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CountdownCreation

Countdown Creation

I wanted to be able to create a 5 minute countdown to use for worship services. There are a number of built-in generator's in Apple's Final Cut Pro X and Motion (5) but there was no option to get the format that I wanted, which was just the minute and second hand. Fortunately, there is a way to make your own text file and use that with Apple's Motion. I used PHP to generate the list in the format that I wanted. You can use it too. Here's how:

  1. Copy the text for the length of time that you want from my Countdown Text File Creator and save it as a txt document.
  2. Create a new Motion Project in Motion (recommend 'Broadcast HD 1080' and a duration of 00:05:04;00 for a 5 minute 4 second countdown...Open.
  3. Generators...Text Generators...File (drag over to project)
  4. (select 'File' that is in the project if needed)
  5. Inspector...Generator...Browse...(select the txt document that you saved earlier)
  6. Optional: Format. Font, Size, etc.
  7. Position the countdown where you want it on the screen
  8. Share...Export Movie
Now you're ready to drag the countdown movie (which is mostly transparent) into Final Cut Pro X on top of other video!

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