running clock?

[Steve Cohen]

I’ve done this several times.

First got to the following site and download ans install these free plugins https://mattias.nu/plugins/

There are several good ones, but the one you wil be interested in is a clock timer.

Open or re-open FCP and create a New sequence/timeline.
Place a 10 min black slug in the sequence.

Now got to the text icon in the bottom right of the viewer and you will see towards the botto a group called “Too much Too Soon”.

In there is your clock timer, place it on the 10 min slug and now you have a timer that couts up from 0 to 10 min.

Place the sequence in a new timeline and reverse it to get it to count down.

You need to reverse the sequence and not the slug. Reversing the slug will do nothing.

You can add another trext layer or a Live Type file on to t get it to say “Video will begin in…”

Steve Cohen
Editor
O2 Media Inc.

[Tony]

A much better fcp plug in for a running clock forward or backward can be found at Digital Heaven’s website.

Tony Salgado

[Steve Cohen]

Yeah, Digital Heaven’s may be better, but the other one is a free plugin.

I didn’t mention that before.

Steve Cohen
Editor
O2 Media Inc.

[Tony]

I tried the other one and found Digital Heaven’s version to be quite a deal at an affordable $20.

Martin Baker (the owner of Digital Heaven) modified the countdown plugin based on direct feedback I provided him. I can honestly say the response time and customer service from Martin are above par.

The counter plugin is available as a demo download to try before you buy.

https://www.digital-heaven.co.uk/fcplugins/dh_counter.php

Tony Salgado

[Jeremy Garchow]

You can use the timecode generator filter (Video Filters > Video > Timecode Generator), set the offset to -10 minutes (do the math on the the number of frames) and mask out any of the thing you don’t need (such as hours and frames). you can’t change the font, you will have to render a bit, but it’s free.

Jeremy