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.
– – –

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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Merrick Dupea says:

May 24, 2022 at 1:59 pm

It’s ironic that when apple went to FCPX they claimed it was more intuitive and had these powerful metadata features. But metadata is only powerful when you use a keyboard to enter data. They took many tasks that were previously visual drag and drop and intuitive, and turned them into data processing by tools.

And this is what happens when you let a software programmer design your flagship pro editing software to make it easier for him to edit his home movies. Database management rather than intuitive visual controls.

We are visual artists. We think visually. Metadata is powerful but it is not intuitive. It requires getting out of your right brain into the analytical left brain. It forces your out of creative mode.

Same with resizing tracks: why should that be a drop down item in a menu several steps long? You should just grab a track boundary and drag and release right there on the timeline, not in a submenu somewhere else.

Apple stopped letting pro end users design the software and it shows. What they need most is to let pro users design the interface and fix it.

Reply
- Larry Jordan says:
  
  May 24, 2022 at 2:01 pm
  
  Merrick:
  
  Thanks for your comment.
  
  Larry
  
  Reply
Tyler Nelson says:

May 25, 2022 at 3:00 pm

• Show, Focus, Collapse for video Roles; mimic interface options from audio.
• Motion round tripping, Library/Event access, dynamic template updates.
• Custom editable names for color effects; not Curves 1, Curves 2, Curve 3.
• Clip Connections for connected clips; stacking/layered connections.
• Audio in Drop Zones, Drop Zone media management tools; expand/collapse.

• Default setting options for Title & Generator Roles.
• Default preferences for all clip appearances, application wide.

Reply
Wilcotte says:

May 25, 2022 at 5:51 pm

Full interaction like davinci, more powerful tools

Reply
Paul Watson says:

May 25, 2022 at 8:38 pm

Motion needs the ability to import from and export and save to external drives.

Reply
- Larry says:
  
  May 26, 2022 at 3:26 am
  
  Paul:
  
  Motion can do all of this currently. Projects can be saved anywhere. The need to save FCP templates to specific folders, though, is a requirement of Final Cut, otherwise it would not be able to find them.
  
  Larry
  
  Reply
Final Cut Pro – Apple Replies to Editors Petition | CineD says:

May 26, 2022 at 6:15 am

[…] Jordan writes here on what he would like to see be the first features in an updated rollout and it looks to be highly […]

Reply
Last Lower Professional – Apple Replies to Editors Petition – realdealdeals says:

May 26, 2022 at 7:10 am

[…] Jordan writes right here on what he wish to see be the primary options in an up to date rollout and it appears to be like to […]

Reply
Final Cut Pro – Apple Replies to Editors Petition - SOBO ONE9 says:

May 26, 2022 at 7:42 am

[…] Jordan writes here on what he would like to see be the first features in an updated rollout and it looks to be highly […]

Reply
Final Cut Pro – Apple Replies to Editors Petition – Taipanprod.com says:

May 26, 2022 at 7:54 am

[…] Jordan writes here on what he would like to see be the first features in an updated rollout and it looks to be highly […]

Reply
Larry Mongillo says:

May 26, 2022 at 12:02 pm

When will you started having classes at the store to teach people how to use FCP X like the one-on-one teaching we had?

Thank you Larry

Reply
- Larry says:
  
  May 26, 2022 at 12:11 pm
  
  Larry:
  
  An interesting idea. No one’s asked me.
  
  Larry
  
  Reply
Tim Woodrow says:

May 26, 2022 at 4:14 pm

Larry, our little shop agree with all your suggestions. The other day a top freelance editor we have worked with for years was raving about the speech to text (caption) feature in Premiere. He cuts hundreds of hours of interviews for big projects this way. We mostly use FCP but checked it out. It was a wonder. We need this on FCP. It would save us days on scripted and doc material.

We will post more suggestions later. Just had to get this one posted. Keep up the amazing work!

Reply
- John Godwin says:
  
  May 30, 2022 at 12:22 pm
  
  You might look at Simon Says, which works in FCP as an extension. It does a pretty good job and pretty cheaply.
  
  Reply
  - Larry says:
    
    May 30, 2022 at 2:18 pm
    
    John:
    
    Thanks for your comment. I’ve used Simon Says for several years. I’m a fan.
    
    Larry
    
    Reply