Apple has released Final Cut Pro 11 (FCP 11), the biggest video editing software update in over a decade, featuring a suite of AI driven tools to transform the professional editing experience. This new Apple iteration is so powerful it is sure to rekindle Apple’s relationship with the pro video editing community and finally deliver much needed features that have been missing since FCP X was released in 2011.
Revolutionary AI Tools
Magnetic Mask is one standout feature: an editor’s tool for isolating people or objects from moving shots. By using this AI powered capability they are able to have the option of cutting out subjects and putting them in completely different scenes or making their background better, without the mess of green screens.
Apple notes that the feature performs a “powerful and precise automatic analysis,” allowing editors to stylize or correct color with a high level of control and customization. It opens new editor creative possibilities by marrying objects almost seamlessly within scenes or even into different environments.
Another big highlight is the Transcribe to Captions tool. The latest Apple update with an Apple trained LLM uses this to automatically transcribe and analyze audio onto the timeline. This feature makes the task of converting spoken dialogue into captions, making speech easier to follow for viewers, something editors can do with a simple keyboard command.
But Apple says this feature does not currently work in other languages. Future updates will expand language options for Transcribe to Captions, in keeping with Apple’s bigger plan for expanding AI language in the world by 2025.
Advancing Spatial Video for Vision Pro
Spatial video editing is a game changer that sits nicely with the Vision Pro headset under the aegis of Apple. With this tool, editors can build immersive content that runs in augmented and virtual reality platforms. With an iPhone 15 Pro, iPhone 16 camera, or Canon’s R7 mixed with the RF-S 7.8mm F/4 lens, creators can now film and edit VR content in FCP 11. Vision Pro offers viewing options that ‘fake’ a left eye and right eye angle so users can see how their edits would appear in a 3D preview within Vision Pro.
Enhancements Across Platforms
Final Cut Pro 11 is not desktop only. In Final Cut Pro for iPad 2.1, with mobile editing closer to the desktop experience. The iPad version optimized for Apple silicon brings updates to its light and color enhancement features, featuring a new brightness, contrast, and color interface. Final Cut Camera 1.1 is also available for iPhone with support for shooting high quality videos files in HEVC files with Apple Log, featuring pro grade video with space saving storage.
The keyboard now has plug in search functionality, so editing Logic Pro audio work stations is a more efficient workflow for Apple. All existing users can now upgrade the Logic Pro and Final Cut Pro updates for free. Final Cut Pro is $299 for the Mac version with a 90-day free trial, or $5 a month, or $49 a year for the iPad version.
Future Prospects for Apple’s Editing Suite
Final Cut Pro 11 provides quite a set of features despite those advancements, but lacks some of the key features in rival software Premiere Pro and DaVinci Resolve such as text based editing and some more complex color correction tools. Even so, Apple’s latest updates suggest that the company is dedicated to refining the pro toolkit, and may infuse some AI in the near future.
Apple has created a powerful, AI driven editing suite in Final Cut Pro 11 that will raise the creative bar for professional video editors ready for immersive spatial video experiences for Vision Pro. This marks the enthusiasm for current and future audio/video editing projects, as well as a fine step for Apple’s long-term vision of high performance content creation.
