Create a title background

In a title template, the Title Background placeholder is not intended to hold source media (images or movie clips) added in Motion. Although you can drag an image or clip onto the Title Background placeholder in Motion to preview how the titles will look composited over media, those images are never used in Final Cut Pro X. If you want to give Final Cut Pro users the option of adding their own source media a title, add a drop zone to the title template in Motion.

Drop zones can be any size and can be placed in any region of the frame. You can add filters, behaviors, and animations to drop zones in Motion so those effects influence clips later added in Final Cut Pro. For more information on drop zones, see Drop zones overview. To better understand the difference between placeholders and drop zones, see Placeholders versus drop zones.

Create a background for a title template

  • In a Final Cut Title project in Motion, choose Object > New Drop Zone.

    A drop zone layer (titled “Drop Zone”) appears in the layers list and Canvas.

    When the template is saved in Motion, the title is added to the Final Cut Pro Titles Browser. When a Final Cut Pro editor add the title to their Timeline, a Drop Zone image well appears in the Final Cut Pro inspector. Using this image well, an editor can add a source clip that appears beneath the titles. Using the drop zone’s onscreen controls (accessed by double-clicking the drop zone in the Viewer), an editor can pan or scale the source clip within the drop zone. For more information, refer to Final Cut Pro X Help.

    Tip: From Motion, you can publish a rigged checkbox that turns the drop zone on or off in the main Final Cut Pro Timeline. Alternatively, you can create two versions of the title template, one that uses a standard drop zone as a background and one that doesn’t. For more information on rigging, see Rigging overview. For more information on publishing, see Add parameter controls overview.