Description of what the fx filters do?

Davidk101

Senior Member Location: Brisbane Australia Joined: Jun 24, 2020 02:38 Messages: 172 Offline

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Aug 25, 2020 19:00

I've been doing OJT on PD18 for about 2 months now and am just about ready to use the filters more seriously. But in another editor items I like (pan and zoom, contrast and brightness, stabilization, cropping) are filters, whereas in PD I've found that they are in various parts of the main workspace - not filters.
And I'm finding that the PD filters in the fx room generally don't have a name that is recognizably descriptive of what the filter does. For example, there doesn't seem to be a vignette filter in the list
Is there a description (maybe 1 or 2 sentences that describes what each one does) of the filters available? If so, where?

optodata

Senior Contributor Location: California, USA Joined: Sep 16, 2011 16:04 Messages: 8630 Offline

Aug 25, 2020 19:24

I think many of the things you're talking about could easily be labled as tools, settings, plugins or effects and I think there's bound to be variation in how each is implemented in various editors.

Complicating matters is that there are many different combinations of specific FX available in PD, and the selection is determined by which particular version you have (eg Ultimate vs. Ultra, perpetual license vs. subscription, and whether you've been using PD for years or if this is a new installation).

On one of my PD365 systems, I have 2 different vignette FX - one from Boris FX Film Style and the other from NewBlue Essential Effect 2 - but at least one of them is from legacy installations:

You may also want to read through this discussion and pay special attention to the incuded effects list linked to in the post by JL_JL.

I also think the best way to find out what each FX does is to apply to a clip or to the FX track and then take a look at the settings and how they affect the clip. I don't imagine anyone can remember where each and every one is and what it does, but you may run across some interesting ones that you can keep a mental or electronic list of for future projects.

There's also usually more than one way to accomplish any particular effect, and if you don't have either of the vignette FX you can simply apply a circular mask and set the feathering up to 7 or so to get a soft but obvious fade to black (or other color) effect.

This message was edited 1 time. Last update was at Aug 25. 2020 19:26

tomasc

Senior Contributor Joined: Aug 25, 2011 12:33 Messages: 6464 Offline

Aug 25, 2020 20:14

In addition to what optodata already posted, place a Boris (BCC) or a NewBlue effect on the timeline fx track under a video clip. Double click on the effect and an adjustment window pops up. At the very top are two buttons labeled Help and Information for you to click to get information on how to use the effect. Most of the other effects have a name that may describe the effect it does like Water Ripple and Wave.

Davidk101

Senior Member Location: Brisbane Australia Joined: Jun 24, 2020 02:38 Messages: 172 Offline

Aug 27, 2020 02:33

New Blue and Boris are in the list just 2 of many. So, I guess it's mostly try and see if you like what each one does. Sigh. I'd hoped for something a bit more definitive before the fact . . . .

PowerDirector Moderator

Senior Contributor Location: New Taipei City, Taiwan Joined: Oct 18, 2016 00:25 Messages: 2104 Offline

Aug 27, 2020 04:08

Quote ..................
Is there a description (maybe 1 or 2 sentences that describes what each one does) of the filters available? If so, where?

Hi,
Not within PDR but there is a full description for NB fx under their legacy products page if you have any:
https://newbluefx.zendesk.com/hc/en-us/categories/201359083-Legacy-Products

and for BorisFX try here:
https://borisfx.com/documentation/continuum/bcc-user-guide/

it's worth a look.

Cheers
PowerDirector Moderator

This message was edited 2 times. Last update was at Aug 27. 2020 04:13