Table of Contents
Adding Watermarks to Templates
The information on this page may no longer apply to the newest version of FxFactory. The process of creating and assigning a watermark to a template-based product has seen some significant changes since this document was first written.
FxFactory allows you to easily add watermarks to your Motion Templates in preparation for commercial distribution.
In order to add a watermark to one or more Motion Template, you must first create the FxTemplate product that will contain the Motion Templates. For the purpose of this tutorial we will create a new product, but the tips explained here apply to any product under development.
To create a new FxTemplates-based product, launch the FxFactory application and select the New > Templates command under the File menu1):
Name the new product “Gizmos” and click the Continue button:
For the time being you are not interested in importing any Motion Templates, so skip that step by clicking the Cancel button when the next sheet pops down:
Switch to the Product options, and enter “ACME, Inc.” as the Author:
As you will see later, the values you enter for the product’s Author and Name are really important.
Save the document in the correct install location, which is the Noise Industries folder inside the Application Support folder:
Doing so ensures that the FxTemplate product is found and loaded by FxFactory the next time you launch Motion.
Adding the Watermark in Motion 5
Launch Motion 5 and create or open a Motion Template that will be distributed as part of the “Gizmos” product. For this tutorial we will use a Final Cut Generator titled “Psychedelio”, filed under the “ACME” category:
Inside Motion’s Video Generators menu, you will notice a special generator that appears under the category named “ACME”. The category is the same as the text you provided for the product’s Author earlier on2). Similarly, the name of the generator corresponds to the name of the Product:
Select the top-most layer in the effect, and add the generator to it, so that it sits above anything else that is rendered by the template. By default, the product will use the Noise Industries logo as the watermark:
In order to have the product use a custom watermark, we will have to switch back to FxFactory.
Save the template, quit Motion 5 and launch FxFactory again.
Assigning a Custom Watermark
Open the “Gizmos” product in FxFactory.
The first step will be to add your custom watermark to the product’s Assets. Drag your watermark graphic3) to the Assets listing.
For this example, we will use a file named “Smiley.png”:
Next, switch to the Product section. You will notice a section titled Watermark. Select the “Smiley.png” file from the popup menu:
There are various options to control how the watermark is drawn over the frame.
Leave all options on their defaults and save the FxTemplate document.
Testing the Custom Watermark in Motion and Final Cut Pro X
Launch Motion 5, and open the “Psychedelio” generator again.
You should immediately notice that the default Noise Industries watermark has been replaced with the custom graphic specified in the previous section:
Behind the scenes, FxFactory has picked up the changes that you made to the FxTemplate product, and started using the new watermark in any template that uses the ACME > Gizmos Watermark generator.
Next, it's time to make this generator part of your “Gizmos” product.
Quit Motion and locate the “Psychedelio” template. Under normal circumstances, the Final Cut Generator will be installed by Motion in:
~/Movies/Motion Templates.localized/Generators.localized/ACME/ACME.motn
Make sure that the “Gizmos” FxTemplate document is open in FxFactory, and drag the Motion project to the Templates listing:
Notice that Motion had saved a rather bad thumbnail for the template. First, the thumbnail shows the wrong watermark. Secondly, we do not really want to ship a product whose thumbnail contains a watermark. We will replace the thumbnail graphic with a new one:
Thumbnail graphics are stored along with all other Assets.
Save the FxTemplate in order to test the custom watermark and thumbnail graphics in Final Cut Pro X.
When you launch Final Cut Pro X, the FxFactory runtime will notice the new product and install the “Psychedelio” template contained within:
Once Final Cut Pro X has had a chance to restart, the new template will appear in the effects browser. It will use the custom thumbnail and, as expected, it will render with the custom watermark:
If you have followed the above instructions by the letter, you will also notice two versions of the same generator. The original generator that you published from Motion appears under the “ACME” category. The new generator, installed as part of the FxTemplate product, is listed under the “ACME Gizmos” category.
| The existence of two “Psychedelio” generators should not be surprising. The fact that they appear under different categories is not significant either 4). What should be noted is the development workflow exposed by this tutorial. |
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Over the course of product development using FxTemplates, you will always start with a Motion Template that you have published from Motion. In our example, it is the original “Psychedelio” generator published under the “ACME” category.
As each effect becomes ready for shipping, you will add the watermark in Motion and add it into the FxTemplate product.
It helps to think of the Motion Template that you created as the working copy. The version installed and managed by the FxFactory runtime is the release version. You should not be making modifications to any templates installed by FxFactory5).
Time to Ship
When users install your FxTemplate-based product, they will be able to enjoy a watermarked, trial version of your effects that they can unlock at any time using the FxFactory application.
Contrary to the FxTemplate document that you will be working with as a developer, the version that is distributed to end-users cannot be modified by FxFactory, and it contains additional metadata.