Migrating FxPlug 3 plug-ins to FxPlug 4

Migrating FxPlug 3 plug-ins to FxPlug 4

Migrating FxPlug 3 plug-ins to FxPlug 4 Update existing FxPlug 3 plug-ins to out-of-process FxPlug 4 plug-ins.

Overview

FxPlug 4 plug-ins run out-of-process, which means they run in a dedicated process outside the host app. Communication between the host and the plug-in occurs through an interprocess communication service (XPC) using IOSurface objects, which are suitable for sharing textures across process boundaries. Out-of-process plug-ins developed with FxPlug 4 have a slightly different structure than plug-ins developed with earlier versions of FxPlug. (See Using out-of-process FxPlug plug-ins).

In FxPlug 3, a plug-in was embedded within an XPC service, which was then embedded in a plug-in’s application wrapper. FxPlug 4 plug-ins remove the innermost layer, moving the actual plug-in code into the XPC service. Thus, you now have just two targets: a wrapper application and an XPC service.

If you developed plug-ins with FxPlug 3, you need to upgrade them to FxPlug 4 for compatibility with current versions of Final Cut Pro and Motion. Use the following process to update each plug-in.