Final Cut Pro updated to 10.5.3, Motion to 5.5.2, Compressor to 4.5.3

Written by Peter Wiggins Published: 17 June 2021

Category: FCP News

Top BlogReading time: 02:58

Some great news and just in time for Final Cut Pro's 10th birthday- an update to 10.5.3!

We will add to this article as we get more news, but Apple has just pushed out an update for Final Cut Pro to 10.5.3

At the moment it looks like a few very useful organizational tools for editors and bug fixes. More very soon.

What's new Final Cut Pro 10.5.3

Create and edit custom column views with the new column editor.
Search for media in the browser using expanded criteria including clip names, markers, and notes.
Sort clips in the browser according to type, including proxy, optimized, and missing media.
Fixes an issue where adjusting audio keyframes on one side of a blade edit shifts keyframes unexpectedly on the other side.
Restores support for copying clips from the Finder and pasting into the timeline.
Improves stability when copying events in the browser to a library stored on an external hard drive.
Fixes an issue in which the timeline index was not displaying active angle information for multicam clips.
Fixes an issue where Canon Cinema RAW Light and RED RAW media could not be imported if a camera card was mounted when launching Final Cut Pro.
Improves reliability when importing an FCPXML file with missing media.
Fixes an issue with the Color Mask in which dragging to select a range with the eyedropper did not display the selection circle.
Improves reliability when using the Select Next Clip command.
Improves reliability when app switching to Final Cut Pro with an external hard drive connected.
Improves reliability when quitting Final Cut Pro during a background render.
Improves stability and performance when working with multicam clips that contain corrupt media.
Fixes an issue in which audio waveforms would sometimes not update when using the Trim tool to perform a slip edit.

What's new in Motion 5.5.2

Fixes an issue in which a 3D object would render with incorrect brightness on Mac computers with Apple silicon.
Fixes an issue in which Motion could quit unexpectedly when closing a project after export.
Fixes an issue in which emoji would render incorrectly in an HDR project.
Fixes an issue in which Motion could quit unexpectedly when closing the application with the HUD open.
Fixes an issue in which Motion could quit unexpectedly when adjusting the opacity of a gradient using the onscreen control.
Fixes an issue in which Motion would quit unexpectedly when dragging media or an object into a USDZ media well.

What's new in Compressor 4.5.2

Adds the ability to modify the start timecode of a source clip or audio file.
Adds the ability to choose the color palette and dithering algorithm to minimize the file size of PNGs and GiFs.
Adds the ability to resize vertical video to other vertical frame sizes and square video to other square frame sizes with new Up To presets in the inspector.
Adds the ability to resize video to vertical and square aspect ratios using new presets for Cropping and Padding in the inspector.
Allows a user to disable passthrough of source metadata to output audio files and MOV, MP4, M4V, and MXF video formats.
Adds an alert when a group of shared computers contains a Mac with an incompatible Compressor version.
Adds support for MXF language tags.
Adds the ability to write an AVCHD disk image to the file system.
Adds keyboard shortcuts to create new batches for iTunes Store or IMF Packages types.
Fixes an issue where DPX or Cineon image sequences were imported with an incorrect frame rate.

Written by Peter Wiggins

Top BloggerThought Leader

I am the Editor-in-Chief of FCP.co and have run the website since its inception ten years ago.

I have also worked as a broadcast and corporate editor for over 30 years, starting on one inch tape, working through many formats, right up to today's NLEs.

Under the name Idustrial Revolution, I have written and sold plugins for Final Cut Pro for 13 years.

I was made a Freeman of Lichfield through The Worshipful Company of Smiths (established 1601). Though I haven't yet tried to herd a flock of sheep through the city centre!

Current Editing

great house giveaway 2020

2020 has been busy, the beginning of the year was finishing off a new property series (cut on FCP) for Channel 4 called The Great House Giveaway. I also designed and built the majority of the graphics as Motion templates. It has been a great success and the shows grabbed more viewers in the 4pm weekday slot than any previous strand. It has been recommissioned by C4 for 60 episodes, including prime-time versions and five themed programmes. The shows have also been nominated for a 2021 BAFTA.

Tour de france 2020
Although both were postponed to later in the year, I worked again on ITV's coverage of the Tour de France and La Vuelta. 2020 was my 25th year of editing the TdF and my 20th year as lead editor. The Tour was the first broadcast show to adopt FCPX working for multiple editors on shared storage.

BBC snooker the crucible

BBC's Snooker has played a big part in my life, I've been editing tournament coverage since 1997. I'm proud to be part of a very creative team that has pioneered many new ideas and workflows that are now industry standard in sports' production. This is currently an Adobe Premiere edit.

amazon kindle BF

Covid cancelled some of the regular corporate events that I edit such as trade shows & events. I was lucky however to edit, from home, on projects for Amazon Kindle, Amazon Black Friday, Mastercard and very proud to have helped local charitable trust Kendall & Wall secure lottery funding.

As for software, my weapon of choice is Final Cut Pro and Motion, but I also have a good knowledge and broadcast credits with Adobe Premiere Pro, MOGRT design and Photoshop.

Plugin Design & Development

I'm the creative force behind Idustrial Revolution, one of the oldest Final Cut Pro plugin developers. It hosts a range of commercial and free plugins on the site. One free plugin was downloaded over a thousand times within 24 hours of release.

I also take on custom work, whether it is adapting an existing plugin for a special use or designing new plugins for clients from scratch. Having a good knowledge of editing allows me to build-in flexibility and more importantly, usability.

FCP.co

Now in its 10th year and 4th redesign, running FCP.co has given me knowledge on how to run a large CMS- you are currently reading my bio from the database! Although it sounds corny, I am pretty well up on social media trends & techniques, especially in the video sector. The recent Covid restrictions has enabled live FCP.co shows online. This involves managing a Zoom Webinar through Restream.io to YouTube and Facebook.

The Future

I'm always open to new ideas and opportunities, so please get in touch at editor (at) fcp.co. I've judged film competitions, presented workflow techniques to international audiences and come up with ideas for TV shows and software programs!

Posts in discussion: Final Cut Pro updated to 10.5.3, Motion to 5.5.2, Compressor to 4.5.2

peteramwiggins replied the topic: #115032 17 Jun 2021 17:53

An update before its 10th birthday!

JoeEditor replied the topic: #115034 17 Jun 2021 20:25

Basically trivial stuff that should have been there from the beginning. I'm not impressed, somewhat disappointed... I'm sure I'll be flamed for this, I'm just being honest about my opinion.

cseeman replied the topic: #115035 17 Jun 2021 23:25

And FWIW these small updates may mean they are months away from any bigger upgrades or perhaps this is an app that is now surviving in "maintenance mode."

I truly can't understand the marketing or sales advantage Apple thinks they have by remaining silent on this.

If it is a big upgrade down the road there's the risk that the change is once again so radical that the current base my run to Resolve rather than face a steep learning curve and/or an upgrade so new it's once again lacking important features.

AppleGuru replied the topic: #115036 18 Jun 2021 05:27

Ben wrote:
Basically trivial stuff that should have been there from the beginning. I'm not impressed, somewhat disappointed... I'm sure I'll be flamed for this, I'm just being honest about my opinion.

Why should you be flamed? This is nothing new, it’s known for years that FCPX is behind the curve. Let’s look at DaVinci how it was evolved.

looking at Apple resources that is disappointing. I am starting to see that Apple dev team have no understanding in this area.

cv21 replied the topic: #115037 18 Jun 2021 05:56

I was waiting for this possibility. Here it is... at last, I am very happy about it even if its presentation is trivial. It's basic but effective.
Compared to the first version of FCP1 to FCP7, 1999 - 2009, I have the impression to come back to the waiting period of FCP6 / 7: end of big evolutions, modest improvements and efficient but outdated fundamentals. No problems, for daily work.
Sorry for bad english.

Steve McGarrigle replied the topic: #115038 18 Jun 2021 09:45

I see 'B' for Blade is now 'B' for...Scissors! They went and changed the cursor icon because no celluloid film editor ever used a film splicer with a pair of scissors!!! What a depressing update...again! I guess the one member of the dev team working on FCPX is a database expert with no video production knowledge and so we just got some useful ( granted ) organisational updates and fixes. Outside of that they must be hoping that 3rd parties like MotionVFX and FXFactory will continue to do all the work for them. Third parties however cannot change the fundamental framework of FCP required to add a professional audio workflow. That would require some sort of acknowledgment that the idea of tracks and busses may need to be looked at again and this it seems is not part of the Apple development plan because they are tried, tested, established but ultimately old-fashioned and un Apple-like paradigms.

AppleGuru replied the topic: #115039 18 Jun 2021 11:21

Steve wrote:
I see 'B' for Blade is now 'B' for...Scissors! They went and changed the cursor icon because no celluloid film editor ever used a film splicer with a pair of scissors!!! What a depressing update...again! I guess the one member of the dev team working on FCPX is a database expert with no video production knowledge and so we just got some useful ( granted ) organisational updates and fixes. Outside of that they must be hoping that 3rd parties like MotionVFX and FXFactory will continue to do all the work for them. Third parties however cannot change the fundamental framework of FCP required to add a professional audio workflow. That would require some sort of acknowledgment that the idea of tracks and busses may need to be looked at again and this it seems is not part of the Apple development plan because they are tried, tested, established but ultimately old-fashioned and un Apple-like paradigms.

I guess they trying to away from the old analog way. And maybe Scissors sounds less treating then Blade does.
Regarding the thread party plugins like MotionVFX. We dropped use of these type of plugins two years ago.
Since most of their plugins are still limited to bring a bad performance for the main app. Working with dedicated App like Mocha or Fusion is here much better solution. Besides we have so many Plugins from MotionVFX that just stop working due lack of updates.
Our new run is if the task can't be done in the App make sure the taks can be saved as project file in another.

paulzetter replied the topic: #115054 19 Jun 2021 03:36

Ever since upgrading I can't export anything. FCPX just quits when I press Save. Even with a clip with no plugins or anything else on it. Done all the usual trouble shooting checklist but still same.
Does anyone else have this problem?
Thanks, Paul

JoeEditor replied the topic: #115057 19 Jun 2021 12:18

Try trashing prefs (hold opt+cmd while launching the app) and deleting ALL of the render files for that Library (via the File menu or with Final Cut Library Manager app).

JoeEditor replied the topic: #115058 19 Jun 2021 12:19

Oliver Peters replied the topic: #115059 19 Jun 2021 15:23

The silly thing about Blade versus Scissors is that the function is actually an "add edit" function. That's really what the tool should be called. Although the reference of Blade or Scissors relates to physical film editing, it really only has relevance in the digital world to Avid editors. Even there, it's wrong. The "scissors" icon in Media Composer land is an extract (delete) function and the Blade/Scissors tool in FCP is equivalent to a different command in Media Composer.

JoeEditor replied the topic: #115062 19 Jun 2021 18:49

Celluloid film was cut with a blade. To call something the Blade tool and depict it with scissors, well, "WFT" man? Did Apple actually pay someone to spend time doing that? Why? I'd love to hear Apple's official explanation for that, as opposed to things we really need badly.

Oliver Peters replied the topic: #115071 20 Jun 2021 14:18

Isn’t it kind of a tempest in a teapot argument? Digital UI analogs to physical film, linear VTR, or audio editing processes are always imperfect. Accurate or not, scissors iconography and terminology have been associated with film editing for a long time.

We have both been approaching this in terms of references to film editing. As I mentioned earlier, when Avid used it, it was not to allude to celluloid film per se, but rather for an extract edit (FCP=delete) function - as in “cut and remove a piece.” Just like lift (FCP=shift delete) was represented by the weightlifter icon. When Avid went away from those icons, the user base was upset until they were restored. So silly little icons become passionate topics

Since scissors still have blades, it’s not completely incorrect to associate a scissors icon with a blade tool and the keyboard key of B. That’s still valid whether or not the association is intended to be with film editing or not. Beside, a scissors icon may have been deemed to be easier to understand graphically than a razor blade icon. Or maybe showing a razor blade icon was deemed to be politically incorrect.

Overall there seems to be a trend is software lately, to alter known and understood terms in an effort to be more inclusive. For example, Adobe has change “master bus” to “mix bus.” Whether or not that’s the right move is besides the point. In the end, I think both terms will be equally-well understood.

Obviously, as software moves forward, the physical analogs will be further from any active user’s memory. At what point do they become completely invalid? Beats me. iOS/iPadOS moves along without the familiar file/folder metaphor and as a result, it’s a less functional OS than macOS. But I would imagine at some point in the future, that metaphor, too, will disappear or change.

Marc Lucas replied the topic: #115072 20 Jun 2021 14:20

FCPX manager isn't working with 10.5.3

JoeEditor replied the topic: #115077 21 Jun 2021 00:49

"Since scissors still have blades..."

Seriously? Sorry, lame excuse IMHO. Icon of scissors should be called the Scissors Tool, period. It's the "Blade" tool, singular, not plural, not "Pair Of Blades" tool. If you're going to do it, do it all the way, not half-assed. Right?

I was rightly labeled an FCP Fanboy for two decades. Now, sorry, losing my religion, waking up from the cool-aide. Just my opinion...

realdawei replied the topic: #115080 21 Jun 2021 07:37

Yes the app is in minimal maintenance mode. Best dev talent is working in AV/AR etc frameworks at the OS level. Resolve is the answer. Even on iPad Pro Apple is pushing Lumafusion with curious energy.

FCP is toast.

JoeEditor replied the topic: #115135 24 Jun 2021 01:32

FCP 6.0 SNEAK PEAK!
(just so y'all don't go freakin' out again...)

Oliver Peters replied the topic: #115144 24 Jun 2021 11:32

Love it!

theschnitt.de replied the topic: #115269 29 Jun 2021 12:04

the notes search change is a game changer for me!!!
as im using simonsays.ai for transcript and it saves the transcript in the notes i can now search for spoken word and jump to that section! WERE GETTING THERE! Bam avid scriptsync!