OpenFX plugins

Use film and finishing plugins on a photo.

The direct download of Flare opens OpenFX plugins — the effects colourists use in DaVinci Resolve — on the selected layer of a photograph. Here are the popular ones, what each is for and where to get it.

Plugins used with Flare.

Flare has been checked with these plugins. Each one is made and sold by its own maker; the links go to their sites.

Paid · free trial

Dehancer

Dehancer · film emulation

Give a portrait or a travel series the colour of a real film stock. Dehancer offers more than 60 film profiles with grain, halation and bloom. Install the OFX edition sold for DaVinci Resolve; Flare shows its film and camera pickers and the plugin’s own licence messages.

Paid · 14-day trial

Filmbox

Video Village · film emulation

Rebuild the full photochemical chain — negative, print, grain and halation — on a digital photograph. Filmbox Looks is the simpler edition; Filmbox Pro exposes every stage.

Paid · free trial

Look Designer

Colourlab Ai · look development

Design a look from motion-picture negative and print stocks with subtractive colour, then reuse it across a shoot so every frame matches.

Paid · free demo

Neat Video

Neat Video · noise reduction

Clean a high-ISO night shot or a scanned frame. Neat Video profiles the noise in a flat area of the picture and removes it while keeping fine detail.

Free

spektrafilm OFX

Open source · film simulation

A spectral film simulation with negative, print and scan stages, grain, halation and diffusion. Distributed as source code: build it on your Mac with the included script.

Free · open source

openfx-misc

Natron project · everyday effects

The effects that ship with the Natron compositor: colour correction, hue curves, denoise and sharpen, noise, inpainting, god rays and many more. A good first set to try without buying anything.

More popular OpenFX plugins.

Widely used effects that ship in OpenFX format for Mac. Use the maker’s trial to check the effect in Flare before buying a licence.

Paid · watermarked trial

FilmConvert Nitrate

FilmConvert · film stocks and grain

Film stock emulation matched to your camera, with adjustable grain and film curves. The OFX edition runs on Apple silicon.

Paid · free trial

Sapphire

Boris FX · glows, flares and stylised effects

A large library of lighting and stylise effects: glows, lens flares, light leaks, film damage and blurs.

Paid · free trial

Continuum

Boris FX · restoration and finishing

Image restoration, film looks, lights, blurs and titling effects in one collection.

Free, open-source plugins.

These OpenFX plugins are free and open source. Install each one from its project page, then find it in Filter ▸ Plug-ins. Each plugin carries its own open-source licence.

Free · MIT

purzOS OFX

purzbeats · retro, glitch and film looks

64 OpenFX effects: halation, bloom, grain, CRT-VHS, pixel sort, glitch and film looks among them. Built for Apple silicon.

Free · MIT

OpenNR Denoise

control-z.org · noise reduction

Noise reduction for photos and image sequences.

Free · MIT

Buckswood Deband

Ludwig Kienle · debanding

Debanding filter from the Buckswood post-production plug-in set: cleans banding out of smooth gradients.

Free · GPL-3.0

KeystoneOFX

wbrisenold · colour grading

Colour grading for ARRI Wide Gamut 4 / LogC4 material: match, white balance, tone, colour, density, split tone, look, skin and finish.

Free · MIT

Stoatworks Tilter

Stoatworks Labs · tilt-shift

Tilt-shift lens with a simulated aperture.

Free · MIT

Stoatworks Abomerration

Stoatworks Labs · chromatic aberration

Simulated chromatic aberration.

Free · MIT

Stoatworks Macroblock

Stoatworks Labs · chroma subsampling

Chroma subsampling at any level.

Free · MIT

Stoatworks Vertigo

Stoatworks Labs · dolly zoom

The dolly-zoom (Vertigo) effect.

Free · MIT

Stoatworks Cogwheel

Stoatworks Labs · spirograph

Spirograph generator built as a mechanical simulation.

Free · MIT

Stoatworks Gaffer

Stoatworks Labs · depth-driven lens

Simulated lens driven by a depth map.

Free · MIT

Boilify

Microck · heat distortion

Boil / heat-distortion effect.

Free · MIT

NP QRcoder

nikita-petrovich · QR codes

QR-code generator for OpenFX hosts.

Make a start

Install a plugin and apply it.

  1. Install the plugin from its maker
    Run the maker’s installer, or follow the instructions of an open-source plugin, so that its .ofx.bundle ends up in /Library/OFX/Plugins (all users) or ~/Library/OFX/Plugins (this user). Complete the maker’s licence setup.
  2. Find it in Filter ▸ Plug-ins
    Installed plugins appear in Filter ▸ Plug-ins.
  3. Adjust and apply
    Select a layer, choose the plugin, tune its controls in the dialog and apply. The result lands on the layer, with History to step back.
Good to know

Before you buy a plugin.

Which Flare do I need?

The direct download. Mac App Store rules do not allow an app to load third-party plugins, so the Store copy does not have this menu.

Are the plugins included?

No. Install them separately and obtain any licence their maker requires. Flare’s own filters and adjustments work without them.

Will every OpenFX plugin work?

These plugins are written for video applications, and makers test them there. Compatibility and speed depend on the plugin, its version and your Mac — try the trial on your own photos first, and tell us what you find on Discord.

Get Flare with OpenFX support.

The direct download updates itself from inside the app.

Direct download: version 26.7macOS 14.6 or later · Apple siliconAll features

Dehancer, Filmbox, Look Designer, Neat Video, FilmConvert, Sapphire, Continuum and the other names on this page are trademarks of their respective owners. Rainbow Factory is not affiliated with them.