Final Cut Pro X 10.4.1 Available Next Week With ProRes RAW and Advanced Closed Captioning

Thursday April 5, 2018 8:23 AM PDT by Joe Rossignol
Apple today previewed Final Cut Pro X version 10.4.1, an upcoming update to its professional video editing software.


The headline feature is a new ProRes RAW format, which combines the visual and workflow benefits of RAW video with the performance of ProRes, a lossy video compression format developed by Apple for use in post-production.
With ProRes RAW, editors can import, edit and grade pristine footage with RAW data from the camera sensor, providing ultimate flexibility when adjusting highlights and shadows — ideal for HDR workflows. And with performance optimized for macOS, editors can play full-quality 4K ProRes RAW files on MacBook Pro and iMac systems in real time without rendering. ProRes RAW files are even smaller than ProRes 4444 files, allowing editors to make better use of storage while providing an excellent format for archiving.
The update also adds advanced closed captioning tools that allow video editors to view, edit, and deliver captions from right within the app.


Apple says Final Cut Pro users can import closed caption files directly into their project or create them from scratch. Captions appear in the viewer during playback and can be attached to video or audio clips in the timeline, so they automatically move with the clips to which they're connected.

Apple is also updating Final Cut Pro's companion apps Motion and Compressor with ProRes RAW and closed captioning features respectively.

Final Cut Pro 10.4.1 will be available April 9 as a free update for existing users, and the app remains $299.99 for new users on the Mac App Store in the United States. Motion 5.4.1 and Compressor 4.4.1 will also be available on April 9 as free updates, or $49.99 each for new users from the Mac App Store.

Apple has updated its Final Cut Pro X, Motion, and Compressor pages on its website with more detailed information.

Tag: Final Cut Pro X
39 comments


Top Rated Comments

(View all)
Avatar
dan9700
11 weeks ago
we need aputure to come back I'm sick of using Lightroom I'm want pro photo editing apple software
Rating: 20 Votes
Avatar
ataq
11 weeks ago
[USER=964727]@dan9700[/USER]

I wanted that too for a looooong time. Although CaptureOne looks frightening first, its the best thing you can do to your photos, their engine is just pure awesome.
Rating: 4 Votes
Avatar
anticipate
11 weeks ago

Aaaaaaaand, Still no CinemaDNG support :(


I doubt they'll ever add it in. Just transcode... and using Compressor you will (in theory; to be tested Monday) be able to transcode to ProRes RAW to get a workable RAW workflow from your CinemaDNG files... which was not really possible before. It'll be worlds faster and smaller than the CDNG files too, with all the flexibility.

This is a huge win/update!

Also anyone who owns a camera that outputs Raw to a Shogun Inferno, like we do (Sony FS5/Raw with the Shogun) will have a compressed Raw workflow now that is as capable as Red Raw without having to spend a dime extra. This is a huge update.
Rating: 4 Votes
Avatar
MrXiro
11 weeks ago
Holy crap! I work at a film production company and captions are a bane on my life there. I really hope this makes it easier cause they are a pain in the ass to deal with.
[doublepost=1522983877][/doublepost]

Wait... closed captions? You mean it's only now coming to FCP? I could have sworn it was there before.

(Unless I'm confusing FCP with Compressor...)

You could edit and export but they were a pain to work with.
Rating: 2 Votes
Avatar
jacjustjac
11 weeks ago
I really hope they fix the bugs I’m having with Optical Flow not rendering and problems importing clips. I’ve tried on three macs with 10.4 and it’s the same issue.
Rating: 2 Votes
Avatar
jdmagoo1
11 weeks ago
External GPU support?
Rating: 2 Votes
Avatar
Internet Enzyme
11 weeks ago

we need aputure to come back I'm sick of using Lightroom I'm want pro photo editing apple software


YES. Please, please, please! I dislike Lightroom and have yet to find a competent alternative. I would buy Aperture instantly if they released a new version.
[doublepost=1522954277][/doublepost]This is pretty neat. I got the education bundle in January, and having these feature updates really does make me feel like Apple cares and that I did not waste my money.
Rating: 1 Votes
Avatar
scotth23
11 weeks ago

If you record in the Shogun, you're not converting to ProRes RAW. You are recording right off the sensor. (Depends on the camera... technically FS-RAW from Sony is mildly compressed...)

But I digress.

The audience is any camera, or recorder, that uses the codec to start with. Any Sony FS owner/op, Canon C300 Mark II/C500 owner, any Panasonic EVA-1/Varicam LT owner/operator or anyone editing that wants a fast lightly compressed raw workflow a-la Redcode - as long as they record to one of the supported Atomos recorders.

That's a fairly decent amount of people in the midrange markets. It's a win.

As for CDNG, you're coming from uncompressed frames to a mildly compressed CODEC, and it's not uncommon to finish in ProRes never mind ProRes RAW; so I see it as a plus. Anyone else who needs an end-to-end uncompressed raw workflow isn't going to use ProRes Raw; but it wasn't designed for them.

And there's nothing stopping camera manufacturers from adding Prores RAW as an option, instead of ArriRaw, etc. I don't know if that'll happen though given the huge investments in ArriRAW and Redcode. But it might... depends on what encoding strategy Apple is using and how costly it is to implement.


We finish in ProRes all the time. I love it as a codec. I'd prefer a ubiquitous RAW format to 37 flavors from different cameras. If it came in natively and performed well. I'd happily use it. But I couldn't see ever converting to it at the start of a job as a workflow unless it runs so light that there were no performance issues. I'm typically in Premiere so I'd be curious to see how it runs there.
Rating: 1 Votes
Avatar
anticipate
11 weeks ago

It's an interesting approach trying to get editors to transcode to another RAW format. I assume they will try and get camera manufacturers to support it natively although I doubt most would supplant their own RAW with this.

It seems more likely that Apple wants people to be able to cut in 4K RAW which wasn't easy to do before this. Makes me worry that the format won't be as lossless as they claim.

I personally would be concerned about converting anything to another RAW format. I'd rather do a proxy workflow and go back to camera RAW for finishing. This, for now, seems like a very narrow audience that will actually want to use this codec.


If you record in the Shogun, you're not converting to ProRes RAW. You are recording right off the sensor. (Depends on the camera... technically FS-RAW from Sony is mildly compressed...)

But I digress.

The audience is any camera, or recorder, that uses the codec to start with. Any Sony FS owner/op, Canon C300 Mark II/C500 owner, any Panasonic EVA-1/Varicam LT owner/operator or anyone editing that wants a fast lightly compressed raw workflow a-la Redcode - as long as they record to one of the supported Atomos recorders.

That's a fairly decent amount of people in the midrange markets. It's a win.

As for CDNG, you're coming from uncompressed frames to a mildly compressed CODEC, and it's not uncommon to finish in ProRes never mind ProRes RAW; so I see it as a plus. Anyone else who needs an end-to-end uncompressed raw workflow isn't going to use ProRes Raw; but it wasn't designed for them.

And there's nothing stopping camera manufacturers from adding Prores RAW as an option, instead of ArriRaw, etc. I don't know if that'll happen though given the huge investments in ArriRAW and Redcode. But it might... depends on what encoding strategy Apple is using and how costly it is to implement.
Rating: 1 Votes
Avatar
Cell-666
11 weeks ago

I doubt they'll ever add it in. Just transcode... and using Compressor you will (in theory; to be tested Monday) be able to transcode to ProRes RAW to get a workable RAW workflow from your CinemaDNG files... which was not really possible before. It'll be worlds faster and smaller than the CDNG files too, with all the flexibility.

This is a huge win/update!

Also anyone who owns a camera that outputs Raw to a Shogun Inferno, like we do (Sony FS5/Raw with the Shogun) will have a compressed Raw workflow now that is as capable as Red Raw without having to spend a dime extra. This is a huge update.


Don't get me wrong, as with you we work straight to Atomos too off our ground cameras, just the aerial cameras coming off the camera in CDNG it would have taken a step out of our post workflow. We use Resolve to transcode which is easy enough, but still an extra step. CDNG still offers the biggest flexibility in post, no baked in colour space.
Rating: 1 Votes
[ Read All Comments ]