Overview
Sapphire is the effects package that finishing suites keep licensed because the looks hold up under scrutiny. Glows fall off the way real lens flare does, light rays sample the plate properly instead of smearing a blur, and the film grain and halation models are built from scans rather than noise generators. Two hundred and seventy effects and three thousand presets ship in the package.
It installs into the host applications rather than running on its own, and this build registers for the whole family: the Adobe timeline and compositing applications, the OFX hosts including Resolve, Vegas, Nuke and Flame, and the Avid editing environment. One install covers every host present on the machine, and presets move between them because the parameter sets are shared.
The parts that get used daily are less glamorous than the flares. S_Blur and S_EdgeAwareBlur are faster and cleaner than the host equivalents, S_WarpChroma and S_Grain rescue compressed footage, the transition set gives a cutter something better than a cross dissolve, and Mocha planar tracking is built into every effect so a mask follows a moving surface without keyframing it by hand.
What it does well
Full effect library
Around 270 effects across lighting, blur, distortion, stylise, render, composite and time categories, with roughly 3000 tuned presets to start from.
Built in planar tracking
Mocha masking and tracking is embedded in every effect, so a lens flare or a blur follows a moving plane without manual keyframes.
Transitions
A dedicated transition set with editable timing curves that drops onto a cut point and previews in place rather than rendering first.
Film and lens emulation
Grain, halation, gate weave, anamorphic streaks and bleach bypass looks modelled from scanned stock rather than synthesised.
GPU rendering
Every effect renders through the GPU path, and the preset browser previews live on the actual frame instead of a stock thumbnail.
Changes in this build
- New lighting effects added with physically weighted falloff and per-source colour temperature.
- Preset browser rebuilt so it previews on the current frame without a render pass.
- Planar tracking module updated with better handling of partial occlusion.
- Render times reduced across the blur and glow families on current GPUs.
- Host registration reworked so a single install covers every detected editor.
What is in the package
- Sapphire plug-in installer, 64-bit
- Host modules for Adobe, OFX and Avid editors
- Preset library of roughly 3000 looks
- Embedded planar tracking module
- Effect documentation in the help browser
System requirements
| Processor | Intel or AMD 64-bit, 6 cores or more recommended |
| Memory | 16 GB minimum, 32 GB for 4K timelines |
| Graphics | GPU with 6 GB VRAM and a current driver |
| Storage | 8 GB free for the effect and preset libraries |
| Display | 1920 x 1080 minimum |
| Host | A supported Adobe, OFX or Avid editing application already installed |
Installation
- Install the host application first, the plug-ins register against what they find.
- Extract the archive to a local drive.
- Close every editing application before running setup.
- Select the hosts you want the modules registered into.
- Launch the host once and confirm the effect category appears in the browser.
Before you start
Installing a host application afterwards means rerunning setup so the module registers.
The preset library is large, keep it on the same drive as the plug-ins for fast browsing.
Block the licence check service in the settings panel so the configuration stays put.
Questions about this title
Which hosts are supported?
The current Adobe editing and compositing applications, OFX hosts including Resolve, Vegas, Nuke and Flame, and the Avid editor.
Is tracking included?
Yes, planar tracking is embedded in every effect rather than sold separately.
Does it render on the GPU?
Yes, the whole library uses the GPU path, with a CPU fallback if no supported card is present.
Do presets move between hosts?
Yes, the parameter sets are shared so a preset saved in one editor loads in another.
About this listing
This entry was checked on a clean install of Windows 10 / 11 (64-bit) before it was published, and it is rechecked whenever the package is rebuilt. The figures on this page come from the site index rather than from the publisher, so the download count is what people here have actually pulled.
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