Clip exported from Apple Motion showing 1s of black in FCPX timeline

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Level 1

16 points

Clip exported from Apple Motion showing 1s of black in FCPX timeline

Hello everybody,

I have made a simple 12s animation in motion (2160/25p), exported it to ProRes422 and placed it in a 2160/25p timeline in FCPX. There the clip shows to have a lenght of 11:14 (not 11:24 shown in Motion) and the last second of the clip shows black only. I tried creating a new Motion project, copying all the assests, reexporting and got the same result. Restarted the Mac, FCPX, Motion - nothing helped. Tried exporting using Compressor - didn't help. The clip plays back fine in Finder and there it shows 12s of duration.

Unfortunatelly, almost every time I needed to use Motion animations in FCPX in the past years, I ran into trouble. I really don't want to switch to other platform a learn again from scratch, but such bugs are really terrible to deal with. I have used FCP and Motion since version 1 on PowerPC, so I'm not new to it. They used to be very realiable but in the last years something has changed and expecially Motion appears to be very buggy... I usually don't have problems with projects made solely in FCPX.

Update: Tried exporting to h.264 and the clip is ok now. So there is something wrong with the ProRes422 export in Motion.

Mac Studio

Posted on Aug 25, 2025 3:50 AM

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Answer 1

Top-ranking reply

Hirapuri Author

Level 1

16 points

Aug 27, 2025 5:01 AM in response to Hirapuri

So the h.264 workaround is just partially true. When I use the same file name as originally, even the h.264 has the

black at the end of the clip. So renaming was a part of the trick. Weird.

I attach a screenshot of the timeline - on the left the clip with the black at the end and the wrong duration. On the right the clip with the proper duration and no black at the end - both exported from the same Motion project - the only difference now is in the file name.

[Edited by Moderator]

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Answer 2

fox_m

Level 6

13,160 points

Aug 25, 2025 9:58 AM in response to Hirapuri

On the off chance that you

1) started a project of length, say (default) 10:00 seconds, then

2) imported media (video) that was longer than your project;

3) adjusted the time length in the Canvas Timecode Clock (Show Project Duration) in order to find the end of the video; then

4) set the Play Range Out to match the end of the media... [while the imported media was still selected]... then the Project Length is still at the setting you created to reveal the end of the media in the timeline.

You might have adjusted the (apparent) Play Range to fit the media length... but that Project Length may still be longer than the Play Range... I hope this is clear...

Select the Project "layer" in the Layers List and go to the Inspector > Properties and make sure that the Project Length matches your Play Range length. [You CAN use the Canvas clock to set the project length as well - as long as the Project Layer is selected.

I know this seems weird, but it is too easy to try to adjust the Play Range length of an object and not remember to select the Project "layer" first before doing so IF matching the project length is the priority (and it doesn't necessarily have to be.)

If this is not the case, then as Luis suggested: would it be possible to post your project so we can have a look at it.

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Answer 3

Aug 27, 2025 7:27 AM in response to Hirapuri

I downloaded the project, and it played fine (minus the pdf, of course), from start to finish, in Motion, exported as ProRes 422 and the exported file played fine in Quicktime Player AND in Final Cut Pro as well.

If you export a fresh version from Motion, in ProRes, and import that into a new FCP library, does it show the same problem?

I don't recall you mentioning which versions of FCP and Motion that you are using. It should not be an issue, but it may be useful to know.

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Answer 4

Aug 25, 2025 8:30 AM in response to Hirapuri

Does the clip play correctly in Quicktime Player?

This is crucial to determine whether the problem is on the Motion side or the FCP side.

Also: would it be possible to share the Motion project so we can test?

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Answer 5

Hirapuri Author

Level 1

16 points

Aug 27, 2025 4:58 AM in response to Luis Sequeira1

Hello Luis, the clip plays correctly in Quicktime player, so it looks like the problem is on the FCP side.

Here You can find the project for testing: https://drive.google.com/file/d/1tt1NSYSn51VGSDnTID-6sQed8WrfrUF8/view?usp=share_link

I probably can't share the PDF assets as they belong to my client.

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Answer 6

Hirapuri Author

Level 1

16 points

Aug 27, 2025 5:02 AM in response to fox_m

Hi, it's a bit hard to understand what You are describing, but I don't think it applies to a project where there is no video media used. The Motion project is made out vector graphics only (PDF files). And the animation fills the IN-OUT space completely - there is no black included in the IN-OUT range in motion. Even the project duration matches the IN-OUT duration.

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