Digital Video - February 2008 - (Page 13) shot of another clip. It also allows the user to composite the clip into one track of the combined scenes. At first glance, MatchMove appears to be a good timesaver. The steps to match a camera move often include motion tracking one piece of footage, then animating the rotation, scale, corner pinning and position to simulate the camera move of the original scene. Problems often occur when matching the perspective of the original footage and requires tweaking several ease keyframes and a good cup of patience. The first step involves placing both clips at the start of the timeline. You then apply MatchMove to the clip with the camera motion. It is critical to note that the filter does not recognize the boundaries set by the work area or In and Out points in After Effects and will attempt to track the entire duration of the timeline. This is easily resolved by setting the Start and End frame within the Motion Tracker section of MatchMove. If you wish to track portions of a clip that has been trimmed, you’ll need to precompose both clips first into a standalone composition. One of the great features of this filter is the built-in ability to transform motion after the camera moves have been “recovered” or matched. There seems to be no need for corner pins because you have complete control of the image using the Position, separate X&Y Scale, Tumble, Spin and Rotation within the filter to manage perspective. Even Blending or Transfer modes similar to those used in Photoshop, are part of the MatchMove filter to help make believable composites. One of my favorite bonus features are the Light options that provide highlights and edge lighting to the finished product. PAN AND ZOOM This filter provides a great way to add life to an otherwise basic static shot. Like UpRezing footage, this technique has its own set of challenges. Pan and Zoom was created as a tool to assist in that process and help iron out some of the wrinkles. The filter can even access files independent of the program’s Composition. You can read files from the system Desktop or any attached drive. It also includes the ability to match the aspect ratio of the source image. One of my favorite features is the ability to see both the original, unaltered image overlaid with a Heads Up Display showing the modifications. There are several ways to pan and zoom: using the mouse, table or by typing in the exact coordinates. The Preview Mode function shows the complete image in the www.dv.com Composition window. It seems very intuitive with very little trial and error. This filter provides several controls for transformation of the image including a variety of anchor point locations. It also includes built-in Motion Blur, but it may not be visible during Preview mode in some applications. There is also a Quality dropdown menu that uses a set of proprietary algorithms to improve the sharpness and smooth the resulting image. A great addition to Pan and Zoom is the built-in ability to visually display and tweak the motion curve. LED This filter does a great job of simulating the large video screens seen on the Las Vegas strip and on outdoor concert screens. You may not have much call for this type of effect, but when the time comes, you’ll find this filter easy to use with several options for fine-tuning the filter to your needs. You will need to make a number of adjustments to get the full benefit. COLOR CHOKER This filter adds a more dramatic look to an image clip, especially cloud scenes, when recreating sunrises and sunsets. The colors can be remapped through the many filter parameters either individually or together as an RGB group. Included in the filter is a checkbox control to convert images to monochrome before applying the built in color blur or choke. My goal was to create a time-lapse sunset scene. The steps included applying Color Choker to the clip, which by default does not change the image. Next, I altered the Input Black and White levels to add more contrast. Then I modified the Choke 1 parameter to add a little softness. After further tweaking, I was able to achieve some fairly dramatic results that could be animated over time and precisely controlled. SUMMARY The bottom line is that BCC5 seems to be a great addition to the arsenal of filters for most professional setups. Certain users may find that the complexity of a few filters will be a little challenging to use. The built-in help menus will be useful. When evaluating a purchase, matching the needs of current and future projects to the price and features of the product generally determines the decision to buy. Many users may find that the capability and time saved with the UpRez and MatchMove filters alone will justify the upgrade. DV dv february 2008 13 http://www.dv.com
For optimal viewing of this digital publication, please enable JavaScript and then refresh the page. If you would like to try to load the digital publication without using Flash Player detection, please click here.