Are these effects something I could do in Final Cut Pro?

September 18, 2020 12:39 PM

This video uses animated lines and arrows that extend, bend, arc and rotate, etc. It also includes a sighting target that follows the road, and some color masks (not sure if that's the right term). Are the effects in this video achievable with just Final Cut Pro, or do I need a special effects program like Motion or After Effects?
posted by tzikeh to Computers & Internet (5 answers total)

You could create those graphics in a program like Photoshop as static images, then bring them into your video editor, and use simple wipe effects to reveal them at the chosen moment. For the crosshairs, your video editor would need to be able to do basic motion tracking. The newest versions of the video editor I use (Vegas Movie Studio) can do this, so I assume Final Cut Pro can too.
posted by Artifice_Eternity at 1:39 PM on September 18, 2020

To create the graphics in a graphics program, you'd just need to take a screenshot of the frame where a graphic is meant to appear, take it into your graphics program, and create the overlay graphic on top of it. Then delete the screenshot layer from the graphic. You'll want to save the graphic in a format with a transparent background, like a PNG. You can then import it into your video editor and put it on its own track above the video.
posted by Artifice_Eternity at 1:44 PM on September 18, 2020

Response by poster: I was looking more at the animation stuff, like the scope following the center of the road.
posted by tzikeh at 4:16 PM on September 18, 2020

If Final Cut Pro doesn’t do it, the free DaVinci Resolve 16 video editor definitely can! The object tracking is really first rate.
posted by rambling wanderlust at 5:04 PM on September 18, 2020

I haven't used Final Cut since Studio (2009), but last time I checked you needed a plug in like FCPX Auto Tracker in order to "pin" objects to a spot on the screen and have them motion track.
posted by Zedcaster at 8:06 PM on September 18, 2020 [1 favorite]