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Roto-matte for FCP (Avid animatte)
I am looking for a FCP plugin that will allow me to create mattes using a pen tool as apposed to creating a garbage mask and deciding individually where each point should be.
Essentially what i am looking for is the equivalent of Avid’s animatte tool.
I would like to be able to draw a shape and have the plugin decide where the anchor points should be and ideally the plugin would allow me to manipulate the bezier curve between points.
I have tried many of the free plugin scripts. specifcly Paul crisp’s 32 and 64 point garbahge masks and also CHV’s Beziermattepro. All have some nice additional features but not really what I am looking for.
any suggestions?
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7 Replies
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Send to Motion is your friend.
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Ideally we would like to be able to not leave FCP. But I suppose sending to motion is really one of the only options right?
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Only option? Yeah, pretty much. It’s pretty effortless though. Right click, send the clip to motion, draw masks to your hearts content, ‘save’ and see it updated in your FCP timeline.
Best,
Jeff G
Apple Master Trainer
Avid Cert. Instructor DS/MC
Avid & Color Videos Vasst.com
Compressor Essentials Lynda.com -
“Ideally we would like to be able to not leave FCP. But I suppose sending to motion is really one of the only options right?”
I guess I don’t understand why the hesitancy to use all the tools available???
FCP is an editing program. What you want to do is a perfect task for Motion, which is a motion graphics program. Motion can do this, and a lot more.
You mentioned a plugin for a 64 point matte. With Motion, you can make mattes with hundreds of points if that is what you need. Don’t be one of the hundreds of people out there paying for needless FCP plugins, because you don’t want to learn an ap you already own. Having a good tablet will make doing this a piece of cake. If you don’t that is a better place to spend your money instead of plugins.Scott Sheriff
Director
https://www.sstdigitalmedia.comI have a system, it has stuff in it, and stuff hooked to it. I have a camera, it can record stuff. I read the manuals, and know how to use this stuff and lots of other stuff too.
You should be suitably impressed… -
Scott – I’ll give you my call on that – it’s an observation.
It’s something different. It’s not what someone is used to. The foreign environment feels like it will slow them down.
Of course, I teach quite a bit, so I see this sort of reaction from people.
Best,
Jeff G
Apple Master Trainer
Avid Cert. Instructor DS/MC
Avid & Color Videos Vasst.com
Compressor Essentials Lynda.com -
Jeff
“It’s something different. It’s not what someone is used to. The foreign environment feels like it will slow them down.”Your probably right. That is too bad though. It’s hard to learn if you don’t step out of the ‘comfort zone’. Folks that edit with FCP and don’t get into Motion are just missing out on a great tool that they have bought and paid for.
Scott Sheriff
Director
https://www.sstdigitalmedia.comI have a system, it has stuff in it, and stuff hooked to it. I have a camera, it can record stuff. I read the manuals, and know how to use this stuff and lots of other stuff too.
You should be suitably impressed… -
Thanks for all the responses guys.
Just so you guys know where I am coming from here is the situation.
We are a post house with both Avid and FInal Cut Systems. A lot of the times editors will have the option of choosing which system they are comfortable working with based on the job they are doing. More often we have been using Final Cut over Avid, simply because our Final Cut systems are running the latest software While we still run an older Avid version.
One of are editors who primarily works in Avid but is also able to work in Final Cut (just not as fast) is forced to use Final Cut because it makes the most sense for the workflow. (camera type, file formats, etc… I am not going to get into the details)
This Editor feels he would be able to speed things up and also be a little more comfortable if he had similar matte tools to Avid on his FCP system. I agree it makes sense to just send to motion but the way we handle our workflow; comps and motion effects are generally handled by assistants in third party software such as Motion but mainly After Effects.
Since we are offline for the editor to make a quick change to a comp or motion effect by using the native matte or masking tools makes a lot of sense and helps things move quickly.
When it has to go to a separate program it is usually the case that someone else will handle the change while the editor continues to work with the client.
Since all these comps and motion effects will essentially be redone during the online (most likely in the flame) I think it makes sense to have more masking options natively in Final Cut.Thanks for all the suggestions though. I think we need experiment with motion a little bit more.
If any one has any more suggestions though I am still open to them.
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