Click below to watch the final effect.

STEP 1: Set up Your Logo Type
The first step is to set up the logo type and the background. On video track one, place a Custom Gradient Generator (Effects (tab) > Video Generator > Render > Custom Gradient) and create a simple background. I chose a dark red-to-black background. On video track two, do an overwrite edit to place your logo type on top. In this case, the imported image is a TIFF file with embedded alpha channel.
Tip: When you create your sequence, make sure you choose Best under the Motion Quality pop-up to assure that thin lines don’t become jagged when resized to fit an anamorphic sequence.
STEP 2: Add a Simple Wipe
The next step is to add a quick wipe for the type. In this case, Final Cut Pro’s Motion tab is handy for creating an animated crop, animating the Crop > Right control from a value of 100 to a value of 0. I wanted the wipe to be a little slow, so I created the keyframe about 2.5 seconds apart. Of course, it needed a bit of glow, so I added Starglow to the title.
Tip: If you set the Video Processing settings to Render all YUV material in High Precision YUV, Starglow will generate overbright values that will have a convincing, realistic glare. However, you’ll only see the correct result when you render the timeline. The displayed version does NOT use the high-precision engine to give faster feedback.
STEP 3: Get it Moving in 3d Space
Just having a simple logo with a wipe is fairly boring visually. So the next step is to add 3D Stroke on top of the logo. We will add taper, repeated strokes, and keyframes to make the wipe appear to move with the strokes in 3D space. First, add a simple Slug (a black placeholder clip) on video track three. Apply 3D Stroke, choosing the Basic Circle preset. Next, add some keyframe for Offset to cause the stroke to write on and off. Finally, animate the position of the stroke with the transform commands, which makes the stroke appear to move from left to right. The increased bend value gives the circle stroke a sinuous figure eight shape.
Now, to give depth and motion, enable the Taper feature and turn on Repeater with some simple keyframes for Repeater Scale. Suddenly, that wipe doesn’t look so tired.
STEP 4: Finish with Starglow
To complete the effect, try Starglow on top of the 3D Stroke effect. And be sure to apply Broadcast Safe filters to the logo type and the Slug clip to make sure that the pretty overbrights created by Starglow can be displayed properly on any television.

Click below to watch the final effect.

Click below to watch the final effect.

Your Guide
Sean Safreed
Co-Founder
Red Giant Software
Red Giant Software, makers of the popular Magic Bullet (developed by The Orphanage’s Stu Maschwitz) and Knoll Light Factory (developed by ILM’s John Knoll), was founded in 2002 to develop and distribute special FX tools for digital video and film professionals. The company is both a publisher of other people’s technology, now including Trapcode, and a developer of its own products, which are available as plug-ins for popular video editing and effects packages. The plug-ins have been used in thousands of feature films, music videos, national TV commercials and shows. Prior to co-founding Red Giant Software, Safreed was a senior product manager at Pinnacle Systems and product manager at Puffin Designs.
Sean Says Keep in Mind…
For years, we’ve seen sophisticated title treatments for spots, trailers, teasers and more created with Adobe After Effects and plug-in tools from Trapcode. Red Giant Software has released several Trapcode plug-ins, including Shine, Starglow and 3D Stroke, for Final Cut Pro, Premiere Pro and Avid AVX systems. Now you can use them right on your timeline. Here, I’m taking a simple logo and using Trapcode Starglow and 3D Stroke in FCP to make it pop.
Red Giant Software, LLC
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