Apple Final Cut Express HD - Manual (Page 850)

850 Part IX Effects
Different Ways to Use Generators in Your Sequence
In creating composites and other effects, you may find some of the
Final Cut Express HD generators helpful. They allow you to very quickly add certain
types of built-in clips by simply choosing items from a menu. For example, by choosing
a generator you can:
 Add clips that have certain shapes to use as design elements, or as layers when
creating track matte effects
 Create colored and gradient background layer clips for composites
 Add a placeholder or black gap between two clips, called a slug
 Add standard SMPTE color bars and tone to use as a reference (for duplication or
broadcast purposes) or as an effect
 Create shape layers and use them to create track matte effects
Some generators, such as the Slug, Matte, and Particle Noise generators, fill the entire
frame size of your sequence. Others, like the text filters, are created with an alpha
channel that allows your text to be quickly superimposed against an image, or against
black. (See Chapter 58, “
Creating Titles ,” on page 855 for information about Text
generators.)
Generators can have filters and motion settings applied to them. For example, you can
use a Color Matte in conjunction with a Garbage Matte or Mask Shape filter to quickly
create a clip consisting of a shape against a transparent background. The transparent
background exists because an alpha channel has been added to the Color Matte filter.
For more information on using Matte and Mask filters, see Chapter 55, “
Keying, Mattes,
and Masks ,” on page 805.
The parameters of some generators can be keyframed to change their appearance over
time. You keyframe generators the same way you keyframe motion settings and filters.
For more information about how to keyframe effects in Final Cut Express HD, see
“
Animating Motion Effects Using Keyframes ” on page 719.