FCP X 10.4: Position Text in 3D Space

One of the unheralded features in 10.4 is the ability to precisely control the position of text in 3D space.

This builds on the position controls available to all clips using the Transform settings, but applies only to text.

(Click to see larger image.)

To access these controls, select the text clip in the Timeline, open the Inspector, click the Text icon at the top, then scroll down to the bottom of the Basic controls.

There are three axis:

• X. This controls movement, rotation and scale along the horizontal axis.
• Y. This controls movement, rotation and scale along the vertical axis.
• Z. This controls movement, rotation and scale along the axis running perpendicular to the screen.

(Click to see larger image.)

Changing a Position setting moves the object within the frame. In the past, we used the Transform settings to do this. While we can still use Transform, the settings in the Text menu give us more options.

(Click to see larger image.)

Changing the Z position creates the same look as adjusting Scale in transform. In FCP X, stacking order in the Timeline determines foreground and background, clips on higher layers are in the foreground, regardless of how you change the Z position.

(Click to see larger image.)

The settings I enjoy playing with the most are Rotation. Nothing says “perspective” than a title receding into the background.

(Click to see larger image.)

Changing Scale allows us to stretch the text assymetrically. Here, for example, I’ve stretched it to emphasize the depth (X) and make it taller (Y).

3D TEXT

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All these settings work the same for 3D text.

AN IMPORTANT THING MISSING

The only controls missing from these new position features are the ability to animate text position using keyframes. To animate text we would either need to use keyframes in the Transform menu, which are much more limited, or create the text effect in Motion, which gives us even more extensive animation controls.

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