Customizing Date/Time? Keeping immediate access to the creation date.
The Date/Time title in Final Cut is something of an enigma... and an annoyance on many levels. Adding it to the storyline results in the Time and Date of the "creation date" of a clip. There's very little else you can do with it aside from adjusting some color (font/background), fonts and alignment.
Open a Copy in Motion and Save... the function of the Title is completely broken. It will not show the creation date of the clip. Bummer. Furthermore, you cannot save it with the filename "Date/Time" or anything using the "/" character since this creates an illegal file name in macOS/unix (I still don't know how Apple pulls it off!)
This "tweak" will allow for customizing or setting any Time & Date and have access to the creation date without having to go look for it elsewhere.
Once you've opened it in Motion, turn off the Animate option for both the Time and Date layers (Time/Date generators).
Add a Link Behavior to the Date generator Value and apply the Time generator to the Source Object. (The Source Parameter will automatically fill with the correct option.) The two separate Time/Date generators will maintain the same value throughout.
Publish the Time generator Value. In the Project Publishing Inspector, rename the Value label to something like "Date Time".
This will NOT provide the Creation Date automatically... but here's a convenience option:
Create a New Text Object in a New Group (outside the established "Group").
Set the Text Field to:
@#$sourceObject_metaData_creationDate [NO spaces BEFORE OR AFTER this exact text!!!]
Turn OFF Editable in FCP. [Very important!]
Publish the Text field (mouse over the Text entry in the Text Format Inspector all the way to the right — click the Down Caret and select Publish from the dropdown menu).
Drag the text position off-screen (top or bottom). You don't want it showing on the video. [It must be "live" - not hidden by opacity or unchecked in the layers list.]
Go to File > Convert Project to > Effect. [The metadata string does NOT work as any other type of template — it must have the Effect Source to "read" the creationDate.]
When the effect is applied to a video clip, the "@#$sourceObject_metaData_creationDate" text will change to a Date Time string in the following format:
YYYY-MM-DD HH-MM-SS +0000 [always in UTC or GMT]
Note: this only works on bonafide video clips. It cannot be used on images or from "adjustment layers" (although I haven't had access to the "new" Adjustment Layer provided *with* Final Cut for the last several updates...)
From there, it is very easy to enter the creation date in the Date Time Value — double click the first number (Month), type in the Month number — tab — type the Day number — tab — type the Year — tab — type the Hour — tab — type the Minute — tab — type the Second — tab — type A or P for AM or PM...
You will have to "calculate" your time zone from GMT, subtracting or adding to creation date displayed time. (Still beats looking the info up in the Info Inspector metadata.)
Then, of course, you could use this for **any date and time** but the creation date of the clip is conveniently available if that's what you need.
If you'd like to make a version that would work for images, substitute the creation date meta for:
@#$sourceObject_metaData_metadataImportToApp
This will work for video as well and both text objects can be published to the same effect.
The point (if there is one) to all of this is that (some available) Metadata information can be made to appear in the Effect inspector... as a possible convenience?
If you're interested in pursuing other variations of this example, there's more on metadata variables that can be implemented in Motion for use in Final Cut Pro here: https://fcp.cafe/motion/variables/