(Page 1 of 2 pages for this article  1 2 >)

Filed under:

Fun with Motion Templates

I love Motion Templates. Not only because I can pull a great looking effect out of my hat at a moment’s notice, but they save me so much time, even when I create an original effect. Instead of recreating the same effect for a dozen videos, I create it once with the common elements embedded and drop zones for those shots that will change for each video.

Of course the downside to having all these high-production-value templates is that everyone else who owns Final Cut Studio also has access to the same Templates. Never fear, there are way to customize the templates and own the result.

In practice I use Motion Templates in three ways: Create a new template from scratch; modify an existing template and save it as a new, custom template of my own; and by adding more than one template at a time to create a more complex effect.

All three approaches were used in a current project - some simple cooking videos for the professorIT.com website. As is so often the case the budget was “constrained”, and yet, thanks to Motion Templates, the videos have much higher perceived production value than actually went into the work.

A whole new effect

I knew right from the start that I’d need some sort of consistent title effect for these videos so I saved it as a template as soon as it was finished. Once saved as a Template I can apply it directly inside Final Cut Pro and just make the changes necessary for this version: change out the text for the name of the recipe and change out the food image/video for each recipe.

This wasn’t a complex project. A full screen logo dissolves to a blurred version of the finished food as the name of the recipe writes on using a LiveFont as the blur clears to show the finished food, while the food image grows slightly. The effect is timed to music cues.

Now, LiveFonts are not without their own problems. They take time to write on! Originally I wanted a 100% sequence - where the next letter starts only when the preceding letter is fully written on. Well, I got over that quickly when, even at the maximum speed of 500% (in Motion), the write on was going to take more than twice the duration of the music cue!

The solution in this case was to change the sequencing in the LiveFont to 50%. That is, the next character starts writing on when the preceding character is 50% complete. Not my original vision but a workable compromise.

Tip: Different LiveFonts have different write-on speeds, so if you have choice as to which font you use, you may find a better match with a different font.

Having created my effect to mine (and my client’s) satisfaction, I saved it out as a Master Template (Final Cut Pro) or Motion Template (Motion). Despite the different names, these are the same thing.

Before I save out the template, though I needed to make a change to the video layer so that I would be able to change it out later in Final Cut Pro. Select the layer you want to convert to a drop zone, navigate to the Inspector and then the Image Tab and click the Drop Zone check box ‘on’. For Text fields size and content are editable in Final Cut Pro but position, font and color are set in the template.

To save as a Template, choose the File menu and select “Save as Template”. The Save Template dialog opens. Obviously, choose a better name than “New Template”! Format should be obvious: for an HD project, choose HD - for NTSC or PAL, choose them from the pop-up menu.

At first it will seem like you can’t save the Template anywhere - all the Themes are locked. But wait, what’s that down to the bottom left? Click the “New Theme” button and create your own theme. So far I’ve kept my custom templates in a “Philip” Theme, but I can see the day coming when I’m going to have to create a more refined system than that. A good approach would be to create a Theme for a project: do as I say, not as I do! (You will be happier for it.)

For a Master Template you have the choice of including a QuickTime Preview, something I totally recommend, so you can see the effect visually in the Final Cut Pro Master Template browser.

Whether you collect media or not depends on whether or not you need to keep media with the template. As this is a one-off project and the media will stay on the client’s drive, I did not collect the media to the Template. Here’s a case where I’d like more control. Instead of an “all or nothing” collect media, I’d prefer to see the choice of “collect constant media” (i.e. the clips that do not have a drop box) as well as the choice to collect all media, because I don’t want to store the background movie of the food in the template, as it will change every time.

(Page 1 of 2 pages for this article  1 2 >)

Name:

Email:

Location:

URL:

Smileys

Remember my personal information

Notify me of follow-up comments?