In this under 5 episode, I'm going to show you how to use Motion to create this animated
type on effect with a blinking cursor in Final Cut Pro that can be easily modified for different
types of effects.
Here we are in Motion and I've started with a new Final Cut title project.
The first thing I'm going to do is turn off the title background and I'll delete the default text to
add my own.
"T" for the text tool.
Escape, and now I have my text. For my cursor, I'll use the Line tool, hold the shift key
down to draw it straight up and down.
Escape.
In the Inspector
I'll change it's Start and End Cap to None.
And reduce the Width.
Position it at the end of the line.
To align it to the text, I'll use the Align To behavior.
I'll drag the text into the well.
I'll choose to align the lefthand side of the cursor.
To the Text Cap-Height:
Right
and give it a little bit of space from the end.
Now to animate the text to type on, you might think that you would use Text Animation:
Type On.
But that wouldn't work in this case, what we need to do is use the Sequence Text behavior.
I'll select it
and the sequence text here, you might think you'd use opacity.
So each letter goes from zero opacity to full opacity but that actually won't work either.
What you need to use is Format: Scale.
I'll set Scale to zero.
But by default each letter scales up.
In order to fix that I'll change the Spread to 0.
And now each letter will pop on
and the cursor will move to match the duration of the text string.
To make the cursor blink on and off.
I'll select it, in the Properties Inspector for it's Opacity.
I'll add a Parameter Behavior called Oscillate.
I'll choose a Square shape, so that it blinks on and off.
Crank up the Speed.
And let's play that back.
I'll press command+"/" to hide the on screen controls.
And that's the basic effect.
Now you can choose which parameters to publish for Final Cut Pro and you can take it a little
further to start and end with some blinking without typing.
But if you don't want to do all that, I've created two versions of this for you to download
for free.
Once you install them, they'll show up as RT Type On Cursor 80s and RT Type On Cursor
Modern.
They're both made with the exact same template. I simply modified the different parameters that
are exposed in Final Cut X.
So for instance, with this first one which is the modern version, if I go to the Title
Inspector.
I can choose to adjust the Cursor Color,
its Size, its Position
including an X and Y
so I can slant it or even lay it straight down.
So by changing a few more parameters like the font and the color, you can easily do
something like this.
In this case the font I've used
Is called Synchro Let.
But there's many free fonts you can find for commercial use on sites like fontsquirrel.com.
Check the link below for the free plug in.
And enjoy!