• Quickstart
• Troubleshooting

Troubleshooting

COMMON ISSUES AND CONCRETE FIXES

Plugin doesn't appear after installing

Both Resolve and Premiere only scan for plugins at startup, and Resolve in particular caches OFX metadata aggressively.

DaVinci Resolve (macOS)

Quit Resolve fully (Cmd-Q, not just close the window), then run this in Terminal to clear the OFX cache:

rm -f ~/Library/Application\ Support/Blackmagic\ Design/DaVinci\ Resolve/OFXPluginCacheV2.xml

Re-launch Resolve. Backplate should appear in the OpenFX library on the Color page under "Backplate".

DaVinci Resolve (Windows)

Close Resolve, then delete the equivalent file:

%APPDATA%\Blackmagic Design\DaVinci Resolve\OFXPluginCacheV2.xml

Re-launch Resolve.

Adobe Premiere Pro

Restart Premiere. If the Backplate panel still isn't under Window → Extensions, check that the plugin is installed in the right location for your Premiere version, then check the UDT (UXP Developer Tool) console for load errors.

Sign in fails or device code is invalid

Device codes expire after 10 minutes. If you waited too long between clicking Sign In and approving in the browser, just click Sign In again — a fresh code will be generated.

• "Code not found" — the code expired or was already used. Click Sign In again.
• "Slow down" — the plugin is polling too fast. This auto-resolves; just wait a few seconds.
• Browser doesn't open — the verification URL is shown in the plugin status field. Copy and paste it into your browser manually.
• "Authentication failed" after a long time signed in — your token expired (90-day rotation). Click Sign In again.

Power Window matte doesn't carry through

This is the most common Resolve gotcha. Power Windows do not flow through OFX matte input clips — Resolve routes them through the source clip's alpha channel instead.

The fix: draw your Power Window on the same node as Backplate (or upstream of it on the same source clip). The matte arrives via src.alpha and Backplate composites correctly.

If you've wired a separate matte clip blue-to-blue and nothing happens, that's why — Resolve does not deliver matte data through that path even when it shows as connected. Move the Power Window upstream.

Dark fringe or feather artifacts at the matte edge

Resolve premultiplies the source RGB by the matte alpha. When the matte has soft edges (feathered Power Windows, keyed hair), the foreground RGB is darkened by the alpha — and then darkened again by the composite. Backplate unpremultiplies internally to compensate.

If you still see dark fringes:

• Check that your matte's edges are clean — over-feathering amplifies the artifact.
• If the foreground was shot with a green or blue spill, key with spill suppression first (Ultra Key has this; Magic Mask does not).
• For very low-alpha edges (< 5%), unpremultiplication is skipped to avoid amplifying noise. This is a deliberate tradeoff — lower the matte's softness if needed.

Generation fails or returns an error

Backplate banner colors tell you what happened:

• Yellow banner — generic backend error (timeout, AI provider hiccup). The token is automatically refunded. Try again.
• Orange banner — out of tokens (HTTP 402). Top up your balance.
• Red banner — auth failure (HTTP 401/403). Your sign-in expired. Click Sign In again.

If failures persist with a yellow banner, check backplate.ai in a browser — if the marketing site loads, the server is up and the issue is likely on the AI provider side. Wait a minute and retry.

Result has wrong colors or lighting

The AI model generates from your prompt and the foreground frame. Common issues and fixes:

• Too dark or too bright — add a lighting cue to the prompt: "soft natural light", "golden hour", "overcast diffuse light".
• Wrong color cast — name the color temperature: "cool blue evening light", "warm tungsten interior".
• Doesn't match foreground perspective — describe the camera angle: "low-angle wide shot", "eye-level", "looking down from above".
• Inconsistent across frames in a moving shot — generate once at a representative frame and reuse the result. Per-frame regeneration drifts.

For very specific looks, generate three or four times with the same prompt and pick the best — the model is probabilistic.

Token deducted but no result appears

If a token was charged and the panel shows nothing:

1. Check your account — if the deduction is followed by a refund entry in the recent activity, the system caught the failure and refunded automatically.
2. If only the deduction shows (no refund), the result was generated but failed to deliver to the plugin. Click Generate again — the cached result will be served free.
3. If neither applies after a few minutes, email billing@backplate.ai with your account email and approximate timestamp. We'll refund manually.

Out of tokens

The plugin shows an orange banner when your balance hits zero. Click Buy Tokens in the Account panel — your browser opens to backplate.ai/buy. Pick a pack, pay, and tokens land on your balance the moment payment confirms.

The plugin auto-refreshes the displayed balance after successful generations. To force a refresh, click Sign In again (this calls /v1/me and updates the panel).