Boris FX Sapphire Plug-ins 2026

About this release

Sapphire is the effects collection that has been sitting inside broadcast and film finishing for decades, and the 2026 release is the widest version of it. It installs into compositing applications, timeline editors and image editors from one package, so a look built on a shot in one application can be rebuilt with the same parameters in another without hunting for an equivalent.

The collection is enormous. Glows, glints, flares, light rays and bloom cover the optical side. Blurs, warps, distortions, shatters and dissolves cover transitions and treatment. Film grain, halation, gate weave, scan lines and print emulation cover the plate matching work that makes a graded shot sit properly against camera footage. Every effect renders on the graphics card, which is the difference between a look you can dial in interactively and one you wait for.

Presets are the way most people actually work here. Each effect ships with a large preset browser showing live thumbnails of the current frame, so you scrub the library rather than guessing at parameters, then take a preset apart once you have found something close. Saved presets travel between hosts alongside the effects themselves.

The transitions and builder tools sit on top. The transition builder combines several Sapphire effects into a single timeline transition with one duration control, and the mocha planar tracking module is bundled so an effect can be pinned to a moving surface without leaving the plug in interface. Parameter animation uses the host application's own keyframes, so nothing about the workflow becomes unfamiliar.

What it does

One installer, many hosts

Installs into compositing, editing and image applications together so a look moves between them.

Graphics card rendering

Every effect is accelerated, which keeps parameter changes interactive rather than a render wait.

Live preset browser

Presets preview against the current frame in a thumbnail grid instead of a text list.

Plate matching set

Grain, halation, gate weave and print emulation for sitting graphics against real camera footage.

Transition builder

Combine several effects into a single timeline transition driven by one duration control.

Planar tracking bundled

The mocha module pins effects to moving surfaces from inside the plug in interface.

Changed in this version

• New flare and bloom models with more physically grounded falloff.
• Preset browser rebuilt with faster thumbnail generation on long timelines.
• Graphics card rendering path reworked for shorter first frame delay.
• Additional film emulation stocks added to the grain set.
• Improved behaviour when effects are copied between different host applications.

System requirements

Install order

1. Install the host applications first so the installer can find their plug in folders.
2. Unpack the archive and keep the folder structure intact.
3. Run the installer and tick only the hosts you actually use.
4. Start a host once and let the effect list build before opening a project.

Worth knowing before you start

File details