Intro to video keyframing in Final Cut Pro

In Final Cut Pro, you can create simple changes to video over time, such as fading the video from invisible to visible at the beginning of a movie. Or you can make sophisticated and precise adjustments over time to many individual parameters of video effects, transitions, motion paths, and so on.

You use keyframes and fade handles in the Video Animation editor to change effects over time.

The word keyframe comes from the traditional workflow in the animation industry, where only important (key) frames of an animated sequence were drawn to sketch a character’s motion over time. After the keyframes were determined, an in-between artist drew all the frames between the keyframes.

With Final Cut Pro, you can set parameters to specific values at specific times (represented by keyframes) and Final Cut Pro acts as an automatic, real-time in-between artist, calculating all the values between your keyframes. For example, to animate a parameter, such as a rotation or scale setting, you need to create at least two keyframes in the clip. Final Cut Pro calculates the setting’s value between the keyframes, creating a smooth motion as the setting changes.

You can keyframe and animate both video and audio effects in Final Cut Pro, including individual effect parameters and clip properties. To learn about keyframing audio, see Keyframe audio effects in Final Cut Pro.

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Final Cut Pro X User Guide

Intro to video keyframing in Final Cut Pro