dinanaser9

Q: Organize effect presets

Hi there,

I started downloading effect presets (colorings) to apply to my clips but they're very disorganized and placed in random places in my effects tab. How do I make a specific "folder" for them and have them all there? Like how blur has its on folder and when you click on it, it shows you all the kinds of blur.

Thanks.

iMac

Posted on Jun 5, 2016 10:07 AM

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Q: Organize effect presets

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  • by Tom Wolsky,

    Tom Wolsky Tom Wolsky Jun 5, 2016 10:14 AM in response to dinanaser9
    Level 10 (118,212 points)
    Apple TV
    Jun 5, 2016 10:14 AM in response to dinanaser9

    What do you mean by downloading? You mean third party effects? Or are you saving effects presets? If the latter you can create categories in which they're saved.

     

    Post screenshots.

  • by dinanaser9,

    dinanaser9 dinanaser9 Jun 5, 2016 10:42 AM in response to Tom Wolsky
    Level 1 (4 points)
    Video
    Jun 5, 2016 10:42 AM in response to Tom Wolsky

    Sorry for not being clear, they're effect presets other people have made, and I've downloaded.. so third party? Not sure sorry :/

    As you can see in the screenshot all the tabs on the left, they're way too many for me would it be possible to organize them all in one "coloring" section? Screen Shot 2016-06-05 at 1.37.39 PM.png

  • by Tom Wolsky,

    Tom Wolsky Tom Wolsky Jun 5, 2016 10:55 AM in response to dinanaser9
    Level 10 (118,212 points)
    Apple TV
    Jun 5, 2016 10:55 AM in response to dinanaser9

    CCan't help you.

  • by dinanaser9,

    dinanaser9 dinanaser9 Jun 5, 2016 12:02 PM in response to Tom Wolsky
    Level 1 (4 points)
    Video
    Jun 5, 2016 12:02 PM in response to Tom Wolsky

    Is it not possible to do so, or are you not sure how to?

  • by Tom Wolsky,

    Tom Wolsky Tom Wolsky Jun 5, 2016 12:12 PM in response to dinanaser9
    Level 10 (118,212 points)
    Apple TV
    Jun 5, 2016 12:12 PM in response to dinanaser9

    I don't know how to do it. I think the category information is embedded in the effect preset, but I don't know for sure.

  • by fox_m,

    fox_m fox_m Jun 5, 2016 6:41 PM in response to dinanaser9
    Level 5 (5,517 points)
    Video
    Jun 5, 2016 6:41 PM in response to dinanaser9

    You can move those effects. I'll go over the specific details.  [@Tom - for "regular" Motion templates - only theme information, if used, is embedded.]

     

    Your third party effects are in possibly two locations. The primary location is

    Macintosh HD/Users/YourUserName/Movies/Motion Templates/EffectType

    or

    Macintosh HD/Library/Application Support/Final Cut Pro/Templates/EffectType

    where "EffectType" is one of: Effects, Generators, Titles, Transitions

     

    If you have effects that are part of "Themes" it is best to leave those wherever they are currently installed because Motion "marks" them as Themes and it requires editing the XML in the saved file to convert them to regular effects (or more simply, just reset it all in Motion with a Save As). Theme items will be folders inside the Category level of folder that contain a single effect-named folder within (you can't tell without looking inside! — or you have a list )

     

    (example of a Themed effect -> the theme name here is Anaglyph 3D and the effect name is Anaglyph - overlaid in light blue. In contrast, note the B&W Latitude effect displaying the "regular" internal file structure.)

    themeExamp.png

     

     

    The effects installed in the /Library path are usually installed there by package installers (you can use this path to install effects for "all users" if needed). You can move those, but I'd recommend that you move them into the /User/Movies/Motion Templates folder if you do decide to move them. (If they are "copy protected" by FxFactory, etc., they will probably automatically be reinstalled into the same location upon restarting FCPX or your system... I don't use FxFactory, so I'm not sure... I've just read reports.) In general, unless you have manually installed effects in this path (or know their origins are not tied to services like FxFactory), leave the ones in there alone.

     

    Before you move ANY of these (/Library path) effects, I recommend that you ZIP them first (I think you can leave the zip files in place, FCPX should ignore them for the time being.)

     

    Prepping the move.

     

    You can create as many different categories as you like, manually. Just go into the ~/Movies/Motion Templates/Effects/ folder and create as many new folders as you like. Give your category folders meaningful names (you can use capitalization if you like, all lowercase, camelCase, whatever.)

     

    When you move your effects, you must move the entire Effect Name folder into their respective new category folders (inside each effect folder includes the Motion file, 2 PNG files and a Media folder - these files must all be present inside the effect's folder for FCPX to "recognize" the effect.)

     

    You must quit FCPX if it's running, and restart it for your effects to be reorganized (for the effects browser).

     

    If you find any (particularly those in the Library/Application Support path) do not reappear, remove the copies from the /User path and unzip the originals in the /Library path where they originally were (if you heeded the above advice, there shouldn't be any problems).

     

    DO NOT ATTEMPT to move generators, titles, or transitions into the Effects path and vice versa. Each of these types of "effects" have a different file type used by FCPX.  The file types are: effects (.moef), generator (.motn), title (.moti) and transition (.motr).

     

    You may find another folder in these locations called Compositions and a file called templateThemes. Leave these alone. They are built and maintained by FCPX and/or Motion.

     

    You can use these instructions to reorganize the other EffectTypes as well. There's nothing really magical about Motion templates.

     

    HTH

     

    PS - as a precaution, take screenshots of folder structures (similar to the above example) as a guide if you have to reconstitute any of the effects. For example, set the Finder view to Lists, and for the Effects folder, hold down the Option key as you dial down the disclosure triangle. That will expand every folder in the list so you can see every file. Then use Command-Shift-4 to draw a selection rectangle to capture the list as an image.

  • by Tom Wolsky,

    Tom Wolsky Tom Wolsky Jun 5, 2016 6:48 PM in response to fox_m
    Level 10 (118,212 points)
    Apple TV
    Jun 5, 2016 6:48 PM in response to fox_m

    MY understanding was that these were not effects but effects presets stored in ~/Library/Application Support/ProApps/Effects Presets.

  • by fox_m,

    fox_m fox_m Jun 5, 2016 8:12 PM in response to Tom Wolsky
    Level 5 (5,517 points)
    Video
    Jun 5, 2016 8:12 PM in response to Tom Wolsky

    Okay...

     

    The easiest way is just to apply the effect preset to a clip, then Save Effects Preset *again*. You have the option to Create a New Category (at the bottom of the Category menu popup) which you can name something like Effects Presets or My Effects Presets or whatever. Save. Done. Make sure you give the Preset a new name so you can tell the difference from the original name.

     

    Go into ~/Library/Application Support/ProApps/Effects Presets and find the old preset and trash it.

     

    Restart FCPX.

     

    The other way is to open the preset in a text editor, find the name of the category it is in and change it to the name of the category you want it to go in (make sure it is spelled exactly correctly, including spaces, diacriticals, etc.). Save. Restart FCPX.

    If the Preset does not contain an Effect Category <string>Category HERE</string> line, it belongs to the audio presets. Finding the Category line is facilitated if you know beforehand which category it is already included in (do a Find/Replace.)

    Recommended Text editor: TextWrangler (or Terminal.)

    PS - I do not know what happens if you misspell the target category. Chances are: FCPX will create the category folder automatically... but I wouldn't put money on it.

  • by Tom Wolsky,

    Tom Wolsky Tom Wolsky Jun 6, 2016 5:05 AM in response to fox_m
    Level 10 (118,212 points)
    Apple TV
    Jun 6, 2016 5:05 AM in response to fox_m

    TThe name is not next to category for some reason, but if you search for the name you can replace it. Have to do this for each preset.