In a recent thread on Creative Cow, we were discussing the difference between Pr CC’s new Essential Graphics Panel and FCP X Motion Templates. As is often the case, it somehow morphed into a discussion of 3D Object creation and animation an NLE. Or something… I dunno, it’s the Cow, it gets weird over there sometimes. 😉

Anyway… at some point I made a quick little animation to show what you could do in FCP X without leaving the NLE. It literally takes 10-15 min to whip up a decent looking animation, and I’m sure it would look better if you spent more time.

NOTE: The stock Basic 3D Title – which I used for this – has no X/Y/Z rotation keyframes.
For more animation fun, a while ago I made a version that is keyframe-able if you want it:
“Marginally Better Basic 3D“

forgive the lame video names and descriptions… I hadn’t planned to post these…

Someone then wondered how it was done, so I did it again, and made a little movie showing the entire process. I’m sure there are actual tutorials about doing this if you look around, but here’s the basic idea…

1-find a picture of the object/logo you want to use

2-make it into a font and install the font

3-animate it as 3D text.

Again, other than making the font, this was all done in FCP X without using any 3rd party tools or other programs. It’s very easy. Apple certainly doesn’t advertise FCP X as 3D modeling software, but it’s pretty cool what you can throw together without leaving the timeline. None of this required rendering either, which is a bonus.

Here’s the 15 min process condensed to ~1 minute.