Adjusting Point Parameters in Final Cut Pro


A point parameter as it appears in the inspector

Final Cut Pro allows you to change the X and Y coordinates of a point through the inspector. You can either click over a coordinate and drag up or down, or click and release to enter a value through the keyboard.

It is far easier to configure point parameters on-screen. Your first step is to make sure the clip is selected, and the playhead is positioned somewhere within its in/out points:


A selected clip with playhead positioned within its in/out points

The above is enough to display on-screen controls for Generators, Titles and Transitions. When working with Effects applied to a clip, an extra step is required. Since multiple effects may be applied to the same clip, make sure the effect you wish to configure is selected in the parameter inspector:


A yellow outline denotes the currently selected effect, whose on-screen controls are displayed in the Canvas
Effects are also known in video applications as filters. Contrary to Generators and Transitions, multiple filters can be applied to the same clip, in a stack.

Upon completing the above steps, an on-screen control becomes available for each point parameter you can adjust:


The on-screen control for a point parameter, displayed at its exact coordinate within the frame. Other, unrelated on-screen controls may be available at the bottom of the frame.

Click and drag the on-screen control to the desired location in the frame.

Please note that the size and color of the on-screen control may vary from one effect to the next. In some cases, a point may only be moved within a certain region of the frame, or it may only be moved along a given axis.

Tip:Hold down the Shift key to constrain movement to the horizontal or vertical axis. Hold down the Command ⌘ key to make smaller, more precise adjustments to the X and Y coordinates. Hold down the Option ⌥ key and click on the control to reset its location to the default X and Y coordinates.