How to Export Video with Transparent Background in Final Cut Pro X

How to Export Video with Transparent Background in Final Cut Pro X?

First, we have to create the video with a transparent background.

You may follow this tutorial by downloading the Moon and the Beach clips.

Note: This is an intermediate/advanced level FCPX tutorial. A Foundation knowledge in Final Pro X is required.

Creating a Video with Transparent Background

In this simplified example, I have a spinning moon with a black sky background resized and super-imposed over the sky at the beach.

We want to make the black sky behind the moon transparent, leaving only the moon visible.

Let’s create the transparent background.

Select the moon clip in the timeline.
Go to Effects panel and choose Keying > Luma Keyer.
Go to the Video Inspector Panel and look for Luma Keyer options.
Tweak the upper Luma slider to the left till the moon is fully visible.
Tweak the lower Luma slider to the right till the black sky is fully invisible.
Switch View > Matte (icon of a man with a black background) to check that the moon is fully white with no traces of gray. Keep tweaking the sliders till you get the best result.
Switch View back to Original.

Exporting a Video with Transparent Background

Now, let’s say we want to use this spinning moon clip in a few other videos and we don’t want to go through this tweaking process again, we can export it as a video with transparent background.

The most common example of such re-usable clip would be an animated logo or an animated lower third.

Start a new project with only the moon video clip in the timeline and luma key the black sky as per instructions above. (pssst I tweaked the “shrink/expand” to remove the specks of stars in the sky)