UPDATED 05/26/13 (in yellow)

I’m continually impressed by Pixelfilm studios in that: 1) They regularly publish new and great stuff, 2) It’s cheap, 3) The software downloads quickly and installs itself.

I’ve now purchased half a dozen different packages from them.

Now here’s a little tip:  They routinely offer 20-25% discounts on their already low prices during US holidays. So get on their mailing list and you’ll get emails both on new releases and discount notices when the US holidays come up. At this writing there is a 25% discount for Memorial Day in the US.

First off, this is for FCPX editors and not an invitation to debate editing programs.

That said, there are tons of resources for FCPX or any editing program for that matter, but I recently found one in particular that blew me away.

Pixel Film Studios

I was looking for a “blueprint” effect and these guys came up:  (http://store.pixelfilmstudios.com/). Their blue print effect was exactly what I was looking for, but in that $29 package came a lot of other very useful goodies (various cartoon effects, line art, painting effects, etc.) and all of them with lots of parameter controls.

That was just one little package of dozens available. I also got an awesome Fog package with 50 different types of fog, each with controllable parameters, and each capable of layering for a practically infinite pallet of fog effects.

They’ve also got amazing rain, smoke, snow, flare, make-up (skin), and dozens of other fantastically usable and controllable effects and transitions. Even holograms. They install instantly in the FCPX effects pane and put a host of cinematic effects at your fingertips. All inexpensive and with some bundles available.

STOCKEON.COM

Since originally writing this article I found this site which several companies contribute Motion and AE templates to. In fact, it’s a good one-stop-shop for excellent and inexpensive Motion/AE templates, lower thirds and titles for those who are not adept at creating them themselves. Stockeon

Alex4d

Found this on the same day while trying to solve a problem. Alex is one of those geniuses that cranks out dozens and dozens of useful plugins that are either stand-alone new, or which improve on existing program features–ALL FOR FREE. (you can donate money to help him out using the donate button on his blog).  But if you’re an FCPX editor, you’ve got to check out all he has made available. It’s an impressive array: http://alex4d.wordpress.com/

IzzyVideo

I’ve mentioned Izzy many times on postings relating to FCPX.  If you want to learn FCPX and be editing happily in one day, he’s got the best tutorials I’ve found on the subject. A couple hour’s worth of simple step by step tutorials for FREE. Then, for about $49, you can buy a couple more hours worth of advanced tutorials. It’s worth it.  Plus you can become a “member” for a ridiculously low fee and have unlimited access to hundreds of videos on the subject of video basics–from how to choose a camera, lighting, sound recording and lots more.

But mainly, it’s his FCPX tutorials that I keep referring people to. There are lots of tutorials out there. For some reason I found his to be the perfect balance of information needed to be able to easily grasp the basics in a logical sequence. I tried some others and got very frustrated and annoyed. With Izzy, I just enjoyed the process every step of the way.  Check out: http://www.izzyvideo.com