Apple updated Final Cut Pro to version 10.7 and included a number of new features (link).
Here are three that are especially useful.
AUTOMATIC TIMELINE SCROLLILNG
The timeline now moves as you play a project. However, this feature is turned off by default. To enable it, go to Preferences > Playback and check the box indicated by the right red arrow above.
What’s nice about this feature is that the cursor starts on the left side of the timeline. When it reaches the middle, scrolling begins. When the end of the project is visible on the right side of the timeline, scrolling stops.
Very smooth and totally intuitive.
CLEAN UP TIMELINE
The new “Collapse to Connected Storyline” feature collapses a group of selected clips into a connected storyline. Unselected clips are not affected.
NOTE: The collapsed clips play EXACTLY the same as the uncollapsed clips, including transitions and effects.
First, select the clips you want to consolidate. At least two of the selected clips must overlap vertically. The selection can’t contain audio-only clips.
NOTE: If none of the selected items overlap, you can choose Clip > Create Storyline (shortcut: Cmd + G).
Once the clips are selected, choose Edit > Collapse to Connected Storyline (shortcut: Shift + Cmd + Down Arrow).
The clips are collapsed into a connected storyline, but any overlaps are replaced with cuts. The clip on top always overwrites any selected clips under it.
Think of this as a clean-up or organizational tool. There is no playback difference between collapsed and uncollapsed clips.
ACCELERATED H.264 AND HEVC EXPORTS
On supported systems, that is, Apple silicon computers with more than one media engine, you can speed up exporting H.264 and HEVC projects using “export segmentation.”
What this means is that, “when your project is approximately 3 minutes or longer, the ‘Allow export segmentation’ option becomes available in the Share window and is selected by default.” (Apple help)
NOTE: You can monitor the progress of simultaneous processing in the Background Task window.
Simultaneous processing requires macOS Sonoma or later and a Mac with Apple M1 Max, M1 Ultra, M2 Max, M2 Ultra, or M3 Max. HEVC HLG Dolby Vision 8.4 is not supported.
NOTE: The reason I can’t show a screen shot of this menu item is that I’m writing this week’s newsletter on an M1 Pro MacBook Pro, which only has one media engine.
6 Responses to Three New Features in Apple Final Cut Pro 10.7
Hi Larry, Thanks for this – really useful as always.
I want to make sure I understand the advantage of the new collapsed clips function over creating compound clips. Am I right in thinking that this is really an “aesthetic” timeline clean-up whereas compound clips retain the structure of the edits to more easily re-adjust from within the compound clips?
Secondly, does the scrolling timeline slow things down in playback (iMacPro 2018). When I tried using Command Post to do this, it played havoc with my system and juddered terribly, so I abandoned it.
Also, are you ready to recommend us to upgrade to 10.7 or do we need to wait for bugs to become apparent?
Thanks a lot,
Adam.
Adam:
You are correct – this is an “aesthetic” trim. Compound clips provide much greater flexibility. The big advantage to collapsing the timeline is if you are moving the project to another NLE that doesn’t support – or doesn’t easily work with – compound clips. Another advantage is that it helps organize a timeline where clips are scattered across multiple layers. It makes it much easier to see which clip is doing what.
Larry
I hate to be the complainer but as a long time user of FCPX since FC Studio 2, I am really getting impatient for more AI features found in Premiere and Davinci Resolve or even programs like Capcut. While these features in 10.7 are welcome, I would rather see something like an automatic transcription and edit by text/transcription. It doesn’t make sense to me why FCPX isn’t leading this feature especially with Siri integration.
Jeff:
Yup – this slow pace of development puzzles me, too.
Larry
I don’t understand the big “Rah! Rah!” for the “new” scrolling timeline in 10.7. Other major NLEs have had this for many years, and FCP users could install Command Post to add this capability to FCP.
Bill:
Smile…. It isn’t a big “rah-rah.”
More like a big “Well, finally!”
Larry