FCPX Maps Guide

FCPX Maps is our only plugin that requires an additional third party account with Mapbox.
You can find the installation guide for FCPX Maps here.
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FCPX Maps will install under PFS - FCPX Maps in the Generators library. You can apply one of the 4 included presets to your timeline and stretch the generator to fit the amount of time you want the map to occupy in your project timeline.

* It is important to set the generator to the desired length prior to editing any of the controls.

Understanding the controls before starting to edit is vital to creating a map and editing it successfully. Please make sure that you review the controls for the presets here so that you have a full understanding of what you can accomplish.

You can create your map by setting the source and destination controls, editing your map settings, and pressing the Create Map button. Next comes additional path and camera settings as desired and then inputing media into drop zones and finalizing style controls.

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Understanding Controls

Map Creation

Type an address into "Source" and then hit the return key to set a start point.

Type an address into "Destination" and then hit the return key to set an end point.

If you have entered the Source and Destination addresses successfully you will see the icons to the right of these text fields highlight white.

* You will need to press the Create Map button again if you want to change the Style, Zoom, Level, Extend Map, and Path Apex Value.

Select Style - Select a Map Style using the drop-down. Choose one of 12 style options.

Zoom Level - Apply a Zoom Level to your map. Higher Zoom levels will create street level maps. but may require many more tiles to be downloaded depending on the distance between your Source and Destination.

Extend Map - When set to 1, FCPX Maps will download only the necessary tiles to move from the Source to the Destination. Increasing the Extend Map slider will add additional tiles to fill in blank spaces.

Generally, you will want to keep this set to 1 as higher values may result in needing to download significantly more tiles. You will want to increase the Extend Map slider if you intend to rotate the camera. For larger increases on angle you will want to have a larger extend map value. Click Create Map after making changes to apply your adjustments and download new tiles.

In the below example we have the Camera Rotation X set to 70. You can see that when you expect to rotate the camera you will want to set the extend map slider to a higher value so your map will fill the screen.

Create Map - Click the Create Map button to bean downloading tiles. A loading graphic will appear right above the Create Man button once initiated and you will get a pop-up window will appear once all tiles have been downloaded. Pressing the Create Map button if you have modified your path in any way will reset the path entirely. We recommend dialing in your zoom and expand controls prior to creating the map and editing your path.

Editing the Path Apex

When you click the Create Map button it will also create a line path moving from the Source location to the Destination location. You can make edits to the path before creating it, or simply use the Simulate Path button at any point to make adjustments to the path without having to create a new map.

Path Apex Value - This slider controls how high from the map floor the path will be at its highest peak. Set to 0 for a flat path or type in a value greater than 1 for an extremely high path.

Apex Curve Amount - Sets the bezier curve of the path's apex height. Increase this value to create more rounded curves or set it to 0 for a completely linear path. The slider for this maxes out at 1, however, you can click the number and enter a higher value and press enter. You will need to simulate the path in order to see the changes.

Camera Curve Percentage - FCPX Maps will match the Z Position of its camera to the bezier curve of the path apex (Apex Curve Amount). You can edit the percentage at which it matches the path curve using this slider. Click the Simulate Path button to apply changes to this control. Setting it to 100% will make the camera smoother while setting it to 0% will make the camera more rigid. This will be most noticable at the path apex.

Simulate Path - Click this button to regenerate the path with your given settings.

Creating a Custom Path

By default, FCPX Maps will generate a path that moves from the Source location to the Destination location. After creating a map, you can edit this path by adding additional points in between the Source and Destination.

Edit Custom Path - Check this box to be able to manually apply new points to your map by clicking on-screen. Points will be placed at the time your timeline playhead is located upon placing. If you try to add multiple points at the same time it will simply replace the older point with the new one.

• Command + Click to add points
• Shift + Click to remove points
• Click + Drag to move points

Note: You can also move the Source and Destination points by dragging them. Your playhead will need to be on the first frame to adjust the Source and the second to last to adjust the Destination.

*Uncheck the Edit Custom Path button once you have finished editing your path.

Follow Custom Path - Check this box if you have created a custom path and want the camera to follow the custom path instead of simply moving from the Source to the Destination. Click the Simulate Path button to apply after checking the box. If you create a custom path and don't have this Follow Custom Path checkbox checked on the camera will move from the source to the destination. 

Keyed Parameters - When you click the Create Map or Simulate Path button. FCPX Maps will create keyframes to animate both the camera and path. You can manually edit the camera's Z position as well as the X. Y and Z position of the path by adjusting these keyframes.

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Camera Controls

Camera Controls - Use these controls to adjust how you visualize the map in 3D space. You can uncheck the Link Camera to Path box if you decide you don't want the camera to automatically follow the path. Use the Camera Position, Rotation, Scale and Anchor Point controls to offset the camera from the given path or keyframe them to create custom camera animations. Additionally, you can add depth of field blur with the DOF Blur Amount control to simulate realistic camera effects and adjust the Angle of View to edit the number of degrees in which the camera sees.

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Path Controls

Path Controls - Here you can make edits to your path trail. The path is comprised of a series of small circles that form a line. Changing the Path Birth Rate will change the density of circles within the line. Increase this value to create more solid lines and decrease it to create lines with more spacing. Lowering the Path Source Roundness to 0 will change the source of the path from a circle to a square. Adjusting the Render Path from Local to Global will allow particles to intersect with other lavers. but decrease playback performance. Path Life and Path Opacity Over Life can be tweaked to create falloff within your path.

Render Path - You can choose between In Local 3D (Faster) and In Global 3D (Better).

• In Local 3D (Faster) - Particles will not intersect with other layers, but will keep faster playback performance.
• In Global 3D (Better) - Particles will intersect with other layers, but decrease the playback performance.

Path Color - Click the color well and you can choose any color you wish to have your path render in.

Path Source Roundness - This is set to 100 by default to be fully round. Reducing this to 0 will make the source more square.

Path Thickness - This will determine how thick your path is. The higher the number the thicker the path will be. Reduce this to have a thinner line.

Path Birthrate - The path is created with an emitter. You will want to increase this path to create a consistent line depending on how long your path is. If you notice the path starts to look broken up or segmented you will want to increase the path birthrate.

Path Life - Keeping this value high will make the path created last longer. Reducing it will reduce the paths length as it travels from the source to the destination.

Path Opacity Over Life - This gradient control will represent the opacity of the emitter over the course of its life. White will be 100% opacity while black represents 0% opacity. You can right click on the color square above the gradient color bar to select the color. You can also click anywhere on the gradient color bar to add a new square and adjust the opacity and position of the square as desired. To best visualize this keep the left most square white and create another square to the right of it. Right click on the right square and adjust the color to black for 0% opacity. You can then move this square left on the gradient bar to make the path opacity last a shorter amount of time or move it to the right to increase the length of the path.

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Path Images

Path Image Checkbox and Drop Zone- Check this box to add an image or video that follows your path. To add media, click on the Path Drop Zone image well, select your media in the Final Cut timeline or browser, and click the Apply button when it appears. Then, you can offset or adjust its size using the provided controls.

Pan - Reposition the media with X and Y within the drop zone. This will pan the media within the drop zone. If these controls are pushed you will see your image cropped inside the drop zone. You can adjust the overall x and y position by using the Anchor Point X and Y controls instead.

Inner Scale - Adjust the scale of the image inside the drop zone. This will crop inside the drop zone box. You can adjust the overall scale with the Scale control below the Angle control.

Face Camera - Check this box on if you want the image to always face the camera. In this example we have adjusted the camera's X rotation to show how the path image will face the camera when the camera's rotation is modified.

Anchor Point - Adjust the X and Y to offset your image from the end of the path.

Angle - Adjust the angle of the path image.

Scale - Adjust the overall scale for the path image.

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Point Controls

Point Controls - Here you can add and stylize graphics to display on each point of your path. With Point Type you can choose to display points as circles, squares, triangles or drop zones. If choosing drop zones. you will need to click the Load Point Image button to upload a .jpg or .png file to use for your path points. Use the Point Distribution control to set where your points will be applied. You can set it to None, All Points, Start/End Only. or Inner Points only. Inner Points are the points made between the Source and Destination points. You will only have these if you opted to create a a Custom Path. Plus, you can add outlines, change colors, adjust size and offset the position of your points with the provided controls.

The points will include your starting (source) and ending (destination) locations as well as any points you add while customizing your path.

Point Type - Choose between Dropzone, Circle, Square, and Triangle

Point Color - The point color can be changed as desired. This control will not apply if your point type is set to Dropzone.

Point Distribution - You can choose where to have these points appear. Choose between the following:

• None - No points will appear on your map.
• Start/End Only - Points will appear only where your source and destination locations are set to.
• Inner Only - Only points created by editing a custom path will be shown.
• All Points - All points will be shown.

Point Scale - Increase or decrease the size of your points.

Point Rotation X,Y, and Z - Rotate your points along the X, Y, and Z axis.

Point Offset X, Y, and Z - Offset your points along the X, Y, and Z axis.

Point Outline Thickness - Increase the outline around your points. This control will not apply if your point type is set to Dropzone.

Point Outline Color - Adjust the color of your points’ outlines. This control will not apply if your point type is set to Dropzone.

Load Point Image - The Point Type must be set to drop zone.  Click the Load Point Image button to bring up your finder and select an image to use as your point controls. The image must be square in order to display properly.

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Source Image and Destination Image

Source/Destination Image - Using these controls you can add media to both ends of your map's path. Check the corresponding boxes to turn these images on and apply them using the image wells. Then, make further adjustments to the position, size and more.

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Environment Drop Zones (Only Available in Drop Zone presets)

Some of the templates included in FCPX Maps will include additional Drop Zone layers that you can use to freely add media to different areas of the map. You can use these to add extra detail to your map by using them however you like, such as displaying a photo of your destination or surrounding areas. You can apply your media to these drop zones using image wells and adjust their size, position. etc. They will even reflect on your map if you have reflections turned on.

There is also Text for each drop zone, however, you must position, rotate, and scale these separately from the drop zone.

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Reflection Controls

Reflection - Turn on Reflection to make the path and many of the drop zones reflect on the map. You can adjust how shiny the reflection is using the Reflectivity slider, adjust the focus of the reflection with Blur Amount and control the falloff using the Begin Distance, End Distance and Exponent controls. These will help you adjust how quickly the reflection gets fainter as the object is farther away from the surface.

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Background Controls

Background Color - This is the color that will display behind your map in the areas where the screen is not covered by tiles. If your camera is rotated you may see the background behind the map tiles.

Background Opacity - If you have media below your maps generator that you wish to show through an area where the tiles are not covered you can reduce the opacity to see the media below.

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Watermark Controls

Mapbox Attribution - Mapbox's terms of service require that users provide attribution in order to display their man data for commercial purposes. You can utilize the Mapbox logo button to enable and disable this attribution.

• https://www.mapbox.com/help/how-attribution-works/
• https://www.mapbox.com/tos/

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Frequently Asked Questions

- Why am I missing the top controls?

Occasionally the custom controls on this plugin may disappear due to a Final Cut Pro fxplug4 bug. All you have to do is click on another layer in the timeline and then re-select the FCPX Maps generator. The controls should return. If they do not return, the plugin may have crashed. Just quit Final Cut and reopen to resolve.

- How does this plugin work?

This plugin links to a service called Mapbox that lets you generate and download tiles from their Static Tile API. Each tile contains a portion of your map and your map can contain anywhere from a single tile to thousands of tiles. The Static Tiles API lets you generate up to 200,000 free tiles per month, but you will be charged for ever one thousand tiles you use after that. That should be well over the amount the average person will use, but you may want to check your Mapbox account's Statistic tab if you have been generating a lot of tiles so you can see how many you have requested each month.

- Why did Create Maps generate so few/so many tiles?

The amount of tiles the plugin will request depends on several factors. Generally, the higher the Zoom Level, the more tiles you will need to generate. This is especially true if you are generating a map with a high zoom level that moves between two distant locations. Setting the Extend Map slider too high may also result in a lot of tiles. You may find sometimes that there are fewer tiles needed than expected, or the download was faster than usual. When this happens it is usually because FCPX Maps is recycling tiles that you have previously generated to save time and not waste Mapbox tile requests.

- Where are my tiles being stored?

Your tiles are being stored in the following location:

Macintosh HD > Users > Users account > Library > Group Containers > group.54S883FL9J.com.pixelfilmstudios.PluginSuiteFxPlug > Accounts > Public > MapboxTile

The tiles are stored and organized here by the style they were generated in. You may manually delete the tiles inside the MapboxTile folder if you no longer wish to have them stored on your computer.

Note: Deleting these tiles means they will no longer be able to be recycled by the plugin when creating new maps of the same location.

- How do I get the Maps Generator to stay on screen longer than the duration of the path animation?

When you create a new map, or click the Simulate Path button, FCPX Maps will create keyframes to animate the camera and path from the first frame of your generator to the last frame. However, if you would like to extend the time that the generator is on-screen after completing the path, all you have to do is extend the length of the generator. The keyed points will remain in the same spot. If you would like the duration of the animation to match the new length, all you have to do is click the Simulate Path button again to recalculate.

- What is the difference between the 4 templates?

The 4 included FCPX Maps templates are the same in all ways except one. The vanilla FCPX Maps 2.0 template contains no additional drop zones for placing along the map, while the other templates contain 1, 2, or 3 additional drop zones. If you know you will not be needing these drop zones it is recommended to use the vanilla FCPX Maps 2.0 template with no additional drop zones to limit the controls you will have in your Inspector window.