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Drop shadows
I have downloaded and installed a succession of third-party plugins that don’t seem to do the job. Is anyone able to recommend one that will actually work in FCP 10.0.0? Thanks in advance.
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16 Replies
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It only takes a couple of minutes to create your own drop shadow effect. I created one I called Drop and Rotate because that one effect adds drop shadow and X and Y rotation to the default Z rotation to the usual tools in the Inspector.
The one GOTCHA about these effects is that unless you shrink WITHIN the effect first, you won’t see the drop shadow because any drop shadow you create is outside the bounding box of the effect.
In Motion 5 just create a new Effect and Publish at least Scale, Rotation and Drop Shadows. Call it what you like and it appears under Effects in FCPX.
Left alone once applied to a clip, the drop shadow won’t show but don’t be tempted to scale under the Video tab in the Inspector. Instead, use the Scale for the published parameter of the effect. Then apply drop shadow.
And if you don’t scale down (within the effect) enough, any Y rotation might get its corners clipped by the bounding box of the effect. Scale a little lower within the effect to cure that.
Don Smith
NewsVideo.comNewsVideo.com
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Simon, several months ago you pointed me to a wealth of FCPX plugins, which I eagerly downloaded and installed as instructed. As I recall, this included a few of your own. They worked briefly, and then vanished, without my having changed the contents of any folders. I have since downloaded Steve (Ripple Training) Martin’s drop shadow plugin; it too worked very briefly, and now does not. It shows up in my effects browser, but doesn’t seem to actually add a shadow. (Your stuff doesn’t even appear in the effects browsesr anymore, and hasn’t since around the fourth day.) Any light you can shed on this perplexing situation will be very much appreciated.
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[John Mendelsohn] “They worked briefly, and then vanished, without my having changed the contents of any folders”
This does seem like a very curious behavior and I haven’t heard of anyone else who has had the same problem so I think it is almost certainly a problem specific to your installation for one reason or another.
Could you check that the folders for the effects in question are indeed still in your User/Movies/Motion Templates folder?
If they are, you could try moving them out, launching FCPX, quitting, and them moving them back in again.
Simon Ubsdell
http://www.tokyo-uk.com -
To my horror, I discovered that I seem to have not just one, but two Motion Templates folders in my User > Movies directory. This is what I get for following directions! 🙂 What to do now, Simon?
MOTION TEMPLATES 1
Alex4D 4 Up
Alex4D 4 Up.moef
Media
small.png
BG Custom Angle Wipes
BG Custom Angle Wipes.moef
Media
small.png
Compositions
Effects
Adjustable Frame V3
Adjustable Frame V3.moef
Media
Small.png
Generators
Split Screen Multi-Pack Revised
templateThemes
Titles
Transitions
Alex4D Dip to Background
Alex4D Dip to Background.motr
Media
small.pngMOTION TEMPLATES 2
Compositions
Effects
My FCPeffects
RT Drop Shadow
RT Vintage
Stylize
Generators
Split Screen
templateThemes
Titles
RT 3D Text
RT Split Screen
Transitions -
Many thanks, Don. My problem is that I’m using Motion 4.
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[John Mendelsohn] “To my horror, I discovered that I seem to have not just one, but two Motion Templates folders in my User > Movies directory.”
Ah, OK – I think I begin to see the problem 😉
In fact you have more than one problem. You need to do three things, firstly to consolidate all your template into the one folder, secondly to make sure you have put the right things into the right folders as you have unfortunately put things at the top level of the Motion Templates folder rather than into their respective folder which is where they need to live, and thirdly to get all the complete templates folder into their correct respective folders (Effects, Generators, Transitions).
Move folder Number Two out onto your Desktop and leaving Motion Templates folder 1 where it is (but rename it to remove the “1” if that’s what you’ve got).
Now you need to move the contents of MT folder 2 into the clean master MT folder.
Your biggest problem is that you’ve got folders and their contents scattered everywhere and this is going to be very hard to sort out without sitting in front of your computer.
When you downloaded a template you should have left the folder as it was – not opened it up and emptied the contents randomly around 😉
For example you should have a folder called Alex 4D 4Up that contains the .moef, the Media folder and the small png. And what is more this folder should be living inside your Effects folder (made automatically by FCPX) which is where all the Apple Effects live.
The way you can tell what’s what is by the suffix: a “.moef” is an Effect, a “.motr” is a transition, a “.motn” is a Generator. Each complete template folder must sit inside its related Effects, Generators or Transitions folder.
But you might be best off just removing everything and redownloading what you need and starting from scratch.
For a really clean install and a brilliant way to keep everything organized I thoroughly recommend that you get hold of Andreas Kiels’s Motion Template tool available from his spherico.com website.
I hope that helps a bit – the problem is that you’ve got yourself in quite a mess 😉
Simon Ubsdell
http://www.tokyo-uk.com -
“When you downloaded a template you should have left the folder as it was – not opened it up and emptied the contents randomly around ;-)” But I didn’t. chief! In every case, I scrupulously followed the accompanying instructions! I’ve been slandered here! 🙂
If I just delete the whole Motion Templates folder, do I correctly understand that FCPX will generate a new one? (I have downloaded the application you suggested, by the way.) Please be kind enough to remind me where all your own best plugins are.
And thanks very much for all your attention and help.
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OK, before you do something drastic we’ll both regret (!) would you mind posting a screengrab of your Motion Templates folder so I can see for sure that I’m recommending the right course of action.
Simon Ubsdell
http://www.tokyo-uk.com -
I’ve already done a bit of tidying, as you can see. 🙂 Wasn’t able to make heads or tails of the MTT application, I’m afraid.
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