Luca Visual FX has a treat for anyone with a throwback style. I absolutely love this video generator. The effect is a damaged film leader, why you would use it? Perfect to start a music video or a transition into old footage or a great effect to overlay on top of your video footage and give it some style.
It has incredible customization which is a huge plus. You can select the font, size, aspect, stroke, color background and control the texture. Or, you can clear the text and have the leaders by itself. The amount of presets that come with Luca Visual FX Leaders is fantastic. They give you so many variations of presets and within those presets they have 6 more presets of the background and text, what a wealth of film leaders that come with this package. The great thing about this plug-in is how easy it is to customize the generator and create your own preset for later use…you just have to make sure you save it. Film Leaders is an exciting addition to anyone’s plug-in library.
This is priced right at $99. I know Indie filmmakers will be jumping all over this.
I do not have a disclosure about my the reviews that I do for plug-ins. What you should know is I try to be as honest as possible about the plugin for the professional freelancer or amateur that spends their hard earned money wisely. There are many kinds of professionals in this field, corporate clients, wedding or events, music videos, feature film, and documentary filmmakers. Today we rent ourselves out to anyone to pay the bills. So when I review a product you will hear me try to categorize which filmmaker would benefit from the plugin. I also try to be as respectful to the vendors as possible. But I will not tell you to buy a product if I do not believe in it. That being said…here is the review for Yanobox Moods. 🙂
Yanobox Moods is a unique color grading plug-in with a full screen interface for Final Cut Pro X, Final Cut Pro 7, Motion and After Effects.
It is a pretty simple and effective color grading plug-in that comes with a handful of presets that can get you started. The coolest thing about Moods is the first parameter, the desaturate button. I love the fact that all I have to do is pull down to get a bleach bypass look. If I’m color grading with this plug-in I will be using that each time. Old habits die hard and I’m still a fan of the Color Corrector 3-Way…which is what Moods is but on an Energy Drink. It gets you the results fast and with time I believe this is a plug-in that I will be using more often. This is a great plug-in for someone that has less to no experience with color correction. It is all there in one plug-in and easy to use. The presets will get you off and running in no time.
Moods is $49, which is not a bad price but I could see more people buying it at $19.
FxPack that contains five plug-ins (Fake 3D, Light Sweep, Drop Shadow, Numbers and Grow Bounds) mainly for Apple Motion. You can find more information and download it from my blog.
I am so happy to find this Light Sweep plug-in by Tapio Haaja. This free plug-in was created in FxFactory and only works in FxFactory Pro. So if you already have FxFactory Pro in your plugin library go ahead and download the plugin and enjoy it. I know this effect is overused everywhere on TV but why not jump on the bandwagon? Props Tapio!
Tiffen, I know you have been in the film/video world for years and are well established too. But I had no idea about your sweet plugins for FCP.
Tiffen Dfx Video/Film Plug-in is a top of the line plug-in suite that incorporates filters and lenses that Tiffen is so well known for and infuses it into Final Cut Pro, After Effects, Premiere Pro and Avid. It is a complete plug-in suite that adds glass filters, specialized lenses, optical lab processes, film grain, exacting color correction, plus natural light and photographic effects.
One of the best features of this plug-in is the usability. The Dfx Interface allows you to preview the tons of presets each filter comes with. Within the Dfx Interface you can customize the parameters of a preset to make it yours while viewing it in real-time.
There are so many different film looks it is absolutely ridiculous…which is a great thing. In the past I never dabbled with different film stocks because of price and I didn’t shoot with a film camera. Now that everything is digital those looks are fresh to a new generation of video editors.
Some of my favorite filters from Tiffen Dfx are the Light filters. You can add lights, gobos and even flags to your video. I love the gobo, simply adding a gobo to an interview gives the interview a fresh look. I’m so glad to have this product in my effects library. It will turn good looking video into beautiful looking video…but let’s not kid ourselves. It is always important to shoot it right the first time, great lighting, lenses and composition will always keep you looking like a pro. Now Tiffen Dfx 3.0 will make you stand out in the crowded field of professionals.
Price
$599…yeah, that stings the purse a bit especially with FCP X out and about and this is not yet ready for FCP X. The price of these filters are more than the upgrade to FCP X, there is a reason for that…the effects are amazing. But ask questions and research before you buy any plug-ins set. Will they upgrade to allow you to use these with FCP X? I mean FCP 7 will eventually fade once Apple gets it right with FCP X. Until then, if you have FCP 7 check out these filters for FREE for 15 days and do a cool project and impress your client or wow the audience at a film festival.
Tiffen Dfx Video/Film Feature Highlights
121 individual filters
Thousands of customizable presets
Simulation of Tiffen glass camera filters, specialized lenses, optical lab processes, film grain, exacting color correction as well as natural light and photographic effects
Rosco and GamColor Gel libraries
Rosco and Gam Gobo libraries for lighting effects
8 or 16 bit image processing
Multi-processor acceleration
Tech Specs / Requirements
Adobe After Effects CS5 and up
Adobe Premiere Pro CS5 and up
Apple Final Cut Pro 6 and 7
Avid 64-bit systems, Media Composer®, and Symphony™ v6.0 as well as NewsCutter® v10.0.
Windows:
Windows XP, Windows Vista, Windows 7
1.0 GHz processor or faster
Intel or AMD processor
1GB RAM (2 GB+ recommended)
1GB available disk space for caching and temporary files
CrumplePop ShrinkRay X CrumplePop is pleased to announce ShrinkRay X, a fully-featured tilt-shift effect for Final Cut Pro X. With ShrinkRay X, you can make big scenes appear strikingly tiny, whether it is buildings, people, or landscapes. ShrinkRay X is available as a free download from the CrumplePop web site for one week, after which the price will move to $75.00.
All you X users should get your download on and enjoy this plugin.
GenArts knocks it out of the park with Sapphire Edge plugin for Final Cut Pro, Final Cut Express, Apple Motion and Sony Vegas Pro. If you want a sweet look for your video regardless of your line of work or status as a professional or amateur this is a no-brainer. Sapphire Edge makes it easy to turn your normal video into something special in a few clicks. If you shoot or edit music videos this is a must have set of effects and looks. I can think of 10 looks right off the bat to use in wedding videos. It can give your corporate video that look that takes it up a notch from, “do I have to watch this s^$t?” That is how good these effects are.
I love the preset browser where you can apply the preset to the footage and preview what it looks like before you load it. The tags are a HUGE bonus for the editor. The tags simplify things so it is streamlined for the editor. You can always tweak the preset once it is loaded on your footage and save it as a favorite, then rename it.
Receive a one-year subscription to FX Central with your purchase of Sapphire Edge. FX Central is the place to browse looks and view tutorials. Now, you can access the GenArts visual effects gallery presented as pre-built looks, regularly updated, easy to apply, and always of the highest quality. Stay ahead of the curve with fresh new collections and get the best look every time.
Features
350+ unique, pre-built looks generated from 18 effects and transitions
64-bit quality
Powered by the Sapphire engine
Streamlined and intuitive user interface
GPU-accelerated for Nvidia CUDA cards
Multiprocessor support
Ever-expanding library of professionally built preset looks
Visual browsing of presets applied to user media
Includes one-year subscription to FX Central, GenArts’ cutting-edge preset browser, which allows editors instantaneous preview-and-apply capabilities
Stylize and color-correct your footage with effects such as FilmStyle, FilmDamage, and TVDamage
Numerous transitions utilizing natural looking lighting effects such as DissolveLensFlare, DissolveGlow and DissolveGlint
Price
$299 for over 350 effects and transitions plus a one-year subscription to FX Central ($99 value) is a great addition to your effects library. The great thing about these looks are they inspire you to create and think outside of your normal looking video. These will be implemented right away on my next project.
My dopamine is going crazy to convince me to purchase Final Cut Pro X…but my experience and lack of funds have won the battle for now. According to an online petition, Final Cut Pro X is missing some important features for professionals. Highlighted in the petition…
version X lacks at least 10 main features required by any professional who uses Final Cut on TV studios, Feature Film editing, Production and Post-Production houses.
Add ability to import and export XML files natively;
Add ability to import previous Final Cut Pro projects natively;
Add ability to export OMF files natively;
Add ability to change a project’s frame rate after it’s been created;
Add ability to read and write projects stored on an network or SAN volumes;
Add ability to switch the Final Cut Pro X layout to a more traditional 2-monitor setup;
Add ability to preview true video signal, independent from the 2-monitor setup;
Add support for Multicam editing;
Add support from capturing and recording to tape, not only via capture now but also via batch capture and print to tape natively;
Add support for importing image sequence files such as DPX and OpenEXR;
I can’t imagine why Apple would take out these features. Right now I have no proof because I refuse to buy it due to the fact I can do all my work on a fast and stable system. When I need to upgrade, I’m sure my clients will let me know. Not Apple.
If you hear any news about the economy recovering let me tell you that the news source you are getting that from is full of shit. That being said on July 1 2011, there will be a flood of new applicants filing to the unemployment offices across the country. No, I do not have a crystal ball. But if I did it would be shattered. I am one of the many directly effected by the Federal Budget cuts. When O’bama told the nation that he will be cutting funding for community action programs, a program near and dear to his heart, the very next day the non-profit I work for had a meeting about laying off 6 out of 19 positions. I knew right away I was one to be “let go.” That was not paranoia, it was a realistic assessment and understanding that the arts or video production is not the number one priority for job training program especially since it is near impossible to place our students with anyone in Greensboro. There is simply not enough media jobs available in the market. Plus it is an uphill battle that they would be competing against seasoned professionals for any freelance work…not going to happen. The past couple of months the non-profit has enacted a furlough program where all employees have to take one day off each week. No, that is not something to celebrate since it also meant a 20% pay cut.
The one thing is I respect how WRLP has handled the transition. They gave the 6 of us plenty of time (4 months) to look for other work, allowed me to leave for a week for a freelance shooter gig as well as taking time off for interviews. I have been submitting resumes across the country and am available to work anywhere in the world. I had a very good opportunity to work nearby and had 2 interviews and they went with another candidate. I have no time to whine or complain about why I wasn’t selected for that position for the second time in 2 years (passive aggression). But I continue to look for full time employment. While I do that I’m also looking for freelance work to help supplement my income.
You will be seeing changes in the format of FCProducer as I customize the website to be a more professional outlet for my freelance opportunities. I will be creating a new Youtube channel specifically for FCProducer and will be adding more tutorials, reviews and interviews with other amazing filmmakers as well. It is all about using social media websites to cross promote my skills to the world. I will also be accepting requests for new tutorials…anything my FCPeeps would like to see?
If you hear any news about the economy recovering let me tell you that the news source you are getting that from is full of shit. That being said on July 1 2011, there will be a flood of new applicants filing to the unemployment offices across the country. No, I do not have a crystal ball. But if I did it would be shattered. I am one of the many directly effected by the 
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