Mix it Up: A Selection Of Video Special Effects Generators: Buyer's Guide (page 2)
Enter the Computer
One of the most exciting developments in prosumer-level video effects in the past ten years has come from a market that was once quite different from the one in which video equipment was sold. The desktop computer, with its ever-growing graphical capabilities, has spawned the desktop video revolution, which in turn has led to a blurring of the distinctions between the computer market and the video production market.
One of the earliest pioneers in the desktop video realm was NewTek, a company that made use of the video-friendly Commodore Amiga computer to produce the very influential Video Toaster. Essentially a computer-based switcher that required external TBCs to synchronize its sources, the Video Toaster had the ability to control numerous wipes, fades and transitions via user-friendly Amiga software. Aside from its obvious value as a provider of real-time transitions, the Video Toaster has a secret weapon: Lightwave 3D, a very powerful 3D graphics creation software package that has since achieved great heights on its own. Currently, the Video Toaster 4000 sells for $2395 ($4995 with the Flyer nonlinear upgrade.) Its continued success--even beyond the death of the Commodore Amiga computer platform--is a tribute to its usefulness as a solid video effects generator.
Those who delve into nonlinear editing on their home computers know that here lies the possibility for a multitude of variations in effects, transitions, composites and distortions. Literally thousands of plug-in software transition effects are available for Adobe Premiere, Ulead MediaStudio and other nonlinear software titles. These plug-in effects are an inexpensive way to upgrade an existing nonlinear editing workstation.
Another type of video effects software package is found in Adobe's After Effects 3.1, a very powerful compositor/effects generator that has been used by numerous television and film production companies. At $995 for the Standard Version, After Effects allows you to create perfectly timed, beautifully rendered composites of multiple digital video sources, still images, 3D animation and digital photography. Jumping up in price to $1995 is the After Effects Production Bundle 3.1, which provides the additional features of high-powered motion control, high-quality mattes and special effects with theoretically unlimited layers and movements.
Don't Overdo It
With all of these different visual gymnastics available for your videos, it's sometimes tempting to over-use video effects. In a word: don't! Remember, every effect has a certain time and place when it's appropriate, and no effect is good enough on its own to make a video more interesting. For most situations, cuts are the most appropriate way to get from one shot to another, and a simple dissolve can be used to convey passage of time or change of location. For other situations, a nice, complicated video effect is just what the doctor ordered. Knowing the difference between the two is what separates good videographers from people who just have a lot of fancy equipment.
Glossary of Terms
Blue screen
- A compositing technique that replaces all instances of blue in a video signal with a second video signal. See also Chromakey, Composite.
Chromakey
- A compositing technique that replaces all instances of a given color in a video signal with a second video signal. See also Composite, Blue screen.
Composite
- Any visual effect that involves the use of one or more layers of video or still graphics.
Frame store
- A device that captures one single frame of video at a time for the purposes of manipulating the image. Often found at the heart of time base correctors, video switchers and SEGs. See also Time base corrector.
Rendering
- The process of using a computer to digitally re-compose, frame by frame, one or more audio and/or video streams into a new, altered audio-visual stream with effects, edits, composites, etc. Rendering implies a less-than-real-time approach that could take many hours to complete.
