Apple Today Releases Overhauled Final Cut Pro X

Apple today released Final Cut Pro X, the latest version of video-editing software geared for professionals from a company increasingly focused on mainstream consumers.

Final Cut Pro X is a follow-up to Final Cut Pro 7, software Apple released in 2009 as part of Final Cut Studio. The new $299.99 version is a complete 64-bit rewrite of Final Cut, absorbing abilities from several of the software programs that are included in the Studio suite.

Like Apple's upcoming release of Mac OS X Lion, Final Cut Pro X will only be available to customers through the Mac App Store, the digital storefront the company rolled out to Snow Leopard users back in January. That means any new updates get delivered through the Mac App Store app, and users can install a copy on any of their authorized computers.
A look at Final Cut Pro X

Apple said the software "completely reinvents video editing with a Magnetic Timeline that lets you edit on a flexible, trackless canvas; Content Auto-Analysis that categorizes your content upon import by shot type, media and people; and background rendering that allows you to work without interruption."

The application debuted in a demonstration at a Final Cut user group event alongside the National Association of Broadcasters show in Las Vegas in April, but Apple kept mum on further details. A report from Japanese Mac blog Macotakara last week correctly pegged the release of Final Cut Pro X as happening sometime this week.

Among its new features is a tool that detects when are people in shots, as well as what type of shots those are--close-up, medium, or wide-angle. Apple had added both those features to the most recent version of iMovie, and they're not the only iMovie carry-over. Apple has also brought "skimming," the feature that lets people preview the content of a clip just by moving their mouse across it.

The software uses a design that can take advantage of multicore processors and increasingly powerful graphics chips as well. The software requires a Mac with an Intel Core 2 Duo processor or better, at least 2GB of memory, and an OpenCL-compatible graphics system with at least 256MB of video memory, and Mac OS X 10.6.7.