Motion idiot needs help creating FCPX text template

If you truly have zero experience, there is no way I can explain how to do a project like this. It is a project of few parts, but it is really quite involved. So, in lieu of a kind of tutorial or just a straight recipe, I packaged up the project for you which you can download here:

https://fcpxtemplates.com/downloads/

You can use it to study when you get some familiarity with the Motion UI and some basics with working with objects and layers and such. There are tons of free online tutorials that can get you up to speed rather quickly. You actually have my permission to do anything you like with this (if you decide to enhance it, change it, or even publish it as your own... literally, anything!)

The template I put together (Bar Expeller - after the youtube title you used) uses an OSC (on-screen control), behaviors (Link and Sequence Text), an Image Mask, nested groups to handle a collection of objects (Text and Rectangle shapes), Markers, keyframed animation, and published parameters for use in Final Cut Pro. (I tried to label most things to make them easier to follow).

The published parameters are:

Build In and Build Out. [When resizing a Title in FCPX, time is generally "stretched" accordingly. If you want to maintain the original timing used for the animations, These parameters need to be on. If you would like to scale the animations along with the title length, turn them off.]

OSC Position is the X-Y location referenced to center screen. The ranges will look a little weird. If you dial down the disclosure triangle, you will see a different set of values. Both X and Y have the range of 0 to 1.0 (this makes these control work with *any* aspect project you are working in: 0 is always the left or bottom edge and 1 is the right or top edge). X, on the top line looks different and reflects the aspect with respect to Y (0.888889 times the height is one half the width - specifically: 1080 times 0.88889 = 960 and times 2 is 1920 — not that it makes much of a difference, it's just the explanation.)

BG Width allows you adjust the text background rectangle element. You can use it with Text X Offset to resize your title.

Changing the Background Height is not an included feature with this particular template.

BG Color can be any color you like. The BG Opacity is included so you can make it a solid if you like.

The Accent Gradient allows you to change to coloring of the accent bar.

Text Y offset allows you to adjust the vertical placement of the text if you decide to change the font, its size or other features.

Hope this helps and inspires you to dive into Motion!

You're welcome! This is not a difficult project to make — I would rate it at about "average" for regular users of Motion. It consists of less than 10 objects. I encourage you to start exploring! If you have any experience with Photoshop, there is a lot of what is similar in Motion. If you're familiar with any other app that can do animation, Motion will probably be much easier to use and you should be able to see the correlations. It won't take you long to realize just how powerful Motion really is. My very first project was based solely on what I knew about Photoshop! ("Meerkat Manor" was a popular series back in those days and it was for my sister's birthday: https://youtu.be/P3VArCucWB8).

I learned a ton from this channel:

https://www.youtube.com/playlist?list=PLB7982C0260F090C1

These tutorials go way back — Motion 3 and 4 mainly, but the core of Motion hasn't changed very much since Motion 2 (which is when I started using it.) You may have to adjust to the newer interface in some places... but it's really mostly the same.

This is a long list of FCPX and Motion tutorials that are generally helpful:

https://www.youtube.com/playlist?list=PLj5Nh9NxSxdlDLI_z-GBII8_vTXD7J5AL

just pick out the ones for Motion.

MacBreak Studio still has a bunch of stuff on iTunes Podcasts — open iTunes, select Podcasts and search for "macbreak (hd video)". Again, these are going to be Motion 3/4 tutorials (the first one for Motion is from May 16, 2007).

If you weed through this playlist, there are several Motion tutorials that you probably won't find anywhere else:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8sfQBnBbZo8&list=PLF59B526290F162BB

The later ones all deal with templates I've created for FCPX, so look for the older ones. I particularly recommend the one about Mastering Bezier Curves.

After you become somewhat comfortable using the interface, check out Simon Ubsdell's channel:

https://www.youtube.com/c/SimonUbsdell/videos?view=0&sort=p&shelf_id=5

He's a little hard to follow sometimes but he will definitely make you think about more advanced ways of working in Motion.

I personally do not put a whole lot of stock into "Apple Certified Trainers". In many respects, I don't think Apple even knows entirely what it is they've actually built and it seems to me that those who are Apple "trained" are not really completely at the forefront (people with a "hacker" mentality appeal to me more) — keep an open mind. For many years, I've "blown up" Motion in just about every conceivable way trying to do some things that turned out not to be possible the way I originally imagined it. If one way doesn't work, try to find another way to get to where you want... there's usually something that can be done. I have only ever had one project that was not recoverable. I never broke Motion. So — be fearless!! Motion can open up an entirely new world for you!

PS - the easiest and fastest way to install the template for FCPX is to open the .moti file (Bar Expeller) in Motion and Save As. Choose or create a new Category from the popup dialog. Simple.