Free Final Cut Pro plug-in: Alex4D Time Remap effect

Last year I made a set of generators that could be used on video clips to get more precise control over speed changes using an animation graph similar to that available in older versions of Final Cut Pro.

Since the 10.0.6 update to Final Cut Pro, the generators I uploaded in March 2012 no longer work. Here is an effect you can use instead.

Here’s a comparison between a time remap graph in older versions of Final Cut Pro and my effect:

With these graphs, the steepness and direction of graph determine the speed and direction that the video clip frames play. The Y co-ordinate of the graph controls which source frame is displayed.

In this case the clip will play back in slow motion (because the angle of the graph line is shallow between the first and second keyframe – the Y co-ordinate is changing slowly), then in faster than normal motion. The video will then freeze between keyframes three and four (because the Y co-ordinate of the graph isn’t changing – the line is horizontal). Between keyframes four and five the video will go into reverse, as the Y co-ordinate is getting lower over time. Between the fifth and last keyframe the video will play back very quickly because the value of the graph’s Y co-ordinate is changing quickly.

Free Final Cut Pro plug-in: Alex4D Ribbon transition

My new free Final Cut Pro X transition slices the outgoing clip into two parts and pulls them apart with a horizontal ribbon appearing based on the pixels at the slice position. The ribbon crossfades into a ribbon representing a single column of pixels from the incoming clip. The two parts of the incoming clip to the left and right of the column then join together on screen:

Here are the controls:

My 2012 Top 15 Plug-ins

As part of 685,000 blog views, visitors downloaded my Final Cut Pro plug-ins many thousands of times.

If you follow my blog via email using the control on the top left of the blog page, you’ll get advance notice of new posts and plug-ins and more.

Thanks to my many visitors in 2012. I plan to make many more Final Cut Pro X effects, transitions, titles and generators in 2013!

Final Cut Pro X Top 10

1. Blurs

Six blurs and one sharpen effect

2. Mask+

Define 4, 8 or 16 points of a mask with animation control over scale, rotate and perspective distortion

3. Colour effects

11 colour control effects

4. Magic Lantern HDR

Composition controls for resolving HDR clips generated by Magic Lantern on Canon SLRs

5. Bad TV

More controls than the standard version

6. 4 Up

Display four clips on the same screen, or switch between them

7. Aged Film

More controls and ‘Bad TV’-style rolling

8. Distorts

Four distort effects

9. Adjustment Layer

Any effects or transformations you apply to this title will be applied to all timeline clips below

10. Smooth Move

Defines a start and finish position, scale and rotation for clip content with controls for how the clip moves from start to finish

Final Cut Pro 6 & 7 Top 5

1. Closing Credits

This plugin gives you typographic controls over all names or credits or section titles at the same time. You can also set the credits to scroll at specific speeds.

2. Access to all your fonts

Apple’s plugins don’t give you access to all your fonts. Use these replacement versions to use any installed font.

3. Lower Third

This generator provides extra text and positioning options for labelling people and places.

4. Vignette filter

A vignetting plugin giving control over position and aspect ratio.

5. Improved text Crawl

This generator removes the limit on the amount of text you can use in a crawl, and adds extra features.

Free Final Cut Pro plug-in: Alex4D Magic Lantern HDR effect

This Final Cut Pro X effect is for combining HDR footage produced using the Magic Lantern tool for Canon DSLRs. Magic Lantern is open-source firmware that adds many useful features to cameras.

This effect is for HDR clips recorded with Magic Lantern. High Dynamic Range imagery relies on taking two pictures of a scene using different exposure settings: the first underexposed, the second overexposed. Combining these pictures results in more detail in the brightest and darkest areas. Magic Lantern does this for video by modifying exposure settings for alternate frames. Alex4D Magic Lantern HDR gives you control on how these frames are combined.

Visit the Magic Lantern site to find out more about the many features it adds to Canon cameras.

Here are the controls:

Free Final Cut Pro plug-in: Alex4D Basic – Keyframable title

This Final Cut Pro X title template is similar to the built-in Basic Title title template with the addition of keyframable parameters

Here is initial part of the controls:

Blue screen: Is your version of Final Cut Pro X new enough?

When first trying out downloaded effects, transitions, titles and generators in Final Cut Pro X, sometimes the viewer turns blue.

If this happens to you, the most likely problem is that your version of Final Cut Pro X is too old. You need to use the Mac App Store to check for updates. You’ll see the update if you are signed into the App Store with the same Apple ID as you bought your copy of Final Cut Pro X.

In practice most people who provide transitions, effects, generators and titles update their versions of Motion 5 and Final Cut Pro X when they come out, so any tools they make available after that only work on the new version of Final Cut.

This means most effects and transitions made available after September 20th, 2011 won’t work in version 10.0.

Most effects and transitions made available after November 16th, 2011 won’t work in version 10.0.1 or earlier.

Most effects and transitions made available after January 31st, 2012 won’t work in version 10.0.2 or earlier.

Most effects and transitions made available after April 10th, 2012 won’t work in version 10.0.3 or earlier.

Most effects and transitions made available after June 11th, 2012 won’t work in version 10.0.4 or earlier.

Most effects and transitions made available after October 23rd, 2012 won’t work in version 10.0.5 or earlier.

Most effects and transitions made available after December 6th, 2012 won’t work in version 10.0.5 or earlier, but will work in the out of date version: 10.0.6.

Free Final Cut Pro plug-in: Alex4D Zoom Four title

This Final Cut Pro X title template displays a series of four texts, zooming from one to the next:

Here are the controls:

Free Final Cut Pro plug-in: Alex4D Letterbox effect

The 10.0.6 update to Final Cut Pro removed a control from the Letterbox effect. You cannot control the vertical offset of the underlying clip.

Here’s a Final Cut Pro X effect based on by Alex4D Widescreen Matte adjustment layer that brings back this control and more.

Here are the controls:

Free Final Cut Pro plug-in: Alex4D Scale Mosaic effect

This Final Cut Pro X effect is an alternative way of adding a pixellation effect to a clip. It divides the clip into a grid and scales up each grid element.

Apologies to Matt Davis for scrambling his face.

Here’s what it looks like in action:

Here are the controls:

Free Final Cut Pro plug-in: Alex4D Ticker+ title

In September 2011, I made an improved version of Final Cut Pro X’s Ticker title. I linked the size of the background of the ticker to the font size of the text and made the title work in different aspect ratios such as 4:3 and 2:1.

This new ‘Plus’ version adds some animation and layout options. Now you can have the ticker move from left to right or remain still. You can also choose where the ticker starts moving from, and if the ticker itself is cropped. The duration of tickers can be longer too.

The default text position is within the title safe area. You can control the vertical position of the ticker, the transparency, border and shadow of the text and the background.

(To get the dot “·” used in the sample text, press shift-option 9)

Here are the main controls: