Want to make some graphics to include in your FCPX edit but don't have Motion? You may already have the free tool you need on your Mac!
We welcome PhotoJoseph to FCP.co, he tells us how he uses Keynote and FCPX together:
Almost every video needs some kind of text on screen; an opening title, a lower third, a closing message, whatever. Quite often we want to animate that text. But stepping into the world of motion graphics is daunting. Adobe After Effects is, frankly, terrifying to most editors, and even Apple Motion isn't exactly easy to use.
Enter Keynote. Yes, Apple Keynote. That "way prettier than Microsoft PowerPoint but basically the same thing" app. Meant for corporate presentations, product launch events and shareholder meetings, Apple Keynote has a surprising amount of power under the hood.
With Keynote, you can easily slide text on and off screen — with a flourish! Create complex, multi-step animations of words and objects in just a few clicks. You can even embellish with smoke and fire. And then, you can export the animation as ProRes 4444 (that last 4 is for transparency!) in ultra HD resolution to include in your Final Cut Pro X project.
In this video, I introduce the concept of using Keynote with Final Cut Pro. I show how to set up a project with transparency, add a basic animation to some text, then show how to export in the correct format and finally add it to your timeline. Then, I'll show you how to easily update that animation seamlessly when you need to make a change by taking advantage of Final Cut’s referenced media (leaving files outside of the library).
Throughout the video, I also offer tips to speed up the workflow, especially in areas where Keynote doesn’t necessarily make things easy. I’ll show you how to adjust the animation in Final Cut to get the timing exactly where you want it using freeze frames and markers, and how to use a still frame from Final Cut to align the animation in the exact right position back in Keynote — and how to not have that still frame show up in the final render.
I hope you enjoy learning how to use Keynote for your motion graphics needs!
PhotoJoseph is a content creator, educator and YouTuber — he shoots for corporate and celebrity clients, works with schools globally integrating photography into the classroom, leads workshops, has several photography courses on LinkedInLearning.com, a regular YouTube show, and currently lives in the USA in Ashland, Oregon.
