I'm new to Final Cut Pro X and I can't figure out how to fade to black?

Use "Fade to color" transition

At the beginning or end just use Cmd-T for the cross dissolve.

An alternative way is to select the clip in the timeline, then press Ctrl+V to show Video Animation.

At the bottom of the list of options is Compositing: Opacity.

Click the dark rectangle on the right of this option and it opens up to show a black opacity bar immediately beneath the text. Mouse over the ends of this bar and some little handles appear at each end of the clip. You can grab these and adjust your fade precisely.

Sounds more complex than it is - when you get used to it.

I find it more flexible than adding preset transitions (which you inevitably need to adjust anyway).

Andy

I should have mentioned that you press Ctrl+V again to close the Video Animation thingy down again!

Andy

This method of effecting changes to video is great stuff. Thanks for this teaching!

Andy

This is great!

I wanted to do a fade, not a crossfade, and this is perfect for my purposes.

Somanna, thanks for asking.

Many thanks.

Hey FProenza I am not the OP for this thread!

Thanks for the clarification, somana.

Cperrin, thanks for asking the question.

This was helpful. Any idea if anything other than the linear fade is possible...such as a curve?

If you use the cross dissolve to fade to black. Look in the transition inspector as there are a number of different fade types.

This was a great conversation for me, Mr. Wolsky (almost exactly a year later) but I'd appreciate a step-by-step explanation

of an alternative to the control-v approach to fade-to-black - which worked well for me.

When I try to simply insert a Fade To Color transition between clips, FCP won't let me grab and widen it. I get red parentheses around the transition clip. I can't find anywhere in the Transition window how to expand the duration. Does the process involve using both a Cross Dissolve and a Fade To Color? Is Fade To Color a sub-option in Cross Dissolve? Can't figure this out.

Also, how can I drag a clip away to create an "empty space" and circumvent the snap setting.

RRed brackets means you're at the limit of the media. You have to shorten one or both shots to lengthen the space to overlap the shots during the transition.

EIther insert a gap clip Opt-W or use the position tool.

Thank you for Opt-W!

"You have to shorten one or both shots to lengthen the space to overlap the shots during the transition."

This is what my question about transition vs fade was getting at. In iMovie 6 (sorry) these were separate, distinct functions that could be inserted. Thus a fade had nothing to do with a clip that followed it and duration could be easily set. As I said before, "I can't find anywhere in the Transition window how to expand the duration."

Further, I understood that in iMovie 6 if a clip were too short, a transition such as cross-dissolve wouldn't work. But here, you say a "shot" needs to be shorter, not longer.

Sorry if this is tiresome: I'm also a beginner, one who's finally managed to relinquish the simple joys of iMovieHD and get past all the dumbed-down iMovie alternatives.

I don't know what iMovie 6 function you're referring to, but I can't think there is anything like that in FCP unless the clip is connected and has nothing adjacent to it.

If a clip is simply too short for a transition, the transition will not be made. If the adjacent clips are don't have available media in the timeline for the transition, a warning will appear that the clips will be shortened, that is, the clips in the timeline will be reduced in length so that there is sufficient media for the overlapping portion of the transition. This will shorten the project duration. If you are reaching the red brackets you have reached the limit of the media. There are tabs on each end of the bar at the top of every transition that allow you to ripple the shots to create more space for a longer overlap. This will effectively shorten the duration of the shot after the transition is completed.