The plugin management system FxFactory from Boston based company Noise Industries has been updated to version 4. The big news is plugin compatibility with Adobe's Premiere Pro CS6 for the Mac, but more plugins have been upgraded for Final Cut Pro X as well.
We can remember when FxFactory was launched back in 2006. Noise Industries were the first company that marketed their plugins on the benefit of GPU rendering for speed. How things have changed, GPU acceleration is now essential should you want your plugins to run at any usable speed within Final Cut Pro X or Premiere Pro now!
Back to 2012 and Noise Industries have just released FxFactory 4. The headline news is that this version now supports Adobe's Premiere Pro, well at least for FxFactory Pro and other Quartz Composer based plugins. Motion generated plugins such as Callouts or Tech Transitions unfortunately won't run in Premiere. (This also gave us the idea that it would be exceedingly cool if Adobe adopted Apple's idea of being able to build filters and transitions in After Effects for plugins in Premiere.)
FxFactory 4 is a free download and the plugin upgrades for Premiere Pro (Such as FxFactory Pro) are no charge to existing licence holders. Watermarked trials are available for most of the included plugins in the bundle.
We had the opportunity to test out the update and it is good to see some familiar plugins in the new host. We're pretty sure that this release has almost doubled the number of third party effects available for Premiere users overnight! Do they work the same? The answer is yes with one large exception that we will get onto later.
The great news is that the very popular $99 motion graphics plugin Motype is now compatible with Final Cut Pro X.
The $199 slideshow plugin Photo Montage is now available in FCPX
Lastly whilst we are on the FCPX side of things, Ripple Training's Callouts has been updated to version 1.3. As we noted earlier this set of plugins will not run in Premiere Pro.
Idustrial Revolution's $49 volumetric light spill plugin Volumetrix and $99 particle effect plugin Particlemetrix get full Premiere Pro upgrades.
Phyx Cleaner 2.0 has been released which adds support for Premiere Pro, the website and videos haven't been updated to reflect the fact yet.
Plugins within Adobe Premiere Pro work as you would expect and the parameters will all look very familiar if you've been using them in other hosts. The thumbnail view in the effect control panel for presets is excellent as is the render speed of the plugins. There are no image wells available in Premiere Pro, so if you need to add single media into a plugin, it has to be done by putting the media on the timeline and selecting the source layer. This will work with the clip's visibility toggled off.
No real surprises there, but a different matter when it comes to transitions. Although you can do transitions with third party plugins, things are not as simple as just dragging an effect on to a junction between two clips. Instead you have to apply the plugin to a layer that overlaps with the incoming video and then select the destination layer. This is a lot more complicated than FCP and FCPX transitions and we have already sent our feedback into Adobe.
Another wrinkle is the transition between different frame sizes, Premiere scales up a resized clip during the transition only for it to pop back to the set dimensions afterwards. Nesting or precomping the resized media is a workaround.
So a great update not only for Premiere Pro users, but also for Final Cut Pro X editors too. One final note, as the plugins use Quartz Composer, they will only run on a Mac so sorry PC users you won't be able to use any of these effects.
I am the Editor-in-Chief of FCP.co and have run the website since its inception ten years ago.
I have also worked as a broadcast and corporate editor for over 30 years, starting on one inch tape, working through many formats, right up to today's NLEs.
Under the name Idustrial Revolution, I have written and sold plugins for Final Cut Pro for 13 years.
I was made a Freeman of Lichfield through The Worshipful Company of Smiths (established 1601). Though I haven't yet tried to herd a flock of sheep through the city centre!
Current Editing
2020 has been busy, the beginning of the year was finishing off a new property series (cut on FCP) for Channel 4 called The Great House Giveaway. I also designed and built the majority of the graphics as Motion templates. It has been a great success and the shows grabbed more viewers in the 4pm weekday slot than any previous strand. It has been recommissioned by C4 for 60 episodes, including prime-time versions and five themed programmes. The shows have also been nominated for a 2021 BAFTA.
Although both were postponed to later in the year, I worked again on ITV's coverage of the Tour de France and La Vuelta. 2020 was my 25th year of editing the TdF and my 20th year as lead editor. The Tour was the first broadcast show to adopt FCPX working for multiple editors on shared storage.
BBC's Snooker has played a big part in my life, I've been editing tournament coverage since 1997. I'm proud to be part of a very creative team that has pioneered many new ideas and workflows that are now industry standard in sports' production. This is currently an Adobe Premiere edit.
Covid cancelled some of the regular corporate events that I edit such as trade shows & events. I was lucky however to edit, from home, on projects for Amazon Kindle, Amazon Black Friday, Mastercard and very proud to have helped local charitable trust Kendall & Wall secure lottery funding.
As for software, my weapon of choice is Final Cut Pro and Motion, but I also have a good knowledge and broadcast credits with Adobe Premiere Pro, MOGRT design and Photoshop.
Plugin Design & Development
I'm the creative force behind Idustrial Revolution, one of the oldest Final Cut Pro plugin developers. It hosts a range of commercial and free plugins on the site. One free plugin was downloaded over a thousand times within 24 hours of release.
I also take on custom work, whether it is adapting an existing plugin for a special use or designing new plugins for clients from scratch. Having a good knowledge of editing allows me to build-in flexibility and more importantly, usability.
FCP.co
Now in its 10th year and 4th redesign, running FCP.co has given me knowledge on how to run a large CMS- you are currently reading my bio from the database! Although it sounds corny, I am pretty well up on social media trends & techniques, especially in the video sector. The recent Covid restrictions has enabled live FCP.co shows online. This involves managing a Zoom Webinar through Restream.io to YouTube and Facebook.
The Future
I'm always open to new ideas and opportunities, so please get in touch at editor (at) fcp.co. I've judged film competitions, presented workflow techniques to international audiences and come up with ideas for TV shows and software programs!
