Possible to do this in FCP X or Motion 5?

[Summersify]

Hi everyone,
I saw a video recently that had some text overlaid on a beach, and when the tide came in, it 'washed' over the text and made the text disappear.

So essentially what I'm asking is how is it possible to get a moving object to 'cover over' some text in a scene, without cropping or masking it frame by frame?

If you're interested this is the video (the effect I'm talking about is at 1:57) http://vimeo.com/7374214
Thank you for any help
Jack.

 

[WRP]

how is it possible to get a moving object to 'cover over' some text in a scene, without cropping or masking it frame by frame?

In the video example you gave, it is not possible.

 

[Summersify]

So is the only way to do it frame by frame?

 

[handsome pete]

So is the only way to do it frame by frame?

Well you probably don't have to do it frame by frame necessarily. I haven't used FCPX, and haven't used Motion in years so my After Effects explanation might not make complete sense. But the same principles should apply with the tools in FCPX or Motion (though I'm assuming Motion would be the better tool).

Start by duplicating your video layer. Place your text in between your two video layers. On your top layer, draw a mask around the wave at its end point (where it should be covering all text). Set keyframe. Then scrub back to the beginning of the wave (where the text should be visible), adjust your mask to whatever its new shape/position is and set a keyframe. Feather the edges of your mask.

At this point, the mask should animate from the start and end of the wave, with the top layer obscuring your text as the wave washes over. You'll likely have to tweak the mask shape in between your original keyframes, so just keep doing that until you get the look you want. Chances are you'll get your desired result without making adjustments on every frame.

 

[alph45]

looks to me like an alpha wipe in the direction of the wave, timed to the wave. any editing / effects app. that can create and manipulate an independent txt layer can do this and certainly fcpx or motion. there may be a transparency effect as well, multiply perhaps, try them all.