Add template markers

To create a Build In, Build Out, Project Loop End or Poster Frame marker, you must first add a project marker to a Motion project, then change its type in the Edit Marker dialog. To create a Text Edit marker, you must first add an object marker, then change its type in the Edit Marker dialog.

Mark the last frame of a template’s intro section

When you add a “Build In – Mandatory” marker or “Build In – Optional” marker to a template, frames between the beginning of the project and the Build In marker play (in Final Cut Pro) at the same speed as in the original Motion template. The “Build In – Optional” marker publishes a checkbox that disables playback of the intro section when deselected.

  1. Position the playhead on the frame where you want the marker to appear, then press Shift-M.

    A green project marker appears in the Timeline ruler, and a (subtle) green vertical line appears in the mini-Timeline.

  2. Do one of the following:

    • Position the playhead over the marker, then choose Mark > Markers > Edit Marker.

    • Double-click the marker.

    • Control-click the marker, then choose Edit Marker from the shortcut menu.

  3. In the Edit Marker dialog, choose one of the following from the Type pop-up menu:

    • Build In – Mandatory: Choose this marker type to play the frames between the beginning of the project and the “Build In – Mandatory” marker at the same speed as in the original Motion template. Beyond the marker, the effect is time-stretched (or shrunk) to match the duration of the Final Cut Pro clip.

      This intro is always played, regardless of where the template is placed in the Final Cut Pro Timeline.

    • Build In – Optional: Choose this marker type to play the frames between the beginning of the project and the “Build In – Optional” marker at the same speed as in the original Motion template and to include a checkbox to disable the intro’s playback.

      The project marker becomes a Build In marker, and the Timeline ruler displays a gold glow over the affected region.

      When a “Build In – Optional” marker is added to a template, a Build In checkbox is published (added to the Published Parameters list in the Publishing pane of the Project Inspector). After the template is added to a Final Cut Pro project, the Build In checkbox appears in the Final Cut Pro inspector. When the checkbox is deselected, frames before the marker are not played.

      Build In - Optional marker in Timeline

Mark the last frame of a template’s outro section

When you add a “Build Out – Mandatory” marker or a “Build Out – Optional” marker to a template, frames between the Build Out marker and the end of the project play (in Final Cut Pro) at the same speed as in the original Motion template. The “Build Out – Optional” marker publishes a checkbox that disables playback of the outro section when deselected.

  1. Position the playhead on the frame where you want the marker to appear, then press Shift-M.

    A green project marker appears in the Timeline ruler, and a (subtle) green vertical line appears in the mini-Timeline.

  2. Do one of the following:

    • Position the playhead over the marker, then choose Mark > Markers > Edit Marker.

    • Double-click the marker.

    • Control-click the marker, then choose Edit Marker from the shortcut menu.

  3. In the Edit Marker dialog, choose one of the following from the Type pop-up menu:

    • Build Out – Mandatory: Choose this marker type to play the frames between the “Build Out – Mandatory” marker and the end of the project at the same speed as in the original Motion template. Prior to the marker, the effect is time-stretched (or shrunk) to match the duration of the Final Cut Pro clip.

      This outro is always played, regardless of where the template is placed in the Final Cut Pro Timeline.

    • Build Out – Optional: Choose this marker type to play the frames between the beginning of the project and the “Build In – Optional” marker at the same speed as in the original Motion template and to include a checkbox to disable the intro’s playback in the template.

      The project marker becomes a Build Out marker, and the Timeline ruler displays a gold glow over the affected region.

      When a “Build Out – Optional” marker is added to a template, a Build Out checkbox is published (added to the Published Parameters list in the Publishing pane of the Project Inspector). After the template is added to a Final Cut Pro project, the Build In checkbox appears in the Final Cut Pro inspector. When the checkbox is deselected, frames before the marker are time-stretched and frames after the marker are not played.

      Build Out - Optional marker in Timeline

Specify the frame where the template begins looping playback

You can add a Project Loop End marker to instruct Final Cut Pro to begin looping playback at a specific frame. When playback reaches this frame, the project plays from the beginning of the project or from the Build In marker, if present. Frames beyond the Project Loop End marker are never played.

  1. Position the playhead on the frame where you want the marker to appear, then press Shift-M.

    A green project marker appears in the Timeline ruler, and a (subtle) green vertical line appears in the mini-Timeline.

  2. Do one of the following:

    • Position the playhead over the marker, then choose Mark > Markers > Edit Marker.

    • Double-click the marker.

    • Control-click the marker, then choose Edit Marker from the shortcut menu.

  3. In the Edit Marker dialog, choose Project Loop End from the Type pop-up menu.

    The project marker becomes a Project Loop End marker, and the Timeline ruler displays a gold glow over the affected region.

    Project Loop End marker in Timeline

Setting a marker type to Project Loop End changes any marker set to a Build Out type back to Standard. Similarly, if a Project Loop End marker exists, adding a Build Out marker resets the loop marker back to Standard.

Tip: Adding a loop marker to the second frame in a template signals that the effect is time-invariant—the first frame of the project loops forever. This can be useful for generators that do not contain animation, such as a solid color generator, or for filters that are not animated by default, such as a color correction filter.

Note: Templates with applied Time filters (Echo, Scrub, Strobe, Trails, or WideTime) should not use Loop markers, because unexpected timing results can occur.

Set the frame to be used as the template’s thumbnail in the Final Cut Pro browser

You can add a Poster Frame marker to instruct Final Cut Pro to use a specific frame of a template as the thumbnail for the template in the Final Cut Pro Effects Browser, Transitions Browser, or Titles Browser.

  1. Position the playhead on the frame you want to use as the poster frame, then press Shift-M.

    A green project marker appears in the Timeline ruler, and a (subtle) green vertical line appears in the mini-Timeline.

  2. Do one of the following:

    • Position the playhead over the marker, then choose Mark > Markers > Edit Marker.

    • Double-click the marker.

    • Control-click the marker, then choose Edit Marker from the shortcut menu.

  3. In the Edit Marker dialog, choose Poster Frame from the Type pop-up menu.

    Although the project marker appearance does not change, it becomes a Poster Frame marker (a tooltip appears if you move the pointer over the marker).

    If a Poster Frame marker exists, adding a new Poster Frame marker resets the first marker to Standard.

Specify a frame as an ideal text edit point in a title template

You can add Text Edit markers to specify the optimal edit points for text in a title template. For example, if your title animates offscreen, you can add a Text Edit marker to quickly navigate to a frame where the text is visible in the Final Cut Pro Viewer.

  1. Place the playhead at the frame where you want the marker.

  2. Select the text to add the marker to, then do one of the following:

    • Choose Mark > Markers > Add Marker.

    • Press M.

      A red object marker is added to the timebar of the selected object.

  3. Do one of the following:

    • Position the playhead over the marker, then choose Mark > Markers > Edit Marker.

    • Double-click the marker.

    • Control-click the marker, then choose Edit Marker from the shortcut menu.

  4. In the Edit Marker dialog, choose Text Edit from the Type pop-up menu.

    Although the object marker appearance does not change, it becomes a Text Edit marker.

    You can add multiple Text Edit markers to a template.

In the Final Cut Pro Timeline, double-click the title to enter text-edit mode. In the Viewer, use the Next Text Layer and Previous Text Layer buttons to navigate between Text Edit markers. For more information about working with titles in Final Cut Pro, see Final Cut Pro X Help.

Move a marker

  • Drag the marker to a new position in the Timeline ruler.

    When you drag the marker, the current frame is displayed above the pointer.

Change the marker type

  1. Do one of the following:

    • Position the playhead over the marker, then choose Mark > Markers > Edit Marker.

    • Double-click the marker.

    • Control-click the marker, then choose Edit Marker from the shortcut menu.

  2. In the Edit Marker dialog, click the Type pop-up menu, then choose a marker type.

    The Build In and Build Out markers appear as small green arrows in the Timeline ruler. The Project Loop Out marker appears as a small orange arrow. At the top of the ruler, the area specified as the intro, outro, or loop section displays a gold glow.

    For more information on the Edit Marker dialog, see Work with markers overview.