Changing a Clip's Opacity in Final Cut Pro

By Sandy on November 25, 2009 9:01 AM | Permalink | TrackBacks (0)

Changing something as simple as a clip's opacity can be an effective tool for creating visual effects in Final Cut Pro. Opacity meaning the level of a clip's transparency. You can do this in two different places; as a function in the Motion Tab, and also directly in the Timeline.

Click on the Toggle Clip Overlays button located in the bottom left corner of the Timeline window. The button looks like a mountain peak:

Turning on the clip overlays enables you to easily control a clip's opacity directly within the Timeline. After you click on the Toggle Clip Overlays button, a black line appears at the top of all the video clips within the Timeline window. You can drag the black clip-overlay line until you achieve the desired opacity level.

Continue reading and see some examples...

In this example you can see the difference in opacity when placed on top of a matte.

You can also change the opacity of a clip within the Motion tab shown here.

You can create variable opacity levels to ramp the opacity up or down by holding down the Option key and clicking on the clip overlay line. This creates keyframes. You'll see in this example how the opacity ramps up and down.

here is what ramping the opacity looks like in the Timeline and in the Motion Tab

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