Final Cut Pro X

How to achieve faster video exports in Final Cut Pro X

Jeff Benjamin ∙ Updated April 30, 2018

One of the great things about Final Cut Pro X ($299 on Mac App Store) is that you can export high quality videos extremely fast, even on underpowered hardware. For example, my Late 2013 MacBook Pro with Retina display lacks a discrete GPU, but I can still export 4K videos with relative ease.

Some of the speed can be attributed to a technology of Intel's called Quick Sync Video. Quick Sync is a hardware accelerator for H.264 encoding. It's baked into Intel's consumer line of chips, so ironically, it doesn't apply to the beefier Mac Pro. Those machines are powered by professional grade Xeon chips that lack integrated graphics.

That means that even the 12" MacBook, which is the most anemic piece of Intel-powered hardware currently available from Apple, can export 4K videos competently.

With all of that said, there are some things that you should know in order to fully take advantage of faster video encoding when exporting projects with Final Cut Pro X, and you can learn more in this post.

Amid marked improvements, the biggest YouTuber in tech switches to Final Cut Pro X

Jeff Benjamin ∙ January 1, 2016

There's a significant movement of change happening behind the scenes of the tech's biggest YouTuber. Marques Brownlee—better known as MKBHD—a professional YouTuber with more than 3,000,000 subscribers, has taken his talents to Final Cut Pro X.

Newsworthy? Indeed. For one, Brownlee used Adobe Premiere Pro before making the switch, Apple's biggest competitor among non-linear video editing systems. Even more significant is the reason why he switched—Final Cut Pro X results in quicker turnaround time—it allows him to export videos much faster, which allows him to keep his subscribers updated with new content more often.

The team at Apple deserves some major props for basically resurrecting an application that more than a few left for dead when it was rebooted back on June 21, 2011.

Since that fateful day, Apple has incrementally added many of the features back that the initial release eschewed for the sake of a starting with a clean 64-bit slate. 2015 was no different, as last spring's 10.2 update added a unified import interface, smart collections for libraries and events, 3D Text, and custom presets.

That update followed significant improvements and additions like multicam support, XML import and export support, GPU-acceleration, RED camera support, ProRes 4444 XQ support, 4K support, and many other features that professional workflows demand. Just look at the Final Cut Pro X version history—it's crazy how much the team has been able to both add and reimplement since 2011.

While it may be true that Apple's updates to Final Cut Pro X aren't as splashy and as sexy as Adobe's updates to Premiere Pro CC, Apple's iterative approach seems to be working over the long term. Not only is Final Cut Pro X adored by many popular YouTubers, it's being used in Hollywood as well. More importantly, however, it has gained the love and respect of the most popular YouTuber in tech. For someone as influential as Brownlee is, that's a significant feather in Apple's cap going into the new year.

Final Cut Pro X updated to version 10.2.2 with new camera support and export options

Jeff Benjamin ∙ September 3, 2015

During its normal Thursday update, Apple issued a new version of Final Cut Pro X. Version 10.2.2 is primarily a bug fix update, but it does usher in a few new features.

Users of Final Cut Pro X will benefit from the addition of new camera support, new export options, and improved compatibility with third-party asset management apps. As you might expert, it's recommended that all Final Cut Pro X users update to this latest version at your earliest convenience.

How to fix a “referencing media on the camera” error in Final Cut Pro X

Jeff Benjamin ∙ May 19, 2015

Every now and then, you may run into an issue with Final Cut Pro X where a file doesn't successfully import. Due to this, the media that you're working with in your project is still referencing the location where the file originally was (i.e. SD Card, Camera HDD, etc.).

When this happens, and you try to share/export a project, you'll receive an error message that says "This item cannot be shared while it is still referencing media on the camera."

To fix this problem, you'll need to reimport your footage from the original source using the File menu. It's fairly straightforward, but it's not exactly obvious as to what you should do when you first encounter this issue. Inside, we'll show you the error message and the quick fix in our brief video tutorial.

A look at five new Final Cut Pro X 10.2 features

Jeff Benjamin ∙ Updated April 30, 2018

As we told you earlier, Final Cut Pro X received a significant update today. It adds several new features—a redesigned splash screen, and updated app icon, and more. Along with Final Cut Pro X, both Motion and Compressor received updates as well.

As someone who uses FCP X on an almost daily basis, I wanted to talk about five new features that I really like about the new update. Watch our video inside, and see if you concur.

Apple refreshes Final Cut Pro X, Motion and Compressor with new features

Christian Zibreg ∙ Updated November 9, 2016

Monday, Apple announced a major update to its pro-grade video editing and processing programs for the Mac — Final Cut Pro X, Motion and Compressor — with a bevy of new features for motion graphics and key enhancements available to accelerate video editing, packaging and delivery.

“From Hollywood blockbuster directors to first time movie makers, Final Cut Pro X is changing the way we edit movies today,” said Philip Schiller, Apple’s Senior Vice President of Worldwide Marketing. “The updated Final Cut Pro X, Motion and Compressor make it even easier to edit, title and package everything from short videos to feature-length films.”

Final Cut Pro 10.2 introduces new easy to use 3D titles, improved masking for color grading and effects, and native support for more camera formats, as well as GPU-accelerated RED RAW processing.