As a Holiday present, I am happy to release Visual Enhancement Pro, a great filter for Enhancing security footage. This filter utilizes state of the art technologies like Fournier Tonal Tightening and Spectral Information Replacement, previously only available to Crime Scene Investigators and spy agencies.

See more and download the plugin here.

Sure, the glitz and glamor of effects is fun, but what can really set an editor apart is their mastery of the little things. Have a hundred jpegs with faulty color profiles? Having trouble with blurry pictures or shaky text? This list from Oliver Peters at digitalfilms covers those, and some other great tips.

Read the tutorial here.

Project bloat can happen so easily, making navigating the browser or archiving your project more difficult. Here’s a quick tip from Pixel Heads Network on how to find all your unused assets and do some “manual media management.

Watch the video tutorial here.

Markers can be extremely helpful – but haven’t been very versatile. Final Cut 7 includes an update on the markers that provides all kinds of goodies. There are new colors for the markers. You can easily move them- and not just awkwardly to the right. You can edit them without stopping playback. You can export them. Ripple Training has a good overview of all the new features with markers.

Find the tutorial here – under Final Cut Pro 7, click on the link under “Improved Markers.”

Applying Transitions wasn’t difficult- it just wasn’t always the easiest thing to do for multiple clips. Final Cut 7 introduced Global Transitions which allow you to add multiple transtions- easily and quickly. The new methods of applying transitions promise to speed up your workflow by shaving off those extra seconds of option dragging transitions or hitting CMD-T over and over.

Find the tutorial here – under Final Cut Pro 7, click on the link under “Global Transitions”.

Up through Final Cut 6, the speed tools were rather annoying. You could get what you need, but there was usually some kind of work around necessary. Now, in Final Cut 7, the speed tools have been revamped. Things like rippling the sequence are possible, and easy feathering. Ripple Training has a tutorial on the new speed tools.

Find the tutorial here – under Final Cut Pro 7, click on the link under “New Speed Tools.”

To properly Color Correct, you need to know what you’re doing. Well, you can do some, but it’s definitely a lot easier with an understanding of the theory behind what you’re doing. This tutorial from ReelClever.Net goes into that theory, and will help you understand what those scopes actually mean.

Watch the video tutorial here.

You’re on a deadline, of course, when Compressor decides to crap on you. Of course. What do you do? You launch Qmaster preferences, and there isn’t a button to restart it… or is there? Jim Geduldick over at FinalCutUser shows a couple ways of troubleshooting when Compressor goes south.

Watch the video tutorial here.

Now this is cool. But cool in a very very nerdy way. A hidden menu in Final Cut that gives you some way cool toys, and way more info than you’ll know what to do with. Jon Chappell shows you how to access the menu, and what everything does over at LAFCPUG. Check your hard drive’s performance or fit the Tool Bench into your layout… and more.

Read the (super geeky) tutorial here.

If you’ve tried tracking in Motion, you know it can be a real pain. Luckily, Mocha, which has been available for After Effects for awhile now, is now available for FCP/Motion. This tutorial takes you through the workaround workflow, as it’s kind of convuluted. But it looks easier with great results.

Watch the video tutorial here.