Final Cut Pro X: Flicker

December 12th, 2011 by admin under Blog, Effects, Final Cut Pro X

This is a simple flicker effect for Final Cut Pro X. The Controls are really simple, You have the “Opacity Amount”, at 100% it goes from fully opaque to completely transparent, if you lower the amount from 100% you get an effect that does not quite turn off but just partially see through.

Flicker Effect Controls
 
The Flicker Amount allows you to adjust is it every frame or every 2 frames, sadly the way the parameters are rigged, you can’t change the on and off like in FCP7, hopefully I will figure out a way to do that at a later time and update this. But I have found if you play with this you can adjust it to get the effect you want.
 
Wave Shape and Oscillate Phase are advanced features that will change the way the flicker works. By default the square shape allows the image to be either on or off, nothing in between unless you se the opacity level, it only has 2 states. But if you change it to sine, sawtooth or triangle you can create a different effect to the flicker. The Oscillate Phase will allow you to adjust the way the effect starts this is more to change the effect from a starting point if you change the wave shape from square to something else.
 
This effect works great on layered video to great a cool transition, just set up your timeline like this:
 

 

You can also do it over black or in your primary storyline to create a flicker to and from black.

If anyone has any questions just let me know.

46 Responses to “Final Cut Pro X: Flicker”

  1. Vik said on January 14th, 2012:

    Thank you…

  2. Rich said on February 9th, 2012:

    Thanks Bro!!! Keep me on a list for any new plug ins!!!

  3. Glenn said on February 26th, 2012:

    How do i make it go faster ?

  4. DT said on February 27th, 2012:

    Hi there- this flicker effect is exactly what i’m looking for- could you please tell me how to install it in Final Cut Pro X thanks?

  5. Mikey said on February 27th, 2012:

    To install expand the ZIP archive and add the folder to the Motion Templates folder in the Movies folder of your home directory. Add Effects to the Effects folder and Transitions to the Transition Folder.

  6. Mikey said on February 27th, 2012:

    Adjust the flicker amount slider to change the rate

  7. Mosaic Rob said on April 18th, 2012:

    Just want to say thank you! This is exactly what I was searching for. Wishing you success bro.

    peace

  8. Samuel Teferi said on May 4th, 2012:

    Can this work for mac?

  9. Samuel Teferi said on May 4th, 2012:

    I tried and it didn’t work, am I downloading it wrong?

  10. Mikey said on May 6th, 2012:

    All the effects that I have created, require the latest version of Final Cut Pro X. To install expand the ZIP archive and add the folder to the Motion Templates folder in the Movies folder of your home directory. Add Effects to the Effects folder and Transitions to the Transition Folder.

  11. oz said on May 21st, 2012:

    i put it in movie folder in motions but its still not coming up in final cut
    what do you mean by add effects to effects folder

  12. oz said on May 23rd, 2012:

    figured it out

  13. Yung Spec . said on June 16th, 2012:

    i tried downloading the zip and when i open it it is empty. what im i doin wrong?

  14. Mikey said on June 24th, 2012:

    have you tried to download it again? I just downloaded and everything worked for me.

  15. LEGEND said on July 13th, 2012:

    DO I NEED MOTION FOR THIS? I ONLY HAVE FCX

  16. LEGEND said on July 13th, 2012:

    i got motion now how do i add the effect to FCX..i put it in the motions effect folder and its still not working!

  17. matt said on August 21st, 2012:

    i dont understand adding effects to effects and transitions to transitions folders… those folders arent in the downloaded zip folder

  18. Mikey said on August 24th, 2012:

    Hey Matt,

    Thanks for your reply. It finally made me get up and create installers for all of my effects. If you come back to the page, you can download the new installer so you dont have to figure out where to install it at.

  19. Francisco Sanchez said on August 29th, 2012:

    God bless you bro, I understand all what you said, what i did was i applied your flicker/blink effect then added some blinking light to it. People just need to learn stuffs sometimes after having t for free. god bless you and you da best bro

  20. amani said on October 28th, 2012:

    Hey bro,
    Thx for plug-in Fliker i downloaded but i tried to adjust the key frame on FC x i didnt get the effects i want was too slow blinking and not fast like the music video u made i need help to know what i did wrong.
    Thx in advanve

  21. zaK said on January 29th, 2013:

    whoa! thanks.

  22. Mudh said on February 6th, 2013:

    Thank you Mike for this,I’m using it in my project…just that if the speed could have been faster beyond 100…some drum beats could have been more justified but thanks for this gift…..

  23. OSCLOUD said on February 27th, 2013:

    still doesnt work

  24. OSCLOUD said on February 27th, 2013:

    RIGHT OK OK OK IM SORRY IM A DORK I WAS LOOKING IN THE WRONG PLACE THANK YOU SO MUCH XXXXX

  25. Milla said on March 2nd, 2013:

    Hello, can this effect be used to fix a flicker problem i.e. de-flicker? FCP X has lost both de-flickering and de-interlacing options.
    Thanks for ideas

  26. Mikey said on March 2nd, 2013:

    This is not a de-interlacing or de-flickering plugin but I can make one

  27. mill said on March 25th, 2013:

    thankkkkk you!!!!!!!!

  28. brandon said on May 6th, 2013:

    Can you post a video or screen shots on how to get it to show in Final Cut Pro X. Im still trying to figure out how to do it.

  29. brandon said on May 6th, 2013:

    Can you post a video or screen shots on how to get it to show in Final Cut Pro X. Im still trying to figure out how to do it.

  30. Tabea said on May 13th, 2013:

    Thank you!!!

  31. JAN said on May 30th, 2013:

    Helo.

    This whas the greatest thing ever! But The amount is already max. And you cant do it quicker ?? or can u 😉 ??

  32. Veronica said on July 19th, 2013:

    THANK YOU! This is exactly what i’ve been looking for! I have one question tho, can it go any faster? and how can i sync it to the beat of the music…

  33. Dan said on October 21st, 2013:

    Thank you so much for this tool! Is it possible to increase the speed up to a stroboscope effect?

  34. just me said on October 24th, 2013:

    Does this plugin work for mac?

  35. Jan said on October 28th, 2013:

    Hello,

    Is it right that the plug-in doesn’t work on the latest version of FCPX? I’m running on OSX Mavericks. My mac can’t run the downloaded program, when i dubble click nothing happens. Thank you

  36. Shaun said on April 1st, 2014:

    THANKS!!!

  37. vegas said on August 1st, 2014:

    did anybody figure out how to make it flicker faster?

  38. MIke said on September 18th, 2014:

    Great job! Thank you!!!

  39. Robby said on October 26th, 2014:

    Thanks so much for this. I can drag the layer to my image, but I don’t have any controls for it.

  40. Robby said on October 27th, 2014:

    I also found exactly what I needed. This is really nice work.

  41. Erubiel Zurita said on October 27th, 2014:

    Muchas gracias amigo

  42. Ian said on December 10th, 2014:

    Hi, I’ve downloaded the plugin however you mentioned it needs to be added to Motion folder.. where is that? I only have FCx.. any help would be great. thanks.

  43. Brett Turner said on March 18th, 2015:

    Fantastic! Sometimes only does a slow flicker that doesn’t change with the speed adjustment but works 80% – 90% of the time. Have a burger on me this will save no end of hassle. Cheers!

  44. Mak said on June 11th, 2015:

    Thanks! I am doing a firelit scene and have been scouring the web for a solution. This will be perfect! Website online August 2015… http://www.shadowinthesnow.com
    cheers

  45. JJ said on November 4th, 2015:

    Sweet! I was looking for a good flicker and found it here. Thanks much.

  46. JU WORLD said on February 5th, 2016:

    TRYING TO FIND THE OLD VHS PLUG IN CAN YOU RECOMMEND ME ONE

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