Differences in Final Cut Pro

Warp plug-ins operate in Final Cut Pro almost the same as they do in After Effects. Minor differences in Final Cut Pro are covered on this page.

You can access the filters from the Effects tab in the Browser, or from the menu item Video Filters> Red Giant Warp.

Warp plug-ins in FCP

RG Corner Pin plug-in

The only feature difference in Final Cut Pro is that Corner Pin is missing the Mocha After Effects import menu. This is because Mocha ships with After Effects CS4 and later. The Final Cut Pro version also lacks the Motion Blur Comp Settings switch in the Motion Blur menu. You can only turn the Motion Blur On or Off, since Final Cut Pro does not natively support motion-blur rendering for effects.

Corner Pin in FCP

RG Shadow plug-in

The only Shadow control missing in Final Cut Pro is Align Axis. This control aligns the 3D points to the edges of an object. This feature was removed because all FX Plug effects only see the full layer, for instance, an image the same size as the project such as a DV frame that is 720 x 480. You must align the controls manually using the 3 point controls under 3D group. The FCP version also lacks the Motion Blur Comp Settings switch in the Motion Blur menu. You can only turn the Motion Blur On or Off, since Motion does not natively support motion blur rendering for effects.

Shadow in FCP

RG Reflection plug-in

The Reflection controls are very similar to the Shadow controls. As with Shadow, the plug-in does not feature an Align Axis control or a way to use Comp Settings for Motion Blur in FCP.

Reflection in FCP

Setting points in FCP

To set the baseline points for Shadow, Reflection, or the Corner Pin To/From Points, you need to click the crosshair for point controls, then click in the Canvas viewer to set the point. You can click and drag in the viewer and the plug-in will render as you drag. Each time you let up on the left mouse button, you must re-activate the crosshair control.

The red plus shows a preview in the FCP Canvas window.

Radium Glow plug-ins

The main difference in Final Cut Pro is how the Glow's Shape Layer and Mask Layer input work. Rather than providing a pop-up menu with layers or tracks, FCP requires that you drag and drop the source footage into the well next to the control. The source footage should be stacked in the timeline to be aligned with the video that has the Glow effect. Below is an example of the proper setup for a source shape layer and glow footage in the Final Cut Pro timeline.

Footage in V1 and V2 are aligned, as is needed in FCP for Shape Layer and Mask Layer.

Glow Edge in FCP.