When a plug-in is currently selected in the plug-in editing window, clicking the “Inputs” tab button displays the options that are specific to that type of plug-in:

The screenshot above was taken when a transition plug-in was selected. The options available for a generator will be different than those available for a filter or transition, and viceversa.

The Feed rendering info to popup menu lets you select one of the structure inputs published by the Quartz composition. The selected input is fed a Rendering Info Structure whenever the composition is executed.

The Feed timing info to popup menu lets you select one of the structure inputs published by the Quartz composition. The selected input is fed a Timing Info Structure whenever the composition is executed.

The Feed host info to popup menu lets you select one of the structure inputs published by the Quartz composition. The selected input is fed a Host Info Structure whenever the composition is executed.

The Feed path to assets to popup menu lets you select one of the string inputs published by the Quartz compositions. When the plug-in runs inside a host, FxFactory will feed the composition a URL-encoded path (file:///...) or a POSIX-style path (/Library/Application Support/…) to the FxPack location on disc:

A secondary popup menu lets you choose whether the path will be fed as a URL or a POSIX-style path. You may use this value to load assets embedded inside the FxPack. For example, if your FxPack contains an image file named foo.jpg, you may load it from the composition by concatenating the path to the assets with “foo.jpg” and passing the newly formed URL to the Image Downloader patch.

The Composite over background layer in After Effects option lets you select the default compositing behavior of generators when applied inside After Effects. Because After Effects does not support generators natively, FxFactory allows users to apply generators to existing layer, and optionally composite the output of the generator over the original layer contents. Users can always override the initial behavior that you set inside FxFactory, because FxFactory automatically adds a parameter to control this behavior to all generators, when applied inside After Effects.

When the current plug-in is a filter, the following options are available:

• The Feed source clip image to popup menu lets you select among one of the image inputs published by the Quartz composition. Each time a frame is rendered, the Quartz composition input is fed the current frame in the source clip.
  
• The Feed source clip info structure to popup menu lets you select among one of the structure inputs published by the Quartz composition. The value fed to the selected input is a dictionary which contains properties of the source clip: Image Info Structure.

When the current plug-in is a transition, the following options are available:

• The Feed source clip image to popup menu lets you select among one of the image inputs published by the Quartz composition. Each time a frame is rendered, the Quartz composition input is fed the current frame in the source clip. In transitions, the source clip corresponds to the outgoing clip.
  
• The Feed source clip info structure to popup menu lets you select among one of the structure inputs published by the Quartz composition. The value fed to the selected input is a dictionary which contains properties of the source clip: Image Info Structure.
• The Feed destination clip image to popup menu lets you select among one of the image inputs published by the Quartz composition. Each time a frame is rendered, the Quartz composition input is fed the current frame in the destination clip. In transitions, the source clip corresponds to the incoming clip.
  
• The Feed destination clip info structure to popup menu lets you select among one of the structure inputs published by the Quartz composition. The value fed to the selected input is a dictionary which contains properties of the destination clip: Image Info Structure.
• The Feed transition time fraction to popup menu lets you select among one of the numeric inputs published by the Quartz composition. The value fed to the Quartz composition ranges from 0 to 1, to signify the overall progress of the transition. This time fraction lets the Quartz composition drive the animation in a manner that makes it independent of the actual duration (in seconds) of the transition effect inside the sequence.

Because these hosts do not support transitions natively, FxFactory allows transition effects to be emulated as filters inside Motion, After Effects and Premiere Pro. The options below control certain behaviors of the FxFactory runtime when transitions are being applied as filters:

The Scale destination clip to the same size as source clip option controls whether the destination clip will always have the same dimensions as the source clip. In hosts that support transitions nativelt (Final Cut Pro and Final Cut Express), the source and destination clips always have the same size. In Motion and After Effects the destination clip is supplied via a drop zone (or layer-selection menu) thus the user could supply media with different characteristics than the source clip. To avoid any discrepancies, leave this option enabled.

The Use effect layer as the default destination clip in After Effects option allows you to make the destination clip layer selection popup menu default to the effect layer. In practice, this means your source and destination clips will initially be the same. Doing so can still be more desirable than leaving the destination clip unassigned by default.

The Replace missing destination clip with option lets you decide what will happen when the user is yet to assign a media for the destination clip. The available options are:

• Empty image: your composition is fed no image at all. Please beware that some effects will not render correctly unless both inputs are fully defined.
• Color: your composition is fed an image that has been filled with the solid or transparent color defined in FxFactory, having the same dimensions and pixel aspect ratio as the source clip.
• Checkerboard pattern: your composition is fed a standard checkerboard pattern, having the same dimensions and pixel aspect ratio as the source clip.