Reflections

These Final Cut Express HD effects were tested only in Final Cut Express HD v3.5, but they’ll likely work also in other versions of FCE and FCP (see also the Disclaimer).


PieroF_Reflections_v0.6R.fxscript.zip: (click the link to Download)

What does it do ?

Reflections is a freeware Filter that creates a reflection (see example above) for a clip in Final Cut Express similar to the reflections in the main menu of Front Row, or in the slides show created with iWeb. You can position, resize and distort the video and define the basic parameters for its reflection. The transparent background allows compositions of 2 or more videos each with its own reflection.

How does it Work ?

After its Installation drag the filter Reflections v0.6 from the Video Filter > pf folder of Effects into the Viewer on the clip of which you want to create the reflection, and then set the controls.

The specific Reflections Controls are:

  1. •Base Center (default: 0, 80% of frame height): it sets the position of the center point of the video base line. This base line separates the video itself from its reflection that fades down to black at the bottom of the video (see example above).

  2. •Top Border (default: 0, 0% of frame height = top of frame): it sets the position of the video top border. The first value in the pair (0 in the example) is not used and can be anything. With the default value the video top border touches the frame top border.

  3. The size of the video depends on both the Base Center and the Top Border, while its horizontal position is set only by Base Center.

  4. •Base Rotation (default: 0° - range: -45° to 45°): it sets the rotation of the base line of the video. When different from 0°, the base line is rotated and the reflection moves and is distorted accordingly.

  5. •Amount of Reflection (%) (default: 50% - range: 0 to 100%): it sets the size of the reflection area below the video as a percentage of the total video. When its value is less then 100% only the bottom part of the video is reflected.

  6. •Lightness (%) (default: 20% - range: 0 to 150%): it sets the amount of light that is reflected, and applies a gradient to the reflection. If lightness is 0% the whole reflection area is black; if it is 150% all the video is reflected, without gradient. Note: In NTSC clips a value of 40% gives better results than the default.

  7. •Bottom Border (default: 0 - range: -10 to 10): it sets the height in pixels of the border between the bottom of the clip frame and its reflexion. With the default value 0 the 2 images are touching each other.

  8. •Floor Line Width (default: 0 - range: 0 to 40): it sets the width in pixels of a line separating the clip frame from its reflection. NB: this is different from Bottom Border (and slightly redundant... still under evaluation): Bottom Border shifts the reflection down; Floor Line covers both the frame and its reflection, if wider than Bottom Border, else it’s invisible.

Compatibility, Disclaimer

This Reflections filter has been tested in Final Cut Express HD v3.5 and Final Cut Pro v5.1. While it will likely work also in other versions of FCE and FCP, a basic requirement for its use is the possibility to keyframe the filter controls. So it cannot run on any version of FCE earlier than v3.5 (see also the Disclaimer).

Version History

v0.6 - improvements: stair effect reduced (removed?), vertical sizing fixed, rotation computation fixed, allowed transparency to the reflection area (if the clip has transparency), added Bottom Border and Floor Line Width controls (experimental) - a new release is under way.

v0.5 - first release.

Hints:

  1. a.Don’t rely on Unlimited RT. For some reason, using Unlimited RT does not show the reflection as it will appear after rendering. So, to make sure you get what you want you must first render the clips with the reflection and then display the result in the canvas or in to external TV.

  2. b.Anti-Alias Filter.
    Sometimes, when you resize of the video with Base Center and Top Border, you get flicker on horizontal or slightly oblique lines. To control and minimize this flicker apply the Anti-Alias filter in the Stylize group on top (before) the Reflection filter: an Amount between 5 and 8 is usually enough to remove artifacts.

  3. (v0.6 note: use of this should no longer be needed even with Rotation ≠ 0)

  4. c.Combining 2 or more videos. On the right is an example of videos combined from 2 different clips, each with its own reflection. The left one is on track V2 (on top) and Base Center = (-168,84); the right one is on track V1 (bottom) and Base Center = (168,84). Both have Top Border = (0, -180). In fact which is on top and which is at the bottom is not relevant.