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Sometimes...the muse just isn't there. Or maybe it is, but you can't identify exactly how to get her out of your head and onto the screen. My method of trying to figure out a way of translating an idea to a tangible or to fix a bad frame is to start 'jamming with various FX and see what comes out on the other side. Sometimes, an effect that isn't seen but only "felt" is the sensible thing to do.
Pixelan, one of the original plug in tools for the NLE, recently released their newest product, "CreativEase," to the world of Sony Vegas, Avid, Ulead, and Adobe Premiere users. Like SpiceMaster and SpiceFilters (other Pixelan tools) this toolset won't disappoint users.
Creatively selected tools coupled with carefully designed presets, these tools are a bargain. Broken down into "Packs," users can buy packs one at a time for a cost of $39.00, or buy all of the packs for a price of $129.00. Five packs in all make up the collection with 11 plugins total divvied up between the five packs.
Packs offered are: Time Effects, Grain Effects, Depth Effects, Blur Effects, and Color Effects. Although the Pack names sound generic, the specific plug-in names reveal more about what they actually do; PosterWise, ChromaWarp 2, OrganiBlur, BlurPro, RiseShine, FlowTexture 2, GrainPlus 2, SpatterFlex, StepMotion 2, and StepTime 2 are all fairly self-explanatory. Pixelan also has a couple of "Extras" that they currently offer with the entire suite of packs at no extra cost, including CleanCrop and 400 additional Spices, which give you even more geometries to work with in applying and masking these effects.
Like other Pixelan tools, these tools aren't for the mathematical genius looking for very specific color grades; they're for the artist in you. Yes, they can be used for color correction and image enhancements, but you won't find degree of angle or hexadecimal numeric values. Pixelan has apparently chosen to appeal to the creative side of users rather than the technical side. What's instantly accessible, even for the person that is opening the application for the first time, is a series of well-thought out presets. Clicking the small light bulb icon found in each interface calls up a submenu.
In some cases, a couple dozen presets will pop up, depending on the tool being used. This is by far the easiest way to get creative; using presets that Pixelan have provided for users. Unique to Pixelan, the presets are modular, affecting between two to five control parameters per plugin. So with just a couple of clicks, you can combine these section presets into hundreds or even thousands of professional effects quite easily. However, it's very fast to tweak presets to make them be exactly what you'd like them to be.
Additionally, clicking the small "?" found on each interface opens a deep and comprehensive tutorial for the product. In fact, that's one thing I immediately noticed about this product. The documentation is significant, so you'll want to be sure to take an hour or so to read about all the effect parameters and possibilities.
All of the effects are very organic. Whether used on video, stills, or titles, the possibilities seem endless once you start to combine effects. For example, combining the StepTime 2 and OrganiBlur created a beautiful organic motion in this baseball image from the Artbeats Sports collection:
If you're familiar with Pixelan tools, the image above might throw you for a loop; Pixelan has put their keyframer underneath a menu so that it isn't visible all the time, unless Preferences are set to attach it to the interface. I prefer it hidden.
All of the effects are keyframable, allowing users to set the amount of an effect. One new aspect of the Creative Ease tools is the "mixer" found in most of the tools. Note the Bezier curves in the CreativEase keyframing as shown above. The keyframe tool is unique as well, as it is tied to specific parameters in CreativEase. You can access various keyframe attributes by selecting the small "dot" to the left of any keyframable parameter. This isn't immediately apparent, so either be sure to read the tutorial on keyframing or be sure to select the keyframe target for each parameter.
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