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612Final Cut Pro User Guide
Create complex masks
Intro to complex masks in Final Cut Pro
With the Draw Mask effect, you can draw complex masks using splines. Splines are vector-
based curves that allow for complex, customized shapes. There are two spline drawing
methods:
• Bezier splines: Bezier splines are good for drawing shapes for illustration. The controls
used to manipulate Bezier splines are similar to those found in many other drawing and
compositing apps. Bezier controls lend themselves to the creation of precise, detailed
shapes. Tangent handles adjust the curvature of the shape on either side of the control
point, defining the surface of the shape.
• B-Splines: You can also use B-Splines to draw shapes. Unlike Bezier splines, B-Splines
are manipulated using only points—there are no tangent handles. Furthermore, the
points themselves do not lie on the surface of the shape. Instead, each B-Spline
control point is offset from the shape’s surface, magnetically pulling that section of the
shape toward itself to create a curve. By combining the influence of multiple B-Spline
points, you can create different curves. B-Splines are extremely smooth—by default,
there are no sharp angles in B-Spline shapes, although you can create sharper curves,
if necessary. Because B-Spline controls are so simple, they’re easy to animate and
manipulate.