Rob,

Thanks very much for your kind words about our ULTRA Bundle for PowerDirector, which includes every PowerDirector plug-in we offer at an attractive discounted price. I am also happy to hear you are making good use of the feature depth of our plug-ins. There is a lot there to explore and try, indeed.

We appreciate your suggestions about window/preview size and font sizes, especially with the increasing use of very hi-res monitors now by nearly everyone. The interface of DissolveMaster and FilmTouch 2 are our latest UI efforts. Make sure the "Use largest preview" Preferences setting of each of those plugins is turned on to take advantage of your large screen. That will help.

Having adjustable plug-in custom window sizes and fonts is actually very tricky code, since we are dependent on what the host program (PowerDirector) will allow us to do successfully within its plug-in architecture. But we'll keep chipping away at the issue where we can.

Let me know if you have other comments or suggestions. Thanks again for posting. Sincerely,

Michael Feerer
Pixelan Software
http://www.pixelan.com

Since a lot of PD12 users have asked us about this, I've posted today a brief tutorial on how to apply our CyberLink PowerDirector plugins to a PD12 TITLE, which doesn't look possible at first glance, but IS very possible and handy! Applying our plug-ins to organically reveal/erode titles is one of the most popular ways they've been enjoyed by users on other editing platforms.

To see the technique, please go here:
http://forum.cyberlink.com/forum/posts/list/0/31503.page#172705

Thanks. As always, let me know if you have questions. I'm always happy to help. Sincerely,

Michael Feerer
Pixelan Software
http://www.pixelan.com

A test post

Hi Dafydd, I have been using Power Director 9 happily for many years, but I now wish to purchase PD 12 purely to be able to install Pixelan plug ins (in particular Creative Ease) However, I notice that there are several different versions of PD12 (Deluxe, Ultra and Ultimate I believe) and I need to know whether the Pixelan plugs ins will work on all of these different versions. many thanks, Sharon

Sharon,

I'll chime in here, even though you asked Dafydd. Yes, all of the various versions of PD12 work fine with all of our plugins. Sincerely,

Michael Feerer
Pixelan Software
http://www.pixelan.com

Thanks so much Michael, I can't wait to try them!

Quote: Elsewhere in this forum I've posted a brief tutorial on how to use our SpiceMaster plugin to organically flow/mask ANY other CyberLink PowerDirector 12 effect(s) over time. It is located here: http://forum.cyberlink.com/forum/posts/list/30591.page

If anyone has a request for other tutorials from us that our PowerDirector plugins might be able to solve, please let me know.

Note you can play with our demo versions for an unlimited time... they simply will show an X over their output, which will be automatically removed if you buy the plugin.

HI! is there a tutorial available for Creative Ease please?

Hi Boothros -

After you drag one of the effects to the FX track, then click Modify or Effect > Standalone Effect just click on the to access the help/tutorial guide.

You can also access it here http://www.pixelan.com/cehelp/CreativEase-HelpPDF.pdf

If you mean video tutorials, I'm unaware of any specifically related to PowerDirector.

Cheers - Tony
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Hi

Post removed Happing editing

Best Regards

Neil
CubbyHouseFilms
My Youtube Channel
My Vimeo Channel
PD3.5, 5, 6 & 7. Computer: Dell Dimension 5150, Intel Pen. 2.80 GHz, 2GB RAM, NVIDIA GeForce 8600GT 256MB, Windows XP Pro!!
PD8 Ultra v3022. Computer: Dell Studio 1747, Intel, i7 Q740 1.73 GHz, 8GB RAM, ATI Mob. Radeon HD 560v 1GB, Windows 7 Ult. 64
PD10 Ultra v2023. Computer: HP Pavilion dv7, Intel, i7 2630 2.00 GHz, 8GB RAM, ATI Mob. Radeon HD 6770 2GB, Windows 7 Pre. 64
PD12 Ultra v2930. Computer: HP Pavilion dv7, Intel, i7 2630 2.00 GHz, 8GB RAM, ATI Mob. Radeon HD 6770 2GB, Windows 7 Pre. 64
PD13 Ultim v3516. Computer: HP Pavilion dv7, Intel, i7 2630 2.00 GHz, 8GB RAM, ATI Mob. Radeon HD 6770 2GB, Windows 7 Pre. 64
PD16 Live v2101 Computer: HP Pavilion dv7, Intel, i7 2630 2.00 GHz, 16GB RAM, ATI Mob.Radeon HD 6770 2GB, Windows 7 Pre. 64
Director Suite 6: PowerDirector 16 Live, PhotoDirector 9, ColorDirector 6, AudioDirector 8

Cameras: Sony(s) HXR-NX5P, HXR-NX70P, NEX-VG10E, a6300 4k, HDR TG5E, GoPro 4 Black, Canon 6D DSLR

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HI! a colleague has Spice FX 6 for WMM and I love the ghosting and trailing effects it has. is there an equivalent version for power Director 12 please?

Post removed. Huh? Happing editing

Best Regards

Neil
CubbyHouseFilms
My Youtube Channel
My Vimeo Channel
PD3.5, 5, 6 & 7. Computer: Dell Dimension 5150, Intel Pen. 2.80 GHz, 2GB RAM, NVIDIA GeForce 8600GT 256MB, Windows XP Pro!!
PD8 Ultra v3022. Computer: Dell Studio 1747, Intel, i7 Q740 1.73 GHz, 8GB RAM, ATI Mob. Radeon HD 560v 1GB, Windows 7 Ult. 64
PD10 Ultra v2023. Computer: HP Pavilion dv7, Intel, i7 2630 2.00 GHz, 8GB RAM, ATI Mob. Radeon HD 6770 2GB, Windows 7 Pre. 64
PD12 Ultra v2930. Computer: HP Pavilion dv7, Intel, i7 2630 2.00 GHz, 8GB RAM, ATI Mob. Radeon HD 6770 2GB, Windows 7 Pre. 64
PD13 Ultim v3516. Computer: HP Pavilion dv7, Intel, i7 2630 2.00 GHz, 8GB RAM, ATI Mob. Radeon HD 6770 2GB, Windows 7 Pre. 64
PD16 Live v2101 Computer: HP Pavilion dv7, Intel, i7 2630 2.00 GHz, 16GB RAM, ATI Mob.Radeon HD 6770 2GB, Windows 7 Pre. 64
Director Suite 6: PowerDirector 16 Live, PhotoDirector 9, ColorDirector 6, AudioDirector 8

Cameras: Sony(s) HXR-NX5P, HXR-NX70P, NEX-VG10E, a6300 4k, HDR TG5E, GoPro 4 Black, Canon 6D DSLR

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Thanks for asking. Our time-based effects with ghosting or trailing effects are unfortunately not available for Power Director at this time. The plug-in architecture and minimum hardware requirements for doing that do not exist yet in the PD environment. Sorry!

Please let me know if you have other questions.

Sincerely,
Michael Feerer
Pixelan Software
http://www.pixelan.com
Sincerely,

Michael Feerer
Pixelan Software
http://www.pixelan.com

Hi Pixelan users,
Please check out the latest patch, there is a fix aimed at resolving a plug-in response time.
Improves response time when opening Pixelan Transition plug-ins.

Check out Pixelan by visiting (and buying) www.pixelan.com - click

Patch info: http://forum.cyberlink.com/forum/posts/list/39179.page#202196

Dafydd

Yes, this is very true and welcomed news. Good job, CyberLink engineering!

Our page that summarizes ALL of our CyberLink PowerDirector plugins is here: http://www.pixelan.com/cyberlink-plugins.htm

Please let me know if you have questions. We are also always very open to ideas and suggestions for other effects plugins that CyberLink PowerDirector users in particular may need. So please suggest here or directly to me at michael at pixelan dot com Thanks!
Sincerely,

Michael Feerer
Pixelan Software
http://www.pixelan.com

Micheal,

Color Matching / color correction / or some sort of auto color grading to match different scenes to each other would be a very welcome plugin.

I use your excellent FilmTouch 2.0 Pro and it does a really good job of individual scene color grading. However I, and others would like to color match one scene to the next.

thanks,

Rob
PD 14 Ultimate Suite / Win10 Pro x64
1. Gigabyte Brix PRO / i7-4770R Intel Iris Pro 5200 / 16 GB / 1 TB SSD
2. Lenovo X230T / 8GB / Intel HD4000 + ViDock 4 Plus & ASUS Nvidia 660 Ti / Link: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ZIZw3GPwKMo&feature=youtu.be

Thanks for the suggestion. Yes indeed, color matching would be a natural addition to FilmTouch Pro for us to consider. Sincerely,

Michael Feerer
Pixelan Software
http://www.pixelan.com

Quote: Thanks for asking. Our time-based effects with ghosting or trailing effects are unfortunately not available for Power Director at this time. The plug-in architecture and minimum hardware requirements for doing that do not exist yet in the PD environment. Sorry!

Is that because OpenCL?

We do not use OpenCL in any of our effects plugin code... it isn't flexible/powerful enough to do all the cool things we want to do in our effects plugins.

Sincerely,

Michael Feerer
Pixelan Software
http://www.pixelan.com Sincerely,

Michael Feerer
Pixelan Software
http://www.pixelan.com

I have been using the GrainPlus 2 plugin to try and add a bit of texture to my film, but it's a problem trying to get the grain to show up without it becoming a horrible blotchy mess. I can display it reasonably well on my screen, but only when rendered at ridiculously high bitrates, making it impracticable for a 30+ minute film, especially for web upload.

I tried some very short clips using all sorts of settings in the plugin and with different render codecs, but even at the highest bitrates PD12 provides, I find it impossible to get the grain to display properly on YouTube or Vimeo, even with their HD settings it's just a blotchy mess.

So is there a secret to using this plugin? Has anyone been able to display film grain on the above websites using this plugin with PD12?

Sorry to hear of the issue. Sounds like it might relate to source > output sizing... although streaming web codecs inherently make fine details such as grain mushy anyways. To help me answer better, please tell me your:

-- Source clip frame size
-- Final output frame size & bitrate
-- Web playback frame size

Sincerely,
Michael Feerer
Pixelan Software
http://www.pixelan.com
Sincerely,

Michael Feerer
Pixelan Software
http://www.pixelan.com

Quote: Sorry to hear of the issue. Sounds like it might relate to source > output sizing... although streaming web codecs inherently make fine details such as grain mushy anyways. To help me answer better, please tell me your:

-- Source clip frame size
-- Final output frame size & bitrate
-- Web playback frame size

Sincerely,
Michael Feerer
Pixelan Software
http://www.pixelan.com

Hi Michael, thanks for the speedy response.
Delayed action from here in in the UK!.

This is source info for one of my typical shots from the Panasonic GH3:-

Source Video
ID : 1
Format : AVC
Format/Info : Advanced Video Codec
Format profile : High@L5.0
Format settings, CABAC : No
Format settings, ReFrames : 2 frames
Format settings, GOP : N=1
Codec ID : avc1
Codec ID/Info : Advanced Video Coding
Duration : 4mn 0s
Bit rate mode : Variable
Bit rate : 70.0 Mbps
Maximum bit rate : 71.7 Mbps
Width : 1 920 pixels
Height : 1 080 pixels
Display aspect ratio : 16:9
Frame rate mode : Constant
Frame rate : 23.976 fps
Color space : YUV
Chroma subsampling : 4:2:0
Bit depth : 8 bits
Scan type : Progressive
Bits/(Pixel*Frame) : 1.408
Stream size : 1.96 GiB (98%)
Encoded date : UTC 2014-05-31 17:54:13
Tagged date : UTC 2001-09-15 07:12:15
Color primaries : BT.709
Transfer characteristics : BT.709
Matrix coefficients : BT.709

As previously mentioned I have tried most combinations of output formats and profiles from PD12 to try and get decent grain (I'm after the fine grain setting 0-1) although did try most of the available GrainPlus 2 settings, such as size, density, motion, colour, grey.

I tend to stick with the following PD12 custom render profile, as I find it provides a 'clean' image for my current film with few compression artefacts visible; however I would have to use slightly higher compression as my Vimeo Plus account is restricted to 5GB upload per week and my film is 7.32GB using this output profile:-

Output: Format : MPEG-4
Format profile : Sony PSP
Codec ID : MSNV
File size : 7.32 GiB
Duration : 32mn 42s
Overall bit rate : 32.1 Mbps
Encoded date : UTC 2014-10-19 19:46:42
Tagged date : UTC 2014-10-19 19:46:42

Output: Video
ID : 1
Format : AVC
Format/Info : Advanced Video Codec
Format profile : High@L4.1
Format settings, CABAC : Yes
Format settings, ReFrames : 2 frames
Format settings, GOP : M=2, N=29
Codec ID : avc1
Codec ID/Info : Advanced Video Coding
Duration : 32mn 42s
Source duration : 32mn 42s
Bit rate : 30.6 Mbps
Width : 1 920 pixels
Height : 1 080 pixels
Display aspect ratio : 16:9
Frame rate mode : Constant
Frame rate : 24.000 fps
Color space : YUV
Chroma subsampling : 4:2:0
Bit depth : 8 bits
Scan type : Progressive
Bits/(Pixel*Frame) : 0.615
Stream size : 6.99 GiB (95%)
Source stream size : 7.28 GiB (99%)
Language : English
Encoded date : UTC 2014-10-19 19:46:42
Tagged date : UTC 2014-10-19 19:46:42
mdhd_Duration : 1962789

You will notice that the output frame rate is changed to 24fps rather than the original 23.976fps, this is required for the audio to remain in sync throughout the duration of the film, as for some weird reason rendering in PD12 to this custom profile causes the audio to drift by the difference of the two frame rates. However when trying GrainPlus 2 the ouput frame rate was the same as the source frame rate.

Not sure what you mean re- the web playback frame size:
I'm viewing Vimeo and YouTube playback on:

Display Graphics: Display adapter type 2X NVIDIA GeForce GTX 680M
Total available graphics memory 12011 MB
Dedicated graphics memory 4096 MB
Dedicated system memory 0 MB
Shared system memory 7915 MB
Display adapter driver version 9.18.13.4411
Primary monitor resolution 1920x1080
DirectX version DirectX 10

I do like the film grain shimmer, but may have to accept that film grain will be unsuitable for web display with this particular film (or any?), and just go for the non-textured look, but must admit that I'm making good use of your FilmTouch2 Pro plugin (subtle look) and the vignette - one consolation :

If you can give me any pointers of settings and codecs which will work on preferably the Vimeo platform, that would be appreciated, as I have some 'shorts' in the pipeline, which I would like to give a very artsy, flowing look, with plenty of larger grain akin to the 16mm film.

Regards
Lawrence