Lower Thirds Tutorial

This post will show you how to create lower thirds for your packages.

Before you start, connect to the server. Then, find the 'ONW Now Graphics' folder.

1. Click on the 'lato' folder located inside the ONW Now Graphics folder. You will need to download these four fonts BEFORE opening the after effects file.

2. Drag the after effects file onto your desktop so you have your own personal copy of the file. DO NOT EVER OPEN THE ORIGINAL FILE ON THE SERVER!

3. Open your new personal copy of the file. You may receive some messages when opening the file, or you may not. Regardless, click 'ok' if necessary to proceed.

4. Next, we'll need to re-link the source file. 

After effects needs to find the original file to continue the project. Since the file was copied onto the server, it needs some help finding it again. Select the v2-Lower-Thirds.png in the box on the left of the screen. Double click on it.

A window will pop up. Find the v2-Lower-Thirds.png file in the folder on the server and click 'open' in the bottom right of the window.

5. Now when we look in the large box in the top center of the screen, the blue and white background should appear, and we should see this:

If for some reason you can't see the lower thirds appear, try dragging the top of the blue cursor in the timeline (just like you would in Final Cut) to the middle of the timeline. It may be right at the end of the timeline or right at the beginning, so you may need to find it and move it back to the middle, like above.

6. Now look to the box in the bottom left of the screen. We'll edit the text to customize the lower thirds for your package.

We'll be looking only at the 'Add Name Here' and 'Add Description Here' layers. If you can't see the drop-downs like above, click the drop-down triangles immediately next to the red boxes on the layers.

7. To start, we'll edit the first layer. Single-click on the layer title so it is highlighted with a gray box like below.

Look back above to the top center of the screen, and double-click on the white text. You'll now be able to edit the text. Repeat the process with the next section of text (for the 'description' of your subject), by first selecting the layer in the bottom left, then moving up to the text in the top center, double-clicking, and editing it. When finished, you should have something like this:

8. Once the text is edited to your liking, we need to export the file. Go to file - export - add to render queue.

Now turn your attention to the bottom of the window. Look at the bottom-most section. The section name should be grayed (yours might look slightly look different). 

Click on 'lossless' in the bottom left. We need to change the type of export we'll do. Match your settings to the picture below (they may already be the same). The one thing we will have to change for sure is the 'Channels' type. YOU WILL HAVE TO DO THIS EVERY TIME YOU EXPORT! Change to 'RGB + Alpha.' This will allow the exported file to have transparency, something we'll definitely need when putting the lower thirds into our edits.

Click 'ok.' 

9. Now, we need to tell after effects where we want the file to save. In the bottom right of the window, click on the blue text to the right of 'Output To:.' The blue text may say 'not yet specified' or a file name such as 'Comp_1_1.mov,' for example. Regardless of what it says, we need to change it. Double click on the same blue text. A new window will pop up. Name the file to whatever you want and save to a place where you'll easily be able to find the file. Click 'save.'

10. Our work is not yet done. Now, we need to render the file. Click 'render' on the far right side of the window. Wait for it to render. You'll be able to see the progress with the blue bar going across the screen. Once it's done, after effects will make a noise to signal the render, and you'll be able to see the file where you saved it to in the last step.

11. Now, open Final Cut. We'll simply import this file just like we would any other video clip or file. It'll show up along with your other footage.

12. Drag it in to your timeline where you want it to be and put it above the other footage so it will appear on the screen. NEVER crop or transform the graphic. Leave it as is! It's fine to shorten the clip, but ONLY SHORTEN IT FROM THE END, NOT THE FRONT! 

This way is right! DO NOT shorten it from the front, only the back, like above!

In your final edit, the lower thirds should start blank, then come into the frame from below, then the text should appear. If you do not see this animation at the beginning of the lower thirds and it simply appears, you did it wrong. Drag the clip as far forward as it will let you to solve the problem. Depending on the length of the graphic in your package, you may or may not be able to see the effect at the end of the clip where the graphic moves back down out of frame. Either way is fine, but you MUST be able to see the graphic animate in at the beginning. 

If your clip is too short for the in-out animation, then just use the middle section of the .mov file. Make it show up immediately when the shot switches and immediately when it ends.

13. You're done! You'll need to repeat the edit text and rendering process for each lower thirds you want, but you can keep using the same after effects file each time. Also, be sure to save your work frequently!