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MillimeterUsing Motion Templates in Apple Final Cut Pro, Part 2
Feb 2, 2010 12:00 PM, By Jan Ozer
Figure 5. The heads-up display (HUD) gives you quick access to many—but not all—configuration options.
Now that we know the hard way to change the font and font color, let's take a look at the easy way. With one of the text strings selected in the Project pane, click the heads-up display (HUD) icon on the top right of the Motion Toolbar. As you can see, the HUD gives you much quicker access to a range of functions that are more limited than what you get in the Inspector pane (though it would have worked just fine for what we were doing here).
As you would suspect, the HUD works for any object that you click in the Project pane, not just text. In the future, check it first to see if you can make the desired edits, and if you can't, visit the Inspector to find the additional parameters.
Figure 6. Previewing your work.
To preview your work, use the player controls beneath the Canvas to play or scroll through your project. Don't expect to see the custom text or images that you added in Final Cut Pro, since Motion is adjusting the blank template, not the template as completed in Final Cut Pro. As you'll see in a moment, however, any changes that you make to the template will flow through to the Final Cut Pro project with your text and images intact.
When you're ready to render, choose File > Save to save your project. You'll see a quick render screen appear as Motion renders your project. Then, if you return to Final Cut Pro, you'll see that the Motion template has been updated in your project with all text and images intact, as promised.
Figure 7. The updated Motion template in Final Cut Pro.
OK, that's editing a template in Motion—probably a lot simpler than you would have thought, especially if you limit your adjustments to simple characteristics such as fonts and colors. Now let's create a simple project in Motion. Motion contains a number of useful backgrounds and objects that you can easily deploy, and it offers access to LiveFonts. The workflow is to create the project in Motion, save the project, then import the project into Final Cut Pro. Again, you'll find this a lot simpler than you might have thought.
Continue the discussion on “Crosstalk” the Millimeter Forum.