Sapphire
Plug-ins For Final Cut Pro 5
http://www.genarts.com
Entire Package -
all 4 boxes
US $1699
Box 1 - Lighting Effects
US $599
Box 2 - Stylize Effects
US $599
Box 3 - Adjust, Blur, Compand Distort
US $599
Box 4 - Render, Time and Transitions
US $599
Review by Steve
Douglas
Sapphire plugs, previously available
to the Adobe AfterEffects and Avid community is now here for
the Final Cut Pro user as well. The entire package comes with
over 175 plug-ins separated into 4 'boxes' which can be purchased
separately or bought as a full bundle. They don't come cheap
but there is real quality in this package and you get all that
you hope to.
There are far too many FX to demonstrate
here but from perusing the lists of packages you can see that
there is most everything you will ever need to find in these
collections as well as many you may never need to use ... but
might someday. Once again, it is better to have and not need
than to need and not have.
There are several things to get excited about with the Sapphire
plug ins. The most important thing is that we are seeing real
quality here. Sapphire supports 16 bit resolution frequently
required of After Effects users. When applying any of the effects
an 'About' button is connected to an online explanation of each
of the parameters and options applicable to that particular effect.
This, I found to be most useful when facing a filter loaded with
more controls than I could imagine. Never the less, most of these
plug ins are fairly intuitive and easy to use. While there are
no tutorials on the GenArts website, they have just come out
with an excellent pdf file, totaling 92 pages with a thorough
review and how to use tips for 30 of the filters from an assortment
of their packages. The graphics were done in Adobe After Effects
but the information is just as easy to transfer over to Final
Cut Pro users. It is an excellent and free resource which should
be invaluable to the Sapphire user. I would hope that more of
these tutorial manuals will be forthcoming.
Installation was a simple procedure.
While I have not used all 175 filters in the complete set, each
filter that I tested worked just fine in Final Cut Pro 5 in a
2GHz DP G5. I have no doubts about the stability of working with
the Sapphire collection. At no time did I experience any crashes
or spinning wheels of death, no hang ups of any kind.
It will take some time before I
can settle on a total favorite but many struck my fancy. The
Auto Paint filter from the Stylize box gave me a fine array of
controls in type of style and paint stroke. I was able to transform
a bland looking Seahorse in to a real work of art.
 |
 |
| No filter
applied |
After
Applying Auto Paint filter from the Stylize Package |
The Stylize Etching filter gave me the
ability to work with this Frog Fish from Indonesia while maintaining
its identity. The options within the filters controls could have
you playing with it for hours but it was not difficult to focus
into the look I was seeking.
Etching Filter
From the Compositing package I found that I was able to tweak
each parameter to even the most infinitesimal of degrees. As
with a great many of the Sapphire filters, wells for matte and
background, and individual options accompanying each, frequently
supplant the necessity of doubling filters upon a clip to get
the look you need.
By adjusting the
opaqueness and alpha, the Sapphire
Layer filter enables a diverse number of layered possibilities
When working with objects or text with alpha channels Sapphire
provides tools you will need. Here a simple matte of a Hammerhead
shark is provided extra depth by the use of Sapphire's simple
but high quality Drop Shadow filter from the Lighting package.
Placed over a basic circular gradient the filter makes the shark
stand out. Also from the lighting package, the use of the Glint
Rainbow filter, place upon my text advert for an obscure editing
site (g) should bring him plenty of attention.
 |
 |
| DropShadow
filter on Alpha channeled matter |
Sapphire
RainbowGlint applied to Text |
The Sparkles Color filter was fun to play around with and offered
a great many options to adjust as did the Sapphire Cloud Cover
Smooth filter placed here over a matted Globe.
The Sapphire transitions do not work
and are not applied as one would normally come to expect. 'To
use a Sapphire Plug-in as a transition in FCP, stack the two
clips on two video tracks so they overlap. Then cut the top clip
at the point where the transition should start or stop, and apply
the effect to the top clip. For transition effects that can affect
both the foreground and background clips (such as Dissolve Vortex
or Dissolve Blur) also drag the bottom clip into the background
well. Adjust the Transition Direction parameter to make the transition
go in the desired direction. If you want the transition to occur
smoothly for the entire length of the top clip as cut, you can
select the Auto Trans option in the plug-in. Otherwise, just
keyframe the Wipe Percent or Dissolve Percent parameter as needed.
Many other Sapphire Plug-ins can also be used as transitions
when applied like this and not just the ones in the Sapphire
Transitions category. I did find this process to be somewhat
cumbersome and though it is caused by FCP's inability to support
After Effects plug-ins, it, never the less, interrupted the workflow,
albeit to a small degree.
There is a degree of repetition among
some of the Sapphire plug ins where the second might provide
only a minute difference between two of them, however, this is
not a cause for concern. The somewhat high cost might be. Never
the less, the purchaser of any or all of these sets of filters
will not find themselves with buyer's remorse. They are easy
to install, stable and intuitive to use, of very high quality
and , most important of all, get the job done.
All in all, one can't miss with any of
the Sapphire collections.
Steve Douglas, is an underwater videographer and contributor
to numerous film festivals around the world. A winner of the
1999 Pacific Coast Underwater Film Competition, 2003 IVIE competition,
2004 Los Angeles Underwater Photographic competition, and the
prestigious 2005 International Beneath the Sea Film Competition,
Steve has also worked on the feature film "The Deep Blue
Sea", contributed footage to the Seaworld parks for their
Atlantis production, and is one of the principal organizers of
the San Diego UnderSea Film Exhibition. Steve leads both underwater
filming expeditions and African safaris with upcoming filming
excursions to Kenya, Bali and the Red Sea. Feel free to contact
him if you are interested in joining Steve on any of these trips.
www.worldfilmsandtravel.com
copyright © Steve
Douglas 2005