Free Final Cut plugin: Inside-Outside Matte
This Matte filter gives you much more control over feathering. You set up two shapes – one is the inside of the matte, the other being the outside of the matte.
Here is the filter in Wireframe mode, where you can see the two shapes:
If you switch to Preview mode, you can see how the blend between the inside and outside shapes effects the matte:
If you change to Final mode, increase the value for Steps in the Smoothness section, and overlay on top of a desaturated, darkened copy of the clip, you get this:
Here are the controls:
You can enable and disable points on the matte:
If you enable less than three points, all eight points become temporarily enabled.
You can also only use the outside shape to form the matte:
In this mode you can choose a feathering value to apply to the outside shape:
To use these plugins, download the ZIP document, copy the ‘Alex4D IO Matte.fcfcc’ file to
Your Startup HD/Library/Application Support/Final Cut Pro System Support/Plugins
(Your Startup HD/Users/your name/Library/Application Support/Final Cut Express Support/Plugins for Final Cut Express users)
The filter appears in the ‘Matte’ filter category.
alex4D old blog 
Thanks so much for sharing these with us, Alex. You’re giving FCP the functionality it should have had in the first place.
Thank you so very much for all your hard work developing these plug-ins. With such an expanded library, would there be anyway to organize your filters under a single folder, ie… Alex4D filters? Thanks again!
I know that’s what some other plugin makers do, however, when I’m looking for for a filter or transition, I look in the category first. If I want to create a Matte, I look in the Matte section. This makes it easier for those who are using a system that someone else has set up. They’re more likely to find my plugins if they are in the appropriate folders or submenus.
If I’ve added features to an existing transition or plugin, I like to use the same name with ‘Alex4D’ afterwards. That makes my improved version appear next to the standard version. If I’ve come up with something new, I start the name of the plugin with ‘Alex4D’
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Very helpful, thanks!
Hey, is that Y-Love?
Yes, Suzanne Cohen interviewed him a while ago – I was the camera operator.
Also– along the lines of the previous post–
Can I rename the plugin, inside the plugins folder, or will that confuse FCP? Alternatively, can I make a new folders in the plugins folder, and organize your and others’ plugins that way, without having to rename them?
thanks!
Sadly no, the name and category of Final Cut Pro plug-ins up until version 7 is baked in when developers make them.