How to accurately position a text object within the frame?

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Level 1

4 points

How to accurately position a text object within the frame?

When adjusting the position of a text clip there are 2 options in the inspector window's Transform properties: "Position" and "Anchor." Changing the Position X and Y values moves the location of the entire text frame. Changing the Anchor X and Y values moves the frame's anchor point (the point about which the "rotate" property works). (See below)

If a long text object runs over the edge of the frame, however it is cropped (as above). So I need to position a long text object WITHIN this frame so it doesn't get cropped by the edge of the frame. You can do this by double clicking the text in the viewer window and moving the text object with your mouse. X and Y values for the text object's position appear above the viewer, however this value does not appear anywhere in the inspector window and there is nowhere where you can enter XY values to position the text object within its frame.

Apparently you have to do this manually with your mouse. This is a huge pain for accurately positioning text objects. Say I have 50 titles I want to position at a specific XY value within the frame. How can I do it?

I believe this used to be called "origin" in FCP7 (forgive me if I am inaccurate, it's been years since I used FCP7).

Does anyone have a solution to this or is this just a missing feature in FCPX?

I already submitted this to Apple as feature request through the FCPX feedback form.

Final Cut Pro X, OS X El Capitan (10.11.6), FCPX 10.3.2

Posted on Apr 5, 2017 12:40 PM

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Answer 1

fox_m

Level 6

13,232 points

Apr 6, 2017 1:45 AM in response to JBVideo

I made some alignment guides about five years ago and decided to update them so that they could be used with a wider range of video sizes. The default for the new version is 1920x1080, but you simply type in the Width and Height of the project in the parameters inspector and the guidelines should quite accurately pinpoint locations.

For some aspects (like 4K 2048x1024, other anamorphic aspects...) the pixels are not square and the Width parameter needs to be "scaled" accordingly. No math is involved — simply move the guidelines to the right edge and hold down the option key and adjust the Width parameter by dragging on the value with the mouse until the onscreen display shows one half the correct width value ("center screen" is 0,0). Using the 2048x1024 4K example, the adjusted width value is 1820.41 which is quite easily obtained without much thought. The Height value should not need adjustment, generally.

Exact placement, especially when working with video scaled smaller than 100%, can be obtained in a similar manner with the Location parameter(s) - Option-dragging on the values for a finer resolution adjustment.

This template was designed as a Title. Use it to overlay your scene, make your position calculations and type the V key to disable it from view (or simply delete it).

You can obtain the template here:

http://fcpxtemplates.com/product/sc-guides-3/

An older version is also available from a link in the about section if you're running an older version of FCPX (the new one will probably require at least 10.2 or 10.3 or above).

Available parameters:

"on the nose" 😉

HTH

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Answer 2

JBVideo Author

Level 1

4 points

Apr 17, 2017 11:51 AM in response to JBVideo

UPDATE: Just realized the easiest way to do this for this particular case:

1. Drag the text object origin point to the center-left edge of the frame (X -960, Y 0) with the mouse.

2. Set the frame position parameter (in the video inspector window) to the desired position to place the left-aligned text where I want it.

It's a workaround, but could do the same for center-aligned or right-aligned text by using a known reference point to place the text object first, then position the frame. Wish I could just type in where I want it!

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Answer 3

Apr 19, 2017 7:34 AM in response to JBVideo

JBVideo wrote:

It would work, except if the text is longer, and goes over the edge of the frame, it is cropped, so you would then be positioning a cropped title. If you read my original post carefully and refer to the pics you'll see what I mean.

I see, sorry.

I think I may have a solution, but involves a slight incursion in Motion (very easy to do - see below).

It can be done even if you don't have Motion, if someone does the adjustment for you and gives the appropriate files.

I'll be happy to.

I will use Basic Title as an example, but it should be doable with any title.

1) Control-click, choose "Open a Copy in Motion" (it may say "Open in Motion" if is a title that did not come with the application)

2) In Motion, select the Title layer (inside the "Main" group), and open the Inspector

3) Click on "Text", "Format" and in the Advanced section, publish the offset parameter:

4) Save it and give it a name (the default will be "Basic Title copy").

5) Use it in FCP X. The offset parameter will appear in the Inspector. Set it as you wish.

As far as I can tell, if you set the text alignment to left and use the same value for the X offset, it will align perfectly.

You may as well make duplicate copies of a title and adjust only the text and the Y offset, and that seems to work fine.

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Answer 4

JBVideo Author

Level 1

4 points

Apr 19, 2017 8:24 AM in response to Luis Sequeira1

Hi Luis,

Thanks for this suggestion. I tried customizing and publishing the Offset parameter from motion and this works for my needs. I'm still disappointed in FCPX for not simple having the "Offset" property built into the native titling.

Strangely, the Offset X, Y coordinates in the Published Parameters panel specify "Px" as the units, yet it's not actually operating on the pixel dimension of the video frame. Under video properties my frame is 1920 x 1080 (square pixel), yet an Offset of X -80, Y -20 moves it much farther than that number of pixels (as below and in your screen grab). So I can't rely on X, Y coordinates based on the frame dimensions. Any idea the reason for this?

And there is still the mysterious hidden "Position" property if you double click and drag what appears to be the origin or anchor point of the text object in the viewer with your mouse. X, Y values appear an the top of the viewer as you drag, but these aren't reflected anywhere the inspector window that I can see!

Apple, am I'm asking for too much!!?

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Answer 5

Apr 6, 2017 5:04 AM in response to JBVideo

I made my own text clip in Motion and published the transform parameters (Position, Scale, Rotation). Then just use the published parameters in the text clip instead of in the transform window. You can also publish any other parameters you'd like to have that are not accessible directly in FCP X as well as OSC. Unfortunately I can't share it because it is proprietary to one of my clients but it's not hard to do. I use this clip almost exclusively for all of my titling.

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Answer 6

JBVideo Author

Level 1

4 points

Apr 17, 2017 11:13 AM in response to Tom Wolsky

Hi Tom, thanks for your reply, and sorry for the long delay responding.

Unfortunately center aligning won't work for me because each title has different text of a different length. If it's center aligned the coordinates will be different for each title, so I can't copy and paste a template.

So I guess the answer is no, there isn't a place in the inspector to specify the "origin" position for a text object. Seems like a huge oversight. Hope they add this - I've sent it in through the feedback form.

I want to align the left edge of each title to a specific point. I ended up winging it a bit by hand based on the title safe guides. Next time I may have to use one of the other workarounds other folks suggested below.

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Answer 7

JBVideo Author

Level 1

4 points

Apr 17, 2017 1:35 PM in response to Luis Sequeira1

It would work, except if the text is longer, and goes over the edge of the frame, it is cropped, so you would then be positioning a cropped title. If you read my original post carefully and refer to the pics you'll see what I mean.

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Answer 8

Apr 20, 2017 6:56 AM in response to JBVideo

As I mentioned in a previous post, just open a copy of basic title in Motion and publish the Position Property for the text layer. I also published Rotation and Scale. It works exactly as you would expect it to and avoids the issues you are having. I have been using a custom clip with these properties and a bunch of others published for a long time. It works great.

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Answer 9

JBVideo Author

Level 1

4 points

Apr 20, 2017 9:14 AM in response to Nick Toth

Hey Nick,

Thanks for your suggestion. I did make a custom clip as you and Luis described above, and yes, it works for my needs. The two issues I mentioned above still remain, however:

1. The pixel X and Y position values in the published parameters don't map correctly to the dimensions of the video frame in FCPX. For example, an X value of 80px moves the type almost to the right hand edge of the frame, yet that same point on screen should actually be ~ X 820 based on the pixels of my 1080X1920 video frame. Am I'm publishing it wrong from Motion or something? I'm a newbie to Motion.

2. There's also the still the mysterious origin position you can move visually with the mouse that doesn't show up anywhere in the inspector. Seems like a missing feature to me, but I think I'm preaching to the choir on that point.

Anyway, thanks for all the help with this Motion workaround, Nick and Luis.

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Answer 10

Apr 17, 2017 12:07 PM in response to JBVideo

What's wrong with aligning the text to the left (in the text pane) and then setting the position (in the video pane)?

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Answer 11

Tom Wolsky

Level 10

152,777 points

Apr 5, 2017 11:59 PM in response to JBVideo

Would it be easier to use center align to type in the whole width of the frame? You would probably need to create one template aligned as you like and then duplicate it for the other titles.

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