Create a transition background

You might want a custom transition to include a background image or clip. For example, if your Transition A and Transition B clips are animated to scale down, you can apply a background image to cover the black areas of the exposed frame. You can create a background by adding a drop zone to the transition template. After you apply the transition to a clip in the Final Cut Pro X Timeline, you can assign source media to the drop zone.

Drop zones in templates allow Final Cut Pro users to place media into designated regions of the applied effect. You can add filters, behaviors, animations, and other effects to drop zones in Motion to affect clips later added to those drop zones in Final Cut Pro. For more information, see Placeholders versus drop zones and Drop zones overview.

In the Final Cut Transition project, choose Object > New Drop Zone.
A drop zone layer (titled “Drop Zone”) appears in the layers list and Canvas.
Select the drop zone layer, then do one of the following in the Image Inspector:
- Use a clip as the drop zone’s source media in Final Cut Pro: Click the Type pop-up menu, then choose Media Source.
  When the transition is added to a Final Cut Pro project, 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 as a background during the custom transition. Using the drop zone’s onscreen controls (accessed by double-clicking the drop zone in the Final Cut Pro Viewer), an editor can pan or scale the source clip within the drop zone. For more information, refer to the Final Cut Pro X Help.
- Use a still image as the drop zone’s media source in Final Cut Pro: Click the Type pop-up menu, then choose Timeline Pin.
  When the transition is added to a Final Cut Pro project, you can select a single frame of a clip as the source frame in the drop zone by dragging a numbered handle along the Timeline. For more information, see Final Cut Pro X Help.

Note: You can set a drop zone background color that’s apparent when the drop zone’s source media is panned or scaled. For more information, see Drop zones overview.