Final Cut Pro - History

History

Randy Ubillos created the first three versions of Adobe Premiere, the first popular digital video editing application. Before version 5 was released, Ubillos' group was hired by Macromedia to create KeyGrip, built from the ground up as a more professional video-editing program based on Apple QuickTime. Macromedia could not release the product without causing its partner Truevision some issues with Microsoft, as KeyGrip was, in part, based on technology from Microsoft licensed to Truevision and then in turn to Macromedia. The terms of the IP licensing deal stated that it was not to be used in conjunction with QuickTime. Thus, Macromedia was forced to keep the product off the market until a solution could be found. At the same time, the company decided to focus more on applications that would support the web, so they sought to find a buyer for their non-web applications, including KeyGrip, which by 1998 was renamed Final Cut.

Final Cut was shown in private room demonstrations as a 0.9 alpha at the National Association of Broadcasters (NAB) exposition in 1998 after Macromedia pulled out of the main show floor. At the demonstration, both Mac and Windows versions were shown. The Mac version was working with a Truevision RTX dual stream real time card with limited real time effects. When no purchaser could be found, Apple purchased the team as a defensive move. When Apple could not find a buyer in turn, it continued development work, focusing on adding FireWire/DV support and introduced Final Cut Pro at NAB 1999.

In order that Final Cut Pro would be supported from the beginning with third-party self-paced and instructor-led training, Apple worked with DVcreators.net, who released a training disc called "Final Cut Pro PowerStart" at NAB on the day Final Cut Pro was released. Apple worked with DVcreators.net to host hundreds of free and paid Final Cut Pro seminars and workshops in 60 cities in the U.S., Canada and other countries over the following years, a strategy that some feel fundamentally contributed to Final Cut Pro's early awareness in the marketplace and rise in market share.

After the introduction of Final Cut Pro, Adobe Premiere's market share remained strong on Windows but began to decline on the Mac as its older codebase was more difficult to maintain. In 2003, Apple announced a program for Premiere users to trade in their discs for a free copy of Final Cut Express or a $500 discount on Final Cut Pro.

Final Cut Pro benefited from the relative maturity of QuickTime and its native support for then-new DV cameras connected with FireWire (IEEE1394).

The first fully Broadcast quality, Worldwide Distributed TV show produced on Final Cut Pro was 2000's WOW! Women of Wrestling, using the Pinnacle CinéWave uncompressed video card. The Oxygen Network was a beta site for Final Cut Pro in late 1999 through network launch in early 2000. Shows like ShE-Commerce were cut using FCP.

In late 2001, the studio motion picture The Rules of Attraction was edited on beta versions of Final Cut Pro 3, proving to the film industry that successful 3:2 pulldown matchback to 24fps could be achieved with a "consumer" off-the-shelf product. Roger Avary, the film's director became the spokesperson for Final Cut Pro, appearing in print advertisements worldwide. His advocacy of the product gave confidence to mainstream editors such as Walter Murch, that the product was ready for "prime time."

In August 2002, the application won a Primetime Emmy Engineering Award for its impact on the television industry.

Final Cut Pro 4 was announced in April 2003. It included three new applications: Compressor, used for the transcoding between video formats; LiveType for advanced titling (such as the creation of animated lower thirds); and Soundtrack, for royalty-free music soundtrack creation. It also bundled Cinema Tools, which was previously sold separately for filmmakers working with telecine.

Also in 2003, Apple launched Final Cut Express, a less expensive version of Final Cut Pro. It uses the same interface as Final Cut Pro, but it lacks some of the film-specific tools and other advanced options, limiting the feature set for non-professional editors. In January 2005, Soundtrack and LiveType, previously only available with Final Cut Pro, were added to Express, and features were added to edit HDV. Soundtrack was subsequently removed with Final Cut Express 4. In June 2011, Final Cut Express was officially discontinued, in favor of Final Cut Pro X.

In April 2004, version 4.5 of Final Cut Pro was introduced and branded by Apple as "Final Cut Pro HD" due to its native support for Panasonic's tape-based DVCPRO HD format for compressed 720p and 1080i HD over FireWire. (The software had been capable of uncompressed HD editing since version 3.0, but at the time had required expensive video cards and high speed storage.)

Final Cut Pro 5 was announced at a pre-NAB event in April, and shipped in May 2005. Final Cut Pro 5 added support for the burgeoning HDV format for compressed HD, which had previously been supported in Final Cut Pro's "scaled-down" cousin, Final Cut Express. Final Cut Pro 5 also added support for Panasonic's P2 format for the recording of DVCPRO HD video to memory cards rather than tape.

In January 2006, Apple stopped selling Final Cut Pro as a stand-alone product. In March 2006 the Universal Binary 5.1 version was released as part of Final Cut Studio. Upgrades were achieved by sending the original installation discs back to Apple with a fee. One noticeable difference is that the Intel versions of Final Cut and Motion no longer recognize After Effects plug-ins. Instead, Apple released its own universal plug-in architecture FxPlug.

On April 15, 2007, Apple revealed Final Cut Pro 6.0, as the cornerstone of the Final Cut Studio 2 bundle. Once again, Apple did not have a booth at NAB 2009, however the product was well represented on the show floor in various booths. The RED Camera team relied heavily on FCP during development.

On July 23, 2009, Final Cut Pro 7/Final Cut Studio 3 (not officially designated as such by Apple but adopted by most users to describe the 2009 changes) was released, but it was not yet a 64-bit application.

Final Cut Pro X was announced on April 12, 2011 and released on June 21. It is a 64-bit application completely rebuilt with a new interface, workflow enhancements and automation, and new features such as ColorSync integration, resolution independent playback system, system scaling with Core Animation, and more. The three apps, 'Color,' 'Soundtrack Pro,' and 'DVD Studio Pro' were dropped, while Motion 5 along with Compressor 4 were released onto the Mac App Store.