Apple first released its editing software Final Cut Pro X more than a decade ago. And now finally, after a really long wait, it has finally launched an upgrade to it. Final Cut Pro 11 is here and it introduces a bunch of new features. This includes AI-powered tools and workflow enhancements. The new version of Final Cut Pro is available for free for existing users. If you’re a new user, then you can buy it for $299.
Final Cut Pro 11 offers features such as AI masking, auto-generated captions, and spatial video editing for immersive content. Magnetic Mask is another standout feature. It uses AI to isolate subjects with a single click. This makes it easy to apply adjustments without manually tracking frames. As per tests, it can handle both static and fast-motion footage, though some fine-tuning is necessary for precision. With this tool, the need of rotoscoping is minimised and it takes under a minute per mask on an older M1 Pro MacBook.
One more interesting feature is its ability to generate captions directly in the timeline with on-device processing. This is a pretty helpful tool as most people use a different software to add captions. But it does have some issues, it struggles with proper nouns and some common words, requiring users to correct misspellings. This is something that we have seen with other subtitle-generating software too. Unfortunately, captions can’t yet be customised, so you will still need third-party plug-ins for social media projects.
Coming to Final Cut Pro for iPad, it gets the “enhance light and colour” AI tool. So now there are more creative presets and modular transitions. The app also supports new Apple Pencil Pro features like haptic feedback and tilt recognition. But sadly custom LUTs and advanced AI tools from the desktop versions are still missing. Final Cut Camera also gets some updates. It now allows HEVC Log recording and has a level indicator for precise framing.