[This article was first published in the February, 2006, issue of
Larry's Final Cut Pro Newsletter. Click here to subscribe.]

Recently, a student came to me with problems in keying text clips in Final Cut.

During the course of discussing his problem, I discovered that he was editing his text clips to the Timeline, rather than superimposing them.

The key points to remember in keying text clips in Final Cut are the following:

1. Put your playhead in the middle of the clip into which you want to key text.
2. Connect the left patch panel tab (from the Viewer) to the same track as the clip your playhead is in. Generally, this means v1 > V1.
3. Generate your text from the Viewer pop-up menu
4. Superimpose your text by dragging it from the Viewer to the Canvas Superimpose overlay menu
5. Double-click the text from the Timeline to load it into the Viewer.

Following this procedure will automatically:

• Key your text into your background clip using the alpha channel built into all FCP text clips
• Trim your text clip so it runs the same length as your background clip
• Allow you to see your key while you edit your text

Simply editing your clip to the Timeline does not accomplish the same results nearly as quickly or as easily.

This tip is from the February, 2006, issue of "Larry's Final Cut Pro Newsletter," a very cool FREE monthly Final Cut Pro newsletter -- subscribe at Larry's web site: www.larryjordan.biz.

Larry Jordan is a post-production consultant and an Apple-Certified Trainer in Digital Media with over 25 years experience as producer, director and editor with network, local and corporate credits. Based in Los Angeles, he's a member of both the Directors Guild of America and the Producers Guild of America.

Any references to trademarks or products are used for editorial purposes only. Text copyright 2006 by Larry Jordan and Associates, Inc.. All rights reserved.

Larry Jordan is a post-production consultant and an Apple-Certified Trainer in Digital Media with over 25 years experience as producer, director and editor with network, local and corporate credits. Based in Los Angeles, he's a member of both the Directors Guild of America and the Producers Guild of America.

The information in this article is believed to be accurate at the time of publication. However, the author assumes no liability in case things go wrong. Please use your best judgment in applying these suggestions.

The opinions expressed in this article are solely those of the author. This newsletter has not been reviewed or sanctioned by Apple or any other third party. All trademarks are the property of their respective owners and are mentioned here for editorial purposes only.

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