MotionVFX lens flare plugin mFlare 2 gives spectacular results with user-friendly UI

To create flares in Final Cut Pro X, you can buy a collection of “titles” and by positioning these get more or less what looks like a lens flare. But titles don’t move with the subject causing the flare unless you move them with it, using keyframes. That’s tedious and often not very accurate. In addition, most lens flare offerings don't even come close to the real thing. MotionVFX created mFlare 2, a plugin that uses the Mocha tracker to bind your lens flare to the subject that you want it to move together with. It's also pretty close to a real lens flare if you create an "Organic" one.

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The BBEdit 12 Review

The golden oldie for anyone involved in text editing, HTML and CSS coding and yes, MarkDown, has been upgraded with new and improved features once again. BBEdit 12, the oldest and best all-round text editor on the market has reached its 12th generation. Twelve is a magic number and that’s a good description of this new version too.

Powertraveller Mini-G: great robust battery for outdoors powering of two 5V devices at once

Powertraveller is renewing its robust Li-Ion battery range that is suitable for any type of environment. It released an upgrade to the Powergorilla, making this device 24,000mAh strong instead of the 22,000mAh older models were capable of. The recent release of the brand new Mini-G that is rated at 12,000mAh is the start of a flatter, more lightweight and newly designed offering.

Backing up or synchronising files on a Mac? You need ChronoSync 4.8

Here’s a puzzle: you’re shooting video or photos on location, using a CalDigit AV Pro 2. At your workstation you have a RAID system that you normally use for offloading images or video clips shot when in the studio directly. The AV Pro 2 is also used as a secondary offload drive for those studio-shot clips. That introduces a problem: how can you make sure — easily, quickly and simply — that everything on the AV Pro 2 is synchronised with the RAID? The answer can be to change your workflow, buy a new AV Pro 2 that’s going to be used only as secondary offload station, or buy a $50 licence to a software called ChronoSync.

CalDigit AV Pro 2 3TB of speed and silence

With its new storage product range, CalDigit takes a completely different approach from its competitors. The company seems to realise more than any other supplier that Apple’s portable solutions are poor in legacy connection capabilities. Hence, the upcoming T4 RAID system and the recently released AV Pro 2 single-disk solution will charge your laptop and adds a USB 3.0 hub to get more connectivity without adding extra devices.

Aurora HDR 2018: stunningly beautiful, realistic renderings of HDR and more control over the end-result

I wasn't yet tired of working with Macphun's Aurora HDR 2017 or the company announced its newest version, Aurora HDR 2018. It must be said, the new version looks better than the previous one, but the main reason why you would consider upgrading is that tone mapping has become more realistic, thanks to a new and improved algorithm.

The Carbon Copy Cloner 5 review and interview with Mike Bombich

Bombich Software recently released an upgrade to its backup and disk cloning application, Carbon Copy Cloner. Carbon Copy Cloner 5 offers complex task filtering, coaching tips, smarter pruning, task grouping and scheduling and more. It still allows you to create exact — bootable — clones of a startup disk and enables you to check if a backup or clone hasn’t been corrupted due to bit rot or other errors. And while I was at it, I had a short talk with Mike Bombich, the developer and publisher of Carbon Copy Cloner, on backing up, offloading and securing your backups.

The ultimate colour grading plugin for Final Cut Pro X: CoreMelt Chromatic

Turning Final Cut Pro X into a grading application a la Da Vinci Resolve is what Chromatic, CoreMelt's latest plugin sets out to do. It succeeds pretty well by cramming a lot of functionality into this full-blown colour grading solution. It's the only plugin that delivers the ability to select colour ranges right in the clip viewer, but to appreciate its power to the fullest, a lowly iMac such as mine won’t do.

iKlip Grip Pro: your stand, handle or “boom” for lightweight cameras, iPhones, mics and more

iKlip Grip Pro is a stand with an integrated detachable Bluetooth shutter control that can act as a tabletop tripod, large-grip video handle and a monopod handle, while the iKlip Grip can serve as a standard tripod adapter. The whole system is made of a combination of thermoplastic and aluminium, can carry weights of up to 1kg and extends to 62cm.

Toast 16 Pro has “Pro” interface, more apps for creativity and security

Corel Roxio quietly released Toast 16 with a new accessory app, MultiCam Capture. As tradition wants it, the Pro bundle includes yet other new apps, including FotoMagico 5, WinZip for Mac, Corel Painter Essentials and Corel Aftershot 3. I went through all of the new offering, but not without first taking a good look at the new Toast features. After all, the suite’s core still is Toast, the app to burn DVD’s, Blu-Ray discs and CD’s.