Create your first rough cut

Every control on the New Rough Cut screen, and the safest defaults for a first successful result.

Topic: Create a rough cut 4 min read Verified against the current RoughCut app on 28 August 2026 العربية

Choose New Rough Cut in the sidebar, drop in a video, and leave the recommended defaults: Standard recording environment, On-device transcription, Bad-take removal on, Second Look off, Auto-detect language, and no video goal. Click Process and leave your source file where it is. RoughCut never copies or re-encodes your footage — the exported timeline references the original in place. A completed rough cut spends one of your five included runs, but only when it actually finishes: failed and cancelled jobs stay free, and Transcribe Only never counts. Every other control on the screen has its own page for when the defaults are not right for your recording.

On this page

Prerequisites
Steps
Expected result
The controls, in one place
Your original file is never touched
How the trial counts
Common mistakes
Troubleshooting

Prerequisites

The speech model installed, unless you are using Pro Cloud transcription. See Install the local speech model.
An AI provider key only if you want bad-take removal. Silence-only cuts need no key.
A supported video file. See Choose video and audio inputs.

Steps

Choose New Rough Cut in the sidebar, under Studio.
Drop a video onto the drop zone, or click Browse Video…. The zone reads Drop a video here, and Drop to replace the video once a file is chosen.
Optionally click Browse Audio (optional)… if you recorded a separate, cleaner microphone track. RoughCut analyses and transcribes that audio while the exported timeline still references your original video.
Leave Recording environment on Standard. That is −25 dB and suits typical home or office recordings.
Leave Transcription on On-device. Nothing is uploaded for transcription on this path.
Leave Bad-take removal on if you have a provider key. Turn it off for a silence-only cut that needs no key.
Leave Second Look off for a first run. It is a Pro refine pass and adds another AI call.
Leave Fine-tune collapsed. Its defaults are 0.5 s minimum silence, Standard aggressiveness, Auto-detect language, and no video goal.
Click Process.
Keep the source file where it is until you have exported and imported the result.

Expected result

The job moves through its stages and finishes with a review list of proposed cuts, then a Your rough cut is ready banner with an Export for Final Cut Pro… button.

The controls, in one place

Control	Default	What it changes	Pro
`Recording environment`	`Standard` (−25 dB)	How quiet counts as silence. `Quiet room` −35, `Noisy` −20, `Custom dB`, or `Smart`	`Smart` only
`Transcription`	`On-device`	Whether audio is transcribed locally or by OpenAI	`Cloud` only
`Bad-take removal`	On	Whether the AI editor pass runs at all	No
`Second Look`	Off	A second AI read of the surviving footage	Yes
`Min silence (sec)`	0.5	Pauses shorter than this survive	No
`Bad-take aggressiveness`	`Standard`	How boldly the editor removes suspected bad takes	No
`Language`	`Auto-detect`	Transcription language	No
`Video goal (optional)`	empty	Editorial context, max 500 characters	Summarising only

Second Look is disabled unless Bad-take removal is on, because it re-reads the result of the first AI pass.

Your original file is never touched

RoughCut states this on the screen itself: files are never copied, and the FCPXML references your original file in place. Nothing is transcoded, nothing is re-rendered, and no second copy of your footage is created. What RoughCut produces is a set of cut decisions.

How the trial counts

While you have not purchased the unlock, the screen shows <n> free cuts left. Five complete rough cuts are included.

A run is spent only when a job actually reaches a completed state. Specifically:

Failed jobs do not count.
Cancelled jobs do not count.
Transcribe Only never counts, and is never gated by purchase at all.

The counter lives in the macOS Keychain, so it survives deleting and reinstalling the app, and nothing in the app lowers it.

Common mistakes

Adding a separate audio file that is not synchronised. The audio track is used for analysis and transcription; if it drifts from the video, every cut time drifts with it.
Moving or renaming the source file before importing. Final Cut Pro then reports the media as offline.
Turning on Second Look for a first job. Learn what the standard pass does before adding a refine pass.
Setting a custom dB value before trying the presets. The three presets cover most recordings.
Expecting Process to work with no model and no Pro. On-device transcription needs the model; the button stays disabled and tells you so.

Troubleshooting

Process disabled? Check in order: a video is selected; no red validation message is showing; the speech model is ready (or Cloud is selected); you have free cuts remaining or have purchased the unlock.

If the job fails, read the message before deleting anything — it names the cause. See Troubleshooting by symptom.

The RoughCut New Rough Cut screen with its media drop zone and cut controls. — The New Rough Cut screen. The defaults shown are the recommended first run.

Still stuck?

Contact support

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