[This article was first published in the August, 2005, issue of
Larry’s Final Cut Pro Newsletter. Click here to subscribe.]
In researching my up-coming seminar series, I was studying LiveType and discovered two ideas which I want to share with you.
This first tip was the result of a recent class where more than half of the students who worked with LiveType did not know to easily move their projects between LiveType and Final Cut. Starting with Final Cut HD, Apple added a much faster, but less intuitive way, to switch a clip between LiveType and Final Cut.
In this example, I want to create an opening animation for a snowboard project.
1. Move your playhead to the middle of the clip you wish to use as the background to your animation. Type the letter “x” to mark the In and Out of the clip your playhead is in.
2. Select File > Export > For LiveType.
3. Give the file a name and save it — accept the rest of the defaults in this dialog.
4. Open LiveType.
5. Select File > Place background movie to import the clip you just exported from Final Cut into LiveType.
6. Notice that the clip is immediately displayed in the timeline. Move the Out indicator so it touches the end of the clip.
7. Create your animated effect (that’s a story for another article).
8. When you are done, select File > Save and save just your project. You do not need to render the file.
In this case, I named it Snowboard title.
9. Switch back to Final Cut and import the LiveType project file you just saved by selecting File > Import > File.
10. Double-click the file to load it into the Viewer, then edit it to the Timeline so that it is on V2, immediately above the clip you exported.
11. Notice that the text is immediately keyed into the video.
12. Now, let’s pretend we need to make a change. Here’s the magic — Control+click the LiveType clip and select Open in Editor.
13. Instantly, LiveType starts and the clip is loaded into it, ready for editing.
14. Make what ever changes you wish in the file then save the file. (Saving the file is VERY important.)
15. Switch back to Final Cut and your file is immediately updated automatically.
The key is to Control+click the clip. By selecting Open in Editor, you are telling Final Cut the file is about to be updated. Final Cut watches the file and the instant you save it, it loads the new version into your timeline.
This is such a significant time saver that I use it dozens of times in each project.
Remember, don’t render your LiveType projects that you are sending to Final Cut. (If you want to create an animation for other software, then you will need to render.) ((OK, um, you also don’t need to render if you are sending the LiveType file to DVD Studio Pro, either.))
