Stop Motion FX for Final Cut Pro
Regular price $29.99 Sale price $19.99
Stop Motion FX
Turn a clip from 1 to 60 frames per second with one powerful plugin.
Real stepped motion with no retiming, no exporting and no motion blur.
The fastest way to get the 12fps documentary stutter look inside Final Cut Pro.
Everything in the download
What's included in the pack?
Stop Motion Frame Rate
1 to 60 fps on any clip
Frames are held rather than blended, so movement steps cleanly instead of smearing. Includes trail blur for echoes behind fast motion, frame offset to choose which frame gets held, and optional frame blending.
Cutout Animator
Stroke, shadow and wobble
Turns a cut out subject into a paper cutout character with a clean stroke, a drop shadow that lifts it off the background, and a subtle randomised rotation. Styling options include hatched, comic book, chromatic aberration and glow.
Flicker
Exposure shift and dust
Randomises brightness frame to frame, the way light shifts between exposures on a real frame by frame shoot. Dust and hair particles can be switched on for the look of film that has sat in a gate.
Handheld
Puts a person behind the camera
Adds a small randomised drift to position. Stop motion is almost always shot locked off on a tripod, and that dead stillness is usually the thing that gives it away as fake.
The look people are chasing
The documentary and video essay stutter
If you have watched a big explainer channel and wondered why the archive stills and graphics judder, that is the 12fps look. Motion graphics get built at 12 frames per second and dropped into a 24fps edit, so they stutter against the smooth footage around them. It has quietly become the most recognisable move in the modern YouTube documentary, and almost every video essay channel now speaks the same visual language.
The catch has always been that it is an After Effects job.
After Effects, and a round trip
- Take the shot out of your edit and into After Effects
- Rebuild it as a composition set to 12 frames per second
- Render the whole thing out at 12 frames per second
- Import the render back into Final Cut Pro and line it up again
- Decide 12 was too choppy, and start the whole lot again
Locked in the moment you render. Every change means another round trip.
One drag, on the timeline
- Drag the effect onto the clip
That is the whole process. Move one slider to change the rate whenever you like, and the clip never leaves Final Cut Pro.
Cutout Animator
Turn a flat PNG into an animated element
Drop it onto any transparent image or cut out subject and it lands with a clean stroke, a drop shadow that lifts it off the background and a gentle wobble. No keyframes, no trip out to Motion, all of it live on your timeline.
Cut a subject out with Magnetic Mask in 5 steps
Cutout Animator styles a subject that is already cut out. Either drop it on a PNG with a transparent background, or isolate a subject from a video clip using Magnetic Mask, which is built into Final Cut Pro and takes under a minute on a reasonably clean shot.
Select your clip and park the playhead on a frame where the subject is clear.
Search "magnetic" in the Effects browser and drag Magnetic Mask onto the clip.
Click your subject in the viewer to tell Final Cut Pro what to mask. Keep clicking to add areas, or switch to Remove to take parts away.
Click Analyze to track the mask across the whole clip, then click Done.
Drop Cutout Animator onto the same clip.
One thing to watch. Magnetic Mask has to sit above Cutout Animator in the Video inspector. Drag it to the top of the effect stack. If it sits below, the stroke draws around the full rectangular frame instead of your subject, which is the most common reason people think the effect is not working.
Questions
Does this change my project frame rate?
No. Your project settings, timeline and export stay as they are. The effect only changes how many distinct frames you see inside the clip, so audio stays in sync and a stepped clip sits happily next to a normal one.
What frame rate should I use?
Around 8 to 12 suits most footage, with 12 matching the rate used for animating on twos. Drop to 2 to 6 for a harder, more deliberate look on titles and product shots. Above 15 it becomes a subtle texture rather than an obvious style.
Can I use this for documentary and video essay style edits?
That is one of the main reasons people buy it. The documentary stutter is graphics built and rendered at 12 frames per second, sitting inside a 24fps edit. Traditionally that means doing your motion work in After Effects and exporting at the lower rate. Here you set the frame rate on any clip, title or graphic directly on the Final Cut Pro timeline, and change it whenever you like.
Flicker and Handheld add the grain and imperfection the style leans on, and Cutout Animator gives you the stroked, shadowed cut out treatment used on photos and archive stills.
How is this different from slowing the clip down?
Slowing a clip changes its duration and asks Final Cut Pro to blend or invent frames, which brings motion blur and ghosting. This keeps the original speed and length and simply repeats each frame, giving a clean hold on every step.
Does Cutout Animator remove the background for me?
No. It styles the edge of something that already has a transparent background, such as a PNG or a clip you have isolated with Magnetic Mask.
Can I use it on titles and graphics?
Yes. Apply it to a title, generator or compound clip and any animation inside will step in the same way. The glow and stroke options in Cutout Animator work particularly well on text.
How do I install it?
Use our free Plugin Installer app and everything lands in the right place automatically. Full instructions are at fcpxfullaccess.com/pages/install.
How do I Download & Install plugins?
Please watch the short tutorial above to see a step by step guide on how to download and install our plugins.
Please see PDF #1 in your download pack, this clearly identifies where you need to install your new plugin. If you are unfamiliar with how to install FCPX plugins, then PDF #2 has step by step instructions on how to locate or create the correct folders.
How do I install LUTs into Final Cut Pro X?
It's very simple! Please watch our video installation guide:
I don't see my plug-in in Final Cut / Its not working / I see a red warning screen!?
Rest assured there is nothing wrong with our plugins! There is a simple fix if you are seeing these results. There are generally only two reasons your plugins are not working.
1) The most likely is that your version of Final Cut is out of date. Our plug-ins are designed to be used with Version 10.4.8. Please update your version of Final Cut. This is available as a free update on the Apple App store.
2) You have not installed the plug-in into the correct folder. Please follow the instructions included in your download, being careful to place them in the correct folder as outlined in PDF #1 (either; "Titles", "Effects", "Transitions" or "Generators")
Are the free plug-ins really free?
Yes our free plug-ins are 100% free. All we require is an email link at checkout to send you the download link. If you like what you see, then we hope you'll consider making a purchase!
Do these work with Adobe Premiere Pro?
The majority of our products are designed specifically for Final Cut Pro X. Though our Overlays and LUTs are compatible with any editing software. We are working on developing products specifically for Adobe Premiere Pro too, sign up to our mailing list to be the first to know.
The discount code is not working
Some of our discount codes have a time expiration or do not work in conjunction with another discount which may be applied to your product. Sign up to our mailing list where we send regular discount codes.
I would like to swap my product for another one / a refund
Unfortunately, due to the nature of digital products we are unable to offer swaps or refunds. Please see our refund policy for more information. If you are unhappy with your product, please let us know why so we can try to improve next time.