50 Free Plugins for Final Cut Pro X - The ultimate FREE Plugin list for FCPX

Hi guys, Charlie from LightLeakLove here! Just quickly, before you get to the article, I wanted to let you know about our new tool for FCPX called FiltrCutPro - learn more about it here!

In this article we are going to share over 50 FREE Final Cut Pro X plugins that we reckon are pretty darn awesome!

One of the areas where Final Cut Pro trumps its competition is the plugin universe it nurtured around FCPX. The amount of talented plugin creators that are out there making plugins, effects, templates and transitions for Apples industry leading editing platform is pretty epic.

With so many fantastic companies and individuals making such brilliant plugins, the video editing landscape has never looked healthier or more creative. Things that used to take hours and had to be built up over layers and layers (and layers) are now as simple as drag…and…drop.

Many of these plugins are released as freebies from companies (giving a sample of their full plugins) or from other FCPX editors simply looking to share the cool plugin that they've created.

Here at LightLeakLove.com we have just done that very same thing with "Transition Love Lite" our own free collection of light leak transitions for FCPX.

In making our new plugin collection we got to thinking - "What other fantastic free plugins are out there just waiting to be discovered?".

So, we've gone ahead and compiled a list of what we think are the 50 (actually it's 53...we got carried away!) best plugins for FCPX. They consist of transitions, title templates, effects and generators.

With that many plugins to get through we better get started!

We're going to be a little cheeky (ok a lot!) and start off with our own free package - Transition Love Lite!

Transition Love Lite is a FREE sampler of our full Transition Love Collection for FCPX.

This pack contains 3 fully functioning light leak transitions from the full collection and is completely royalty free.

You get!
*3 high quality light leak transitions
*Fully integrated into Final Cut Pro
*Customisable by color, hue, blend mode, positioning and more.
Click here for more info. 

And that's enough of that, on to the rest of this bounty!

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The next awesome producer of free FCPX goodies is Deyson Ortiz over at Deyson.com. He has created a massive range of FCPX templates including some very, very cool freebies. You can also visit his online store's free section at MotionMasterTemplates.com for a total of 14 freebies. 

Note - To access the effects listed in this article, simply click on the effect title to be taken to a download page.

Circles of Love

This is a 2D Final Cut Pro template consisting of circles in motion. It's a super slick template and in the right context would make any video stand out.

Web Video

Expecially good for corporate videos, this template gives you the power to add your own images and videos to a pre-created website.
This bad boy has 3 drop zones where you can add your content.

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Next are the guys over at CrumplePop who are doing awesome things within the Final Cut Pro landscape. In fact they dedicated their whole product line to FCPX a couple of years ago and are considered pioneers in the FCPX plugin space.

Noir Moderne Lite 

This plugin adds beautifully dramatic noir lighting to your footage, complete with natural vignettes and venetian patterns.

Splitscreen X Lite

This awesome free plugin allows you make sharp, complex split screens simply.

It is worth noting that in order to download their free plugins you must join their email newsletter. 

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Idustrial Revolution are another company dedicated to making the video editors job easier and they join the list with a whopping 7 free FCPX plugins.

Panel Flip 1

Panel Flip 2

These two transition plugins allow editors to vertically or horizontally split screen and then flop a shot so that the top and bottom half of the image rotate independently.

Text Color Split 

This free title plugin animates two text layers over colored backgrounds. The background then splits to show a footage layer. Great for opening and closing titles on promos and other short videos.

  

Movie Promo 2

This little puppy easily allows you to create a movie title to rival the hollywood big boys!

Big Text Drop 

This free title template allows you to drop three lines (or less) of text onto a sexy looking shiny, reflective floor. 

Flare Lights 

Adding light streaks across your video is super easy. You can achieve the look made popular by the new Star Trek movie series by simply dropping this free effect on top of your vision. The adjustable parameters mean that you can adjust until you get the exact flare look you're after.

  

Screen Pump 

Great for any video or editing style where pumping into the vision is popular (think video gamers or extreme sports videos). It's super simple to use too, simply drag the effect above the clip you want to pump into and adjust the duration.

All of Idustrial Revolution's effects come with this disclaimer - 
"This plugin has been made free to download to the FCPX community, however please read the installation instructions and copyright restrictions." 
Copyright can be found on their website.

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When you're talking about industry contributors to the community of FCPX editors, there's one name that comes up again and again. Alex4d. Alex has a reputation for releasing very useful and polished FCPX plugins and with the 9 free plugins (That's right 9! He keeps busy!) you will understand why.

Switch Channel Transition  

This awesome transition plugin simulates the old school look of switching between analogue TV channels. A great transition especially for anything news bulletin orientated (think opening titles of a Zombie movie!).

Random Move Horizontal

This title allows you to show lots of text on the screen quickly in a creative way.

Pull Focus Transition

This free FCPX transition scales and blurs video in a way that simulates a camera with a shallow field depth changing its focus between one object and another.

Wide Angle Fix

Just drop this effect onto your distorted footage and like magic it will take out the "bend" associated with footage shot through fisheye (such as GoPro footage). There are different camera presets and a slider for precise control. 

Smooth Move FCPX

This plugin helps to smooth out ramping moves in FCPX. Three curve shapes are available - Constant, Ease Both & Logarithmic. Why would you want to change from constant speed? Well in real life things don't move at a constant speed, they tend to start slowly and then slow down when reaching their goal or destination (a commuter train is a good example).

4-Up

A simple split screen editor to get 4 different clips to display at the same time.

Mask 8 points

Does what it says on the tin - allows you to control an 8-point mask with a lot more control than natively offered in FCPX. 

  

Blurs

Again, an improvement on what is offered natively in FCPX. Alex has taken 7 different blur types from Motion and allowed you to access them in FCPX. Very useful.

Distort

Alex has opened up the door to a whole range of distort effects that were originally only available in Apple Motion. Thanks to his ingenuity you can now apply these effects directly through FCPX.

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Fox Mahoney over at Sight Creations (also known as FCPXTemplates.com) is another fantastic contributor to the FCPX editing community. He has a whole range of great resources and free Final Cut Pro X plugins. 

Decode Text

Glass Light

Postcard transition

A neat transition that replicates a postcard entering the frame and then growing to cover the frame and complete the transition. 

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A big hitter in the FCPX plugin space is Digital Heaven out of the UK.
Here are two of their plugins which illustrate the quality and polish you can expect from Digital Heaven.

GridX

This plugin is fantastic for when you need to line up elements onscreen. This grid generator allows you to create a grid with up to 30 divisions. 

WideSafeX

A simple but useful video generator for FCPX that provides 4:3, 16:9 and 14:9 title and action safe areas when working within a 16:9 project.

Congratulations! You've reached halfway! Need a drink break? Plugin overload!? Keep at it, there are some real gems in this next half!

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Take a quick break and check out FiltrCutPro - 12 instagram-esque effects for Final Cut Pro X!

Now...back to the scheduled programming!

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Ripple training have long been providing quality training editing programs, but they also create some simply brilliant plugins for FCPX.
They are yet another generous source of free, quality plugins.

iPad Transition

This transition will seamlessly introduce an iPad in horizontal mode with Shot B of your edit. 

Note that it unfortunately does not feature the latest iPad version.

Video in text

The popular technique of placing vision within titles has long been a go to technique for editors who want to quickly spruce up their title sequence. This plugin streamlines the process for FCPX users. With this title plugin great titles are only a couple of clicks away.

Picture in Picture

While you can create picture in picture natively in FCPX with scaling, this plugin will allow you to add a shadow to the picture in picture as well as an adjustable border. Very handy.

Simple 3d Effect

As the name implies, this plugin allows you to manipulate the X, Y and Z rotation of your vision. You can also adjust image position, scale, anchor points and add a drop shadow. 

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The next couple of free effects come from the beautiful country of Argentina. They may have missed out on the World Cup trophy in 2014, but thanks toFinalCutArgentina they are kicking goals in the edit world (see what I did there, ey, ey!) 

Photo Filter

This creative effect allows you to apply photo filters to your footage. You can transform your footage quickly to resemble various old school camera looks. A great tool for your collection when you need a creative look quickly. 

3d Transform Free

Another top tool for applying 3D moves to your footage in FCPX.

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FCPEffects.com are a brilliant resource for all things FCPX. They have a super wide range of top notch plugins and are always running competitive discounts on their already high value products. Here's one free plugin that's definitely worth having up your sleeve.

Basic Drop Shadow

This allows you to simply add drop shadows to your footage. What sets this plugin apart is the level of customisation you can achieve. 

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Conner Lambden over at Conner Productions also has a couple of cracking plugin effects. Conner Productions is a company that pride itself on "letting you create professional videos in less time". These effects will help you do just that.

Billow

The Billow effect is brilliant for creating full screen titles with billowing smoke (hence the name!) and lights. It also allows customisation of colors and elements from within the effects inspector.

Seal

Make a classy and professional looking seal (think letterhead, not Sea World) in no time at all.
It packs heaps of customisable options (text size, text color, background color, seal color and more) so you can get the look you need.

Splash

A really unique looking lower third template, Splash is distinctive due to it's water splashing effect.

Boxed

A great title effect. Boxed will allow you to quickly create a colorful full screen title with a built in Bad-TV effect. Again, it includes a lot of customisation.

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Robbert-Jan Van Der Does is a fantastic contributor with two fantastic plugins below. See his work at the production company he co-owns - Adeszo

Finger Swipe 

This quick one-second transition for FCPX allows you to swipe from shot A to shot B as you would on an iPad or other tablet. 

You get to choose between 3 different types - male, female or toddler and four different directions! Other customisable options include drop shadows and placement on screen with horizontal offset.

To install simply unzip and move to Home/Movies/Motion Templates/Transitions.

Photo Album Effect

Give a tidy scrapbook or photo album look to your next project with this template. Great for family and wedding videos.

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ForDeeTV.com is a website created by Fordee, a guy with a knack for everything from film making, audio engineering, graphic and web design and anything else media orientated! He has a great site filled with helpful tutorials, reviews and most importantly - free FCPX plugins! 

Power Bleach

As the name states, it allows you to add impact to your shots with a Bleach grade. 

TV Ratings

This plugin allows you to create movie ratings graphics to play before your masterpiece (just like a real movie would in a cinema!).

Arrows Plus Lite

A collection of 3 different arrow animations that can be customised to suit your project. You control their scale, rotation, color and drop shadow.

TV Vintage Plus Effect

This effect is perfect for mimicking vintage TV looks. You can set different color leaks, adjust the amount of saturation, softness and noise. Brilliant!

Ripped Scroll Title

A very customisable lower third solution that mimics ripped textures.

Acid Trip

Get high without the illegality! This plugin will allow you to add a very trippy look to your next video. 

Cartoon Effect

Give yourself a comic book inspired look with "Cartoon Effect". Customisation allows you to control the "dot overlay" including its position, rotation, size, blend mode and brightness. You can also apply a framing effect to really round off the look.

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Stupid Raisins is great FCPX plugin resource created by Dylan Higginbotham. Dylan crafts and sells immensely useful and professional FCPX plugins that are certain to add value to your editing arsenal. He also releases free FCPX plugins from time to time. Have a look at some of his best below. 

Infographic Titles

This awesome set of 4 free infographic titles is a lite version of his full collection. That being said it is still a very valuable stand alone title pack. It consists of a bar graph, pie chart, ring chart and number chart. Brilliant for corporate videos.

Motion Titles

A handy conversion of Motion 5's available titles.

Social Media Lower Third

A series of lower third titles reflecting the most popular social platforms. This pack was originally created by Final Cut King but only for Motion 5. Dylan was kind enough to convert for use directly in FCPX.

Flipping tiles transitions

A very slick tile flipping/rotating transition. 

Binoculars/Scope effects

Want your video to reflect the latest Ghost Recon game? This plugin will allow you to do just that with 6 styles and 12 different crosshairs! As Dylan says on his site "Remember, don't shoot your eye out."

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Gorilla Grain FCPX Free

Trying to achieve a more filmic look for your video? The guys over at Gorilla Grain have a brilliant FREE film grain download that originates from real 35mm film scans and not computer generated grain. You have to sign up to their email list to download, but that's ok, they're nice dudes, not spammers. The FCPX version also includes the entire paid package so you can try before you buy. 

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Zach King over at Final Cut King creates some of the best training courses, tutorials and plugins out there - he also has an EPIC vine account (https://vine.co/Zach.King) (seriously, it. is. awesome!)

Tilt Shift Plugin

This plugin will allow you to create some really beautiful looking tilt-shift videos from pre-existing footage right within Final Cut Pro X.

Well there you have it, an EPIC collection of FCPX plugins to help you out in your own editing adventures. 

Make sure to visit each producers page and if you do download, try to reach out and say thanks. It is an amazing thing that we have so many awesome people creating cool stuff that we can use every day for free! 

We hope you enjoyed the roundup! If you did, please share :)