Vee You: 8 Free Mac Plug-ins for FCP, AE and Motion

Roger Bolton Core Melt London, England UK ©2008 Roger Bolton and Creativecow.net. All rights reserved.

Editor's Note: Roger was kind enough to supply the elements for this article, but when I originally put them together, I failed to properly note what he had made very, very clear to me, that these plug-ins are Mac-only. The article has been updated to reflect that. My apologies for any confusion.
-- Tim Wilson

Veeyou was originally created when wearing one of my other hats, as a live performance VJ. 

For my work with the Inside-Us-All VJ team, I made a set of VU and EQ meters which reacted live to the audio for use on LED displays at some festivals in the UK: Secret Garden Party and Glade.

These effects were built using Apple's Mac-only Quartz technology for live display. A couple of months later I reworked them as plug-ins for Final Cut Pro and Motion, and now, for After Effects as well. The same Quartz technology and Core Image features in Mac OS X, makes them screaming fast on your desktop.

Plug-in descriptions:

VU Analog. An old school analog VU meter dial of the type seen on 1970's hifi's.  Use the presets and drop downs to choose a variety of markings and background gradient combinations for different looks.

VU Digital. A digital VU which emulates a fixed LCD VU meter.

VU Rolling Gauge. An analog VU meter which acts like a physically rolling cylinder gauge.

EQ Six Way.  A digital style EQ meter with six frequency bands. You can select from a variety of bar textures and gradient styles which are built into the plugin.

EQ 13 Way. A digital style EQ meter with thirteen frequency bands, includes the same bar textures and gradients as EQ Six Way.

EQ Simple 3D. This  set of 6 way EQ bars offers control of the 3D camera position and a range of built in bar textures and gradient styles.

EQ Pixelstix 3D.  This filter creates a set of EQ bars spread throughout 3D space with camera control and control of the color cycling and layout of the bars. It can create a huge variety of complex styles of 3D animation.

EQ Tower Cities 3D creates complex 3D EQ animations by repeating the six way EQ in various layouts and patterns. Try using the presets to see the huge range of styles this plugin can create.

What's the catch? There's not one. These aren't demos. They're fully functional plug-ins, offered with no watermarks, time restrictions or price tag.

Here are the steps. Start by downloading the Vee You installer.

No need for that step if you're using After Effects or Motion, although After Effects users should note, these plug-ins are Mac-only.

For more information, including sample AE and Motion project file and a demo movie covering all the filters, visit CoreMelt.com.You'll also find there a link to download the Quartz Source files for veeyou to use as realtime FX in VJ programs such as Vidvox VDMX or Troikatronix Isadora.

I  hope people find this an easier option than pointing a camera at your real world meters and recording it....