60+ Free Downloadable Effects, Transitions and Titles for Final Cut Pro X
All the free plugins I made up until August 2013.
All the effects I’ve made since August 2013 can be found at Alex4D.com
My top two old plugins:
Grow-Shrink – Effect that animates a change in scale for a clip. Will scale a clip up or down over the duration of a clip (including transitions if need be)
Sound Only – Cut only transition that crossfades audio between two clips choosing whether the video cuts before, during or after the crossfade
Tip for older versions of Final Cut Pro: Why does my viewer turn blue when I use your new plugin? – Tip for those using to use newer plugins on versions of Final Cut Pro X older than 10.0.6
If you find my content useful, please consider donating as a sign of your appreciation. Thank you. I’d love to hear how you are using my plugins – links to your work would be great.
Check out my Alex4D Animation Transitions plugin pack – instant animation using transitions:
I also have a pack of essential effects for 360° video editing in Final Cut Pro X: Alex4D 360° Effects:
Effects – Stylize Plugins
Aged Film – More controls and ‘Bad TV’-style rolling
Bad TV – More controls than the Final Cut Pro X version
Blurs – Six blurs and one sharpen effect:
Channel Blur – Blur combinations of red, blue, green and alpha channels
Circle Blur – Blur a circular area
Compound Blur – This blurs the clip based on values from another clip
Defocus – Simulates the way clips go out of focus when using a physical camera
Gradient Blur – Applies a blur gradually between two points
Soft Focus – Overlays the clip on top of a blurred copy: a ‘fogged lens’ effect
Unsharp Mask – More controls than standard sharpen effect
CMYK Halftone – simulate close up of magazine or newspaper print
Colour effects – 11 colour control effects
Brightness – Change overall brightness
Channel Mixer – Combines colour values from red, gree, blue and alpha channels
Color Balance – Colour wheels for shadows, midtones and highlights
Color Reduce – Choose two, three or four colours to keep – with option to chang them
Contrast – Advanced contrast control
Gamma – Precise brightness and brightness range control
Gradient Colorize – Choose a channel to map a range of colours onto
Levels – Map the darkest and brightest channel values to black and white
OpenEXR Tone Map – Apply tone maps to OpenEXR encoded content
YIQ Adjust – Adjust values in the YIQ colour space
YUV Adjust – Adjust values in the YUV colour space
Distorts – Four distort effects
Black Hole – Sucks clip into a single point
Bulge – Pushes a clip out from or into a single point
Circular Zigzag – A ripple distortion
Twirl – Twists clips
Extrude – Simulated 3D thickness
Light Rays – shine light from behind the clip
Opacity Gradient – Add areas of colour that fade over clips
Random Tile – replace clip with multiple copies of a selected part of the source
Scale Mosaic – Pixellate with control over scale of elements used in each pixel
Sparks – Adds animated stars and spark particles
Tile – Offset clips, scale, rotate, distort and skew tiles
Effects – Animation Plugins
Curves – Adds Final Cut Pro 7-style animation curve controls
Curve X – Controls X position
Curve Y – Controls Y position
Curve Rotation – Rotate around a point of your choice
Curve Scale – Scale aroud a point of your choice
Curve Trim H – Crop the left or right edge of a clip
Curve Trim V – Crop the top or bottom edge of a clip
Grow-Shrink – Animates a change in scale for a clip
Rotate XYZ – Rotates clips in three dimensions
Rotate + Extrude – Rotates clips in three dimensions and adds simulated 3D thickness
Smooth Move – Defines a start and finish position, scale and rotation for clip content with controls for how the clip moves from start to finish
Effects – Compositing Plugins
4 Up – Display four clips on the same screen, or switch between them
Adjustment Layer – Any effects or transformations you apply to this title will be applied to all timeline clips below
Fade In Out – Fades a clip in and out
Letterbox – Add black bars to show many aspect ratios, portrait was well as landscape – Oct 2012
Luma Include – Choose which parts of clips are transparent based on brightness values
Magic Lantern HDR – Composition controls for resolving HDR clips generated by Magic Lantern on Canon SLRs – Dec 2012 – New effect for 10.0.6 and newer
Mask+ – Define 4, 8 or 16 points of a mask with animation control over scale, rotate and perspective distortion
Time Remap – More control over clip retiming with Final Cut Pro 7-style editable retiming graph – New version for 10.0.6 and newer – March 2013
Shadow – Adds external or internal shadows
Trim – With differing values for feathering for each edge
Widescreen Matte – Add black bars to show many aspect ratios, portrait was well as landscape
Generator Plugins
Shape Grid – draw a grid of circles or squares with animating colours
Title Plugins
Basic – Keyframable – A title with many parameters you can animate using keyframes
Interface 2037 – A title effect that simulates computer interface from ‘Alien’ movie
Leaves – letters blow onto and off screen
Text Box – Choose two points to define corners of a text box, fill and blur the box
Ticker+ – Title for horizontally scrolling news feeds
Zoom Four – Zooms between a series of four texts
Transition Plugins
Concentric – Draws the incoming clip as a series of concentric shapes
Cross Dissolve start and end on edit – For those missing the Final Cut Pro 7 option of transitions that start or finish at the edit point
Dip to Background – A transition that shows a colour, another clip or transparency between two clips
Freeze – Freezes the outgoing or incoming clip
Inset – shutters close in on outgoing clips and open showing incoming clips
Premonition – A transition that intercuts frames from the incoming clip with frames from the outgoing clip
Ribbon – Splits the outgoing clip into two parts and stretches the pixels in between into a horizontal ribbon – new in February 2013
Sound Only – Crossfade audio transition between two clips choosing whether the video cuts before, during or after the crossfade
Final Cut Pro X Tips and Tutorials
Motion 5 & Final Cut Pro X: 53 built-in fonts
If you want to make sure a font used in a Final Cut Pro X or Motion project is available on other people’s system.
Making edit points ‘non-crossfadable’
How to modify an edit point so that when a video transition is applied, there is no audio crossfade.
Apple support documents and links for Final Cut Pro X and Motion 5
Final Cut Pro X Articles
Tip: Create timelines at any resolution and frame rate
Tip: Modify all instances of clip everywhere at once
Tip: Modifying the default title and lower-third templates in v10.0.3
Secret Final Cut Pro X 1: Media and subtypes
Secret Final Cut Pro X 2: Some of Motion inside
Secret Final Cut Pro X 3: XML & multi-user editing
Secret Final Cut Pro X 4: Windows, Tools & Audio
Secret Final Cut Pro X 5: Debug mode text
Notes from Apple’s July 6th 2011 London Pro briefing
10.0.6 Title editing improvements
10.0.6 – new commands
10.0.6 update – 42 New effects, transitions, generators and titles
Motion 5 Articles
Tip: Using any Motion 4 project preset in Motion 5
Tip: Access to FCP X built-in templates
Tip: Description of undos in Final Cut Pro X effect templates
Tip: Rigging Motion 5 Effects: Accurate Slider Snapshot Positions
Hi Alex: I’ve loved your plug-ins for FCP 6. I hope you can make them all work in X. Question: I’m not seeing how to download your FCP X Effects.
Each effect page has detailed installation instructions.
hi alex the plugin alex4d hdr doenst want to work in my final cut pro x 10.0.3 can you help me with that
Wonderful things you make. Is there a white font with a black lining around like on TV to use in Alex4D Text Box?
Thank You!
You are awesome – Just saying 😉
Absolutely phenomenal work on these plugins Alex! I look forward to using many of them soon!
Thank you!
do you know a way to do a confetti type transition-where the picture breaks up into pieces while wiping to another picture? I have fcpX and motion.
Amazing work, thanks.
Hi, thanks for sharing this! I’m having a problem dealing with still pictures: when I zoom in a portrait picture (by the Curves or Smooth Move), it does not fill the entire screen. The black edges are still there. Is there something I can do to fix it? Am I doing something wrong? Thank you, again.
Any way you could make a Strobe Effect? This was in FCP7 but like many other things is left out of FCPX
Dude this is a GREAT site. Wow! You just helped make my transition to X so much better. Still waiting for something to replace twixtor or twixtor itself to come to X. The built in optical flow sucks compared to twixtor.
thanks man! you are great. i really dig the effort and support. all the best for you, tom
Thank you very much for sharing all this awesome effects and filters! This is great! All the best and best wishes from Germany! Anja
Pingback: Demystifying Color Grading with FCP X « digitalfilms
HI Does anyone know how to download the Final cut x effects? I dnot seem to be able to find a download button anywhere!
Hey I just wanted to tell you that as a news photojournalist and editor for over 18 years who was just pushed out the door because they are making all of the new reporters shoot and edit their own material, I am not starting my own business and I wanted to tell you that I love the stuff you have created and I ASSURE you that as soon as my first two clients pay their invoices, you will be getting a paypal donation from me – not sure that it will be an amount that will blow you over, but I promise that over the next year you will hear from me. Thanks for what you do. Amazing stuff.
Hi Alex,
Thanks a lot for these powerful plug-ins ! Awesome that you share it for free donation ! (done)
Also the installation instructions are clear and easy to follow (this was my first installation of third plug-ins: I didn’t know that it could be so easy).
I’ve just installed the blurs pack: exactly what I needed for my tilt shift effects.
I’m looking forward to use some other packs.
Great job !
Marco
A treasure trove of FCP delights.
James Wood
DSLR Video Studio
https://twitter.com/dslrvideostudio
In FCPX can I add a picture on top of a photo
Or art work on a wall in a scene that’s moving?
I want to change it to my own picture in a movie scene that is moving.
Final Cut Pro cannot do this for you automatically.
In general, you’d do this by keyframing Distort Tool values.
Distort: http://help.apple.com/finalcutpro/mac/10.0.6/#verfc8a4a9d
Keyframe: http://help.apple.com/finalcutpro/mac/10.0.6/#verfc8a4bdc – expand the ‘Animate built-in effects’ section.
This method can work if nothing in the footage moves in front of the area you want to add your photo to.
Alternatively, you could use motion graphics apps such as Adobe After Effects or Apple Motion, but unless your job is going to be compositing and animation for at least 15% of the time, you might find they are not worth learning.
Thanks so much for all of these great plug-ins (especially the masks!) as well as tips. I’m a big fan of FCPX and glad to make it an even greater experience
It is the first time I install pluggins in Final Cut Pro and the truth is that it was a pleasant surprise to find such a good job. congratulations
Hello Alex,
It was only today that I found your contribution to the world of editors and you are doing a beautiful work. Many thanks!
I have a question. I am using your title-tool “text with background” and it looks great when I just add it to the project. However if I add a transition in the beginning just to “smoothen the way the title enters in the picture”
there is a strange jump in the title after approximately half a second or so. At the same time something happens with the background.
As I am new to FCP X I may be doing something wrong with your title-tool. How should I approach this issue?
Greetings from a chilly Stockholm,
Henrik
You need a Flattr-Button, so we can donate that way!
I’ll check it out and see if it’s right for me.
Thanks for the tip!
hi how can burn my videos hd in final cut pro x my videos come out blurry in the tv not on my computer can any body help me with the settings
It’s great that you have posted these plug-ins. I haven’t learned Motion yet, so it’s nice to have a few to start with.
I tried to use the “Text Box” plug-in the other day to add some titles over a video I’m working on in FCPX. And it looked great on the preview screen. But then when I output the file, the text (but not the box) ended up off screen to the right. In the Effect, it was centered and the position was lined up over the box. Any idea why it would render differently when it was output?
I had to use two layers instead to get it to look right (a solid and a title), but I’d like to figure out how to use your plug-in for convenience, and because it has the nice drop shadow built in.
Anyone who can suggest a good White Balance plugin for FCPX?
WOW. Alex, my sincerest thanks for making your brilliant tools, tips, and tutorials available to us! I’m glad to donate what I can; I wish I could donate an amount sufficient to reflect my gratitude and appreciation.
Best to you and yours~
Dubh David Black
Thanks!!!
Hello Alex
Love your plugins – some of the most useful out there
I’m having a problem with Text Box not translating between machines on the same project. Both machines have the same version of Text Box but I get FX Offline or similar. There is no way to refresh it either. Have you seen this?
Thanks
Rick
Thanks so much man I appreciate it
Many thanks, Alex! I’ve used several of your plugins, in both FCP7 and FCPX. I really appreciate your many contributions to the FCP community.
I’ve downloaded and applied your “Cross Dissolve end on edit” and “Cross Dissolve start on edit”. Neither does what its name would imply; they both behave like the built-in “Cross Dissolve” Transition, centering themselves on the edit point.
Perhaps I’m not using them correctly. What’s the proper way to get “Cross Dissolve end on edit” to end on the edit point?
Thanks,
FastBill
iMac 27″ Late 2012
FCPX 10.0.8
Sadly these transitions can only simulate dissolves that start or end on the edit. Even though the transition is shown on the timeline as being centred on the edit the dissolve only happens before or after the edit. A simple change to the original Apple-supplied default dissolve transition.
I created these as a workaround for Final Cut Pro in the initial weeks after the update to version 10.0.0. Perhaps Apple will reimplement the feature in a future version of Final Cut.
Ooh, how I miss the old Alex4D scrolling credits. Any hope you’ll make it available for FCPX? A million thanks for all the terrific work you do.
Thank you!
Scrolling Credits Pro was going to be my first paid plug-in for Final Cut Pro X, but I never got around to it. I haven’t taken the time to learn Quartz Composer well enough to make it work.
In practice I suggest you try
http://www.sugarfx.tv/info/rollingcredits_SUGARfx.html
The examples are very flashy, but it can also do the more sober closing credits that my Final Cut Pro 7 plug-in can do. It is almost as if they looked at my work at took it much further to work in other NLEs – including Final Cut Pro X.
Hi, Alex. Great work! I film a lot of tennis matches and was wondering if you had a fix for the fisheye that my GoPro gives me. I want to get rid of that curve in the baseline if possible. Thanks!
Hi Alex,
Just wanted to say that your Cross Dissolves on start & end of edit have become part of my standard repertoire, so much so that they were the first effects I added to my new editing machine – they, and you, have saved my so much time!
Thank you for all you give to us editors, and the donation I made earlier today is a small recompense for what you give us!
Thank you, you were very generous!
@Alex4D
Thanks so much Alex! This is awesome! I’ve downloaded all of these and I’m excited to start using them.
Just curious, I’m trying to find a plug in that will allow me to manipulate and create 3d text, I am using it for an intro and i need the text to drop like rocks individually , can you help me?
Alex- thanks for the great plugins…just my 2 cents but I think you would be better served if the most recent post was at the top. My first impression was that your site was inactive for two years which of course is not true,
Alex, I don’t suppose you have a transparent gradient plugin for FCP 6.0.6 would you?
Yes:
https://alex4d.wordpress.com/2009/08/12/fcp-plugin-grads-transparency/
More Final Cut Pro 6 and 7 plugins at https://alex4d.wordpress.com/finalcut/
Alex,
Excellent. Nice job. Thanks. Stu
Alex,
Really enjoy and appreciate you sharing these great tools. A while back you did a webinar where you showed a specific Distortion > Bulge effect for correcting the barrel distortion common in GoPro footage. Do you have any plans for publishing that one?
I probably will in the next month or so…
There’s a ‘Free Effect Friday’ every week!
Thanks Alex, Looking forward to that one!
I have downloaded almost every plugin, but im having problems with my fcpx program, beacuse even though the effects appear in my options when I apply any of them to any of my clips the clip turns completly blue.
That’s a sign that your version of Final Cut Pro X is too old for the more recent effects I’ve made available here.
If possible, use the Mac App Store to get a free update from Apple.
If you can’t, follow the tip at https://blog.alex4d.com/2012/12/04/blue-screenis-your-fcpx-new-enough/
Hi Alex, I placed the trim plugin files (after download) in Motion template effects folder, I see them in FCPX but nothing happens when I apply these on a clip or picture. I have the latest update for FCPX 10.0.09 and also Motion … what possibly could be wrong? Thank you so much for your comment.
Sheila
I recently downloaded and installed your Circle Tunnel generator and in return Final Cut Pro X is unresponsive and will not work and quits immediately and booting up…. FCPX was working fine until I downloaded your plugin…. I also deleted the plug in trashed it under secured empty trash but still FCPX will not open…. Any word of advise?
No. I haven’t heard of this happening with any of my plugins.
First try the tips in Apple’s Final Cut Pro X Troubleshooting support document: http://support.apple.com/kb/TS3893
My plugins are files made in Apple Motion. Final Cut Pro X has a copy of Motion built into it that plays back the file when it appears in a Final Cut Project. As I’ve never had this kind of problem while developing or using my plugins, I haven’t been in a position to solve this kind of problem, so my suggestion here is based on what I know of how Final Cut Pro X works.
To try and get Final Cut Pro X to start up without crashing, test to see if any of your projects or events has become corrupted – the following is a more detailed version of suggestion 7 from Apple’s support document.
Disconnect any external drives. Create new folders in the Movies folder. One called ‘Final Cut Projects – disabled’ and ‘Final Cut Events – disabled’ and move all you projects and events to the ‘disabled’ folders. Then see if Final Cut will start up and not immediately quit.
If it still doesn’t start (even when there are no events or projects for it to load), perhaps Final Cut Pro X has been damaged. Trash it and then use the Mac App Store to download a fresh copy. If you’ve deleted my plugin, Final Cut Pro has no reason to open the file any more, and if Final Cut does’t open it, the file can’t do anything to your freshly downloaded copy of Final Cut.
But if Final Cut doesn’t quit when there are no projects or events to load, then perhaps one of the projects or events that it was loading before is causing the crashing.
Now that Final Cut starts up again, first move an event from the ‘Final Cut Events – disabled’ folder back to ‘Final Cut Events’ and try starting Final Cut again. If it does start up, then it is unlikely that event is corrupted. To make sure, create a new project and add an item from that single event. Quit and restart Final Cut. If it does’t automatically quit, it is more unlikely that the first event is corrupted. Quit and move a second event back to the Final Cut Events folder and repeat. Once all events seem OK, see if any of the projects are damaged in the same way. Move them one by one back into the Final Cut Projects folder and restart Final Cut.
If you do find that an event or project is corrupted and that having it available to Final Cut when it opens causes Final Cut to crash, then open the event or project folder in the Finder and move the ‘CurrentVersion.fcpevent’ (or ‘CurrentVersion.fcpproject’) file out of the event folder. Open the event’s ‘Backups’ folder and duplicate the newest .fcpevent (or .fcpproject) file in there. Move that up one level out of the Backups subfolder and into the event (or project) folder and rename it ‘CurrentVersion.fcpevent’ or ‘CurrentVersion.fcpproject’ If you are lucky, the older backup version of the event or project won’t be damaged in such a way that causes Final Cut to crash when opening.
I’m sorry I can’t be more help. I hope you can get up and running quickly.
Hi Alex,
I am looking for an effect like an explosion in which you can store pict, text, or a movie. (reveals after explosion or something like that) I mean a dynamic opening of a text or graphic or the beginning of a movie, but very short. (eg 15-24 frames) I only found plugins like this but to long. Of course the content in it has to be longer. Just opening en closing very short. Like advertising or something. Do you have such one? Or wiling to make it?
Thanks!
Would love to try and download Scoopy Doo and/or Wave transition plugin, but I’m not sure if that is possible?
I might make a Final Cut Pro X version for download as a plugin soon.
Thanks!!!
Alex, I’m looking for a better vignette plugin than the one that comes with FCP X. One where I can control aspect ratio of the vignette (and maybe even the color of the vignette). Are you aware of anything like this? Is this something you might consider doing one day? Chris
p.s. Thanks for all the plugins you have made so far. They are a lifesaver.
i downloaded the bad tv effect , but when i share the final file and the render is done… its not showing the ROLL movement in the final product .
Thank you so much, this is a fantastic job man!
Ive Added Alot Of These Plugins On To My Final Cut But For Some Reason Now My Final Cut Keeps Closing On Me. Please Help Email:Nick.bromfield1@gmail.com
I haven’t heard of any of my plugins causing crashes (if that’s what you mean by ‘closing on you’).
I suggest you remove all of them and see if Final Cut keeps crashing. If not, add one and use the application for a while. If it doesn’t crash, add another until you find the one that causes the problem for you.
Alex
Hey Alex,
absolutely love what your doing.
I want to get into this field of software. What did you learn prior to making these plug ins.
How do you expand zip files?
Hi there. I just read your post about FCpro-Plugins that work with iMovie 2013 – that’s terrific!! But I can’t find any exact instructions how to do that. I found the ‘folder’ in the iMovie-Application that contains the titles (which I am more interested to change). I can open the Titles in Motion5, they work! But as soon as I do some changes and save the title-template again, it’s over for me. Can you give us iMovie users some info on that issue? Thanx in advance! – Chris, Germany –
Hey Alex. Thanks for the plug ins. The one I needed was your wide angle correction one, which seems to do the trick, but I can’t seem to change the angle. I can select the options but there is no slider for custom angle. Any help is much appreciated!
Alex, great work man thanks. I’m using your 4 8 and 16 point mask plugin to do something on an image that’s wider than normal, and each of the masks cut the picture off on both sides. is there a way to fix this? thanks again!
Try opening the image in its own timeline and applying the mask there. Control-click the image in the browser and choose Open in Timeline from the context menu.
THANK YOU SO MUCH FOR YOUR GENEROSITY!!!
I’ve just stumbled across your site and it has MADE MY DAY! I was searching around for a solution to allowing me to letterbox my movie to widescreen after rotating the clip (wanted to retain the black bars rather than simply change the sizing of the actual clip as I put text over the black at a couple of points during the film). Your free plugin solved it and now I’m going through the rest of your sight getting lots of inspiration. Thanks for putting this blog together – really appreciate the effort you’ve gone to in providing this :0)
Hi Alex. Thanks for all the plug ins here! May i ask if there is a easy way to make out of the circle shape in the circle blur an editable square shape? Cheers Michael
Hey this is a great website, however I’m dealing with a problem. I can’t seem to open my mtt file. Whenever i try to open it the program saids “Can’t be opened, choose an application or go to appstore”
Download the free app called Motion Template Tool to open .mtt files.
Greetings: Just recently started realizing the potential of Adjustment Layers in FCPX. One question … say I make 2 Adjustment Layers, each with a different look, and place one on the first half of a clip and the second on the second half. Is there a way to Dissolve between the two?
Have you created a denoiser?
Sadly, no.
Hi Alex: I’m so bored with all the final cut pro x plug ins. I also am not sure where to find and download your free ones! Help. Thanks! I went to your website but couldn’t find the free ones or info on how to download. Thanks
Thank you for made good plugin. Alex Are you sale FCPX plugin on app store? I want to use for commercial.
You can use my free plugins on commercial projects for free. I have a pack of paid plugins available via FxFactory. Find out more at http://alex4d.com/animationtransitions