Final Cut Pro X 10.3, Compressor 4.3, Motion 5.3

Apple has updated its lineup of professional video editing apps, releasing Final Cut Pro X 10.3, Compressor 4.3, and Motion 5.3 with a redesigned dark interface, full support for wide color workflows on supported Macs and external displays, and support for the context-sensitive Touch Bar on the new MacBook Pro (see “New MacBook Pros Add Context-sensitive Touch Bar,” 27 October 2016).

Final Cut Pro X 10.3 introduces the Magnetic Timeline 2 with color coding of clips based on roles such as dialogue, music, and effects, an enhanced Timeline Index that enables you to drag and drop audio roles to rearrange the layout or highlight specific audio roles, and iXML support that enables automatic creation and assignment of roles based on metadata. The release also enables you to copy and paste timecode to speed up numerical entry from text documents, enables you to use a Thunderbolt cable for direct A/V output to an external display, and adds support for a number of video formats (MXF-wrapped Apple ProRes, Canon Log2/Cinema Gamut and Panasonic V-Log, and Sony XAVC-L at 4K).

Compressor 4.3 improves the iTunes Store Package, enabling you to audition alternative audio, closed captions, and subtitles to verify sync, bypass unnecessary compression in the media pass-through, and switch between audio streams during asset playback to speed up verification. Additionally, detailed video and audio file information is now displayed in the Inspector, and the app adds support for OpenEXR still images and image sequences.

Motion 5.3 features an updated icon arrangement, optimizes window layout for portable Macs and desktop displays, improves performance when playing and adjusting 3D text, provides more realistic brushed metal surfaces for 3D text, adds support for Live Photos, and adds the Align To behavior that enables you to connect and animate multiple objects without keyframing.

All three video apps now require a minimum of OS X 10.11.4 El Capitan. (All three apps receive free updates. Otherwise, Final Cut Pro X, $299.99 new, 2.97 GB, release notes, 10.11.4+; Compressor, $49.99 new, 445 MB, release notes, 10.11.4+; Motion, $49.99 new, 2.31 GB, release notes, 10.11.4+)