Motion makes a natural companion to FCP X, either for editors who need to quickly generate assets for Final Cut, or dedicated motion graphics designers wishing to collaborate with editors using Final Cut. Motion is capable of exporting four kinds of files back to the latest release of Final Cut: Transitions make use of Motion's various eye candy tools for slick edits between materials; generators produce graphics dynamically (such as particle effects); titles allow use of animated text with typographical controls and RTF file import; and filters allow combinations of image- and video-processing effects.

A natural workflow, then, would be to jump into Motion to create some quick titles, export back to FCP X, and then make adjustments as needed from within the Final Cut timeline. This is where the use of rigs can really shine: Motion supports the creation of dynamic, intelligent templates. You can choose not only which parameters to make visible in Final Cut, but even how you wish to define ranges, drop zones for adding standard assets, and locked-down parameters.

For an individual user, this means you can start your work in Motion, then adjust it in real-time in Final Cut to finish the job, without ever re-rendering or switching apps. For organizations with multiple users of FCP X, it has even greater utility, since it means that even novice editors can define easy-to-use house templates with strict parameters for everything from video effects to titles. On the Final Cut side, your content appears in exactly the way that the presets Apple ships do; in fact, those presets are likewise created entirely in Motion.

In the absence of specific integration features, in order to process a video clip from Final Cut Pro in Motion, you would choose Reveal in Finder, operate directly on the video clip, export the results, and re-import and replace the clip. In other words, you do manually what automatic round-trip workflows previously did. The upshot is that for those not interested in the slick, new template features, it really doesn't matter whether you're using FCP X or another editor. This workflow does the job, too--and given some of the complexities of fancier integration, might even be preferable to some users. But it means there's some room for improvement, particularly for editors who want to switch frequently between the two tools for genuine, bi-directional integration. The workaround to preserving audio is to export a self-contained Movie, and re-import as an event in Final Cut Pro.

The integration of rigs and templates will likely make the FCP X combination with Motion very useful in certain situations, such as organizations wanting to establish a consistent visual identity, or individuals who want dynamic control over Motion creations as they work in Final Cut. But given the shared mechanisms for media asset management and rendering, the level of integration leaves room for improvement.