When a plug-in is currently selected in the plug-in editing window, clicking the “Info” tab button displays the following options:

The Preview feature lets you assign a thumbnail image that is displayed to the user in the plug-in management window. You can assign a Preview Image from one of the image formats embedded in the FxPack.

The Name and Description text fields let you set human-readable information about the plug-in. The name you assign to the plug-in lets you identify it inside the host. Motion will also display the first few words of the description in its effect inspector interface.

The Version text field lets plug-in developers keep better track of changes made to their plug-ins. In the future, FxFactory may use the version information for other purposes.

The This version is obsolete option lets you tell the host that the plug-in should only be made available for compatibility with older projects created by the user. In FxPlug hosts, the plug-in’s name will appear with a suffix to indicate the user that the plug-in has been declared obsolete (a newer version ought to be made available to the user.) In Adobe After Effects, all obsolete plug-ins will not be visible inside the host, but they will still be loaded should the user open a project that uses the obsolete plug-in.

The Compatibility section lets you control which hosts will be allowed to load the plug-in. For filters and generators, you have the option of loading the plug-in inside all hosts. Transition effects only work inside Final Cut Pro and Final Cut Express. These options can override any choices you may have set for the product as a whole.

The Prefers custom on-screen controls if supported by the host option lets you control which implementation of on-screen controls is used. This option is on by default, allowing FxFactory to use its own on-screen controls in Motion 5 and Final Cut Pro X. Disable this option if you want the plug-in to continue using Apple's own controls.

The Unique ID section lets you assign a new ID to the plug-in by clicking the New ID button. The plug-in's unique ID is how Final Cut Pro and Motion identify and keep track of the plug-in as it gets applied inside your projects. Assign a new ID when the changes you make to the plug-in are too many to remain compatible with previous versions.


It is not always necessary to assign a new ID when adding new parameters to a plug-in, or when renaming and rearranging parameters.
 It is however necessary to assign a new Unique ID when old parameters have been deleted or replaced, even if the replacement has the same name and type.

When duplicating a plug-in via the “Duplicate” command under the “Edit” menu, FxFactory will automatically assign a new Unique ID to the copy. Two plug-ins may indeed use the same name because the host application uses the Unique ID to differentiate between them. Please keep in mind that

The Tutorial section lets you define a tutorial for the plug-in. When a tutorial is available, FxFactory will display a “Tutorial” button where appropriate, so that users can access important training videos directly from our software. The available options are:

URL: a generic URL that is opened when the user clicks the “Tutorial” button. It is preferable if this URL points directly to a video or to a webpage that embeds the video.

Asset: the path to a file embedded in the FxPack. This allows you to distribute the tutorial video with the product, so that it may be viewed on computers without an active connection to the Internet.

YouTube Video: a reference to a YouTube video, which may include an optional channel ID. At the moment, this information is simply used to construct and open a URL on YouTube.com. In the future it may be used to view YouTube videos more efficiently, thus it is preferred to use this method when providing tutorials through YouTube.