Why FxFactory?

[Craig Seeman]

Just some this ‘n that comments on it.

You don’t need to buy FXFactory to buy the plugins that use their framework. You can download FXFactory for free to use the framework to purchase those plugins that use it so I’m not sure why the “bloat” is an issue.

It’s actually a very good plugin management system in which you temporarily disable plugins you’re not using.

One might consider it a sort of App Store for some plugins. It can help smaller companies with visibility, marketing, distribution.

Some companies who distribute through it also have plugins outside it. One example is idustrial Revolution’s free plugins they give away on Friday’s. Those aren’t available on the NoiseIndustries site.

CoreMelt was once part of the FXFacctory framework and went their own way.

[Oliver Peters]

One thing to be mindful of, is that you can install FxFactory for free or optionally purchase FxF Pro, which are the Noise Industries plug-ins. So you get the FxF application even if you only buy a $29 filter.

The advantage of FxF is that you get a one-stop application to control, purchase, download and install a variety of different plug-ins, from a wide range of different developers. I can also personally vouch for the fact that the developers at Noise Industries take the Mac OS programming environment quite seriously and avoid some of the under-the-hood hacks that other developers take from time to time. This means that they are on top of changes Apple makes that can break plug-ins and help to curate the work of the developers in the fold.

NI is also working on two fronts – FCP X and Premiere Pro. Therefore many of the plug-ins work in FCP 7, FCP X, Motion, AE and PPro. Interestingly enough, since the FxF Pro filters use Core Image, many of these filters also work with Pixelmator, if you have that installed.

– Oliver

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

[Gary Huff]

[Oliver Peters] “Interestingly enough, since the FxF Pro filters use Core Image, many of these filters also work with Pixelmator, if you have that installed.”

That’s good to know, thanks Oliver!

I have only used the freebies so far, but I’m trialing some plugins I’ve heard about, and I rather like the FxFactory setup. I think perhaps the “bloat” comes about if you don’t disable trials (you end up with quite a list in your NLE if you don’t), and the interface is a little sluggish in the app itself.

[Mark Dobson]

FxFactory provides the smaller plugin developers with a pretty easy and very professional marketing and distribution operation with the bonus of a very responsive in-house technical support.

I’ve mainly used it to have access to idustrial’s range of plugins and I’ve just got access to Hawaiki Autograde through the site. Ripple training have also used FxFactory to distribute some of their plugin collections such as Callouts.

However the downside for me is that several plugins are now supplied in a locked form, in other words it’s not possible to edit or customise any of the plugins in Motion.

I wanted to refine some of the elements within callouts and found that this is just not possible, not re-inventing the wheel, just wanting longer or shorter animation timings or the ability to replace a solid transition background with a transparent one. I exchanged emails with both Mark Spencer at Ripple training and FxFactory and this seems to be a new policy.

I also find the application, plugin manager pretty clunky, with a constant need to re-download a large programme and install new versions to reflect the addition of a new product, surely this could be done in a more elegant online way.

But moaning apart I’ve had great value from FxFactory and it’s been supporting FCPX from the start. And one of the many things I like about FCPX is the ability to buy interesting FX at reasonable prices and also import my home made efforts from Motion.

[Kevin Monahan]

[Oliver Peters] “NI is also working on two fronts – FCP X and Premiere Pro. Therefore many of the plug-ins work in FCP 7, FCP X, Motion, AE and PPro. “

It should be mentioned, the plug-ins are Mac only. So if you’re running PC versions of Adobe apps, the effects won’t be available. That said, I love FX Factory plug-ins, always have.

Kevin

Kevin Monahan
Social Support Lead
Adobe After Effects
Adobe Premiere Pro
Adobe Systems, Inc.
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[Craig Shields]

[Oliver Peters] “NI is also working on two fronts – FCP X and Premiere Pro. Therefore many of the plug-ins work in FCP 7, FCP X, Motion, AE and PPro”

But don’t you have to do some nasty work-around for the PP plugs? I hate that.

[Oliver Peters]

[Craig Shields] “But don’t you have to do some nasty work-around for the PP plugs? I hate that.”

What are you referring to? This has not been my experience. There are two caveats. Filters that are purely Motion templates doesn’t show up in PPro or AE. Filters that use an on-screen GUI work only via the sliders.

– Oliver

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

[Dave Gage]

[Oliver Peters] “Therefore many of the plug-ins work in FCP 7, FCP X, Motion, AE and PPro. Interestingly enough, since the FxF Pro filters use Core Image, many of these filters also work with Pixelmator, if you have that installed.”

Like Gary, I also think that’s very cool. Do you have any specific examples of plugins that you use with Pixelmator? Does this imply that something you create in Motion would also work in Pixelmator?

Thanks,
Dave

[Oliver Peters]

[Dave Gage] “Do you have any specific examples of plugins that you use with Pixelmator?”

See attached image for some examples. Pretty much each category has a number of their filters. All of the ones starting with NI. Admittedly I only play around with Pixelmator. I do most of that sort of work in Photoshop.

[Dave Gage] “Does this imply that something you create in Motion would also work in Pixelmator?”

Absolutely not. The FxF Pro filters are programmed using Core Image, which is different than a Motion template. It’s just a happy byproduct of how they were originally created. The original idea that NI had was that users could create their own plug-ins – or modify some of these – using Apple’s Quartz Composer, which is a node-based effects creation tool. As it turns out, very few users really wanted to do that. The ones that did, like Peter Wiggins and Roger Bolton, became plug-in developers. Ironically, that’s kind of what has happened with Motion templates and FCP X, though not using the same architecture.

– Oliver

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

[Gary Huff]

[Oliver Peters] “Admittedly I only play around with Pixelmator. I do most of that sort of work in Photoshop.”

I have done a single project with all the image work in Pixelmator. It works pretty well, and I hope it continues to mature.