How can I put a heads-up display into a Final Cut Pro movie?

I'm making a video game parody and I need to put some kind of heads-up display (health bar, mana bar, etc.)
I'm using Final Cut Pro, so if I could get some help... thanks.

Ah- very interesting... this could be a tough one but I'll take a stab since there are no other answers yet...
If you're graphics savvy, you should create them in After Effects or Motion with an alpha channel- then you can just lay them in Final Cut above the existing video.

If they don't move (health grows/shrinks, timer runs out) you can make them in photoshop - at image size 640 x 480 (for standard definition) and bring the psd file into FCP, then just copy the appropriate layers to above your sequence.

If they do move and you're not a graphics person (after effects, motion etc) try achieving the animations with text... choose a cool font and use, like "lllllllllllll" (Lowercase 'L'/capitol "i") or something... razor blade the text clip and change the number of characters in each segment you create to correspond to health growing/shrinking etc. By justifying the Text to left, it will appear to animate more and less.

It may not be the look you're going for, but outside of some moderate graphics work, it's probably the easiest thing I can think of... let me know if you have any questions.

Advantages and Disadvantages of a “head-up Display”

Many of you come to Devicepedia.com searching to find out more about head up displays and many of you know that we presented the GlobalTop HUD in February. A car HUD is any transparent display that presents data without obstructing the drivers view. First designed for airplanes there seems to be real interest in the market for them, so I planned to write a small article with advantages and disadvantages.

Head-up Display Advantages

1. Shows you all kind of information that you usually had to look on different dials and can group them all in one place for better functionality. Those HUDs you can see on the market these days, have Bluetooth, GPS and everything that a drive would need to get in time and on the right track to the destination.

2. Data is projected so that they won't distract the driver's attention like cellphones or dashboard controls do.

3. Eyes refocus much faster when you switch from the road to the projected display that usually floats 15 feet in front of you

4. Prices are not outrageous as one may think. For a few hundreds you can buy a head-up display that might offer you a safer car.

5. Nowadays HUDs are not really big but they cannot be easily implemented in one's car with all the controls you need therefore more development is needed.

Head-up Display Disadvantages

1. Such devices will evolve very soon into some kind of portable multimedia that will be able to read your email while driving. Though seeing an email directly on the windshield is safer than using your PDA or your smartphone, it's still a big distraction.

2. Voice or flashing text could also be distracting for someone driving, because you may want to focus on what the person says or on what the flashing is about.

3. Expect cars to have HUDs installed from 2008 onwards which is at least one year from today. Many of us are anxious to see it running right now, not waiting 1-2 years to get it as a standard on a new car.

4. The optical system that projects your data is complicated and therefore the light efficiency is low. I really wonder how they adjust the HUD projector to be as light in clear sun as when we're night driving.

These are the things I can see now and if you think something else needs to be added I would be more than happy to edit the article. One last comment is that it looks like older cars (maybe before 2000) have HUDs as a standard, which makes me see that their drivers are experienced with such devices and we could benefit from what they say.

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This is the place where I like to write about all kind of tech news and tech products.

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