Apple Macintosh News and Information
Apple Macintosh News and Information

Apple Updates Software

Apple has updated Final Cut Pro X, Motion and Compressor with new features for motion graphics and key enhancements to accelerate video editing, packaging and delivery. Final Cut Pro 10.2 introduces stunning 3D titles that are easy to use, improved masking for colour grading and effects, and native support for more camera formats, as well as GPU-accelerated RED RAW processing. Motion 5.2 extends the power of 3D titles with the ability to create custom materials and environments and instantly publish them to Final Cut Pro X. Compressor 4.2 makes it easy to package a movie for sale on the iTunes Store.

Final Cut Pro XFinal Cut Pro 10.2 lets video editors create gorgeous 3D titles with drag-and-drop ease and ships with simple templates to get started quickly, as well as cinematic templates with built-in backgrounds and animations. Users can choose from a set of text styles to customise the look of their titles with hundreds of combinations of materials, lighting and edges, and instantly convert 2D titles to 3D and see changes in real time. Final Cut Pro 10.2 also lets editors view up to four video scopes simultaneously, for more precision when colour grading, and includes improved Shape masks on any effect that can be saved as presets for quick access later. In addition, Final Cut Pro 10.2 natively supports even more video formats, including Panasonic AVC-Ultra and Sony XAVC-S, and makes working with RED RAW files faster than ever with GPU-accelerated transcoding, playback and rendering—including support for dual GPUs on Mac Pro.

Video editors and motion graphics professionals can take advantage of Motion 5.2, which offers even more options for 3D titles. The app now lets users create dynamic titles with multiple lights and cameras, as well as multilayered scenes with 3D titles that cast ultra-realistic shadows and reflections on other objects. Dozens of third-party partners offer even more options for beautiful 3D titles, and hundreds of new 3D templates are coming soon from developers including Ripple Training, motionVFX and FxFactory—all of which work seamlessly in the new versions of Motion and Final Cut Pro. Motion also includes 12 new generator effects, improved keyframing and enhanced controls for mask and shape creation.

Compressor 4.2 makes it easier than ever to prepare a movie for sale on the iTunes Store. Simply choose the movie, trailer, closed captions, and more, and Compressor creates an iTunes Store Package, which users can submit to an iTunes Delivery Partner for sale on the store. Compressor also delivers key performance improvements for encoding tasks, including fast GPU rendering when using Send to Compressor and hardware-accelerated multi-pass H.264 encoding on compatible systems.

Pricing & Availability
Final Cut Pro 10.2, Motion 5.2 and Compressor 4.2 are available today from the Mac App Store for £229.99, £39.99 and £39.99 respectively to new users, or as a free update for existing customers.