Applying effects FCPX or PPro + AE

[Brett Sherman]

There’s no reason FCP X can’t do what you are talking about. Look at this free plug-in from Alex4D to do much of what you want:

https://www.alex4d.com/10-alex4d-inside-outside-effect

The built-in color correction also let’s you set areas to color correct differently, just not blurring. For stabilizing, you can use the built-in stabilizer which is good, or Core Melts Lock ‘N Load which saves analysis time since it only calculates stabilization based on the used material in the timeline.

[Oliver Peters]

[martin dugard] “Do think all think can be done just fine in Final Cut X or do you think that Premiere + After Effects will be stronger?”

You can do what you want with either, so it depends on which application best fits your style and comfort level. Premiere/AE have great stabilizers, but sometimes they add their own anomalies. For example, I’ve used the Adobe stabilizer on handheld close-ups of a person. The talent was very smooth, but if you looked at the walls in the background, they picked up some wonky skewing.

FCP X also has built-in stabilization that works well. However, it’s best to augment X with the Lock & Load plug-in from Coremelt. The reason is that L&L is faster and only works on the portion of the clip that’s in the timeline. The built-in one analyzes the whole length of the source clip.

Regarding blurring and darkening, that sounds like you’ll need plug-ins – possibly in both. Some of this can be done with color correction, but if you need something very specific, like tilt-and-shift or “witness protection” blurring, then there are plug-ins that are designed for this. FxFactory, CoreMelt and Boris is a good place to start for plug-in options that work with both apps. Some require specific versions for FCP X or Adobe, but other will work for both with a single plug-in.

– Oliver

Oliver Peters Post Production Services, LLC
Orlando, FL
http://www.oliverpeters.com

[Martin Dugard]

Thank you very much. So I understand that the combinaison of PPro + Ae is not per se stronger than FCP.

I looked at the AE demo about masks (https://helpx.adobe.com/after-effects/how-to/create-mask-for-premiere.html) and was so impressed that I thought that may be AE was stronger than FCP

[Oliver Peters]

[martin dugard] “I looked at the AE demo about masks”

The difference is that to do this specific task in FCP X requires a third-party plug-in, whereas the function is built into the most current version of Premiere Pro CC.

– Oliver

Oliver Peters Post Production Services, LLC
Orlando, FL
http://www.oliverpeters.com

[Noah Kadner]

If you’re brand new I’d think you’d find the AFX learning curve to be significantly steeper than FCPX to accomplish the same task. But yes, knowing both apps- either is more than capable of achieving what you’re after.

Noah

FCPWORKS – FCPX Workflow
Call Box Training

[Herb Sevush]

[martin dugard] “Do think all think can be done just fine in Final Cut X or do you think that Premiere + After Effects will be stronger?”

You don’t need AE, this can be done totally within Ppro, as well as FCPX. Both have stabilizer’s built in, both have blurs and color correction built in. If you a newbie, then AE is not for you.

Herb Sevush
Zebra Productions
—————————
nothin’ attached to nothin’
“Deciding the spine is the process of editing” F. Bieberkopf

[Herb Sevush]

[Oliver Peters] “, I’ve used the Adobe stabilizer on handheld close-ups of a person. The talent was very smooth, but if you looked at the walls in the background, they picked up some wonky skewing.”

This can happen with many stabilizers. Lock and Load has a nice feature where you can specify just a part of a frame, like a background window, and stabilize that so foreground movement won’t create that “jello” look, although I will say in general I much prefer the ProDad Mercalli stabilizer for most shots to Lock and Load.

Herb Sevush
Zebra Productions
—————————
nothin’ attached to nothin’
“Deciding the spine is the process of editing” F. Bieberkopf

[Kevin Rag]

Hey Martin,
You should also consider another thing. FCP X costs $299, one time payment. You own the software. Premiere Pro CC is a monthly/yearly subscription, you rent the software.
I have both FCP X and PrPro CC and am happy with both:)

Kannan Raghavan
The Big Toad Films Pte. Ltd.

[David Mathis]

Something else I love about FCP X, is the ability to publish a custom title, transition, generator or effect out of Motion. You can also make an adjustment layer in Motion as well. Takes less than 30 seconds to do. A big time saver. I love X, it is just too fun to use. 🙂

[Dennis Radeke]

[Oliver Peters] “Premiere/AE have great stabilizers, but sometimes they add their own anomalies. For example, I’ve used the Adobe stabilizer on handheld close-ups of a person. The talent was very smooth, but if you looked at the walls in the background, they picked up some wonky skewing.”

This is usually due to cameras with CMOS sensors. You can also target a portion of the image to stabilize by deleting track points on the effect.