook, there is the option to burn in the captions.
Also, exported projects with embedded CC files can be reimported, and as in the QuickTime player, the closed captions can be displayed; and by right-clicking on the files, the captions can be extracted in the FCP timeline, allowing them to be re-edit or changed to different formats.
Timecode Window
This allows you display clip and project timecode. Handy for project timecode if you want to move the window onto a secondary monitor. The clip timecode is color coded based on roles, which is useful. However, as video clips take their role color from the audio portion of the clip, it might be helpful to set up separate audio roles for video clips like B-roll. The window can also display role names. There’s a popup that let’s you set how the content is displayed.
You can also copy and paste timecode from the Timecode Window, by selecting the clip and press Command-C. The timecode under the playhead in the window is copied and can be pasted into the viewer display or elsewhere.
Other Improvements
A nice fix is that the font window in titles are fully navigable. Simply type the name of the font and you’ll be taken right to the font. Previously you could only navigate to the first letter of the font; type two letters and you were some place else.
There is improved marquee or drag selection for timeline clips in secondary storylines. Previously if you marquee selected secondary storylines, you got this.
The shelves weren’t selected. Now, if you do the same thing, the shelves themselves, and the clips they contain are selected, like this.
This makes moving groups of secondary storyline clips much easier and quicker.
Some users are getting a warning about legacy media.
This appears when you’re working with older codecs. Apple has been warning about legacy content this or some time. In the next OS in 2019 there will be absolutely no 32-bit content, which means many older codecs will be dead. Now’s the time to start converting your old media files into a ProRes format.
A new category of effects has appeared, Comic Looks, which has six tinting and posterizing effects for a comic book look.
Tiny planet effect for those working with 360 video. This allows you to create a circular view of your 360 clips in a standard rectilinear project. Select the 360 clip and in the Video inspector find Orientation where you can select Tiny Planet from the Mapping popup.
