Apple Updates Final Cut Pro, Motion & Compressor

Apple released upgrades for its three media applications Oct. 18, 2021. Here are the details, according to Apple’s release notes.

While it is always fun to get new features, I’m especially impressed at the number of problems that were fixed.

NOTE: These are released as “Universal” applications. This means that all features work on both Intel and Apple silicon computers. All apps require macOS 11.5.1 or later.

APPLE FINAL CUT PRO 10.6

Object Tracker

• Drag effects, titles, or generators into the viewer to automatically detect, track, and match the movement of faces or objects using machine learning.
• Manually add a tracker from the inspector, adjust its mask shape, and choose between different tracking analysis types.
• Use the Tracking Editor in the timeline to quickly delete or re-analyze segments of an existing track.
• Attach additional titles or generators to existing tracks using the tracker source drop-down in the viewer.
• Object tracking uses the Apple Neural Engine to accelerate video analysis on Mac computers with Apple silicon.

Cinematic Mode

• Edit videos recorded with iPhone 13 in Cinematic mode (requires macOS Monterey).
• Use Cinematic controls in the inspector to modify the intensity of the depth effect, and add keyframes to change the effect over time.
• Choose to focus on faces or other objects by selecting them with the Cinematic tool in the viewer.
• Use the Cinematic Editor in the timeline to view or delete focus points.

Final Cut Pro 10.6 also includes these additional fixes and enhancements:

• New Neon effect adds a glow to text and graphics.
• Improves stability when duplicating a project.
• Improves stability when selecting a library in the sidebar on Mac computers with Apple silicon.
• Improves stability when performing a trim during double speed playback.
• Improves stability when removing a through edit within a compound clip.
• Improves performance when using Avid DNxHD and DNxHR media with the Avid Universal decoder on Mac computers with Apple silicon.
• Improves stability when using the RED RAW Settings tool with multiple RED RAW clips and images selected.
• Improves stability when drawing a shape mask in the viewer.
• Improves reliability when choosing between multiple GPUs in Final Cut Pro Preferences on Mac Pro (2019).
• Fixes an issue where a custom camera LUT could be ignored during a render or export.
• Fixes an issue where a ProRes 4444 file lost its alpha channel after export.
• Fixes an issue where scroll bars were not persistent when choosing to always show scroll bars in System Preferences.
• Fixes an issue where thumbnails were not generated for some clips in the browser or timeline.
• Fixes an issue where custom role colors would not change after choosing Undo.
• Improves appearance of animation paths when using the transform tool.
• Audio skimming (Shift-F) now toggles on and off when using the keyboard arrow keys to step through frames.
• Fixes an issue where pops could occur during MP3 playback.
• Improves reliability of MXF audio during playback.
• Improves reliability of HE-AAC v2 audio during playback.
• Adds support for playback of Opus audio files.
• Fixes an issue where audio waveforms would not redraw after an audio level change.
• Updates FCPXML to version 1.10 with new bundle format.
• Improves reliability when importing an XML that includes closed captioning.
• Improves reliability when importing XML that contains rolling shutter or SmoothCam metadata.
• Adds support for hiding FCPXML extension during export.

Release notes.

MOTION 5.6

Object Tracker

• Select the new Object mode in the inspector to automatically detect, track, and match the movement of faces or objects using machine learning.
• Use object tracking with the Analyze Motion, Match
• Move, and Track behaviors.
• Choose between different tracking analysis types.
• Object tracking uses the Apple Neural Engine to accelerate video analysis on Mac computers with Apple silicon.

Cinematic Mode

• Edit videos recorded on iPhone 13 in Cinematic mode (Requires macOS Monterey).
• Use Cinematic controls in the inspector to modify the intensity of the depth effect, and add keyframes or behaviors to change the effect over time.
• Choose to focus on faces or other objects by selecting them using the Cinematic tool in the viewer.
• View or delete focus points in the video timeline.

Neon Filter

• Easily add a neon glow to text, shapes, video, stills, and more.

Motion 5.6 also includes these additional fixes and enhancements:

• Sets the zoom level to Fit in Window to display the whole canvas (in any Viewport configuration).
• Fixes an issue where scroll bars might not be visible when “Show scroll bars” is set to Always in General preferences.
• Fixes an issue where typing a letter in the Font pop-up menu doesn’t move the selection to that letter in the font list.
• Fixes an issue where the Refraction filter might not render correctly when you add an image to the Image well.
• Fixes an issue where changing text styles might cause Motion to quit unexpectedly.
• Fixes an issue where dragging a font to the Favorites folder in the Library might cause Motion to quit unexpectedly.
• Fixes an issue where deleting an Opacity tag in the Gradient editor might cause Motion to quit unexpectedly.
• Fixes an issue where turning the Crop checkbox on or off (in the Properties Inspector) for a layer with an applied Motion Tracking behavior might cause Motion to quit unexpectedly.
• Fixes an issue where you might be unable to rotate the track region onscreen control in the Stabilize behavior.
• Fixes an issue where scale was applied in the Unstabilize behavior when the Scale parameter was turned off in the referenced Stabilize behavior.
• Fixes an issue where referenced track points might have been lost when duplicating a shape, mask, or paint stroke with an applied Track Points behavior.
• Fixes an issue where the Four Corner parameter (in the Properties Inspector) is disabled after viewing a Motion Tracking behavior in the Inspector.
• Fixes an issue where a preview might not appear in the Inspector in Point mode tracking.
• Fixes an issue where previous tracking data might be applied after resetting a Motion Tracking behavior.
• Improves reliability when choosing tracking regions by dragging the tracker onscreen control in the canvas.
• Fixes an issue where the Match Move behavior’s four-corner settings might be lost after converting a track to keyframes.
• Fixes an issue where a Sequence Text behavior might not animate correctly when there is no keyframe on the last frame of the behavior.
• Improves reliability of the Undo command in the Time Date generator when making adjustments in the HUD.
• Fixes an issue where kerning might not be preserved when deleting a character.
• Fixes an issue where a gradient on 3D Text might render incorrectly.
• Fixes an issue where clicking Set Current Time in the Time Date generator set the time to Pacific standard time (PST) rather than the user’s local time zone.
• Improves reliability when using Color Space Override (in the Media Inspector) with projects containing ProRes RAW media files.
• Fixes an issue where an object with an applied Align To behavior might flicker during playback.
• Fixes an issue where the Concentric Shapes generator might not render HDR colors when Color Type is set to Gradient in the Generator Inspector.

Release notes.

COMPRESSOR 4.6

• Automate transcoding with watch folders and experience workstation-class performance on MacBook Pro (14-inch, 2021) or MacBook Pro (16-inch, 2021).
• Automatically encode videos that are added to selected folders in the file system.
• Play and transcode Canon Cinema RAW Light to other video codecs and formats with the Canon RAW plugin.
• Encode videos recorded with iPhone 13 in Cinematic mode (requires macOS Monterey).

Compressor 4.6 also includes these fixes and enhancements:

• Adds the ability to create captions directly within Compressor without having to import a captions file.
• Adds support for creating uncompressed TGA image sequences.
• Adds support for creating compressed TIFF image sequences.
• Improves speed and reliability when processing a batch on a cluster using manual sharing.
• Adds 7.1 and discrete audio channel layout menu options for uncompressed audio.
• Adds the ability to set a frame rate when importing images sequences.
• Adds support for multi-pass HEVC encoding on Mac computers with Apple silicon using macOS Monterey.
• Adds support for decoding H.264 10 bit 4:2:2 files and transcoding them to other formats.
• Fixes an issue where the Timecode and Preview windows would be out of sync with files from certain cameras.
• Fixes an issue where a user could not adjust the data rate of an Apple Devices preset.
• Fixes an issue in which Blu-ray disc creation may fail if the source has chapter markers and the source and output frame rates are different.
• Fixes an issue where HLG HDR video may not encode properly when adding Gamma Correction in video effects.
• Fixes an issue where clicking a successful job notification for an image sequence does not put the output folder into focus.

Release notes.