,

Tip #980: Final Cut Adds Custom Overlays

… for Apple Final Cut Pro X

Tip #980: Final Cut Adds Custom Overlays

Larry Jordan – LarryJordan.com

Overlays provide custom framing display options.

A Viewer image with an overlay showing 16:9, 4:3 and 1:1 grids.

Topic $TipTopic

A new feature in the 10.4.9 update to Final Cut Pro X is custom overlays. These are PNG or TIFF graphics that can be superimposed on clips in the Viewer to help frame shots – especially for different aspect ratios.

In Photoshop, or the graphics app of your choice, create the image you want to import. While you can use any graphic, I recommend using a grid, because this will be placed over all Viewer images. Make sure the background is transparent, because, again, this will be supered over other images.

Save the image in a location you can find later.

  • Open Final Cut and go to the View menu in the top right corner of the Viewer.
  • Choose Custom Overlay > Add Custom Overlay and select the image you just created.
  • From the same menu, choose Show Custom Overlay and choose the transparency percentage you want to use.

NOTE: In the screen shot, the white grids indicate framing for 16:9, 4:3 and 1:1. Transparency is set to 75%.

Overlays can be anything you want. Keep in mind, however, that these won’t output. If you need to include them in your project the images need to be in the timeline.

EXTRA CREDIT

To turn off the overlays, uncheck Show Custom Overlays.


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