Final Cut Pro User Guide for Mac
- Welcome
- What’s new
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- Intro to importing media
- If it’s your first import
- Organize files during import
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- Import from Image Playground
- Import from iMovie for macOS
- Import from iMovie for iOS or iPadOS
- Import from Final Cut Pro for iPad
- Import from Final Cut Camera
- Import from Photos
- Import from Music
- Import from Apple TV
- Import from Motion
- Import from GarageBand and Logic Pro
- Import using workflow extensions
- Record into Final Cut Pro
- Memory cards and cables
- Supported media formats
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- Intro to effects
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- Intro to transitions
- How transitions are created
- Add transitions and fades
- Quickly add a transition with a keyboard shortcut
- Set the default duration for transitions
- Delete transitions
- Adjust transitions in the timeline
- Adjust transitions in the inspector and viewer
- Merge jump cuts with the Flow transition
- Adjust transitions with multiple images
- Modify transitions in Motion
- Add adjustment clips
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- Add storylines
- Use the precision editor
- Conform frame sizes and rates
- Use XML to transfer projects
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- Intro to sharing projects
- Share to Apple devices
- Share on the web
- Send a video frame to Pixelmator Pro
- Share in email
- Share stereo or spatial video
- Batch sharing
- Share using Compressor
- Create share destinations
- Change metadata for shared items
- View the status of shared items
- Speed up exports with simultaneous processing
- Glossary
- Copyright and trademarks
Final Cut Pro for Mac interface
Here are the main areas of the Final Cut Pro window:
Organize media in the Libraries sidebar and the browser
Your imported media is available in events in your library. (An event is like a folder that contains clips and projects.)
When you select an event in a library, its clips and projects appear in the browser on the right.
You can reorganize your media however you like, and you can use the Libraries sidebar and the browser to manage, rate, sort, and add keywords to your imported media. See Intro to libraries.
Play back clips and projects in the viewer
The viewer is where you play back your video, including clips and projects with 6K resolution and above. You can play back events, projects, or individual clips in full-screen view or on a second display. With the event viewer, a separate video display that can be shown next to the main viewer, you can display two clips at the same time: one from the browser and one from the timeline. See Play media and Play media in the event viewer.
You can also use onscreen controls, superimposed over the video in the viewer, to adjust settings for a wide array of effects and transitions.
Edit your project in the Magnetic Timeline
The bottom portion of the Final Cut Pro window contains the timeline, where you create your movie by adding and arranging clips and making all your edits. The timeline “magnetically” adjusts clips to fit around clips that you drag into place. If you drag clips out of place, the surrounding clips close up to fill the space. See Intro to the Magnetic Timeline, Intro to adding clips, and Arrange clips in the timeline.
With a click, you can arrange clips into audio lanes (separate, visually distinct layers in the timeline), based on their role assignments. Roles identify the type of clip, so each audio lane contains one type of audio. For example, one audio lane might contain music clips, and another might contain sound effects. This view organizes clips visually and makes editing easier and more efficient. See Intro to roles and Organize the timeline with audio lanes.
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