Nouveautés de Final Cut Pro 4

Quoi de neuf dans Final Cut Pro 4

Ce document est un aperçu des nouvelles fonctionnalités disponibles dans Final Cut Pro 4. Vous pouvez consulter le Guide de l'utilisateur ou l'aide intégrée de Final Cut Pro 4 pour obtenir des informations plus détaillées.

Améliorations des réglages de configuration

Avertissement de disques de travail manquants

Un avertissement est désormais affiché lorsqu'un disque de travail n'est plus disponible ou manquant. Ceci peut se produire dans un certain nombre de cas de figure: disques éteints ou débranchés, ou volumes de réseau temporairement démontés. Si le dossier défini sur le disque de travail sélectionné a été déplacé, supprimé ou renommé, Final Cut Pro risque de ne pas trouver le disque de travail. Si ce dernier n'est pas localisé lors du prochain lancement de Final Cut Pro, une fenêtre de dialogue s'affiche avec les trois options suivantes :
- Quitter.
- Définir disques de travail : Sélectionnez un nouveau disque de travail.
- Vérifier à nouveau : Vous permet de rébrancher ou démarrer un disque de travail et d'attendre qu'il soit disponible sur le bureau.


Nouvelles configurations d'écran

De nouvelles configurations d'écran sont disponibles, notamment:
- Mixage audio: Les fenêtres Visualiseur, Canevas et Instruments sont disposées sur la haut de l'écran. La fenêtre Instruments contient l'onglet Mixeur Audio. Le Navigateur et la Chronologie sont sur le bas de l'écran, avec les fenêtres d'outils et de niveaux audio sur la droite de la Chronologie.
- Montages multiples: Cette configuration n'est disponible que si la résolution de votre écran est réglée sur 1280 x 854 ou plus. Cette configuration est particulièrement utile pour comparer trois clips successifs d'une séquence pour la correction de couleurs. Sont disposées sur le haut de l'écran, de gauche à droite, le Visualiseur, la fenêtre Instruments avec l'onglet Visualiseur d'image qui affiche le point de montage précédent, le Canevas, et une autre fenêtre Instruments avec l'onglet Visualiseur d'image qui affiche le point de montage suivant. Le Navigateur et la Chronologie sont affichés sur le bas de l'écran, avec les fenêtres d'outils et de niveaux audio sur la droite de la Chronologie.

D'autres améliorations sur les configurations d'écran

Vous pouvez maintenant créer et sauvegarder des configurations personnalisées avec moniteurs multiples.
Les configurations d'écran sont maintenant spécifiques aux résolutions utilisées. La résolution minimale requise pour une nouvelle configuration d'écran est la résolution de votre moniteur lorsque la configuration est créée.

Améliorations de l'interface

Raccourcis clavier personnalisables

Toutes les commandes de Final Cut Pro peuvent être associées à des raccourcis clavier personnalisés au moyen de la fenêtre de configuration de clavier en sélectionnant dans le menu Outils -> Configuration clavier -> Personnaliser. La configuration de raccourcis clavier par défaut peut être modifiée à tout moment en fonction de vos besoins. Par exemple, si votre style de montage nécessite un ensemble de commandes qui ne sont pas disponibles facilement par défaut, vous pouvez modifier la configuration de clavier par défaut avec votre propre jeu de commandes.

Vous pouvez aussi créer différentes configurations de clavier pour différentes tâches, et basculer de l'une à l'autre à volonté. Par exemple, il est peut être judicieux de créer plusieurs configurations de clavier pour le montage, la correction de couleurs et le mixage audio.

Barres de boutons personnalisées dans chaque fenêtre

Des boutons de raccourcis peuvent être créés et déposés sur le haut de chaque fenêtre principale de Final Cut Pro, le Navigateur, le Visualiseur, le Canevas, et la Chronologie, mais aussi sur les fenêtres d'Instruments vidéo. Vous pouvez cliquer sur chaque bouton de raccourcis pour exécuter certaines commandes au lieu d'effectuer des combinaisons clavier et sélection d'articles de menus.

Redimensionnement de plusieurs fenêtres Final Cut Pro simultanément

Il est désormais possible de placer le pointeur de la souris à l'intersection de deux fenêtres (ou plus) de Final Cut Pro et de les redimensionner simultanément lorsque le curseur de redimensionnement s'affiche. Pour redimensionner plusieurs fenêtres dans Final Cut Pro, déplacez le curseur juste entre les fenêtres que dont vous souhaitez modifier les dimensions. Lorsque l'apparence du curseur se modifie en curseur de redimensionnement, déplacez le pointeur dans la direction souhaitée pour provoquer la mise à l'échelle des fenêtres concernées. Les fenêtres de part et d'autre du pointeur sont redimensionnées en conséquence.

Redimensionnement de pistes individuellement dans la Chronologie

Vous pouvez modifier l'échelle de pistes individuellement dans la Chronologie en faisant glisser le pointeur à partir des limites de la piste dans la Chronologie:
- S'il s'agit d'une piste vidéo, faites glisser la limite supérieure de la piste dans le panneau de répartition de la chronologie.
- S'il s'agit d'une piste audio, faites glisser la limite inférieure de la piste dans le panneau de répartition de la chronologie.

Sauvegarde de configurations de pistes personnalisées dans la Chronologie

Dès lors que vous avez personnalisé l'apparence des pistes pour une séquence donnée, il est possible de la sauvegarder pour une utilisation ultérieure. Les configurations de pistes personnalisées sont affichées dans le menu Configurations de Pistes, et peuvent être appliquées sur n'importe quelle séquence ouverte et affichée dans la Chronologie. Un maximum de 40 configurations de pistes personnalisées peuvent être affichées dans le menu simultanément.

Affection de pistes cibles pour le montage au moyen du nouveau panneau de répartition de la Chronologie

De nombreuses manipulations de montage dans Final Cut Pro impliquent l'utilisation de contrôles de Source dans la Chronologie afin d'affecter les pistes cibles qui déterminent ou vont être affichés les clips montés, dupliqués ou déplacés. Les contrôles de Source et Destination sont accessibles dans le panneau de répartition de la Chronologie, sur la partie gauche de la fenêtre.

Lorsque vous affichez un clip ou une séquence dans le Visualiseur, de nombreux contrôles de Source apparaissent dans le panneau de répartition de la Chronologie, qui correspondent aux nombres d'éléments audio et vidéo inclus dans le clip, ou le nombre de pistes que contient une séquence. Par exemple, si vous ouvrez un clip dans le Visualiseur qui comprend une piste vidéo et quatre pistes audio, quatre contrôles source pour l'audio et un pour la vidéo sont affichés dans le panneau de répartition de la Chronologie.

Un clip fusionné peut contenir une piste vidéo et jusqu'à 24 pistes audio, provoquant ainsi l'affichage de 25 contrôles de source dans la Chronologie. Vous pouvez de la même manière ouvrir une séquence dans le Visualiseur, avec un maximum de 99 pistes vidéo et 99 pistes audio pouvant être affichées dans la Chronologie. Le nombre de contrôles source affichés dans le panneau de répartition de la Chronologie est mis à jour à chaque ouverture de clip ou de séquence dans le Visualiseur afin de reflèter le nombre d'éléments audio et vidéo présents dans le clip ou la séquence.

Sélection automatique de réglages dans la Chronlogie

L'activation des réglages d'autosélection de certaines pistes dans la Chronologie permet de sélectionner le contenu des ces pistes au moyen des points d'entrée et de sortie définis dans la Chronologie ou le Canevas. Lorsque des points d'entrée et de sortie sont définis dans la Chronologie, les opérations telles que la commande Copier et montage par élévation sont limitées aux régions sélectionnées des pistes dont le réglage d'autosélection est activé.

Lorsque un ou plusieurs réglages d'autosélection sont activés, les portions de clips dans la Chronologie définies par des points d'entrée et de sortie sont en surbrillance, afin d'indiquer que ces portions peuvent être manipulées.

Réglages de mise en sourdine et solo dans la Chronologie

Cliquez sur le bouton de mise en sourdine pour désactiver la lecture audio de cette piste. Ce réglage ne concerne que l'écoute pendant la lecture. Lorsqu'une piste est mise en sourdine, aucun son n'est pris en compte pendant la lecture, mais le son est bien actif pendant les opérations d'Imprimer vers Vidéo et Sortie sur bande, ou dans le cas de l'exportation d'un fichier audio ou film.

Cliquez sur le bouton Solo d'une piste pour mettre en sourdine toutes les pistes dont le réglage de solo n'est pas activé. Par exemple, si vous cliquez sur le bouton solo de la piste A1 et que cette dernière est la seule piste avec réglage solo actif, toutes les autres pistes sont alors mises en sourdine. Si vous activez le bouton solo sur une sélection de pistes, toutes les pistes avec réglage solo actif sont prises en compte pendant l'écoute, et toutes les autres pistes sont mises en sourdine. Tout comme le bouton de mise en sourdine, le bouton Solo ne concerne que l'écoute pendant la lecture. Si solo est activé sur au moins une piste dans la séquence, les autres pistes dont le contrôle de solo n'est pas actif ne sont pas prises en compte pendant la lecture, mais sont bien prises en compte pendant les opérations d'Imprimer vers Vidéo et Sortie sur bande, ou dans le cas de l'exportation d'un fichier audio ou film.

Nouveau fonctionnement du Zoom dans la Chronologie

La fonctionnalité de zoom dans la chronologie a été améliorée. Il est désormais possible de zoomer dans la Chronologie dans chacune des manières suivantes:

- Déplacez les thumb tabs sur n'importe quel côté de la barre de défilement de zoom pour ajuster les deux extrémités de la zone visible en même temps. Si la tête de lecture est visible, elle reste centrée pendant l'opération de zoom. Si la tête de lecture n'est pas visible, la portion visible de la chronologie reste centrée.
- Maintenez la touche Majuscule enfoncée tout en déplaçant un des thumb tabs pour effectuer un zoom avant ou arrière dans la séquence à partir de la fin de sélection de la barre de défilement de zoom, tout en conservant l'autre thumb tab verrouillé à sa place. Cette opération déplace la portion visible de la Chronologie dans la direction de déplacement tout en agrandissant.
- Cliquez ou déplacez le contrôle de zoom pour visualiser la Chronologie à une échelle de temps différente en maintenant la tête de lecture ou la position courante de la Chronologie centrée. Si vous cliquez à la droite des contrôles de zoom, vous affichez un contenu plus important de votre séquence, alors que le clic sur la gauche des contrôles de zoom affiche plus de détail.

Menu de personnalisation des configurations de colonnes dans le Navigateur

Vous pouvez définir des configurations personnalisées de présentation des colonnes dans le Navigateur pour vos besoins particuliers, et les sauvegarder comme réglages personnalisés, accessibles rapidement à tout moment. Les configurations de présentation personnalisées sauvegardées sont disponibles dans le menu raccourci qui s'affiche lorsque vous faites Contrôle + clic souris dans n'importe quelle entête de colonne du Navigateur, à l'exception de la colonne Nom.

Nouvelles Préférences

New organization of preferences
All preferences have been reorganized into two windows-User Preferences and System Settings.

Memory usage settings
Two sliders in the Memory & Cache tab of the System Settings window allow you to decide how much of the available RAM in your computer to use when working in Final Cut Pro. Your computer's available RAM is defined as the amount of RAM not used by Mac OS X and other currently open applications. By limiting the amount of RAM Final Cut Pro uses, you can maintain Final Cut Pro's performance by preventing Mac OS X from using virtual memory unnecessarily. This is especially important when multiple applications are open at the same time.

Additional Timeline display options
There are several new display options for the Timeline in the Timeline Options tab of the User Preferences window, including:

* Show Duplicate Frames: Select this option to mark clips that are used more than once within a single edited sequence. Colored bars appear at the bottom of the clip's video item in the Timeline if that clip has been used more than once. You can adjust the parameters that determine when duplicate frames indicators appear in the General Preferences tab.
* Show Audio Controls: Select this option to display the mute and solo buttons to the left of each audio track in the Timeline. By default, these controls are hidden. Audio controls can also be displayed using the Audio Controls button in the Timeline.
* Video and audio keyframe editor: The keyframe editor shows you keyframe graphs for motion effects or parameters of filters applied to clips in your sequence. These graphs are identical to those found in the keyframe graph area of the Motion and Filters tabs in the Viewer. You can edit keyframes in the keyframe editor using the Selection and Pen tools. The keyframe editor can only display the keyframe graph of one effect parameter at a time.
* Video and audio speed indicators: Speed indicators show you the speed of clips in your sequence using tic marks. The spacing and color of these tic marks indicate the speed and playback direction of your clips. The speed indicators of clips in the Timeline update in real time as you make variable speed adjustments to clips in your sequence, showing you exactly how you're altering a clip's timing. There are no user-adjustable controls in the speed indicator area.


Audio Outputs tab
The Audio Outputs tab contains a list of presets that allow you to define the number of audio output channels that are available to your sequence via external audio interfaces connected to your computer. The selected audio output preset is automatically assigned to all new sequences and projects you create. Each sequence in your project has its own individual audio output settings. After a sequence has been created, any future changes to its audio output settings must be made in the Audio Outputs tab of the Sequence Settings window.

Temps réel et Rendu

Unlimited RT
Selecting the Unlimited RT option in the RT pop-up menu in the Timeline allows Final Cut Pro to play additional real-time effects that exceed your computer's real-time playback capabilities. Unrestricted real-time playback allows you play more effects, but increases the likelihood that your sequence will drop frames during playback. This mode is useful for getting a real-time preview of complex effects compositions.

RT pop-up menu in the Timeline
The Real-Time Effects (RT) pop-up menu allows you to adjust the playback quality of real-time effects in Final Cut Pro. Using the options in this menu, you can decide which is more important to you-visual playback quality, or maximizing the available effects that can be played back in real time.

For example, if it's more important to you to be able to view your program at the highest quality, you should deselect the Unlimited RT option and select the High playback option in this menu. This ensures that your program's video quality is always as high as possible, and that no frames are dropped during playback. The tradeoff in this case is that the number of simultaneous real-time effects that can be played back is reduced.

If you'd rather lower the playback quality of your video in order to increase the number of real-time effects that can be played back, you can select the Unlimited RT and Low playback quality options to maximize your computer's playback performance.

When you want to output your program to video, you can choose whether to render the effects that won't output at full quality in real time, or output them at the reduced quality you've selected in order to avoid rendering.

Note: Final Cut Pro always warns you before outputting video to tape at reduced quality when you use the Print to Video and Edit to Tape commands.

Software-based real-time effects can be output using FireWire and other built-in video interfaces
All real-time effects can be output to an external video monitor using FireWire or the built-in video output of a Macintosh PowerBook G4. This is true whether you're using OfflineRT or DV source media in your projects. Outputting real-time effects to video using FireWire is a processor-intensive operation, requiring a very fast computer. Outputting this way will significantly reduce the maximum number of effects that your computer can play in real time.

Real-time pull-down insertion for 24 fps sequences
If you're editing 24 fps video, Final Cut Pro can play back and export your DV or OfflineRT sequence with 3:2 pull-down added. This lets you output 24 fps video to 29.97 fps using FireWire or the built-in video output of a Macintosh PowerBook G4 for viewing or exporting to tape, all in real time.

Improved management of audio and video render cache files
Audio and video render cache files are handled differently, eliminating the need to rerender effects in many instances:

* Audio and video render cache files are now managed separately. Modifying video edits and making changes to video effects that overlap audio effects no longer affects rendered audio render cache files, and vice versa.
* Audio and video render cache files are preserved when clips are duplicated or copied and pasted.
* New item-level rendering of audio clips allows you to preserve audio cache files for audio effects and rendered resampling while making changes to volume and panning levels.


Real-time effects playback and rendering options
Three new tabs allow you to control real-time effects playback and rendering in your projects:

* The Render Control tab in the User Preferences window allows you to enable and disable the most processor-intensive effects in Final Cut Pro. Changing the settings in the Render Control tab of the User Preferences window changes the default Render Control options that all new sequences are created with. To change the Render Control settings for existing sequences, alter these settings in your sequence's Sequence Settings window.
* All settings in the Playback Control tab in the System Settings window remain the same for all sequences and projects opened on that computer. These settings also appear in the RT pop-up menu in the Timeline. Using these settings, you can decide which is more important to you-visual playback quality, or maximizing the available effects that can be played back in real time.
* The Effect Handling tab in the System Settings window allows you to set how real-time effects are processed for clips compressed using a real-time-capable codec. This includes clips captured and compressed using the DV, DVCPRO-50, and Photo JPEG codecs. Such clips, by default, can play back software-based real-time effects applied directly in Final Cut Pro. If a third-party capture card capable of real-time effects processing is installed that can process these codecs, you can reassign real-time effects handling to your hardware, instead.


Auto-rendering
The Auto Render preference allows you to take advantage of idle computer time when you're not editing-such as during a coffee break or lunch-to render open sequences in the Timeline. Options in the General tab of the User Preferences window allow you to define how long to wait before rendering, which sequences to render, and whether or not to render real-time effects in the selected sequences.

Support for 10-bit video processing
Final Cut Pro now supports 10-bit video processing for selected filters and transitions.

Capture/Sortie

Automatic timecode break handling during capture
New timecode break handling allows Final Cut Pro to automatically capture over timecode breaks without interruption. You can now capture the footage from an entire tape, skipping every timecode break on the tape. The "On timecode break" pop-up menu in the General tab of the User Preferences window gives you three ways to avoid capturing media with timecode breaks:

* Make New Clip: This is the default option. Video that has already been captured before the break in timecode is saved as a single clip, with its Out point set to the frame occurring immediately before the dropped timecode instance. Final Cut Pro then automatically continues capturing video after the dropped timecode frame as a second media file. When this option is selected, clips captured after timecode breaks are named with the original name plus a dash and the number of the clip. For example, if the first captured clip's name is "Cats Playing," then the second clip's name is set to "Cats Playing-2." This is a good setting if you are batch capturing an entire tape at once. For example, suppose you are capturing the entire contents of a 60-minute tape that had four timecode breaks. Instead of making you restart capture every time a timecode break is detected, Final Cut Pro captures all media from the tape as five clips, skipping every timecode break and ensuring that the timecode of all captured media is frame-accurate and in sync.
* Abort Capture: If this option is selected, capture is stopped whenever a timecode break is detected. All media captured before the timecode break has frame-accurate timecode and is preserved. The resulting open media clip is saved to the Browser.
* Warn After Capture: If this option is selected, timecode breaks are reported after capture and the media file with the timecode break is preserved. It is unwise to use such a clip unless you have no choice, because timecode breaks result in incorrect timecode from the timecode break forward, and will impair your ability to accurately recapture your media.


Capturing audio and video to separate files now creates true merged clips
When you capture video and audio to separate files, two sets of media source files are saved on your hard disk, but the clips appear in your project as merged clips. Capturing your video and audio as separate files allows you to divide the workload between two scratch disks, maximizing the performance of each scratch disk you're using so that you can capture your video at the highest possible data rate. Video and audio media files that have been captured separately are no longer dependent on one another.

Advanced pull-down removal
Select the "Remove Advanced Pulldown (2:3:3:2) From MiniDV Sources" setting of your capture preset if you're capturing from a DV format source that used the 2:3:3:2 pull-down method to capture 24P video. You want to remove the 2:3:3:2 pull-down to eliminate the redundant frame fields created by the pull-down so that you can edit true 24 (actually 23.98) fps progressive video.

Pull-down insertion
If you're editing a sequence with a 23.98 fps timebase and you want to output to an NTSC device via FireWire, you can choose one of three pull-down insertion patterns from the RT pop-up menu in the Timeline. Pull-down insertion is a method of converting 23.98 fps video to the NTSC standard of 29.97 fps video. Depending on the speed of your computer, you can select from 3:2, 2:3:3:2, or 2:2:2:4 pull-down.

Control the quality of effects being output to video
When outputting a sequence with draft-quality proxy effects to video, you can choose whether to render the effects that won't output at full quality in real time, or output them at the reduced quality you've selected in order to avoid rendering by choosing Use Playback Settings from the RT pop-up menu in the Timeline.

Capturing audio using house sync
When capturing audio intended to be synchronized to video from a separate source, it's important that your device-controllable audio deck be synchronized to your computer via a common video timing signal, such as a blackburst generator (also referred to as house sync ). This is true even if you're capturing your audio via a dedicated audio capture interface. This can be accomplished by connecting a blackburst generator to both the genlock connector (also called external sync ) of your audio deck and to the genlock connector of an external video capture interface connected to your computer. When capturing audio from a genlocked audio deck, you need to select "Sync audio capture to video source if present" in the General tab of the User Preferences window.

Support for separate video and audio capture interfaces
You now have the ability to specify separate video and audio capture interfaces in the A/V Devices tab of the A/V Settings window.

Support for multichannel audio output
Final Cut Pro supports audio output via up to 24 outputs using Mac OS X-compatible audio interfaces. The Audio Outputs tab of the Sequence Settings window allows you to define the number of audio output channels that are available to tracks in your sequence via the external audio interface connected to your computer. All audio tracks in a sequence can be assigned to specific pairs of audio outputs using the shortcut menu in each audio track header in the Timeline.

Support for multichannel audio during Edit to Tape operations
Using a Mac OS X-compatible audio interface, you can now output up to eight audio channels while using the Edit to Tape command. The number of audio tracks that can be recorded to when using the Edit to Tape command depends on the number of audio tracks your video or audio recording device supports. When using a video or audio interface capable of outputting more than two channels of audio, you need to manually choose an appropriate audio track configuration based on the video or audio recording device you're recording onto. You can specify this configuration by selecting or creating a device control preset, and setting the Audio Mapping pop-up menu in the Device Control Preset Editor to the appropriate configuration for your recording device. The Audio Mapping pop-up menu does not automatically detect the number of audio tracks your video or audio recording device is capable of recording to. You need to choose a configuration based on your recording device's capabilities.

Gestion des clips

Support for merged clips using separate video and audio source media
A merged clip is one that links to more than one source media file on diZ_ For example, a merged clip might link to both a QuickTime video file and a separate audio file. Merged clips allow you to synchronize the audio and video items of footage shot via dual system recording. Instead of syncing your video and audio onto tape prior to capturing, you can capture your audio and video separately, and then merge them together in Final Cut Pro.

You can sync a video clip with up to 12 stereo or 24 mono audio clips (merged clips can contain a total of 1 video and 24 audio items) using their timecode, In points, or Out points. After a group of clips has been synchronized in preparation to create a merged clip, select them all and choose Modify>Merge Clips.

New master/affiliate clip relationships within a project
Final Cut Pro 4 introduces master/affiliate clip relationships for clips used in a project. The first instance of a clip that is captured or imported into a project is a master clip. Editing a master clip into a sequence or duplicating it in the Browser results in the creation of a sequence clip or duplicate clip that is an affiliate of the original master clip. A relationship exists between the original master clip in the Browser and all edited or duplicated affiliates of that clip that appear in every sequence and in every bin of that project. For any group of affiliated clips in a project, there is only one master clip.

As a result of the relationship between master and affiliate clips, changes made to certain properties of a master clip, such as Clip Name, Reel Name, or Timecode, are automatically made to all affiliated clips within the current project. These same changes, if made to an affiliate clip, are also made to that clip's master clip, as well as to all other affiliated clips in the current project.

The online or offline state of clips is also automatically updated among all affiliated clips in a project, all at once. Suppose you open a project in which all the clips are offline. Relinking that project's master clips in the Browser automatically relinks all the affiliate clips that appear in each of that project's sequences, as well.

New commands, including Reveal Master Clip, Duplicate as New Master Clip, and Make Independent Clip, allow you to manage these clip affiliations. The Match Frame command opens a clip's affiliated master clip from the Browser.

Improvements to the Media Manager
Two new options give you more control over operations performed by the Media Manager.

* Include affiliate clips outside selection: You can choose whether or not to include additional marked master clip media and other affiliated clips in the selected Media Manager operation. How much extra media will be included depends on whether or not the "Duplicate selected items and place into a new project" option is selected.
Including affiliate clips may dramatically increase the amount of media included by the Media Manager operation, but it will ensure that you include the maximum amount of useful footage by including master clip media that
+ is marked by an In point, Out point, or both
+ falls between two unconnected clips derived from the same master clip
+ appears as an affiliate clip in another sequence
* Base media file names on: This pop-up menu lets you determine how clips are named when they're segmented as a result of the "Delete unused media" option. Since the clip names used in your project do not necessarily match the name of the source media files on disk (you may have renamed them manually, for example), you can specify which names to use. You have two options:
+ Existing file names: Filenames of clips created by the Media Manager are based on the source media files on diZ_
+ Clip names: Filenames of clips created by the Media Manager are based on the names you've given the clips inside your project.


Improvements to the Item Properties window
The Item Properties window has been updated. Three tabs in this window-Format, Timing, and Logging Information-allow you to view or change various properties of a clip. The Item Properties window can now show information for a group of linked clips in a sequence, merged clips, and groups of sequence clips that have been opened simultaneously.

Improved item linking in the Timeline
You can now link up to 1 video item and 24 audio items in the Timeline.

Additional support for modification of timecode in source media files
You can modify the Reel, Timecode, Aux 1, and Aux 2 timecode tracks directly in a clip's source media file on diZ_

Montage

Dynamic trimming in the Trim Edit window
A new Dynamic Trimming option in the General tab of the User Preferences window allows editing in the Trim Edit window using the J, K, and L keys.

Dupe detection
You can now turn on the Show Duplicate Frames option in the Timeline Options tab of the Sequence Settings window. This option marks clips that are used more than once within a single edited sequence with colored bars appearing at the bottom of the clip's video item in the Timeline. Two options in the General tab of the Preferences window, Dupe Detection Handle Size and Dupe Detection Threshold, affect when and how duplicate frames indicators appear in the Timeline.

* Dupe Detection Handle Size: Adds frames to the beginning and end of the clip regions which are used for comparison, to determine whether or not to display duplicate frames indicators. This can be used to take into account the extra frames that must be used for physically cutting and cementing pieces of negative that are necessary for film matchback, to prevent you from accidentally including frames that can't really be used. By default, this is set to 0.
* Dupe Detection Threshold: Allows you to set a minimum number of frames that must be duplicated before a duplicate frame's indicator will appear. By default, this is set to 0 so that all instances of duplicated frames are indicated. You can set it as high as 99 frames (3 to 4 seconds, depending on the frame rate), in which case there would have to be a minimum of 99 consecutive duplicated frames before a duplicate frames indicator would appear.


Auto Select controls in the Timeline
Enabling the Auto Select controls of specific tracks in the Timeline allows the contents of those tracks to be selected via In and Out points in the Timeline or Canvas, just as if you'd used the Range Selection tool. When In and Out points are defined in the Timeline, operations such as the Copy command and lift edits are limited to the selected regions of tracks that have Auto Select turned on. When one or more Auto Select controls are enabled, regions of clips in the Timeline defined by In and Out points are highlighted, which indicates that these regions can be operated upon.

Editing clips from one sequence to another
Instead of nesting one sequence inside of another, you can edit the content of sequence A into sequence B-placing all of sequence A's clips directly into the Timeline of sequence B exactly as they appear in sequence A-using the Command key. Hold down the Command key while dragging sequence A into the Canvas to edit the clips contained by sequence A into sequence B.

Asymmetrical trimming
Asymmetrical trimming allows you to ripple edit opposing video and audio edit points in the Timeline to create split edits. Using the Ripple tool, you can Option-click to select an outgoing video edit point, then Command-click an opposite incoming audio edit point. When you use the Ripple tool to trim these selected points, they move in opposite directions, allowing you to create a split edit. For more information, see Late-Breaking News available via the Help menu.

Viewing media time or clip time in the Viewer
You can view the timecode of a clip in the Viewer using Source Time or Clip Time. Choosing Source Time guarantees that the current timecode displayed represents the timecode associated with that frame in your source media file. For example, if you change the speed of a clip to 50 percent, you effectively double the number of frames in that clip. With Source Time selected, each duplicated frame shows the correct timecode number of the frame in the media file it came from. Displaying Source Time is also useful for showing timecode with a timebase that doesn't match that of your sequence. For example, if a 29.97 fps clip is set to display the timecode from a 24 fps Aux 1 timecode track, choosing Source Time will accurately present these values in the Viewer. Source Time is always displayed in the Viewer and Browser in italics. If you choose Clip Time, the timecode displayed in the Viewer is incremented from the first timecode value in the clip forward, regardless of whether the timecode is correctly representing the current frame.

To choose Source Time or Clip Time, Control-click in the current timecode window of the Viewer, then choose a display method from the shortcut menu.

Ganging the Viewer and Canvas using the Playhead Sync pop-up menu
You can lock the playhead in the Viewer to the playhead in the Canvas so that they move together while scrubbing through clips. This is known as ganging. Ganging allows you to trim a clip in the Viewer by a duration specified by some event in the Timeline, such as the duration of an actor's action, the length of a clip, or the distance between two markers.

Ganging is especially useful when you're modifying clips with color correction filters applied. When adjusting color correction filters, you want to see the Color Correction tab in the Viewer that corresponds to the clip in the Canvas so that you're adjusting the right clip. Ganging lets you do this.

You use Playhead Sync pop-up menu to choose from four different ganging options:

* Off: Disables Viewer/Canvas ganging. The Viewer and Canvas playheads move independently of one another. This is the default behavior.
* Follow: The playhead in the Viewer is locked to the playhead in the Canvas whenever a sequence clip is opened into the Viewer, so that both playheads scrub together, displaying the same frame. For example, moving the Timeline playhead to the 20th frame of a clip in your sequence also moves the Viewer playhead to the 20th frame of that sequence's clip if it is also opened in the Viewer.
* Open: This option is identical to Follow, except that as the playhead moves through your sequence, the clip that appears at the current position of the playhead is automatically opened into the Viewer. For example, moving the Timeline playhead from clip A in your sequence to clip B opens clip B into the Viewer, with the playheads in the Viewer and in the Canvas both ganged to the same frame. The tab currently selected in the Viewer remains the selected tab, even though a new clip has been opened into it. The Open ganging option is useful when adjusting multiple clips that have color correction filters applied to them-as you move the playhead from clip to clip, the Color Correction tab updates to reflect the settings applied to whichever clip is at the current position of the playhead.
* Gang: When this option is selected, the offset between the current position of the playhead in the Canvas and the current position of the playhead in the Viewer is maintained as both playheads move together. This mode is useful for editing operations in which you want to mark In or Out points using durations defined by items or markers in the Timeline as your reference.

Audio

Audio Mixer tab in the Tool Bench
A new Audio Mixer tab in the Tool Bench has controls comparable to those of an automated hardware mixing console. Each audio track in the currently selected sequence is represented by a track strip, complete with solo and mute buttons, a stereo panning slider, and a volume fader. You can make fine adjustments to the audio in your program by manipulating these graphical controls in real time while you listen to your program play back. Final Cut Pro records the gestures you make with the mixing controls, adjusting the levels of clips in your sequence accordingly. Adjusting the levels of your tracks this way as you listen to them play back allows you to create mixes more quickly than does directly manipulating a track's volume overlays. The Audio Mixer tab has the following controls:

* track strip controls allowing real-time mixing and automation recording for volume and panning levels
* mute and solo monitoring controls
* master level, master mute, and mixdown controls
* individual track audio meters
* master output meters showing mixed levels for each assigned audio output
* controls to show and hide individual track strips
* up to four different mixer views, each with a different set of visible track strips
* the ability to turn on and off keyframe recording


Real-time automation recording
When the Record Keyframes checkbox in the Audio Mixer tab or in the General tab of the User Preferences window is selected, Final Cut Pro records all changes you make to audio controls during playback as keyframes in the corresponding parameter overlay of the audio clip you are adjusting. This is referred to as recording mixer and effects automation. You can record automation in real time during playback for

* volume and panning levels using the fader and pan controls in the Audio Mixer tab
* audio effects parameters using audio filter controls in the Filters tab of the Viewer


Keyframe thinning
A new Audio Keyframe Thinning pop-up menu in the General tab of the User Preferences window allows you to control how detailed keyframe automation is when recorded using the Audio Mixer or audio filter controls. There are three choices:

* All: Records the maximum number of keyframes possible while you move a track strip's fader or panning slider. The end result is a precise re-creation of the levels you set using the Audio Mixer. The drawback to this option is that you might end up with an extremely dense cluster of keyframes in the audio level overlays of the affected clips that can be difficult to edit later.
* Reduced: Reduces the number of recorded keyframes that are created when you move a track strip's fader or panning slider. The resulting level or panning overlay in the Timeline or Viewer is an accurate reproduction of the levels you set, but is easier to edit using the Selection or Pen tool.
* Peaks Only: Records only the minimum number of keyframes necessary to approximate the levels you recorded when moving a track strip's fader or panning slider. Keyframes recorded using the Peaks Only option reflect only the highest and lowest levels that were recorded. This is primarily useful when you want to record a minimum number of keyframes to edit later in the Timeline or Viewer.


Support for multichannel output and Mac OS X-compatible audio interfaces
New support is available for specifying Mac OS X-compatible audio interfaces for capture and output in the Audio/Video Settings window. New settings in the Audio Outputs tab of the Sequence Settings window allow you to define the number of audio output channels that are available to assign to audio tracks from your sequence, using whichever external audio interface or third-party video capture card is connected to your computer. By default, a stereo preset is enabled, and will work with the audio output built in to your computer, as well as with most DV camcorders and third-party video capture interfaces. If you have a more sophisticated audio interface specified in the Audio/Video Settings window that supports more than two channels of audio output, you can create a new preset to define these additional audio output channels.

Export multiple audio outputs to AIFF files
The Export Audio to AIFF(s) command in the File>Export submenu gives you the opportunity to export every audio output channel that's defined in the Audio Outputs tab of your sequence's settings as a separate AIFF file. You also have the option of saving each exported AIFF file at 24-bit resolution, which is useful because Final Cut Pro mixes the audio in your program at 32-bit internal resolution, even if your source audio is 16 bit. Since all audio calculations are made with higher precision to maximize the quality of your program's audio, using this command to export your audio preserves this quality.

New support for Audio Units
Final Cut Pro includes a set of Audio Units filters that you can use to adjust your audio clips. The Audio Units format is the standard Apple audio plug-in format for Mac OS X applications.

Third-party Audio Units are also available; before purchasing third-party Audio Units filters for use with Final Cut Pro, check with the third-party manufacturer to make sure they're compatible. Currently, Final Cut Pro only works with Audio Units filters that are capable of accepting mono audio as input, and can output a mono signal. Also, certain Audio Units filters that don't support certain properties required by Final Cut Pro for real-time playback will require rendering before playback. For information on how to install third-party audio filters, see the information that accompanied them.

Effets

New real-time variable speed effects
You can now apply variable speed to a clip. Also referred to as time remapping, this allows you to dynamically alter the speed of a clip, alternating among a range of speeds, in forward or reverse motion, throughout any duration you specify. Variable speed allows you to create sophisticated motion effects in which subjects appear to smoothly shift across a variety of different speeds, with hard or gradual transitions between each change. Speed changes you apply to clips in your sequence play back in real time. There are two ways you can make variable speed adjustments: m Timeline: One of the simplest ways to make variable speed changes is to use the Time Remap tool in the Tool palette to make adjustments to clips directly in the Timeline. As you work with this tool, an outline of your clip appears that shows you which source frame in the clip is being remapped to what time. Optionally, you can choose to display speed indicators and a keyframe graph underneath th
at clip's track in the Timeline, to help you see what you're doing. m Time graph: You can also add, subtract, smooth, and adjust time remap keyframes using the time graph of the keyframe editor in the Timeline or in the Effects tab of a clip in the Viewer. Speed indicators in the Timeline Speed indicators underneath each track in the Timeline can be displayed, and show you the speed of clips in your sequence using tic marks. The spacing and color of these tic marks indicate the speed and playback direction of your clips. The speed indicators of clips in the Timeline update in real time as you make variable speed adjustments to clips in your sequence, showing you exactly how you're altering a clip's timing. There are no useradjustable controls in the speed indicator area. More real-time filters and motion effects Many more of the Final Cut Pro video filters, audio filters, and transition effects have been optimized to work in real time. New Timeline keyframe editor Keyframe editor areas can be displayed un
derneath each track in the Timeline. The keyframe editor shows you keyframe graphs for motion effects or parameters of filters applied to clips in your sequence. These graphs are identical to those found in the keyframe graph area of the Motion and Filters tabs in the Viewer. You can edit keyframes in the keyframe editor using the Selection and Pen tools. The keyframe editor can only display the keyframe graph of one effect parameter at a time. Keyframe graphs displayed in the keyframe editor are color-coded: motion parameter graphs are blue (matching the color of the blue motion bar), filter parameter graphs are green (matching the color of the green filter bar), audio levels are pink, and panning levels are purple.

New Frame Viewer tabs
Frame Viewer tabs in Tool Bench windows can be used to visually compare multiple frames from the same sequence. This is particularly useful when performing a color comparison of multiple clips in the same setting where the lighting attributes may have changed. In Final Cut Pro, you can open as many Frame Viewer tabs in as many Tool Bench windows as necessary to compare as many frames as you need. If you've arranged multiple Frame Viewers to accomplish a specific task, you can save your custom configuration by choosing Window>Arrange>Save Window Layout. For more information about saving window layouts, see the Final Cut Pro User's Manual or Final Cut Pro Help, Volume I, Chapter 4, "The Final Cut Pro Interface."

You can set a Frame Viewer tab to display the current frame, adjacent edit points, or the In and Out points in the Canvas and Timeline. You can also compare two frames within a single Frame Viewer tab using the split-screen buttons. You can split the screen either vertically or horizontally, or create a rectangular region showing the split as a picture-in-picture. You can configure the Frame Viewer to display those individual frames that are most useful for making comparisons in your project.

Improvements to the Color Corrector and Color Corrector 3-way filters
Additional features have been added to the Color Corrector and Color Corrector 3-way filters.

* The Hue Matching controls provide a way to adjust the color balance of the current clip, based on a specific hue, to match a similar hue in another clip. A common example of when you might use the Hue Matching controls is to match the flesh tones of an actor in two different shots that have different lighting.
* New Edge Thin and Softening controls in the Limit Effect section of the Color Corrector and Color Corrector 3-way filters allow you to make fine adjustments.