Effect, title, transition, and generator templates can include animation like a standard Motion project. When the template is added to a clip in Final Cut Pro X, animation in the placeholder is applied to the clip, whether created by behaviors or keyframes.
Animation in the template that is longer than the duration of the clip to which it’s applied in Final Cut Pro is scaled to fit.
Important: If you don’t want your template animation scaled to fit the duration of the clip it is applied to in Final Cut Pro X, you can use markers to designate segments where the animation is locked. Additionally, you can use markers to designate sections where animation loops indefinitely in the Final Cut Pro project. For more information, see Working with Markers in Templates.
When publishing parameters in your templates, consider the following guidelines:
When possible, avoid publishing keyframed parameters. Published keyframes can cause unexpected results when you edit or further animate the parameters in the Final Cut Pro Inspector.
Do not publish a parameter that is controlled by a behavior. For example, if you publish an Opacity parameter that is controlled by an applied Fade In/Fade Out behavior, you cannot adjust the opacity parameter after the template is added to the Final Cut Pro X project.
Because the duration of templates often conflicts with the duration of the Final Cut Pro clips they are applied to, try to publish nonanimated parameters in the template, then keyframe those parameters in Final Cut Pro.
Use behaviors instead of keyframes in templates when possible. Behaviors can be a more flexible animation tool for templates. Behaviors don’t rely on specific timing or use keyframes to create an animation. Publish behavior parameters that you want to control in Final Cut Pro.
For more information on working with keyframes, see Keyframes and Curves. For more information on using behaviors, see Using Behaviors.
Depending on the template type, different timing rules apply when the template is added to the Final Cut Timeline.
Depending on the template type, different timing rules apply when the template is added to the Final Cut Pro X Timeline:
When you apply an effect template in Final Cut Pro X, the effect is integrated into the clip. For example, when a color-correction effect template that is 300 frames in Motion is saved and applied to a 2,300-frame clip in Final Cut Pro, the resulting effect is 2,300 frames.
Animated effect templates are also scaled according to the duration of the clip they are applied to in Final Cut Pro. For example, if a template in Motion is 300 frames long, and the placeholder layer is animated to rotate 360 degrees (one complete rotation) from frames 0 to 300, when the template is applied to a 900-frame clip in Final Cut Pro, the complete rotation is stretched to 900 frames.
You can override the timing adjustment in Final Cut Pro by applying markers to the template in Motion. For example, to control frame-counting effects, such as Timecode generators or grain effects, apply special markers to instruct Final Cut Pro when to play specific ranges of the template. For more information, see Adding Template Markers.
In Final Cut Pro X, the default transition duration is set in the Editing pane of Final Cut Pro Preferences. When you apply a transition template to an edit point in the Final Cut Pro timeline, the duration of the transition effect is modified to the default transition duration. For example, in a Final Cut Pro Broadcast HD 1080 project (29.97 fps) with a default transition duration of two seconds, an applied 300-frame transition template is compressed to 60 frames (2 seconds at 29.97 fps).
To override the transition duration setting in Final Cut Pro Preferences, select the Override FCP Duration checkbox in the Properties Inspector in Motion. If this checkbox is selected when the transition is saved, the transition retains its original duration when added to the Final Cut Pro project.
Whether the transition duration uses the Final Cut Pro default or is overridden, you can adjust the in and out points of the transition in the Final Cut Pro Timeline.