[This article was first published in the December, 2007, issue of
Larry's Final Cut Pro Newsletter. Click here to subscribe.]

Jennifer Reinish, from Santa Barbara, writes:

I am working on a corporate project, and they have many graphics they have given me. But, they want the background on some of the images to be black (the default) and others they would like on a white background. I tried to switch a few images to a white background, and it changed the entire project to a white background. Is there a way, without taking each image into photoshop to matte it, to put part of the project on a white background? I can't stretch the images to cover the entire screen, as I'd then lose some lettering/images on certain screens, I think.

Larry replies: Jennifer, Final Cut's timeline background is always black.

When you change the color in the pop-up menu in the Viewer or the Canvas, you are not changing Final Cut's background, you are simply changing the display background for the Viewer or the Canvas window itself.

Changing the background for a window makes it easier to see, say, black text, which would be invisible in a black window. Or transparency in an image, when it is set over a checkerboard.

If you want to create a different background color than black, go to the Generator menu in the lower-right corner of the Viewer and select Matte > Color or Matte > Color solid. Change the color in the Controls tab to meet your purposes, then edit it to V1 in the Timeline.

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.

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