Upping Your FCPX Game with Coremelt

 

Final Cut Pro X came out of the gates strong with a bold, new look and a price point that was unheard of in pro video. Unfortunately, the adoption of FCPX’s new interface and workflow was slow enough that the application was, at least in part, kicked to the curb as Adobe released a version of Premiere Pro that would have seemed like the obvious 64-bit next step for Final Cut. Final Cut Pro 7 users flocked in droves to Adobe’s offering and FCPX seemed to fall by the wayside.

Fortunately, that wasn’t really the case. Apple stayed the course and kept working on FCPX. They improved stability, camera support, and performance. Now, a couple of years in, FCPX is a killer NLE platform, and the lineup of third party plug-ins for it is growing all the time.

We’re taking a look at the Coremelt lineup of tools for FCPX.

Lock & Load X - Footage stabilizer

Lock & Load X is a footage stabilizer designed to make hand-held footage look like a professionally shot Steadicam clip. Powered by Imagineer System’s Academy Award winning mocha pro software, Lock & Load X doesn’t need any set tracking points. Simply analyze an entire shot and get a stabilized shot instantly. It will even work on shots with heavy rotation or poorly defined backgrounds.

Lock & Load X is faster than the built in solutions in FCP X / FCP 7 and Adobe Premiere Pro and it delivers superr results with less zooming and blurriness thanks to a feature they are calling SmartZoom. It can also reduce Rolling Shutter Artifacts from CMOS cameras including DSLR cameras such as the Canon 5D Mark III.

SliceX - mask tracking in FCPX

SliceX lets you create instant Shape Masks to cut out layers or isolate effects directly in Final Cut Pro X without having to go into Motion or create the masks with an external program. It is, in a nutshell, instant shape tracking powered by mocha's Academy Award winning planar tracking engine.

Just draw a shape and press track.

SliceX is bundled with eleven motion templates for frequent tasks and you can also use built in Shape Masks and effects. It can also be used with the built in color corrector or with third party plugins. The idea with SliceX is to remove pain points from tracking and following complex motion. It’s time to just draw a shape and hit track. You can then adjust with manual keyframes as needed.

DriveX - tracking 3D text, particles and graphics

DriveX, also Powered by Mocha, allows users to include tracked 3D text or particle effects which will react realistically to movement. You can add tracked smoke, fire, light trails, sparks or other effects. 3D text can be tracked to follow camera movement in the background with lighting and perspective changes to match the scene.

To get users started, DriveX includes Twenty motion templates. Those templates are:

Eight Title Templates: - Track 3D Arrow, Track 3D Highlighter, Track 3D Text, Track 3D Text Shadow, Track 3D Text Circle, Track 3D Text Metal, Track Light 3D Text, Track Text Pointer .
  
Twelve Effects Templates: - Track Comet, Track Flamethrower, Track Laser, Track Light Trail, Track Lit Match, Track Magic Orb, Track Smoke, Track Sparks Color, Track Steam, Track Volumetric Rays, Track Welding Sparks, Track Template.
  
Advanced users can modify any existing motion template to add tracking to a group, particle emitter, 3D text, light source or replicator.

TrackX - track text to footage

TrackX lets users easily track text and graphics over background movement to create cool effects, track a scene and insert a layer to do a simple screen replacement. Use the same technique to replace a sign or extend a set. CoreMelt TrackX uses the same mocha tracking engine as SliceX. This planar tracking engine can track many objects over a scene for quick, accurate results without having to go into another compositing program

Here are some of the functions of TrackX:

Simple Tracker: - instant tracking perfect for quick floating lower thirds or graphics following a person or object.
  
Track Layer: - advanced tracking with perspective shifts, surface mapping and masking capabilities.
  
Track Text: - includes a text generator that can track text with perspective and masking capabilities.
  
Track Flare, Track Flare Complex: - track a range of preset flares that include realistic movement options.
  
Track and LockDown: - a tool to track a moving presenter and lock his position to the centre of frame.

Each of these packages is available for $99, and Coremelt has great deals on bundles.

By Russel Fairley

Digital Video Expert