How To Loop Video in Final Cut Pro

Final Cut Pro is a great program to use, and one of the great features you can use it for is to loop a video. So how do you loop a video in Final Cut Pro?

You can loop your entire video in Final Cut Pro, or just a clip or a portion of a clip. If you want to make a seamless loop, which is when you have an infinite loop that seems like the video plays forever, you need to use a program called Motion. You can loop videos a specific number of times. 

This article explains how to make a video loop continuously, make a seamless loop, and make a video loop a certain number of times. Let’s get started!

How To Make a Video Loop Continuously in Final Cut Pro

First, let’s look at how to loop a video in Final Cut Pro. You have a few options for looping, including:

• looping an entire video
• looping an entire clip
• looping just part of a clip or project 

If you want an entire looping video in Final Cut Pro, all you need to do is the following:

1. Select the timeline, which is the area in Final Cut Pro where all your clips are. 

2. Once you have selected it, press the spacebar. 

If it is just a single clip you want to loop in Final Cut Pro, it’s just as easy: 

1. Instead of selecting the entire timeline, select the clip you want to loop 

2. Once you have it selected, go to View -> Playback -> Play Selection in the main menu. This will start playing the clip and when finished will loop back and play again.

Final Cut Pro also allows you to loop specific parts of your video or even a small part of a clip. To loop a specific part of a clip in Final Cut Pro, do the following:

1. Go to the clip or part of the project you want to loop, click on the clip to select it and drag the red cursor to the start of where you want to start the loop as shown in the screenshot below

2. Next, in the main menu, go to Trim -> Blade or use keyboard shortcut Command-B to slice the clip into two clips

3. The clip should now be split in two as shown in screenshot below

4. Now, select the clip by clicking on it and drag the red cursor to where you want to end the loop as shown in the screenshot below:

5. In the main menu, go to Trim -> Blade or use keyboard shortcut Command-B to slice the clip as shown below

6. You should now have the section you want to loop as its own clip as shown in the screenshot below:

7. Finally go to View -> Playback -> Play Selection to have the clip play in a loop

If you are looking to improve your video editing game, you must check out the mKeynote with iJustine Final Cut Pro plugin.

It provides more than 100 clean, well-designed presets. For more information on the mKeynote plugin, click the link below:

mKeynote

How To Make a Seamless Loop in Final Cut Pro

Making a seamless loop in Final Cut Pro is a little trickier than making a normal loop since it needs to flow and look as if the video is neverending. A seamless loop is like an infinite loop video because it can go on and on, and no one will know that it is just the same short video repeating itself. 

Step by Step With Motion

To make a seamless loop in Final Cut Pro, you need to use a program called Motion. Follow these steps. Then you can import the seamless loop in Final Cut Pro: 

1. Add your media to Motion. Choose the layer you want to loop and make two clones of it. 
2. Hide your original layer. You will only be using the clones.
3. Open the timeline, click within it, and add a marker to both clones. The marker should be in the same spot on both clones. Then deselect one of the clones in the timeline.
4. Move the marker to the beginning of the timeline on the selected timeline. Now, select the other clone and move its marker to the very end of the timeline.  
5. Next, move the layer to one frame before the other one. You want the one clone to be one frame behind the other, which is how you make a seamless loop. 
6. Test your loop to make sure nothing is noticeable as the movie loops between the two layers. You need to hide the overlap of the two clones, which you can do using a fade.
7. Select the first clone layer and go to the behaviors button. Choose “basic motions” then “fade in/fade out.” The fade-in time needs to be 0, and the fade-out time needs to be 150 frames.
8. You need to set a marker to the end of the first clone. Then, right-click on the marker so you can edit it and change the type to “Project Loop End.”
9. Finally, you can export your seamless loop to Final Cut Pro. Go to File and select “Publish Template.” Name your template, choose a category, select the “Publish as a Final Cut Generator,” and publish it. 

The final seamless loop will be in Final Cut Pro under your chosen category.

Looking to learn how to use generators in Final Cut Pro to add cool backgrounds, titles, and effects to your videos? Check out our Detailed Guide to Using Generators in Final Cut Pro.

Seamless Loop Video Explanation

For a visual explanation that you can follow along with, check out this video from Creative COW on YouTube:

The video is great because he shows you how to make a seamless loop in Motion and import it to Final Cut Pro and how to set up the images and media that you are going to loop. You can follow along as you learn, and by the end, you will not only know how to make a seamless loop but also how to make the media that you will loop. 

How To Make a Video That Loops X Amount of Times in Final Cut Pro

Finally, let’s look at how to make a looping video. Final Cut Pro only has options for looping continuously, so if you only want to loop a video a few times, you can just copy the video or clip and paste it back to back for the number of times you want to loop it. 

1. To copy and paste a clip in Final Cut Pro, you need to select what you want to copy (either the clip or the whole video or timeline). 
2. Then, go to Edit and select” Duplicate.” Or, you can click Command-D on Mac. The duplicate items will be right next to each other. 

You can repeat this as many times as you want the video to loop.

Final Thoughts

There are many ways to loop a video in Final Cut Pro. Most loops are as easy as pressing a single key. Making a seamless loop takes the most time, and you have to use a second program, but you can import it into Final Cut Pro quite easily. You can also make a video that loops a certain number of times.