Examples
Here are some examples of things you can make with Curves.
Highlighter
Use Curves to quickly highlight important elements of your composition without leaving Final Cut Pro.
A highlighter is just a colored rectangle with the blend mode set to "Multiply" and the scale parameter animated. Here's how to create it from scratch:
Make sure Curves is updated to the latest version. You need Curves 1.2 or newer to adjust the animation anchor point.
The rectangle should cover the entire screen.
Adjust the color in the generator options:
And set the blend mode in the video inspector to "Multiply":
You should start to see the highlighter effect!
Add Curves directly to the color solid (no need for a compound clip since it's already the same size as your project). Set the scale mode to "Flexible", then move and scale the highlight roughly where you want it.
Make sure to scale and position it using Curves and not Final Cut's builtin transform.
Hold the Option (⌥) key and click and drag the control point to the top left corner of the highlight. It should snap in place. This sets the anchor point, which is where the animations will play from.
Keyframe the scale parameter to animate the highlighter. Use the curve editor to adjust the animation smoothness. Make sure the scale mode is set to "flexible" so you can independently scale X and Y.