As many of you probably could of guessed,
I love Final Cut Pro.
It’s a highly polished piece of software,
that has very few limits when it comes to video editing.
But it’s not perfect.
There’s a few features in Final Cut Pro,
that could use some polishing,
and can be a little frustrating to use.
One of these features,
is adding shapes in Final Cut Pro.
There is a built in shapes generator,
but it has quite a few limitations.
For one, you can’t easily add a simple, straight line to your video.
You could use a rectangle generator,
then use the transform tool to squeeze it down
until it looks like a line, but it’s not very intuitive.
And while we’re talking about the rectangle generator,
this is probably one generator tool
that frustrates me most about Final Cut Pro.
Let me show you why.
When you add a rectangle shape generator to your video,
there’s no controls to resize it.
You can use the transform tool,
which works fine if you just need a rectangle,
but if you need a rectangle with an outline,
or just an outline, things get a little wonky.
For example, in my tutorial videos,
I often like to use a rectangle generator outline
to highlight buttons or certain parts of my screen.
If I use a built in rectangle generator,
and resize it with a transform tool,
since it just stretches or compresses everything,
I’m left with something that looks like this.
A stretched out outline,
with the top and bottom wider than the sides.
IWell, there’s a better way to add shapes to your video,
using the free Better Shapes generator I made in Motion.
Let’s take a look.
After you download and install my Better Shapes generator,
in titles and generators browser,
select the Better Shapes category.
I
nside here, you’ll find 5 simple, yet very versatile generators.
First, if you just need to add a straight line to your video clip,
there is a line generator.
All the controls for this generator are right in the inspector.
You can move your line using the position and rotation controls,
and adjust the size of it with the length and width sliders.
You can change the color and opacity of this line,
and if you want to animate this line,
you can use a combination of the offset controls and keyframes.
So to make this line animate into the frame,
just place your playhead at the start of your clip,
bring the First point offset slider all the way up to 100 percent,
and add a keyframe.
Move the playhead a few frames into the clip,
and bring this slider back down to zero.
Just like that, your line now animates on screen.
To make an end animation,
set your playhead to where you want it to start,
and add a keyframe to the Last Point Offset slider.
Move the playhead ahead a few frames,
and bring this slider all the way down.
Just like that you can add an in
and out animation to your generator.
You can also change the start and end caps of this generator
from the default square option, to rounded ends,
beveled ends or even an arrow.
All very simple to do.
Next, let’s take a look at the rectangle generator.
Just like before, in the inspector,
you can change the position and rotation of this generator,
and unlike Final Cut Pro’s built in generator,
you can also change the size of this rectangle
right in the inspector.
And, if you add an outline to this generator,
it stays the same size,
no matter what the shape of your rectangle is.
So, if you want to highlight something in your video with an outline,
instead of having this abomination,
you have a nice even outline.
You can change the corners of this rectangle
from the Joint dropdown menu,
use the offset sliders to animate this outline,
and even change the start and end caps,
that are only visible if you use the offset sliders.
Not sure about you,
but I think this is much more useful
than Final Cut’s built in shape generators.
You also have the option of adding a square shape,
a circle shape, and even a perforated line as a generator.
And, just like the line and rectangle generators,
all these can be fully customized in the inspector.
So, to download and install my Better Shapes generator plugin,
click the link in the video description,
and download this pack from my website.
Double click the compressed file to unzip it.
To use these in Final Cut Pro,
they have to be installed in a specific location.
Open another finder window,
select your home folder,
then Movies, Motion Templates, and Generators.
Copy and paste the downloaded folder into this generators folder.
Re-start Final Cut Pro,
and the Better Shapes generator pack
will be available in the Titles and Generators browser,
ready for use.
Just like many of my other plugins,
this pack is completely free to download and use.
Try it out and leave me some feedback in the comments.
If there’s more controls you’d like to see for these generators,
let me know, and I’ll see if I can add them in a future update.
If you find this plugin, or one of my other plugins helpful,
and would like to see more like it in the future,
consider supporting me on Patreon, linked in the description.
Thanks for watching, and I’ll see you back here next week.