An Overview of Nattress Levels and Curves for FCP X

The FCP X Desert Island Challenge Part 15

An Overview of Nattress Levels and Curves for FCPX

Generally, there are two types of colorists: Those who love using Curves and those who don’t. In this challenge, we’ve looked at plug-ins that have curves as a portion of their toolset. But some colorists prefer Curves over 3-Way color wheels and this presents a problem…

There aren’t many Curves-only plugins for FCP X

My Google-fu only turned up one additional contender besides Color Finale and Colorista III. That contender is a long-time player in world of Final Cut plug-ins. The creator, Graeme Nattress, has been creating Final Cut filters since 2004. His plug-ins have always solved very specific problems that are overlooked by the host apps. I was especially a fan of his ‘Advanced Plugins for Apple Color‘, which was a Swiss Army Knife for solving a wide range of problems in Apple Color.

We’ll be looking at Nattress Level and Curves for FCPX

It’s a set of four filters in the FX Factory ecosystem, all filters use a Curves-style interface for image manipulation. These filters take the same approach as the Hawaiki Color plug-ins, using Viewer overlays to give you in-context control of your image. The question is: Do the controls get in your way? Or do they make it easier to manipulate the image?

That’s one of the questions I ask myself in this Insight. I also consider if this filter might be in the running for me as my first selection as the Add-On plug-in for the FCPX Desert Island Challenge?

Enjoy!

– patrick