Burning Question: What in the heck is OFX? Updated #OFX #openfx

March 8, 2022

OpenFX, or OFX, is a standardized software interface between the host and plug-ins for visual effects, editing, compositing, and finishing. It is now widely used for visual effects and video processing and is supported by numerous hosts such as Assimilate, Blackmagic Design, Digital Anarchy, FXHOME, NewBlueFX, RE:Vision Effects, and more.

Where did OFX come from and why?

The OFX API was established because each developer had its own proprietary interface, so developers at different companies couldn’t work together share code very easily. Developers had to create their own method of porting their plug-ins into each host, which, as you can imagine, can be expensive and time-consuming.

Bruno Nicoletti of The Foundry got things going in 2004. Some of the founding members were from Assimilate, Autodesk, Digieffects, FilmLight, The Foundry, GenArts, and RE:Vision Effects. OFX was transferred to The Open Effects Association (OFX) in 2009.

The OFX are proponents for open standards between developers of visual effects tools for supporting a broad range of platform-neutral hosts. The focus of the group is:

to improve image processing
lessen development costs
shorten development time
reduce product support that comes along with supporting multiple compositing tools and NLE’s

If you’re a developer, join the Association and get access to early releases and help shape future versions of the standard. OpenFX members collaborate with their peers to the developer and extend the OFX API, a BSD open source license.

The Open Effects Association

OFX 1.4 Release Notes

OFX 1.4 Documentation

Updates to OFX `NEW`

v1.5	Upcoming	Significant additions include the OfxDrawSuite for drawing overlays without requiring OpenGL.
v1.4	21 January 2022	Add OfxDrawSuite for drawing image overlays without the use of OpenGL. Updated

The information comes from the release notes page on GitHub.

Hosts that Support OFX Standard

If you use any of the hosts below, plug-ins that you use may support the OFX standard.

Let me first stress the point that if a plug-in is OFX, it does NOT mean that it supports all the hosts listed below. It just means that the following hosts support the OFX standard.

OFX is a standardized software interface for developing plug-ins that support multiple hosts. OFX is NOT a host or host platform.

Assimilate SCRATCH
Autodesk Flame
Blackmagic Design DaVinci Resolve Studio
Blackmagic Design Fusion Studio
Boris Silhouette
Digital Vision Nucoda and Phoenix
DVS Clipbuster
FilmLight Baselight
The Foundry Nuke
FXHOME HitFilm Pro
Grass Valley Edius and Rio (with OFX-bridge, which enables Edius to use OFX effects)
InteractiveFX Piranha
Diamant-Film DustBuster+ and Diamant-Film restoration
Magix Vegas Pro, Magix Movie Edit Pro, and Vegas Movie Studio
NewBlue Titler Pro
Quantel Generation Q and Rio
Pinnacle Studios
SGO MambaFX and Mistika (MambaFX may be replaced with Mistika Boutique, waiting on clarification)
Sony Catalyst
ToonBoom Harmony

Open Source hosts that support OFX

Kaliscope
Natron
ShuttleOFX
TuttleOFX

OFX Plug-ins

Below, read a list of some of the plug-ins that already support the OFX standard. Undoubtedly, I expect this list to grow over the next year or two.

For more, see OpenFX (OFX) Compatibility

Developer	Plugins and Information
aeriform	MVRK
Boris FX Products	The current lineup of Continuum, Mocha, Sapphire, and Silhouette all support OFX. Bundles also available. Continuum and all Continuum Units Particle Illusion Mocha Sapphire and Sapphire Units Silhouette
Chris Vranos	Lockdown
CrumplePop	CrumplePop sells several "remover" and denoise audio plugins that are OFX compatible with DaVinci Resolve. AudioDenoise EchoRemover Levelmatic Pop Remover AI RustleRemover WindRemover
Digital Anarchy	Digital Anarchy Beauty Box Video Digital Anarchy Flicker Free
Drastic Technologies	Drastic Technologies MediaReactor
FilmConvert	FilmConvert Nitrate for OFX (DaVinci, Vegas) FilmConvert Bundle of All Plug-ins - includes the OFX version, among others
Frischluft	Frischluft Flair OFX Frischluft Lenscare OFX - Note: Lenscare currently does not support the latest version of Resolve/Fusion
ilumy Design	ilumy design Transition Master Basic ilumy design Transition Master Pro
FXHOME	Some products. Check their website for details. We no longer sell FXHOME products.
ISP	Robuskey for Video
Kognat Rotobot	More information
LightSpace CMS	More information
Maxon	Red Giant Magic Bullet Suite Red Giant Universe
Neat Video Pro for OFX	ABSoft Neat Video Pro for OFX
Motiva RealPerception OFX
NewBlue	All NewBlue plugins are OFX compatible. See the full roster here. NewBlueFX Titler Pro NewBlueFX TotalFX 360 Subscription or Total FX7 Suite Perpetual License
PowerProduction Software	PowerProduction Software Martini
Photron	Primatte for OFX
ProDAD	Some products. Check their website for details. We don't sell ProDAD products.
RE:Vision Effects	RE:Vision Effects Effections Bundle Plus. The effection bundle includes all of the products below, which are also sold individually. RE:Vision Effects DE:Flicker RE:Vision Effects DE:Noise RE:Vision Effects RE:Lens RE:Vision Effects RE:Map Re:Vision Effects RE:Match RE:Vision Effects ReelSmart Motion Blur Pro RE:Vision Effects Twixtor Pro
timeinpixels	False Color Nobe OmniScope Nobe Color Remap All timeinpixels products

Please note

There is another OpenFX and OFX for 3D, which is very confusing and completely unrelated. Although the other one is also open source, it’s an unrelated Windows API for 3D modeling.