Visual QuickStart Guide [Electronic resources] : Final Cut Express HD for Mac OS X

Lisa Brenneis

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  • Using Animated Text Generators

    Final Cut Express offers three animated text generators: Scrolling Text, Crawl, and Typewriter. These generators offer the font styling and positioning controls of the static text generators, plus simple animation routines built into the generator. You set up the animation on the text generator's Controls tab.

    Because these animated titles typically start offscreen, you will not see any text onscreen if your playhead is parked at the beginning or end of the clip. You have to scrub the playhead through the clip to see how your animated title is shaping up.

    Creating scrolls

    Scrolls are most often found as credit sequences at the end of a show (or at the beginning of

    Star

    Wars parodies). Scrolling text displays a lot of information in a little time, but take care not to roll your text too quickly. If you set your scroll speed too high, the titles will stutter (they won't appear to scroll smoothly), and no one will be able to read them.

    There are several ways to create the scrolling graphic elements. The easiest is to use the Scrolling Text generator found in the Video Generator list, but if you plan to use multiple fonts or specialized tracking, sizing, and kerning, then your best bet is to use the free Boris Calligraphy Title Crawl text generator plugin found on your Final Cut Express CD. See "Creating titles with Boris Calligraphy" later in this chapter.

    To generate a scrolling text title:

    1.

    Do one of the following:

    • From the Generators pop-up menu in the lower right of the Viewer window, choose Scrolling Text (Figure 17.14 ).

      Figure 17.14. Choose Scrolling Text from the Viewer's Generator pop-up menu.

    • On the Browser's Effects tab, choose Scrolling Text from the Video Generator folder.

    The Scrolling Text generator appears in the Viewer.

    2.

    In the Viewer, click the Controls tab to access the generator's controls; then specify your text control settings as outlined earlier in this chapter, in the section "Text generator options checklist" (Figure 17.15 ).

    Figure 17.15. Specify your text control settings as outlined in the section "Text generator options checklist."

    3.

    You can also specify any of the following scrolling text parameters:

    • Spacing: Use the slider or enter a value to specify the spacing between letters (as with Tracking).

    • Leading: Use the slider or enter a value to specify the spacing between lines of text.

    • Indent: Use the slider or enter a value to set the

      x -axis (left-right) positioning of the scroll's aligned edge, expressed as a percentage of the screen. Indent is enabled only for left- or right-aligned scrolls. The title-safe area begins inside 10% of the screen.

    • Gap Width: Use the slider or enter a value to specify the width of the gap between any two text entries separated by an asterisk (*).

    • Fade Size: Use the slider or enter a value to set the vertical display area of your scrolling text, expressed as a percentage of the screen. The scrolling text will fade in as it enters (and fade out as it exits) the vertical display area you specify.

    • Direction: Choose Up or Down from this pop-up menu to specify the direction in which the generated text will scroll.

    4.

    Click back to the Viewer's Video tab and edit the text clip into your sequence in the Timeline. If you want to superimpose your text over video, choose the Superimpose edit type when you perform your edit.

    Tip

    • Use the Gap Width setting to create a double-column credit scroll with a center gutter. Here's how: Set the Gap Width parameter to specify the width of the gap between any two text entries separated by an asterisk (*). When you assemble the text for your credit scroll, type

      Production Credit*Name for example, Visual Effects*Xochi Studiosand the gutter in your credit scroll will be set to the Gap Width value. How*about*that?

    Creating crawl titles

    Like the stock market ticker tape creeping along the bottom of your TV screen, a text crawl is an animated title that scrolls horizontally. Text crawls can be useful for displaying short phrasesbut keep them short, unless you are trying to annoy your audience.

    Stuttering is more pronounced during a text crawl than during any other type of text effect. Take care to test your crawl on an NTSC monitor, and watch for optical jumpiness. Possible remedies include using a wider-stroked font, a larger font size, a slower crawl speed, or a motion blur.

    To generate a crawl text title:

    1.

    Do one of the following:

    • From the Generator pop-up menu in the lower right of the Viewer window, choose Crawl (Figure 17.16 ).

      Figure 17.16. Choose Crawl from the Viewer's Generator pop-up menu.

    • On the Browser's Effects tab, choose Crawl from the Video Generator folder.

    The Crawl text generator appears in the Viewer.

    2.

    In the Viewer, click the Controls tab to access the generator's controls; then specify your text control settings as outlined earlier in this chapter, in the section "Text generator options checklist" (Figure 17.17 ).

    Figure 17.17. On the generator's Controls tab, specify your text control settings as outlined in the section "Text generator options checklist."

    3.

    You can also specify any of the following crawl text parameters:

    • Spacing: Use the slider or enter a value to specify the spacing between letters (as with Tracking).

    • Location: Use the slider or enter a value to specify the

      y -axis (top-bottom) positioning of your crawl.

    • Direction: Choose Left or Right from this pop-up menu to specify the direction in which the generated text will scroll.

    4.

    Click back to the Viewer's Video tab and edit the text clip into your sequence in the Timeline. If you want to superimpose your text over video, choose the Superimpose edit type when you perform your edit.

    Creating animated typewriter text

    The cute little Typewriter text generator automates the animation of single letters popping onto the screen; that's why it's called Typewriter. It's a real time-saver, as anybody who has manually animated simulated typing will tell you.

    To generate a typewriter text title:

    1.

    Do one of the following:

    • From the Generator pop-up menu in the lower right of the Viewer window, choose Typewriter (Figure 17.18 ).

      Figure 17.18. Choose Typewriter from the Viewer's Generator pop-up menu.

    • On the Browser's Effects tab, choose Typewriter from the Video Generator folder.

    The Typewriter text generator appears in the Viewer.

    2.

    Text generator options checklist" (Figure 17.19 ).

    Figure 17.19. On the generator's Controls tab, specify your text control settings as outlined in the section "Text generator options checklist."

    3.

    You can also specify any of the following typewriter text parameters:

    • Spacing: Use the slider or enter a value to specify the spacing between letters (as with Tracking).

    • Location: Use the slider or enter a value to specify the

      y -axis (top-bottom) positioning of your text element.

    • Indent: Use the slider or enter a value to specify the

      x -axis (left-right) positioning of your text element, expressed as a percentage of the screen.

    • Pause: Use the slider or enter a value to specify the timing of your typewriter animation. A larger Pause value results in a longer hold at the end of the clip. The speed of the type-on effect is calculated based on the overall duration of the generator clip minus the pause value you set here.

    4.

    Click back to the Viewer's Video tab and edit the text clip into your sequence in the Timeline. If you want to superimpose your text over video, choose the Superimpose edit type when you perform your edit.

    Tips

    • If you're looking for an old-fashioned typewriter font, try Courier.

    • Use a techno-style font like Andale Mono or VT 100 for simulating computer input (and don't forget to add the Blink filter!).

    Creating titles with Boris Calligraphy

    Two Boris Calligraphy text generators, Title 3D and Title Crawl, are available as an installation option in the Final Cut Express installer. Once you install them, these third-party generators show up in the Viewer's Generator pop-up menu along with the standard FCE generators (Figure 17.20 ).

    Figure 17.20. If you choose to install them, the Boris Text generators appear in the Generator pop-up menu along with the standard FCE generators.

    • Title 3D features vector-based text you can manipulate in 3D space with pivot control, animated tracking, and a host of text transformations.

    • Title Crawl is an automated roll and crawl title generator.

    In both generators, you can:

    • Enter text in a larger text-entry field (Figure 17.21 ).

      Figure 17.21. Boris text generators feature a large text input window and myriad text styling options.

      [View full size image]

    • Create static titles.

    • Set font, size, style, and color properties for individual characters.

    • Apply drop shadows and borders.

    • Choose from other 2D title animation options.

    • Copy and paste text from a word processor.

    Note that you can set individual parameters such as font, size, color, and tracking for every character, but you cannot animate individual character properties over time. For more information about Boris Calligraphy, see the Boris Calligraphy user manual, a 44-page, illustrated PDF file, located in the Extras folder on the Final Cut Express application disk.