With the release of a new collection of plugins known as Hi-Tech, Luca Visual FX becomes the leading plugin developer to offer totally customisable mographs for FCPX. Being this a collection of over 30 FCP X effects templates, post professionals can completely customize mograph elements for a variety of projects ranging from music videos, promos, documentaries, corporate videos and a lot more. Within this collection, users have display screens, fractals, lower thirds and sci-fi based elements. From the promo below, you can witness the depth of intricate and expansive Hi-Tech is.
I had a chance to try out these awesome templates and was immediately impressed with all the options available for manipulations. One element that caught my eye was the fractals. These geometric, colorful patterns animate to simulate light and color effects that have been seen in various sci-fi shows and movies. Color Blast is a fun effect to experiment with. Lots of options under the hood and endless possibilities through experimenting with the built in parameters and blend modes, use the latter and the blur parameters to create even light leaks, flares and light streaks effects. I used it on a clip of a dancer in its default state as well as customized the settings.
Another effect that stood out to me was the Hi-Tech Vignette. The parameters and capabilities of this effect is something I can see myself using a lot on my work. I gave it a go myself and came to this result.
Creating holograms for a project can be tedious if you have to do them from scratch. The hologram effects with Hi-Tech are a welcome relief from creating them from scratch and the flexibility they offer are incredible. The default settings alone are eye catching but having the option to use drop wells to place your own clips or rendered models makes it no brainer effect. I tried out both the Holographic objects and Hologram on the left effects. When I saw the objects effect in the promo, I immediately had to try it out for myself. The effect reminds of the Star Wars and Iron Man films where you had rotating 3D object being projected with a nice and subtle glow. I tried these holograms myself on two separate clips. For the objects effect, I tried it on a clip of a woman looking up wearing sunglasses. The default spinning wireframe is cool but I felt it didn’t fit for this particular clip. I tried the other model options and arrived at the atoms animation.
I tried the holographic screen on the left with an athlete training. I want to give the appearance that athlete was watching some programming while he trains. Using the perspective parameters in the Inspector, I was able to match the perspective of the camera as well as insert my own footage.
Aside from the fractals and displays, Hi-Tech provides lower third effects. With 5 lower third options available, you are provided with the added benefit of titling with any other effects you use in the Hi-Tech collection and the possibility to implement your own media to achieve your very own look. I tried out the Lower Third default as well as the “free” Sports highlights. Both offer great customization abilities as well as endless possibilities. Take a look below.
Overall, Hi-Tech is by far the most expansive and affordable collection of customizable mograph plugins I have encountered so far. From the available parameters in the inspector as well as the overall look of each effect, the creative possibilities are only limited to your imagination. Experienced FCP X guru Alex Gollner edited a short demo showing all default looks and quite a few personalised versions.
This is a must have plugin if you want to maximize efficiency in mograph creation. At $49, it’s a purchase that will make your workflow very worthwhile and the good news are that it comes with 2 free sport-themed templates: Highlights and Score-board. Right now, Premiumbeat is offering a giveway of 6 copies of Hi-Tech. To enter, all you have to do is use the auto tweet option and wait until November 29 to find out the winners.
Here is a video of all the images you saw with Hi-Tech applied. An amazing, must have collection of plugins.
NLE_Ninja official page of Kes Akalaonu 