Welcome to our tour of Final Cut Pro 10.3.
This free series of lessons will give you a jump start
on the new features and how to use them.
In this first lesson, we’ll begin by exploring the new user interface.
So let’s jump right in.
The most obvious change in the new Final Cut Pro, is the flat look of the UI that greatly
reduces visual noise and clutter.
Gone are the 3 dimensional design elements of the previous versions that tended to focus
your eyes away from your content.
The UI is also darker.
When your clips are viewed in the Browser and Timeline, they now really stand out against
the background.
Audio clips in the timeline are now displayed by their role assignments and color coded
making it easy to identify your Dialogue, Music and Effects.
An enhanced Timeline Index reveals a redesigned Roles pane that allows you to organize your
audio content into lanes based on role metadata.
Because these roles are the centerpiece of this new version of Final Cut Pro, I’ll be covering
this feature in more detail in the next several lessons.
There’s a new upper toolbar where some tools and buttons have been relocated.
In the upper left of the bar, you’ll now find the Import Media button,
the Keyword HUD,
and the Background Tasks window respectively.
The reason for the move is that these specific tools are generally related to working in
the Library and Browser, so they’re now in closer proximity requiring less mouse movement.
The Library pane is now organized into 3 sidebars that show and hide your Libraries,
your photos and audio content,
and the factory-installed Titles and Generators.
By showing the Photos and Audio sidebar, you’ll see media files that can be accessed directly
from familiar Mac applications like Photos, Logic Pro, and iTunes.
To add media into your Final Cut Pro Library, just drag the item or items to the left to
expose the Libraries sidebar, then drop it into any Event.
The Titles and Generators sidebar reveals all your titles and separate sub-categories
of specific titles like 3D text and lower thirds.
This is also the location for storing custom titles that were published from Apple’s Motion.
In the Generators section, you’ll find the usual assortment of static and animated backgrounds.
Themes, which had their own browser in previous versions of Final Cut Pro X, have now been
merged into various sub categories within the titles and generators groups.
For example, by selecting the Lower Thirds category, and scrolling, you’ll see all
the Lower Third themes separated by name and style.
And the same goes for Generators.
The Transition and Effects Browsers are still in the same relative locations as in previous
versions of Final Cut Pro in order to maintain their close proximity to the timeline
where these items are applied.
At the rightmost corner of the upper toolbar are some new buttons for controlling the layout of the UI.
Clicking this button will hide or reveal the Browser
so that the Viewer is the primary area of focus.
Clicking this button hides the timeline and maximizes the Browser
making it easier to add clip metadata and organize your content.
One especially welcome feature when in this viewing mode, is when you click the Inspector button to reveal it,
it takes up the full height of the window,
which will prove useful when you're dealing with clips that have multiple effects applied,
or clips that include multiple audio components.
By the way, you can also get to this full height inspector in any other view.
Simply double-click at the top of the Inspector.
That’s awesome.
One feature that's been on our top ten feature request for some time is the ability to apply
and save custom workspaces.
From the Window menu choose > Workspaces, then select one of the options from the list.
I’ll choose > Color and Effects
and instantly I’m presented with a layout that includes
the Scopes window, Inspector, and Effects Browser.
I’ll go ahead and make a few changes to the workspace by setting the Scopes to a 2-up view,
closing the Effects browser,
and opening the Timeline Index.
I’ll also give some more screen real estate to the scopes and Viewer by dragging downward
on the divider.
To save my workspace, I’ll go back to the Workspaces menu and choose > Save Workspace
- give it a name,
and click Save.
My saved workspace now appears at the top of the Workspaces menu whenever I need it.
I can even go to the Finder to view my saved workspaces in a folder.
I’ll use the Default workspace to complete my tour of the UI.
The edit buttons have remained where they are but with the addition of an Overwrite button
that was previously only available in the Edit menu.
The tools menu is still in the same place with the same tools, but it’s been given
a more subtle appearance.
The Timeline History buttons now appear in the center of the Toolbar just below the Viewer
and the Dashboard has been removed altogether.
The Enhancement and Retiming menus that previously existed at the right side of the toolbar
have been relocated to the area below the Viewer along with the timecode
and audio meters.
There’s a new Clip Appearance button that presents some new options for how your clips
are displayed in the timeline
and there’s also a relocated clip appearance button in
the Browser that includes some additional options for sorting and viewing your clips.
So, what do you think, Mark?
I love the clean new UI. I love how flat it is, how dark it is, how it really lets you focus on your content.
It was a little disorienting to me that complete loss of color for a little bit, you know keyword collections,
smart collections, libraries all had colors in the previous version; -You mean like in the icons themselves.
The icons were colored, but now, I've gotten used to it very quickly. At first it was a little jarring but I got used to it very quickly.
As well as splitting off the Generators and Titles and putting up in the Browser
was confusing at first. It was a new location.
but again, I got used to it very quickly.
I love the workspaces, they're fantastic that you can configure them.
I love the fact that the Inspector can be opened up big very quickly, absolutely fantastic!
Absolutely. I agree with everything you've said,
but I'm really excited to show you the next feature
which is the signature feature in Final Cut Pro 10.3.
Great! Let's check it out.