best (temporal/spatial interpolation-capable) keyframe plugin for Final Cut Pro???

Editing in Final Cut Pro is a joy when it comes to how easily and fast you can get things done. But for me, keyframe animation is one area where Final Cut Pro is sorely deficient and primitive compared to Premiere Pro. In Premiere you can fine tune the animation through temporal and spatial interpolation:


I keep hoping this feature will eventually make it to Final Cut Pro in a future update and have already put it in as a feature request. Filmmakers like Johnny Harris use it constantly when animating images, and it makes the old Ken Burns zoom and pan movements now look boring and ordinary by comparison. It's quite astounding that there's been no update to Final Cut Pro's keyframe features since the NLE came out in 2011. Can anyone recommend any good third party plugin that solves this issue while we wait for Final Cut Pro to catch up? I've already tried AddMotion but I find it pretty restrictive and clunky.


Posted on Nov 4, 2022 5:10 AM

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6 replies

Nov 5, 2022 11:10 AM in response to ninose

When developing templates, I always have Motion and Final Cut running at the same time.


You asked if it's dynamically linked — the answer is Yes and No, at least not in the way you're thinking about it.


Final Cut retains "revisions" as long as it's running. If you shut it down and restart it, then those "revisions" all revert to the last saved version of a template in Motion. I actually find this convenient because I can have a string of clips, each with a different saved version of a Motion project while I'm working on it.


The Yes answer is that while you're working in Motion and Save a "state", it is automatically updated and available in Final Cut... but it has to be added again into a project to see the changes.


As for it's power to create "keyframes":


In this project, I've designed a line that can be customized in Motion and Final Cut (with onscreen controls) that controls not only the Y rotation, but also the X rotation and Scale, all at the same time or with custom mixes of all three at the same time (so each one can be soloed as well):


The blue rectangle with the "path" line on it is a visual control base, it's width is Time and its vertical measure is Value. I have the OSCs turned off from view (not necessary to make my point). By default, the top/bottom edges represent either 180º rotation and +/- 100% scale, but these values can be "conditioned" with parameter scaling (which may or may not be published for Final Cut). The Effect Source ("drop zone") is scaled to 50% for this illustration and normally would probably be full screen with the option to scale it provided to the end user.


Playback looks like this:


Consider that this is a 15fps GIF.


This template should be published as an Effect so that the end user can Save As Effects Preset for any and all curve/path designs they create for future use.


I would estimate that there is at least equal power with Premiere/After Effects, albeit slightly different approaches.




Nov 4, 2022 5:32 AM in response to Luis Sequeira1

Hi Luis, thank you very much for your help as well. Do you know if Final Cut Pro (like Premiere with After Effects) can dynamically link with Motion? By that I mean you add a pic to your Final Cut Pro timeline, send to Motion to animate and it updates in Final Cut Pro? If not, is it possible to save the animation in Motion as a favorite effect then use in Final Cut Pro? Because that's something I would repeatedly use.

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best (temporal/spatial interpolation-capable) keyframe plugin for Final Cut Pro???

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