Spotlight creatively enhances the way you bring attention to something in your video. It comes with some amazing animated templates, lower thirds, titles, and extra animated elements! You can give something that extra edge if you want to highlight or call it out in your video…OR you can really spice up your conference videos by adding some great elements to showcase and introduce people in the conference call!
TEMPLATES
There are over 30 templates to choose from when deciding which graphics you’d like to use. The first category is Basic. These templates have a basic gradient background that animates onto the screen in various ways. These are useful when you want to add your own elements to create something of your own. The next category is Simple. This category boasts some very trendy yet simple designs that go great with creating quick adds for social media. The next Category is Modern. This comes with some very sleek, stylish modern graphics. Finally, the category Professional comes with some great professional-looking designs that are sure to please your most demanding of clients!
LOWER THIRDS AND TITLES
We have added some really great animated titles and lower thirds to Spotlight. Many of these titles and lower thirds have graphic elements that automatically resize according to the text you type. These are great for adding nameplates to point something out or introduce your subject. The titles have a great modern, large look that will introduce your content professionally and boldly!
ANIMATED ELEMENTS
We have included some great animated elements that you can add and customize to your footage. These are all automatically animated and have in and out animation possibilities.
ASPECT RATIOS
Spotlight is created to look amazing with the regular 16:9 ratio…but also work with square, vertical, and wide aspect ratios.
KEY FEATURES
With Spotlight, there are some really great key features that we at Cineflare absolutely love! When you add a template to your footage, you can choose any one of five different ways that the outline animates on. This can be changed on any of the templates you choose to use. You can also scale the animation up as it travels and choose wether or not it animates in or out. Another cool feature we have added is that you can flip the graphic elements on both their X and Y axis if you want to change up the layout…simply by checking a box! In the lower thirds and titles sections, there are some graphical elements that automatically scale depending on the size and amount of text! Finally, the on-screen controls make it easy for you to quickly make adjustments and change positions.
EASY TO USE
Simply drag and drop a customizable template into your footage. You can toggle on and off the “Edit Mode” and “Output Mode”. In the “Output Mode”, you are able to define the areas you want outlined (the green box) by using the on-screen controls or the controls provided in the published parameters. Then you can define the position of the final resting place of where you want that outlined portion to end up (the red box). You then have five different animation choices to choose from (Fade, Travel, Draw, Zoom, Travel and Draw). These animations will determine how the outlined portion of the footage animates on and off. Finally, just check mark the “Output Mode” checkbox and viola! Watch Spotlight animate some awesome graphics and outline and highlight your content like a pro!
]]>At Cineflare, we’re happy to offer clients a wide range of Final Cut and other video production services, from Final Cut Pro plugins and transitions to graphics, text formats and much more. In addition, we regularly provide clients with tips on how to succeed within various video mediums, including on YouTube. Here are some other important concepts to be considering here.
Video content is all about creating ways the viewer will engage with it in order to not only educate them with something they might not have known previously, but also in order to motivate them enough to take action. Whether that means clicking on a link within your description box or typing your URL into YouTube’s search bar so you appear as a video response there – the more viewers interact with your content, the more likely you are to succeed on the site.
Videos also allow you to use unique, compelling formats for engagement. Your calls to action can come in the form of product demos, explainer animations that let viewers know what you’re talking about is coming up in the video, and more.
Another great feature of YouTube for video creators is the way it allows for partnerships with other channels, popular ones at that. Creators can trade video responses to grow their subscriber numbers, they can cross link videos for enhanced viewing opportunities and more.
One of the best ways to ensure your video appears in as many places as possible on YouTube is by not just creating viral content – but by partnering with other creators who have audiences similar to yours. It’s a great way to gain exposure via the existing traffic of other popular channels, and you can also trade videos back and forth to get more visibility on both your own channel and theirs as well.
Finally, YouTube’s monetization policies allow video creators to capitalize on their hard work through ads placed within the video, as well as through sponsorship deals. This is another great way to not only keep your work fresh and constantly growing, but also means that if you are creating content for brands or other companies, you can do so via YouTube’s built-in platform rather than having to create all of your own assets on top of it.
For more on how to boost your YouTube profile and get the most from its features, or to learn about any of our Final Cut plugins or other services for video creators, speak to the staff at Cineflare today.
]]>At Cineflare, we’re proud to offer a huge range of services to assist clients with their Final Cut needs, from video animation tools to video graphics, text, transitions and much more to allow you a full suite of capabilities within your video creation. We’ve helped many clients not only create better video, but also up their game in terms of driving YouTube views and related successes. What are some important themes to consider when looking to grow your audience and reach on YouTube through quality video? Let’s go over a number of concepts in this two-part blog series.
While the term “branding” makes some people think only of large corporations, it’s not reserved for them by any means. Branding can also apply to individuals who are looking to make a name for themselves through videos on YouTube.
Your brand should be cohesive across the board, including your channel, social media presence and anything else that plays into being you. If someone discovers an incredible video by Joe Schmo filmmaker guy, then goes to his Facebook page only to find something that doesn’t fit with what he’s seen so far, it may cause them to rethink their opinion of him. This isn’t about having a “sterile” brand that is too perfect, but rather something you design yourself that represents you well.
When thinking about your brand, also consider perception among your target audience. Think about that person on the other end of the line and what they think of when they look at your videos.
One back-end theme that’s also very important for succeeding on YouTube is organization and workflow. This can include some of the following concepts:
Especially if more than one person is involved in some way, it’s important to establish a system that makes sense for everyone and allows each person on the team to keep track of important elements without getting overwhelmed. A standardized workflow is especially important as a team scales, as you don’t want the quality or consistency of your videos suffering just because you’re not prepared.
For more on how to step up your game and increase your visibility and subscriptions through quality video content on YouTube, or to learn about any of our Final Cut Pro plugins and video templates, speak to the pros at Cineflare today.
]]>At Cineflare, we’re here to help. We offer numerous Final Cut plugins for those working in this amazing program, from FCP transitions to several others that help you not only create great videos, but also get them in front of the right eyes. What are some ideal matching FCPX plugins you might use in coordination with one another to really highlight your videos and make them captivating? Here are several to consider.
One fantastic plugin that comes with numerous different options is one known as Modern Split Screens. This plugin includes several different split animated screen sequences, using simple drop zones that allow you to drag and drop onto your timeline and immediately start adding clips from your media library.
Modern Split Screens allow you to control various different animations and their qualities, from the actual graphics themselves to their tint and hues, the width of the split-screen divisions, and what shows up in each panel. There are even specialized templates that have animations ready for moving containers. You have access to both Setup View and Animation Output views that will allow you various looks at the project.
In addition, Modern Split Screens come with a number of preset titles. These are meant to pair with this style of split screens in any way. And on top of all these, there’s a Custom Builder section that allows you to mix and match between existing templates and even overlay them on top of one another if needed.
Another great plugin match to consider here is the use of what’s called Impact Text in Final Cut Pro. This is a set of pre-animated titles that have an “impactful” feel to them, including a few basic categories:
Impact Text plugins will also contain a couple other sections, including the impact elements and an effects/backgrounds section.
For more on the best plugin combinations for making your video content engaging and as visible as possible, or to learn about any of our Final Cut Pro plugins or effect services, speak to the pros at Cineflare today.
]]>Highlight Text is a great typography tool that highlights text by word or by line. It comes with many presets and styles in four different categories: Basic, Basic Through, Custom, and Custom Through. Use Highlight Text to highlight text as needed to emphasize the words or lines of text coming onto the screen. Line it up with voiceover using the custom section or simply drop a basic option onto your timeline and just enter your text.
CATEGORY PRESET STYLES
Highlight text comes in four easy-to-use categories with eight main styles. The first two categories are the basic uses of Highlight Text; you simply drag and drop a title onto your timeline and fill in the text. The basic categories highlight the text in a consistent, basic animation. The custom categories allow you to add keyframes and animate which word or line highlights on screen at a precise moment in time like when you want words to animate to a beat or voiceover.
HOW TO USE BASIC
From the titles browser, locate Cineflare HighlightText. Drag a drop a style of your choice. You can choose from titles that highlight separate words or lines one at a time (the Basic category), or you can choose titles that highlight through your words, adding as they go along (the Basic Through category). In the Basic titles parameters, you can choose a faster animation or an animation that is constant throughout the duration of the title. The start and end offset sliders allow you to decide if you want to start and end the animation with the first and last word highlighted, or not, and when that happens. In the Basic Through titles, You can decide when to delay the start of the animation and how fast that animation comes on.
HOW TO USE CUSTOM
The custom highlight titles allows you to have complete control over when exactly each word, or line, highlights in. This is great when you want to have the titles come on in a precise moment like the beat of music or align to voiceover. Drag and drop a custom Highlight Text title onto your timeline. In the parameters section you have a dropdown that allows you to choose which position is on. It is set to the default of zero. Then spot “1” means that either the first word or line is highlighted. Spot “2” means that the second word or line is highlighted…and so forth. At the very beginning of your title set the first keyframe by clicking the keyframe spot once. This will give you a yellow diamond and this means you have set the first keyframe. Choose if you want it to start at “0” (nothing highlighted) or “1” the first word or line highlighted. Then continue on from there, repeating this process at the precise moments you want the rest of the text to highlight on the screen.
DROP ZONE
Each of the four categories has a drop zone option in number “07”. You can load up an image, pattern, video, or anything else a drop zone will allow.
ALPHA OVERLAY
Each section also has an alpha overlay option in number “08”. This can be a creative way to allow a video or image to show through a black or colored backdrop in your timeline. You can even show the bottom images through and change up the saturation and exposure for unique titles.
FOR BEST RESULTS
Make sure you use the title controls in the Title and Text inspectors to resize the text and move it around the screen. You can even grab the text with your cursor and move it around. Don’t use the scale and x y position controls in the video inspector or you will get undesired results.
]]>CREATING A BADGE. In the Badges section of Kinetic Badges, simply
choose the graphic you’d like to use. Place it on your timeline in a desired
location. Each badge comes with preset choices to give you an idea of some
of the badge style possibilities. These can easily be changed using various
combinations of the dropdown menu choices in the “Main Controls” area. If
you’d like to use the vector graphic by itself, make sure the first option
(Badge Type) is set to “Image Only” and the rest of the dropdowns are set to
“None”. You can also choose to turn the animation off by selecting the
appropriate dropdown option in the Image Controls section. Scale, reposition
and set the opacity of the badge in the Image Controls section.
BADGE CONTROLS. With some of the badge options there will be a chance
to change some important controls like the direction of the pointers or pins and
also the node length if the callout node badge is chosen. These controls are
handled under this section. You can also set the fade in and out times of the
entire badge.
IMAGE CONTROLS. These controls have to do with the image inside the
badge. Each badge may have its specific animation options, all of which can
be turned off if desired. Some animations may also have other parameters to
further adjust the animation. The remaining controls in this section allow you
to reposition, scale, rotate, change the colors, control the opacity of, and fade
in and out the image specifically.
COLOR CONTROLS. The color controls in this section allow the user to choose
a custom color for the items in the badge (excluding the image itself).
SHADOW CONTROLS. The remaining controls are the shadow controls. We
have included the ability to change the shadow style and depth of the separate
items inside the badge.
USING THE FILL STATISTICS. There are two options for the fill statistics: a simple
image fill with percentage and a split statistic image fill that shows the percentage
of both sides of the statistic.
FILL STATISTIC. The basic fill statistic tool has an easy right, center, or left layout
option that you can instantly choose. From the “Choose Image” dropdown menu,
you can choose one of any of the 30 vector images available inside Kinetic Badges.
You can even choose to load a custom image in the dropzone. Make sure your
custom image is a square image with transparency. You can also change the
scale and Z position of your image.
You can then choose an automatic camera sweep for both the X and Y axis.
The image color and image fill color can be separately chosen.
In the Percentage area, you can set a custom percentage endpoint and the
number will count up to that point automatically. Change the color, opacity, X
and Z position as well.
In the text area, you can type in your own text, choose to give it a “Type On”
animation by using the checkbox, and change its X and Z positions.
Choose a line graph style as well or you can choose to turn it off.
The background options allow you to choose one of the 10 textures that come
with Kinetic Badges. These textures automatically interact correctly with the
camera sweep.
Finally, the “All Controls” section allows you to control the statistic elements all
as one element.
The controls in the split fill statistic tool are almost identical. The only difference
is that you have two statistics and the percentage is automatically split for you.
The main objective for using title layers is to be able to lengthen or shorten the layer over your element for a longer or shorter duration time simply by physically adjusting the title layer. This allows duration change with these custom animations that was previously not possible with the Effects version of Object Animator. However, you can still access the Effects version in the Effects browser of FCPX.
Inside the parameters window of the title layers you’ll find controls to change the direction of the animation, modify the spread or intensity of the animation, give it a customized motion blur amount, and adjust the fade time of each. You can also turn off and on the axis lines to adjust them to further tweak the animation when you want to change the center point of the axis.
The animations in the Titles browser of Object Animator consist of several new animations in addition to the ones found in the Effects browser. Scroll to the bottom of the animations to also find some extra tools and instructions.
The “Animations Clean” and “Animations Motion Blur” tools require at least 30 frames to complete both the incoming and outgoing animations once you apply it to an element on the timeline. This is approximately one full second depending on the frame rate of your timeline. If you shorten an element below 30 frames in length, then you will experience the animations cutting short or producing undesired results. The “Quick Animations Clean” and “Quick Animations Motion Blur” tools require at least 15 frames to complete both the incoming and outgoing animations once you apply it to an element on the timeline. This is approximately one half second depending on the frame rate of your timeline. If you shorten an element below 15 frames in length, then you will experience the animations cutting short or producing undesired results. The Quick Animations tools are great for when you want a much faster transitions time and you plan on having that image on the timeline for a much shorter time: great for fast moving and fast changing images. The Clean effect applies no motion blur while the Motion Blur effect renders natural motion blur depending on the speed of an animation. Please note: motion blur rendering can tax the GPU of your system so make sure you have enough speed and memory before you choose the Motion Blur version of any effect.
Preparing an image. Prepare an image by importing a high resolution image into your project. Transparent background images like a PNG work well. Once you have imported an image, drag it onto your timeline. FCPX will want you to work with an image that is in a 16:9 ratio. Select the image then do a right click and choose “New Compound Clip”. This forces the image into that 16:9 aspect ratio space so that you can start adding animations to it and have it respond correctly.
Add the animation. Drag and drop one of the animations tools of ObjectAnimator onto the image clip. Click on the image again so you can view the parameters of ObjectAnimator. From the drop down menus, you can choose from over 70 variations of the animations available. You can even choose a different outgoing animation from that of the incoming animation. Additionally, you can choose other animations such as a constant zooming in or drift that makes the object move slightly across the duration of the clip.
Axis Controls. Axis controls have been added so that you can see the exact axis point of the animation. This comes in very handy for when you want to reset the axis points of an animations like “Flip” for example. Click the Show Axis controls for both the build in and build out. You can then reposition the axis exactly where you want them. By placing the Y axis at the top of an image, you can make the animation look like a flip down rather than a center flip. When doing this for any zoom effect, the zoom start positions also gets changed. Make sure you turn off the axis views again once you have them where you want them.
Extra Animations. Sometimes you may wish to add a short fade in and fade out to your animation. Simply click the Fade In and/or Fade Out check boxes. Also, you can offset the animation slightly if you wish the animation to start showing a few frames after the beginning of the animation. Adjust this by adjusting the View Offset sliders. This delays the fade in and fade out controls so that you will delay the viewable beginning of the animation. For example, if you choose the Basic slide in animation and you offset the Fade In by adjusting the Start View Offset slider controls, instead of seeing the object come in right away, you will see it come on to the screen after it’s progression rather than right in the beginning of it’s progression.
Image Controls. Once you have placed the animation effect onto an image you can then go into the image controls and reposition and resize the image by using these controls. There is even an on-screen control in the center of the the screen that allows you to resize, reposition, and rotate the image very quickly. IMPORTANT: if you want to resize or scale the image after you have applied one of the animation effects, make sure you only use the controls INSIDE the ObjectAnimator effect. If you go outside the effect and attempt to resize or reposition the image from its original parameters, you will get undesired effects and image clipping.
Add ObjectAnimator to any element on the timeline and change up the controls to get many many variations of each animation.
]]>Newest features of CineTransitions 2.0 include 32 layer transitions that not only add extra transitions, but gives the user a whole new and unique tool to be able to transition everything below the placed title layers.
Deflections. These transitions are a very creative effect that create a choppy mess with specific shapes that are duplicated and flash in and out during the transition.
Distortions. These include some creative time effects and pixilations along with a cool Spot Zoom effect.
Mattes. Several door closing style matte transitions are in this section transitioning to black and then back again. The user can also use a custom color.
Scroll Elements. Kind of like scrolling from one picture to the next, this section gives several options for scrolling in all directions.w
Features of CineTransitions include many useful, professional, and creative transitions that will take your video production to the next level. Some of the transitions are easy drag and drop transitions. Some have a few added parameter controls so you can further tweak your transitions and create several variations of each transition.
Angles. Choose from 8 various angle transitions that angle the previous frame out and bring the next one in. Our favorite are the clockwise and counter clockwise turning angles.
Before and After. These transitions are great for someone who wants to show a before and after effect in their video project. There is a divider bar that moves across the frame revealing the next film clip. Choose a bar width of zero or up to 90 pixels wide.
Cubes. Cubes has many presets to choose from. It takes your clips, and depending on which preset you choose, turns your clip into a cube, or several cubes, and animates them around to reveal the next clip. There are over 30 extensive choices to choose from.
Distortion. There are 10 different distortion transitions to choose from and each one has an adjustable parameter to create several variations of each separate transition.
Old School. This is an effect that inspires the old wipe transitions that was made popular in the Star Wars films and is still used today for that classes, feathered edge, reveal and wipe transition.
Pump It. This was inspired by the many music videos in today’s modern work of quick-paced and creative video editing. It has some simple pulsating transitions that give you the feel of a bass thump distorting the frame with music. Then you have several transitions that split the screen up in several spices, then fan them out as the next clip comes sliding in. This is the set of transitions that inspired Cineflare to create a great package called CineTransitions.
Scene Pusher. Finally, There are 16 various transitions in this category. Push your first clip away with the next clip coming in, divided by a bar that can be adjusted. Tap is a fun effect with the first clip tapping in on the second clip eventually pushing it out of the way.
We are sure every filmmaker and video editor will find CineTransitions highly useful and creative for any project they are working on.
]]>By opening up the white-balancing parameter’s drop down, you can further adjust the Red, Green, and Blue slider bars to push the correct white balance deeper and more intensely…this gives you a great powerful tool within Final Cut Pro X for correct white balancing that wasn’t there before.
Why not just use the native Auto Balance tool that comes with FCPX? Try it and find out! The native auto balancing tools just don’t do the job that White Balancer can. Plus, wouldn’t you rather have more control over the adjustments of your clips rather than rely on an auto-balancing feature?
Finally, White Balancer has warm, cool, and depth controls that really give your image that extra punch. You’ll end up with and incredibly lively image with great depth and correct white balance.
]]>There are 8 different camera tools in Pop Out. Some have full range functionality and some are limited. They all have the same basic components and parameters.
Under the Camera Controls you have beginning and ending positions of each direction of horizontal, vertical, and back and forth direction. You can quickly set the beginning and ending position of a camera parameter and Pop Out automatically animates between the two. The DOF controls allow you to select the DOF amount, near and far focus, and the focus offset which is the Z position of the focal point. The DOF tool works well with one or two layers, but if you are animating with more than that, I would suggest not using the DOF controls unless you have a fast processor as it can be very taxing on the CPU.
The next controls involve control over the scaling, x y and z positions, blend mode and opacity of a possibility of 5 layers of elements. There are controls for CLOSE UP, FOREGROUND, MAIN IMAGE, BACKGROUND, and INFINITY images. All levels are drop zones that you can drop your own images or media into except for the MAIN IMAGE. This area is automatically taken by the element on the timeline that you apply the Pop Out camera to. There are several reasons why we didn’t make the MAIN IMAGE a drop zone…one of them being so that you can apply the effect to a title and still allow it to retail it’s own image parameter settings. I’ll get into that in another tutorial.
The PAUSE cameras have varying quick in and out ranges that have a pausing effect after an initial quick in and out effect.
The two custom cameras do not have beginning and ending animation presets. They allow the user to key-frame their own motion points as they wish.
Pop Out comes with over 60 presets AND a help category that you can use to see how many options you have with Pop Out and the many things you can accomplish with this tool. The real-life applications of Pop Out include: 3D living environments, logo animations, screen capture animations, and title animations.
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