Apple Final Cut Pro 6 - Manual (Page 1021)

236 Part II Effects
Identifying and Organizing Video Effects
Effects in Final Cut Pro are organized into categories in the Effects tab of the Browser
and the Effects menu. These categories help you quickly find the effects you are
looking for. Final Cut Pro also includes a method for limiting which effects are displayed
in the application.
Viewing Preferred Effects
There are many FxPlug effects that are equivalent (or nearly equivalent) to FXScript effects.
Generally, the names and controls of equivalent FxPlug and FXScript effects are identical or
vary only subtly. To keep track of FxPlug and FXScript effects in Final Cut Pro, you can
select which effects are displayed in both the Effects tab and the Effects menu by
indicating that they are preferred effects. For example, there is a Gaussian Blur FXScript filter
included with Final Cut Pro and a Gaussian Blur FxPlug filter included with Motion as part
of Final Cut Studio. By enabling the preferred property for only one of these filters, you can
control which Gaussian Blur plug-in is displayed in the Effects tab and the Effects menu.
Note: Preferred effects are not the same as favorite effects. Preferred effects simply
indicate which plug-ins you want to display in the Effects tab; favorite effects are saved
instances of effects with particular settings you use frequently.
The Effects tab displays three columns for identifying and keeping track of effects:
 Effect Class: Shows the kind of plug-in installed. When this property is empty, the effect
is an FXScript plug-in. If the effect is an FxPlug plug-in, the word “FxPlug” is displayed.
 Preferred: Shows if an effect is preferred or not. You can turn this property on and off
by clicking in the column next to the effect. You can also turn this property on or off
for multiple effects by selecting them, Control-clicking in the Preferred column next
to any of the selected effects, and then choosing Yes or No from the shortcut menu.
 Description: Shows a brief description of the effect (if it contains one). FxPlug
plug-ins contain descriptions, but FXScript plug-ins do not.