Title Graphic in Final Cut Express

You would be better off doing that in Photoshop (or a similar program), saving it as a PNG to preserve that gradient transparency.

That's very easy to do in FCP, but I don't know if FCE has the same features or not. This is how I did it in FCP though.

1. Place the video on V1.

2. In the Viewer window click on the button in the lower right hand corner that looks like a film frame w/the letter "A" on it. Then select Text->Lower 3rd.

3. Go to the "controls" tab and down towards the bottom find the drop down menu called "background" and change it to "solid." By default it is black but you can change it to whatever color you want.

4. Change the text to what you want it to be and put it on V3.

5. In the Viewer window click on the same button where the text tool is found and choose "custom gradient". By default the gradient should be white on the left hand side and fade to black on the right hand side. If it doesn't look like this then, w/the custom gradient still loaded in the Viewer go to the "controls" tab and make it start w/white and end w/black.

6. Place the custom gradient on V2 and make it the same duration as your text.

7. Right click on your text in the timeline, go down to "composite mode" and select "travel matte - luma". This should make your lower third (what the text under someone's picture is typically called) be solid on the left hand side of the screen and fade as it goes towards the right hand side of the screen.

If FCE doesn't have these functions then you will need to do into an program like Photoshop, Gimp (which is free), or Pixelmator and create the image there like ppc_michael suggested.


Lethal

Great explanation LethalWolfe! I just wanted to add the following FCE specifics:

LethalWolfe said:

That's very easy to do in FCP, but I don't know if FCE has the same features or not. This is how I did it in FCP though.

1. Place the video on V1.

2. In the Viewer window click on the button in the lower right hand corner that looks like a film frame w/the letter "A" on it. Then select Text->Lower 3rd.

3. Go to the "controls" tab and down towards the bottom find the drop down menu called "background" and change it to "solid." By default it is black but you can change it to whatever color you want.

4. Change the text to what you want it to be and put it on V3.

5. In the Viewer window click on the same button where the text tool is found and choose "custom gradient". By default the gradient should be white on the left hand side and fade to black on the right hand side. If it doesn't look like this then, w/the custom gradient still loaded in the Viewer go to the "controls" tab and make it start w/white and end w/black.

Click to expand...

In FCE, the "custom gradient" is situated under "render"

6. Place the custom gradient on V2 and make it the same duration as your text.

7. Right click on your text in the timeline, go down to "composite mode" and select "travel matte - luma". This should make your lower third (what the text under someone's picture is typically called) be solid on the left hand side of the screen and fade as it goes towards the right hand side of the screen.

Click to expand...

In FCE, you go to the menu option "modify" (and then "composition mode" and then "travel matte - luma".

If FCE doesn't have these functions then you will need to do into an program like Photoshop, Gimp (which is free), or Pixelmator and create the image there like ppc_michael suggested.


Lethal

Click to expand...