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424Final Cut Pro User Guide
Animate video effects
Intro to video keyframing in Final Cut Pro
In Final Cut Pro, you can create simple changes to video over time, such as fading the
video from invisible to visible at the beginning of a movie. Or you can make sophisticated
and precise adjustments over time to many individual parameters of video effects,
transitions, motion paths, and so on.
You use keyframes and fade handles in the Video Animation editor to change effects over
time.
The word keyframe comes from the traditional workflow in the animation industry, where
only important (key) frames of an animated sequence were drawn to sketch a character’s
motion over time. After the keyframes were determined, an in-between artist drew all the
frames between the keyframes.
With Final Cut Pro, you can set parameters to specific values at specific times (represented
by keyframes) and Final Cut Pro acts as an automatic, real-time in-between artist,
calculating all the values between your keyframes. For example, to animate a parameter,
such as a rotation or scale setting, you need to create at least two keyframes in the clip.
Final Cut Pro calculates the setting’s value between the keyframes, creating a smooth
motion as the setting changes.
You can keyframe and animate both video and audio effects in Final Cut Pro, including
individual effect parameters and clip properties. To learn about keyframing audio, see
Keyframe audio effects in Final Cut Pro.
Add video effect keyframes in Final Cut Pro
You place keyframes at specific points in a clip to change parameter values at those points.
For example, if you want a clip in your project to fade to black, you set two opacity
keyframes at two different times: one with the value of 100 (fully visible) and a second with
the value of 0 (fully transparent). Final Cut Pro interpolates the values between 100 and 0,
creating a smooth fade to black.
You can set keyframes in the timeline or in the Video inspector. To see keyframes in the
timeline, you need to display the Video Animation editor for the clip.
Additional keyframing controls appear with the Final Cut Pro built-in effects. See Work with
built-in effects in Final Cut Pro.
To learn about keyframing audio clips, see
Keyframe audio effects in Final Cut Pro.