What Features Does Apple Final Cut Pro Still Need?

Posted on May 21, 2022 by Larry

Last week, Apple released a statement responding to a petition from hundreds of Final Cut Pro editors that Apple recommit to continued, active development of Final Cut. Apple answered, in part:

“While we believe we have plans in place to help address your important feature requests, we also recognize the need to build on those efforts and work alongside you to help support your film and TV projects and keep you posted on important updates.”

NOTE: Read their entire statement here.
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For many years, Apple offered editors the ability to suggest features using the “Provide Feedback to Apple” form in Final Cut Pro. However, this form presents several problems:

Apple never responds to suggestions made using this form. So we have no idea whether anyone in decision-making authority at Apple actually reads these.

NOTE: Apple has told me on several occasions that these are read. However, “read” and “act upon” are not the same.

When we provide feedback to Apple, we have no idea what anyone else is suggesting. We can neither agree nor disagree with the need for a specific feature.
There’s no way to reinforce how important – or unimportant – a feature is because we don’t know what’s suggested.
Apple has a long tradition of “not invented here.” If Apple engineers decide something is a good idea, it gets developed. If a user suggests a good idea, it is frequently ignored.

I created this article to begin an active and open discussion of missing features in Final Cut. If you think something needs to be added, suggest it in the comments. It’s not as good as a web-centered, multi-user database with instant vote totals. But it’s available today and gets us started.

If you have a feature, suggest it.
If you think a suggestion is good, reinforce it.
If you think a suggestion could be better, improve it.
If you think a suggestion is misguided, comment.

NOTE: All comments are moderated – so be polite. Inflammatory or off-topic comments will be removed.

My hope is to inform the Final Cut community, Apple and the advisory panel they hope to create so that the features Apple adds are actually those desired by editors.

Share this link with your friends on social media. Spread the word. Because, if there’s no interest in adding new features, that tell’s Apple something, as well.

Don’t wait for Apple to convene an advisory panel – let your voice be heard now.

LARRY’S TOP FIVE FEATURES

To get the discussion started, here are my top five feature requests for Final Cut Pro:

Scrolling timeline. As a project plays, the timeline should scroll to keep the playhead in view.
Effective speech-to-text creation, integration and editing.
Either develop an audio application specifically for mixing audio to picture or provide tighter round-trip integration with Logic Pro for audio mixing. The current audio mixing capability in Final Cut is limited and clunky. Audio mixing should be as easy in Final Cut as it is in Premiere to Audition.
Better, smoother collaboration features when editors are not on the same network. Adobe was so convinced this is an essential feature, they bought Frame.io. Perhaps include better media management and review tools.
Fix all the bugs in creating both DVD and Blu-ray Discs. The future may be downloads, but thousands of editors make their living creating physical media for clients. Burning DVDs/Blu-ray Discs in Final Cut has not worked properly since FCP X was first released. Support burning multiple movies to disk. Support custom menus. Support stories. Support multiple languages in both audio and captions.

I’m sure you have your own list. Share it in the comments and let’s get the conversation started. Spread the word.

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151 Responses to What Features Does Apple Final Cut Pro Still Need?

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Larry Jordan says:

May 22, 2022 at 5:12 am

Adam sent me this via email. I’m adding it here with his permission.
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1) Fix the SDR/HLG Waveform Monitor (WFM): That the main graticule only has gradations at 0%, 25%, 50%, 75%, and 100% is a triumph of style over function; real, proper digital-era, video-range WFMs have gradations at 10% intervals plus markers at the -7.3% & 109.1% absolute limits, and often tick marks at 5% or even 2% intervals, too.

Part of the problem may be that the WFM graticule was designed to render properly at its smallest height without crowding — though the PQ WFM fails in that test — but surely it wouldn’t be too difficult to adaptively cull detail at smaller heights. For example, step by 5s at large heights, by 10s at medium heights, and by 20s at small heights? A similar space-adaptive graticule for the PQ WFM could similarly provide more granularity when space allows and a more uncluttered overlay when space is tight.

Also, the range of -20% to 120% wastes space onscreen as nothing ever goes below roughly -8% or above 110%, aside from RGB transforms of YCbCr data which can reach ~115%. Why does the WFM display ranges that will never be used? If it ran between -8% and 116%, it would capture every detail of the signal, and fully utilize its vertical space.

2) Fix the vectorscope: the 100% and 133% scales are only useful for electronically generated colorbars, which in the digital age are only useful for lining up signals sent over an analog channel or pulled off an analog archive tape, increasingly rare occurrences. What we’re lacking is a 266% scale (e.g., a 2x gain for 75% colorbars) to line up on camera-captured printed charts from the likes of DSC Labs (the industry standard) and Gamma & Density (a Hollywood alternative).

Yes, I have a workaround — https://www.provideocoalition.com/geektip-use-an-adjustment-layer-for-a-2x-vectorscope-in-fcpx/ — but I shouldn’t have to use a workaround to replace a control every proper vectorscope has.

Also: 100% and 133%? Only a software engineer looks at vectorscope scaling that way! Proper scopes have user-oriented settings for 100% and 75% colorbar saturation, a 2x zoom for using printed 75% charts, and often a 5x or 8x zoom so you can see fine differences in white & black balances.

3) OK, this ship has long since sailed and shall never return: Why did the FCPX team allow the product to be shipped with its bins labeled “events”? Most professional editors aren’t sorting their clips based on “events”, and usually aren’t sorting based on shooting date, the default event type. What this choice of terminology does is make an editor think that FCP is intended for (a) consumers capturing vacation and birthday-party video (“iMovie Pro”), and/or (b) event videographers, an honest profession to be sure, but not one engendering the highest respect in the editing sweatshops of TV and film production. Calling bins “events” was an epic own-goal if the intent was to position FCPX as a pro-level successor to FCP Classic.

Reply
- Clayton Moore says:
  
  May 22, 2022 at 12:55 pm
  
  Scrolling timeline – yes
  
  Better audio editing integration – yes
  
  Speech-to-text creation absolutely, but that’s an opportunity (in my opinion) Apple
  has to significantly evolve its Mac OS voice command underpinnings generally, something they sadly don’t seem to have much interest in.
  
  Bins as Events is a great observation, Id not thought of it that way before, but it does seem just as Adam described it.
  
  If Apple was to post actual training as was illuded to, they should focus part of that on the part of the workflow that are a challenge for other NLE editors to understand and it could be positioned in a way so as not to be a negative.
  
  Reply
- Alan Dabreo says:
  
  May 23, 2022 at 3:02 am
  
  Have been a Logic user for years and just a few months with FCP.What intrigues me is why apple cannot implement the migrate library tool in fcp which they already do in Logic.Why cant we move the motion templates folder with a simple click to an external hard drive.For us who cant afford a huge internal storage its a REAL simple solution.I have gigs of 3rd party templates which I have had to delete because of the time motion takes to open as well as space it takes up on my 256 gb internal.
  
  Reply
Luke Pirotte says:

May 23, 2022 at 2:19 am

Restore an old feature that gave access to the Photos Library that was open at the time. Now the direct access is limited to the System Photos Library. It is really inconvenient to be forced to change the System Photos Library every time you want to access a different Photos Library.

Reply
Shaun Fothergill says:

May 23, 2022 at 2:23 am

Agree with all that’s been said and highlighted – but my NUMBER 1 issue is rendering time! Yes I know it depends on hardware/GPU/processing power & timeline content and all that. But for me just improve FCP’s rendering time….PLEASE

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Adam Scoffield says:

May 23, 2022 at 2:29 am

Hi

Here are my suggestions:

1: The magnetic timeline is of course powerful. However I think it’s important that we can attach clips not just to clips in the timeline. We should be able to pin them to a timecode (ie so they don’t ever move), and to other clips not in the main timeline. (ie titles and graphics together.

2: Compound clips: It would be good if we could ‘open’ these in their parent timeline. ie be able to edit clips within them but maintain the link to the auto in the main timeline.

3: Tighter integration with Motion. Be able to see clips to Motion, and to embed a motion file in the timeline, double clicking opens it in Motion. It is not practical to have to leave Motion projects as titles or Generators in some instances.

4: The ability to re-link effects and generators. If they have the same parameters it’s only a file path issue. Bit more tricky if it’s a different version and the parameters don’t match.

Thank you.
ADAM

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- Alex ‘4D’ Gollner says:
  
  May 24, 2022 at 9:23 am
  
  Feedback on…
  2. If Compound Clips (and Multicam clips) can be opened ‘in context’ in the timeline, it would be helpful to be able to switch to other places where these complex clips are used. For example, if a CC is being used to animate a logo, it would be helpful to see where else that logo is being used and to see places where the CC is trimmed.
  
  4. We can currently drop an new title template on top of an old one, keeping the entered text. It would be useful to do ‘Find and Replace’ for titles, effects, generators and transitions. With the option to choose which parameter values from the original templates are pasted into which parameters in the replacing template.
  
  Alex4D
  
  Reply
Nicky says:

May 23, 2022 at 2:35 am

Id like to be able to add effects to text clips.
I tried adding an animated mask to a text clip and it doesnt work.
Even if you put it in compound clip it still doesn’t work.
That made me miss fcp7 and all other nles

I also totally agree on the naming of events etc… never wrapped my head around that. Just call it bins like everyone else

Reply
- Alex ‘4D’ Gollner says:
  
  May 24, 2022 at 9:33 am
  
  ‘Event’ may not be right, but if we are designing a video editor for tens of millions of people to use, ‘bin’ doesn’t make much sense.
  
  The number of future editors vastly outnumbers current editors, so current editors’ attachment to the word ‘bin’ doesn’t convince me that it is a good name for what they are used for (even ‘Bag’ would be better, because that’s what celluloid clips used to hang down into).
  
  I think media should be gathered in something called a ‘Root,’ ‘Seed’ or ‘Source’
  
  Alex4D
  
  Reply
  - Larry says:
    
    May 24, 2022 at 9:47 am
    
    Alex:
    
    I would vote for “Folder,” because it is what we deal with every day in the Finder. Folders hold stuff.
    
    Larry
    
    Reply
Colin Mann says:

May 23, 2022 at 2:56 am

Agree, Scrolling timeline. As a project plays, the timeline should scroll to keep the playhead in view.

Fix all the bugs in creating both DVD and Blu-ray Discs.
Add menu options and templates. Clients still want DVD’s. DVD Pro was perfect.

Let the interface windows be placed anywhere on screen when setting up your workspaces. There are only3 preset options. Different projects would work better with windows placed where the user wants them, especially when working with 2 monitors.

Reply
Avtar says:

May 23, 2022 at 3:04 am

Hi Larry
Thanks for all your tutorials on post-production over the years and thanks for creating this list. I hope it makes it to Apple.

Much of my work is editing TV ads for charity clients. It would be great if FCP could:

1. Generate an AAF without having to send an XML to a 3rd party application.
2. Due to budgetery-constraints, it would be useful for me to be able to create an R128, broadcast spec audio mix straight out of FCP, especially on simpler mixes – i.e. have built in R128 metering capability.

Reply
- Alex ‘4D’ Gollner says:
  
  May 24, 2022 at 9:39 am
  
  Pity that all some ask for is the ability to export to an interchange format. Ideally Final Cut Pro should export ProTools projects and be able to import them so the audio elements autoreconform to changes in the video timeline.
  
  Also applies to DaVinci Resolve, Media Composer and Premiere projects.
  
  And Motion 5 projects!
  
  Motion 5 should also be able to open Keynote files, so as to improve and add to animations.
  
  Reply
Jeremy says:

May 23, 2022 at 3:45 am

1. Speech-to-text for automatically generated closed captions.
2. Text styles so you can define several text styles and have them automatically update throughout a project (or even all projects in a library) when you update the style. Styles could apply to other elements too like the color of solids, etc.
3. When you update a Motion generator or title, automatically update all instances in use.

Reply
Cliff Elliott says:

May 23, 2022 at 3:47 am

My number one improvement is so simple I don’t know why it has not been done yet and that is being able to colour code individual clips on the time line.

Reply
Steve Sweitzer says:

May 23, 2022 at 3:49 am

Ditto on scrolling timeline and better audio.

Reply