Effects and transitions

Chroma Min Specifies the lowest saturation for the colors in an image.

Chroma Max Specifies the maximum saturation for the colors in an image.

Signal Min Specifies the minimum video signal including both brightness and saturation.

Signal Max Specifies the maximum video signal including both brightness and saturation.

Reduction Method Lets you compress specific tonal ranges to preserve detail in important tonal ranges (Highlights Compression, Midtones Compression, Shadows Compression, or Highlights and Shadows Compression) or compress all tonal ranges (Compress All). Compress All is the default.

Tonal Range Definition Defines the tonal range of the shadows, midtones, and highlights in a clip. Drag the square sliders to adjust the threshold values. Drag the triangle sliders to adjust the amount of softness (feathering).

Shadow Threshold, Shadow Softness, Highlight Threshold, Highlight Softness Determine the threshold and softness of the shadows, midtones, and highlights in a clip. Enter values or click the triangle next to the option name and drag the slider.

More Help topics

“Adjust color and luminance using curves” on page 318

Distort effects

Bend effect (Windows only)

The Bend effect distorts a clip by producing the appearance of a wave traveling both vertically and horizontally through the clip. You can produce a number of different wave shapes at various sizes and rates.

Direction Specifies the direction of the wave:

•Left Specifies that waves move toward the left.

•Right Specifies that waves move toward the right.

•Up Specifies that waves move upward.

•Down Specifies that waves move downward.

•In Specifies that waves move toward the center of the clip.

•Out Specifies that waves start in the center and move to the edge of the clip.

Wave Specifies the shape of the wave. Choose from a sine wave, circle, triangle, or square.

Intensity Specifies the height of the wave.

Rate Specifies the frequency of the wave. To produce a wave only vertically or horizontally, move the Rate slider all the way to the left for the direction you do not want.

Width Specifies the wave width.

Corner Pin effect

The Corner Pin effect distorts an image by changing the position of each of its four corners. Use it to stretch, shrink, skew, or twist an image, or to simulate perspective or movement that pivots from the edge of a clip, such as a door opening.

Note: You can directly manipulate the Corner Pin effect properties in the Program monitor when you click the Transform icon next to Corner Pin in the Effect Controls panel. Drag one of the four corner handles to adjust the properties.

Last updated 1/16/2012

Effects and transitions

Original image (left), corner moved (center), and final image (right)

Lens Distortion effect (Windows only)

The Lens Distortion effect simulates a distorted lens through which the clip is viewed.

Curvature Changes the curvature of the lens. Specify a negative value to make the image concave, or a positive value to make the image convex.

Vertical and Horizontal Decentering Displace the focal point of the lens, making the image bend and smear. At extreme settings, the image wraps in on itself.

Vertical and Horizontal Prism FX Create a result similar to vertical and horizontal decentering, except that at extreme values the image doesn’t wrap in on itself.

Fill Color Specifies the background color.

Fill Alpha Channel Makes the background transparent so that underlying tracks are visible. In the Effect Controls panel, click Setup to access this option.

Magnify effect

The Magnify effect enlarges all or part of an image. This effect can act like a magnifying glass placed over an area of the image, or you can use it to scale the entire image far beyond 100% while maintaining resolution.

Original image (left), and with variations of effect applied (center and right)

Shape The shape of the magnified area.

Center The center point of the magnified area.

Magnification Percentage by which to scale the magnified area.

Link How the size and edge feathering of the magnified area are affected by the Magnification setting. Setting Link to any value other than None disables the Resize Layer option.

•None The size and edge feathering of the magnified area don’t depend on the Magnification setting.

•Size To Magnification The radius of the magnified area is equal to the Magnification value (a percentage) times the Size value.

•Size & Feather To Magnification The radius of the magnified area is equal to the Magnification value (a percentage) times the Size value. The thickness of the edge feather is equal to the Magnification value times the Feather value.

Size The radius of the magnified area, in pixels.

Feather The amount of edge feather, in pixels.

Last updated 1/16/2012

Effects and transitions

Opacity The opacity of the magnified area, as a percentage of the opacity of the original clip.

Scaling The type of scaling used to magnify the image:

•Standard This method maintains sharpness in the image but produces pixelated edges at higher values.

•Soft Uses spline algorithms. If you scale the image beyond 100%, Soft reduces edge pixilation and maintains image quality. Soft works well at large magnification amounts.

•Scatter Creates scatter or noise in the image as the image enlarges.

Blending Mode The blend mode used to combine the magnified area with the original clip. The None option displays transparent pixels around the magnified area.

Resize Layer If Resize Layer is selected, the magnified area can extend beyond the original clip’s boundaries.

Mirror effect

The Mirror effect splits the image along a line and reflects one side onto the other.

Reflection Center The position of the line about which the reflection occurs.

Reflection Angle The angle of the line about which the reflection occurs. An angle of 0° reflects the left side onto the right. An angle of 90° reflects the top onto the bottom.

Note: You can directly manipulate the Mirror effect in the Program monitor. Click the Transform icon and then drag the adjustment handle.

Offset effect

The Offset effect pans the image within a clip. Visual information pushed off one side of the image appears on the opposite side.

Shift Center To The new position of the original image’s center point.

Blend With Original The effect’s transparency. The result of the effect is blended with the original image, with the effect result composited on top. The higher you set this value, the less the effect affects the clip. For example, if you set this value to 100%, the effect has no visible result on the clip; if you set this value to 0%, the original image doesn’t show through.

Spherize effect

The Spherize effect distorts a layer by wrapping a region of the image onto a sphere.

Here’s an example of using this effect in this video.

Transform effect

The Transform effect applies two-dimensional geometric transformations to a clip. Apply the Transform effect instead of using clip Fixed effects if you want to render clip anchor point, position, scale, or opacity settings before other Standard effects are rendered. Anchor Point, Position, Rotation, Scale, and Opacity properties function much the same as the Fixed effects. For more details on the Transform effect, see the topic “How to use other motion effects: Basic 3D, Camera View, and Transform” in the tutorial Project 7 Student Guides.

Skew Skew amount.

Skew Axis The axis about which skew occurs.

Note: In Adobe After Effects, the Transform effect includes the Shutter Angle control and Use Composition’s Shutter Angle option. Both controls are adjusted only in After Effects.

Last updated 1/16/2012

Effects and transitions

Turbulent Displace effect

The Turbulent Displace effect uses fractal noise to create turbulent distortions in an image. For example, use it to create flowing water, funhouse mirrors, and waving flags.

Original image (left), and with variations of effect applied (center and right)

Displacement The type of turbulence used. Turbulent Smoother, Bulge Smoother, and Twist Smoother each perform the same operations as Turbulent, Bulge, and Twist, except that the Smoother options create smoother warps and take longer to render. Vertical Displacement warps the image vertically only. Horizontal Displacement warps the image horizontally only. Cross Displacement warps the image both vertically and horizontally.

Amount Higher values cause more distortion.

Size Higher values cause larger areas of distortion.

Offset (Turbulence) Determines the portion of the fractal shape used to create the distortion.

Complexity Determines the level of detail in the turbulence. Lower values cause smoother distortions.

Evolution Animating this setting results in changes of the turbulence over time.

Note: Although the Evolution value is set in units called revolutions, it’s important to realize that these revolutions are progressive. The evolution state continues to progress infinitely at each new value. Use the Cycle Evolution option to return the Evolution setting to its original state at each revolution.

Evolution Options Evolution Options provide controls that render the effect for one short cycle and then loop it for the duration of your clip. Use these controls to pre-render turbulence elements into loops, and thus speed up rendering time.

•Cycle Evolution Creates a loop that forces the evolution state to return to its starting point.

•Cycle (In Revolutions) The number of revolutions of the Evolution setting that the fractal cycles through before it repeats. The timing of the Evolution cycles is determined by the amount of time between Evolution keyframes.

Note: The Cycle control affects only the state of the fractal, not geometrics or other controls, so you can get different results with different Size or Offset settings.

• Random Seed Specifies a value from which to generate the fractal noise. Animating this property results in flashing from one set of fractal shapes to another within the same fractal type. For smooth transition of the roughness, use the Evolution control.

Note: Create new turbulence animations by reusing previously created Evolution cycles and changing only the Random Seed value. Using a new Random Seed value alters the noise pattern without disturbing the evolution animation.

Pinning Specifies which edges to pin so that the pixels along those edges aren’t displaced.

Anti-aliasing For Best Quality Specify the amount of anti-aliasing by selecting Low or High.

Last updated 1/16/2012