The 2026 edition of Sapphire refines Boris FX’s long-standing effects suite with new filmic textures, advanced transitions and workflow improvements. The focus: creative control with physical authenticity. Let’s go throug the new tools!

FilmBurn: The analogue heartbeat

The new S_FilmBurn effect reconstructs the look of “over”non-traditionally”-exposed film using high-resolution scans of damaged celluloid. Instead of overlaying stock footage, the plugin generates procedural flashes, flares, and edge burns entirely within Sapphire.

Artists can combine multiple light bursts, tune flicker frequency, and shape each flash’s hue and softness. Additional modules replicate scratches, dust, grain, hairs, leader markings and sprocket edges. Each component is independently keyframeable and blendable via combine modes such as Add or Overlay.

Presets like Silver Halide or Sepia Sulfide emulate specific chemical film responses, while the FilmBurn Transition version extends the look into motion edits, replacing hard cuts with organic light wipes. The effect is available across all major Sapphire hosts.

MochaWhip: Motion with precision

MochaWhip Transition fuses Mocha’s AI-based masking with Sapphire’s Whiplash engine to deliver tracked, subject-aware whip edits. Foreground and background motion can be driven separately, allowing smooth hand-offs between clips. The transition suits fast-cut sequences and stylised energy transitions, integrating directly into the host without pre-compositing. And, you know, Mochas excellent Mask ML.

Pro Lens Flares: Eight new optical models

Sapphire 2026 adds eight handcrafted flares based on real cinematic lenses. The collection includes strong anamorphic streaks, diffused bloom effects and chromatic internal reflections. Each preset maintains physically-plausible flare fall-off and spectral behaviour, designed for both realism and stylised grading work. Use those as a ready preset, or change them to your needs.

Grunge Stamps: Real-world texture capture

The S_Grunge module expands with new scanned materials: oil paint, chalk, ink, sponge and other tactile surfaces. These high-resolution “stamps” supply a physical texture base for titles, motion graphics and surface distress work.

Effect Builder: Easier visual logic

The Effect Builder receives one of its most practical updates yet. Parameter links, the connections driving relationships between nodes, are now visually displayed. Lines appear between linked parameters, colour-coded to indicate driver and driven nodes. Hovering reveals contextual data about what controls what. This seemingly minor change significantly improves readability for complex, multi-node setups.

The Builder also consolidates preset browsing across all Sapphire effects. Users can search, tag and favourite looks globally, or isolate only those marked “new” for the 2026 release. Presets can be edited or rebuilt from scratch, then shared seamlessly between hosts. Parameters exposed in one application remain intact in another, enabling consistent pipelines across Avid, Adobe and Resolve environments. Combined with the new visible linking, this cross-host portability makes custom effect design more transparent and maintainable.

Builder presets and advanced nodes

New “Advanced Presets” demonstrate complex node combinations, using FilmBurn, DuoTone, and Hue-Saturation stacks as modular examples. Each preset exposes only the most relevant host parameters, reducing clutter for editors while maintaining full Builder control.

The improved Builder enables rapid prototyping: layer nodes, link parameters, and adjust controls visible to the host, then export the preset for facility-wide use.

Workflow considerations

The new film-scanned effects and multi-layer composites may increase GPU load. Tests should confirm playback and render speed on specific hosts. For predictable results in colour-managed pipelines (ACES/OCIO), users should verify how FilmBurn and Grunge interact with graded footage.

Availabilty and Pricing

Sapphire 2026 supports Adobe After Effects, Adobe Premiere Pro, Avid Media Composer and everything compatible with OFX-Plugin-Connections. The update runs on both macOS and Windows, with native support for Apple Silicon and modern NVIDIA/AMD GPUs.

Licensing remains subscription-based OR perpetual. As of publication, a new annual licence for Sapphire (Multi-Host) starts at 125€ per Moth, going down to 40€ a month anually, and perpetual licences from 2720. Existing users with subscriptions obviously receive the 2026 update at no additional cost. A free, fully functional trial of Sapphire 2026 is available via borisfx.com/free-trial.

The post Sapphire 2026: Film Burns, Whip Cuts & Builder Love first appeared on DIGITAL PRODUCTION and was written by Bela Beier.

Sapphire 2025.5 adds AI-driven masking via Mocha’s interface. Object Brush ML creates editable splines with a click, trackable via Mocha’s planar tracker. Matte Assist ML generates animated mattes from a single frame. Both tools enable fast, accurate isolation of effects like Glow or Zap—without leaving Sapphire.

VHS Damage: Retro Revival with a Modern Twist

Sapphire 2025 brings back the ’80s with its new VHS Damage effect, meticulously crafted using textures sourced from original tapes. This effect emulates the nostalgic look of analog video, adding authentic wear and tear to your footage.

Lens Flares: Eight New Ways to Shine

The Light & Flares category expands with eight new lens flares, enhancing your lighting effects arsenal. These additions offer more options for creating rays, glows, glints, bokeh effects, streaks, light leaks, and flashbulbs.

Visual Consistency Across Hosts

Sapphire 2025.5 delivers a unified UI overhaul across the Preset Browser, Effect & Transition Builder, and Flare Designer. The redesign includes optimized control grouping, streamlined parameter access, and GPU-accelerated UI responsiveness—enabling faster navigation, effect construction, and real-time flare design within a modernized visual framework.

OpenColorIO Integration

Sapphire 2025 continues to support OpenColorIO (OCIO) for consistent color management across applications. The Flare Designer and Builder applications now feature an OCIO panel, allowing users to manage color output confidently. Additionally, the S_OCIOTransform effect enables the application of OCIO transforms within any host application, bringing OCIO color management to platforms that have yet to adopt the standard.

Pricing and Availability

Sapphire 2025.5 is available through Boris FX. For detailed pricing information and to download a free trial, visit the official Sapphire product page.

Note: Always verify new features in a controlled environment before integrating them into critical projects to ensure compatibility and stability.

The post Sapphire 2025: Now with More Zap, Less Crap first appeared on DIGITAL PRODUCTION and was written by Bela Beier.

In this episode of Let’s fix it in Pod Christoph & Bela browse the FMX Programme and talk about their favorite picks. They are then joined by FMX project manager Mario Müller for a deep dive into what goes into planning an fmx and bringing it to life.

00:00:00 Intro
00:03:52 Mufasa: The Lion King (Link to FMX Programme)
00:04:53 Nuke: From it’s beginnings to today (Link to FMX Programme)
00:06:14 Watch your language! (Link to FMX Programme)
00:07:17 Fear and loathing in the age of A.I. (Link to FMX Programme)
00:08:29 Next-gen procedural city design (Link to FMX Programme)
00:09:00 Anamorphic Lenses in Witcher 4 (Link to FMX Programme)
00:10:15 Acting for Animators (Link to FMX Programme)/ Part Two on Wednesday)
00:11:22 Paul Debevec (Link to FMX Programme)
00:12:30 Building a state-of-the-art VR stage (Link to FMX Programme)
00:13:17 General recommendations
00:20:31 Introduction Mario Müller
00:22:39 The tasks of a project manager
00:24:41 How FMX changed over the years
00:29:59 Building a programme
00:33:38 How to deal with the hype train
00:42:24 The pros and cons of a hybrid FMX
00:46:56 Mario’s recommendations
00:47:48 The role of Paul Debevec
00:50:50 The metrics of FMX
00:52:26 The connection to the Filmakademie
00:56:09 The Rhythm of change
01:00:09 The only constant is change

Links

FMX Programme: https://fmx.de/en/program/program-202…
Schlesinger: http://www.schlesinger-int.de/

The post Let’s fix it in Pod 07 FMX with Mario Müller first appeared on DIGITAL PRODUCTION and was written by Christoph Zapletal.

In this episode, Bela and Christoph glint and glow a little bit brighter than usual… Thanks to plugins. They talk about the history of plugins, their place among other software extensions like Gizmos and Shaders and ask themselves if OpenFX is really the API to rule them all. They are joined by Brian Fox, Chief Marketing Officer at BorisFX. Brian takes behind the scenes on a deep dive into what actually goes into making a plugin come to life. In the news section the guys discuss Datacolor, Nuke 16 and Syntheyes 2025. And in a special tooltip Blea explains the ins and outs of google Alerts and RSS Feeds.

00:00:00 Intro
00:00:41 A good Artist doesn’t need plugins
00:02:37 There’s a dongle for that
00:03:35 Plugins on the masher
00:05:02 Every Flame needs a spark
00:07:52 The current state of plugins
00:13:43 Matchbox for Flame
00:17:13 Support from host applications
00:21:14 Nukepedia and the Gizmo community
00:24:28 Plugins in the 3D world
00:26:06 How to choose the right plugin
00:28:40 OpenFX and the Uber-plugins
00:34:12 Introduction Brian Fox
00:39:36 How to decide on a plugin
00:48:39 The difference between Sapphire and Continuum
00:56:06 Plugin vs. standalone
01:03:22 OFX – One API to rule them all?
01:11:08 How to depecrate a plugin
01:17:11 Training ML Tools
01:23:47 News Datacolor
01:25:03 News Nuke 16
01:26:08 News Syntheyes 2025
01:27:10 Tooltip: Google Alerts and RSS Feeds
01:37:38 Outro

Links mentioned in the Show

Once upon a time there was a Henry: https://digitalproduction.com/2024/10…
Nuke Survial Toolkit: https://github.com/CreativeLyons/Nuke…
Boris FX Discord:   / discord  
News Datacolor:https://digitalproduction.com/2025/02…
News Nuke 16: https://digitalproduction.com/2025/02…
News Syntheyes 2025 https://digitalproduction.com/2025/02…
Digital Production RSS Feed https://www.dropbox.com/s/41p4v64epzr…

The post Let’s fix it in Pod 06 Plugins with Brian Fox first appeared on DIGITAL PRODUCTION and was written by Bela Beier.