Apple has released Final Cut Pro for iPad,
and with that release,
they’ve added quite a few new features.
Most of the new features were also added
to the Mac version of Final Cut Pro,
with the 10.6.6 update.
Most features. Not all.
Today, we’re going to take a look the some of the
Final Cut Pro tools and features available only on the iPad version,
how to use them on your iPad,
and send your project over to Final Cut Pro on a Mac.
The first iPad only feature is Auto Crop.
This tools allow you intelligently reframe your conversional 16 by 9 videos
to a vertical or a square format.
This is one of Final Cut Pro’s Fast Cut features,
and will automatically adjust the framing of your shot to follow your subject.
To use the Auto crop feature,
make a new project on your iPad,
set your timeline format to custom,
and set your orientation to portrait for vertical videos.
Tap Continue, and import your clips into your project.
Up in your media browser, tap select,
select your your clips,
and hit the Append button
to add the selected clips to your timeline.
By default, Final Cut Pro will fit the entire clip in your video frame,
and since we’re starting out with 16 by 9 footage,
we’ll end up with large black bars on top and bottom.
To reframe your clips,
select the first clip in your timeline,
and click the Inspect button in the bottom left corner
to open up the inspector window.
Select the Transform tab,
scroll down to Crop Tools and tap on Auto Crop.
Select Start Scan to analyze
and intelligently reframe your clip.
So now, if you skim through your clip,
you can see how Final Cut Pro changes the framing to follow your subject.
Repeat these steps for the rest of your clips in your timeline.
Now, you can edit your clips right on your iPad,
or you can export these clips, with all the framing information,
and edit them on your Mac.
To send a project from Final Cut Pro on iPad to Final Cut Pro on Mac,
tap on share and export this as a Final Cut Pro for iPad Project.
Make sure to include all media.
Hit export, and either save your project,
or air drop it to your Mac.
Opening up this project on your Mac
will open it in it’s own library.
Choose a location to save this library,
and click the Save button.
Your project will be inside this library,
with all your clips cropped to fit the video frame.
And, if we select one of these clips, and open the crop tool,
as you can see, the entire clip its brought over,
as well as all the keyframes for following our subject.
Another iPad only Final Cut Pro feature is Live Drawing.
This allows you to draw, highlight
and write directly on footage with your finger
or an Apple Pencil.
To add a live drawing to your clip,
place your playhead where you want it to start,
and at the top of the window, tap the markup button.
This opens your clip in a new animation window.
Select your pen type, stroke thickness and color,
and start recording your animation.
Don’t worry about your speed,
this can be adjusted after the fact.
Also, if you make a mistake,
or don’t like the way something looks,
you can use the undo button, and try it again.
When you’re finished, hit the Done button to go back to your timeline.
You’ll see a Line Drawing clip connected above the timeline,
with an animation of whatever you just drew or wrote.
If you need more animations, repeat the same steps as before.
To edit one of your Live drawing clips,
select it in the timeline,
and tap the markup button again.
Now you can add to, erase, or replace parts of your animation.
If you need to adjust the speed or appearance of your live drawing,
you can do it right in Final Cut Pro on your iPad,
or you can export it to Final Cut Pro on Mac and do it there.
To make adjustments on your iPad, select the clip,
and tap the Inspect button in the bottom left corner.
In the inspector window,
you can adjust the opacity of your drawing,
the blend mode, color conversion, and even the speed of your animation.
By default, each animation is set to two seconds,
but you can speed it up or slow it down by dragging this dial.
So, if we set ours to around 3 seconds,
out text will animate on considerably slower.
These same adjustments can also be made
on the Mac version of Final Cut Pro.
Just share your timeline as a Final Cut Pro for iPad project,
and open it up in Final Cut Pro on your Mac.
The opacity and blend mode of you animation
can be adjusted in the video inspector,
and the duration in the generators inspector.
The last iPad only feature I want to talk about today
is Soundtracks.
A subscription to Final Cut Pro on iPad
includes 40 royalty free music tracks
you can download and use in your project.
These soundtracks can be dynamically adjusted
to fit the length of your project.
This means you can change the soundtrack to any duration
without the need for trimming, moving, nudging, or crossfading.
The soundtrack automatically adjusts to fit the new duration.
To use one in your project,
tap the titles and effects button in the toolbar,
swipe left at the top of the browser,
then select Soundtracks.
Tap on any of the music tracks to preview them.
Once you find the one you like,
move your playhead to the frame where you want to add your music clip,
tap the down arrow in the Edit Mode Control beneath the browser,
and select Connect at Playhead.
Tap the connect button
to connect your music track below the primary storyline.
Now, to change the timing of the soundtrack clip,
trim the end point of your soundtrack to where you want your music to end.
The music track adjusts automatically to match the new duration,
and you get a proper ending to your song,
instead of an abrupt stop.
As of right now, there is only 40 tracks available for this feature,
but I’m confident more are coming in the future updates.
Hopefully one day,
Apple makes this feature available for other music tracks as well.
So, what do you think.
Arny of these iPad only features worth the $5/month subscription fee?
Let me know in the comments below.
Thanks for watching, and I’ll see you back here next week.