Luma Key Effect for Final Cut Pro

You can create some incredible effects by using a simple luma key within Final Cut Pro. The Luma Key filter works by keying out either bright or dark areas of an image.

This effect was done using by using the Luma Key filter and keying out the white areas of the smoke clip. You can obtain video clip art like this from companies like Art Beats. You can also create your own smoke by using Apple Motion.

to create this effect here are the steps:

Place the 'smoke' video clip on V2, and the background video on V1. Alternatively, you can use any clip that has a lot of contract (brighter vs darker areas).

Find the luma key filter which is located in the effects tab under the filter - key category.

Drag the Luma Key Filter onto the V2 clip. Then double click on the V2 clip to load it's contents into the Viewer window.

Within the Viewer window, you should see a filter's tab for the Luma Key filter. Click on the tab to make adjustments to the filter's threshold.

This is one of the many things you will learn in our Final Cut Pro class. This effect is only the beginning to other amazing effects that you can create using the basic Luma Key filter.