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What host products and versions are supported? Sapphire Plug-ins version 2 should work on the following AE plug-in compatible host products and versions. They may also work with others but we have not tested them yet. If you try them on other products or versions, please let us know how it goes!
* Support for Apple Final Cut Pro and Motion is improved with the FxPlug version of Sapphire. We recommend using that instead. ** Please see info below regarding XPRI and Lightworks support issues. *** Sales and support for Quantel products are provided by VDS.
Yes, Sapphire version 2 has been tested and works well with Mac OS 10.5 Leopard. Sapphire version 1 has some installation issues on Leopard. Please see the v1 support page for more info.
Yes, on After Effects, Premiere Pro, Combustion, and Fusion, you can load projects saved with Sapphire 1 effects and they should automatically convert to use Sapphire v2. On FCP, most effects will convert, but not all (see FCP specific info below). One exception to this is ZDepthCueBlur, because it has been changed and renamed to ZBlur. If you require loading v1 projects that include ZDepthCueBlur, and can't easily replace them with ZBlur, please contact us for a custom solution to this. Please note that projects saved with Sapphire v2 will not necessarily load properly with the older Sapphire v1, due to the new effects and new parameters that have been added in Sapphire v2.
No, the Sapphire v2 installer will replace Sapphire v1. This prevents confusion from multiple copies of the same effects, and allows your saved projects to automatically use the new version (with some exceptions on FCP).
First uninstall Sapphire v2: Then reinstall Sapphire v1 using the 1.10 Windows installer or the 1.10 Mac installer, and re-enter your serial number.
Online documentation for Sapphire Plug-ins is normally installed on your machine along with the software and is available in HTML and PDF formats. It includes some general information about how to load and use plug-ins, and also includes a page for each effect with an example image, description of what each parameter does, and links to related effects. You can access this documentation directly from your workstation even if it is not connected to the internet. On Windows go to Start -> All Programs -> GenArts Sapphire AE -> Online Help (HTML) or (PDF). On Mac go to the Applications/GenArtsSapphireAE folder and double click on Online Help.html or .pdf. An "About" box is also available directly from the plug-in, which provides information about the plug-in, your license status, and links that bring up online documentation in your HTML browser.
This usually indicates your free trial period has ended, or the expiration date of your serial number has been reached. Go to the "About" dialog while using any plug-in, and it should tell you when it expired. If you acquire and enter a new valid serial number, the results should return to normal. Otherwise, please review the following list.
In After Effects 7 or CS3 with Sapphire 2.0 or 2.01, if you apply a plug-in on an adjustment layer and then apply a mask or reduce the opacity, it can make your entire comp transparent instead of fading the effect back to the original as expected. This is a known problem in Adobe's implementation of Smart Fx, which has been worked-around in Sapphire 2.02. If you install the most recent version for Windows or Mac and still see this problem, please let us know.
If you disable your Ethernet connection in the Network Connections control panel, Sapphire may become unlicensed and render only black with a watermark because it is unable to find the Machine ID of your workstation. To re-enable, go to Start -> Control Panel -> Network Connections, right click on your disabled connection, and select Enable. If you want to work without a network connection for security reasons, you can just unplug the network cable but still leave the network adapter enabled.
Yes. Sapphire Plug-ins for AE are licensed per machine, so one serial number allows you to use them on multiple AE compatible host applications on the same computer. For example if you have AE, FCP, and Combustion installed on the same machine, all of those products should be able to access Sapphire Plug-ins. However a separate license is required to run Sapphire Plug-ins on other host products that do not accept AE style plug-ins, such as Avid or Shake, even if they are on the same machine. If you install a new host application on your machine, you will probably need to re-install Sapphire Plug-ins afterwards, so the new application can locate the plug-ins.
It is possible to transfer your serial number to a new machine. To do this, first uninstall Sapphire Plug-ins from your old machine. During the uninstall, select the option to register that uninstall via the web. As long as the uninstall is successfully registered, you should then be able to install your serial number on the new machine. The license is cross-platform so you can transfer a serial number between Windows and Mac systems in this way.
Unless your serial number includes a "-r" value, it can be run on only one machine at a time. You can transfer a serial number to a new machine by uninstalling the software on the old machine, selecting the option to register that uninstall, and then reinstalling on the new machine. In some cases you may be permitted to install the serial number on a second computer, but we recommend you reserve that in case your Ethernet ID changes, or in case you no longer have access to an old machine to perform an uninstall.
Most Sapphire 1 effects will load fine in FCP when using Sapphire 2, but unfortunately FCP can't properly convert those that have had new parameters added from v1 to v2. If this problem occurs you will see a warning message when you open the project, and the effect will load with incorrect parameter values. After Effects and other host applications do not have this issue, only FCP. The effects with new parameters are as follows: Blur, BlurChannels, BlurChroma, DefocusPrism, Distort, DistortBlur, DistortChroma, DistortRGB, EdgeFlash, Glare, Layer, Lensflare, LensflareAutotrack, MotionDetect, RackDefocus, RackDfComp, Sharpen, WarpPerspective, and WarpTransform. There are two possible workarounds for this:
FCP does not support using AE effects directly as FCP transitions. The FxPlug version of Sapphire Plug-ins does allow this, and we recommend using that instead with FCP. To to use the AE version of a Sapphire Plug-in as a transition in FCP, stack the two clips on two video tracks so they overlap. Then cut the top clip at the point where the transition should start or stop, and apply the effect to the top clip. For transition effects that can affect both the foreground and background clips (such as Dissolve Vortex or Dissolve Blur) also drag the bottom clip into the background well. Adjust the Transition Dir parameter to make the transition go in the desired direction. If you want the transition to occur smoothly for the entire length of the top clip as cut, you can select the Auto Trans option in the plug-in. Otherwise, just keyframe the Wipe Percent or Dissolve Percent parameter as needed. Note that many other Sapphire Plug-ins can also be used as transitions when applied like this, not just the ones in the Sapphire Transitions category.
For FCP on Mac Intel, alternate frame access fails in preview mode when using AE plug-ins and the DV codec. If you use a DV codec in either AVI or Quicktime, the results are incorrect transparent green when a temporal effect accesses a non-current frame. It should work with an Uncompressed or H.264 codec, and it's also fine even with the DV codec in the final render. This problem should not occur with the FxPlug version of Sapphire Plug-ins, which we recommend using instead with FCP.
If a plug-in is applied to an FCP layer that is smaller than the final output, the plug-in will still only affect the area within that layer's size, and sometimes appear to be cut off. To extend the effect beyond the edges, just make a nest from the layer and apply the plug-in to the nest. One way to make a nest is to create a new sequence, drag your footage into it, and then drag this new sequence into your Main sequence to nest it. Then apply the plug-in to the nested sequence, and it should affect the area outside the original layer.
FCP can have frame corruption problems when an AE plug-in is applied directly to a graphic with an odd height, such as a psd or jpg image, and you are rendering on fields. The workaround is to nest the graphic in a subsequence, and apply the plug-in to the nest instead to the original image. This problem should not occur with the FxPlug version of Sapphire Plug-ins, which we recommend using instead with FCP.
Sony XPRI version 7.01b includes initial support for AE plug-ins, and Sapphire Plug-ins can be used with this. Note that the plug-in adapter in XPRI only accommodates a single image input to a plug-in, and the alternate Layer inputs are not displayed in the UI. This makes plug-ins that expect more than one input less useful. Plug-ins in this category include Distort, Emboss, EdgeFlash, Layer, FlickerMatch, and various Transition effects. However, since a Sapphire license also works with After Effects on the XPRI machine, it should be easy to jump over to AE and process there if you need an effect with multiple input clips.
Lightworks Touch 2.0 includes support for AE plug-ins, and Lightworks Q/A has tested Sapphire Plug-ins with this version. However, the AE plug-in adapter in Touch may not support all of our effects and features, so we recommend that you first test using the free trial of the plug-ins before purchasing for this host application.
On Windows: go to Start->Control Panel->Add or Remove Programs. Find 'GenArts Sapphire Plug-ins' in the list, and press the Change/Remove button. On Mac: go to the /Applications/GenArtsSapphireAE folder and double click on Uninstall Sapphire.
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GenArts and
Sapphire Plug-ins are trademarks of GenArts, Inc.
After Effects and Premiere are trademarks of Adobe Systems Inc.
Final Cut Pro is a trademark of Apple, Inc.
Combustion is a trademark of Autodesk, Inc.
Fusion is a trademark of Eyeon Software.
All other trademarks are property of their respective owners.
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