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Sharpen — and other add-ons
In a moment of silliness, I purchased and installed Pixelan Blur, which includes a sharpen option. Now I wish I had not — though $29 does not break the bank. Once again, I find that what I can do within Vegas beats any add-on, such as Magic Bullet. At least for “normal” looking video.
What I have been doing for some time is render the project with each shot color-corected, if needed. Then open a new Vegas project, import the rendered video, copy it to another track, turn the top track to B&W using either Sony’s B&W or 6cc (one of the few outside add-ons worth getting, even if it’s very imperfect — see other posts). Add Sony’s Sharpen set to “medium.” Then, using the slider on the left side, reduce the level of this track to about 25%.
Then, on the lower full-color) track, add Color Corrector, and very slightly increase saturation to eye.
The result is a subtle apparent sharpening of the image, with no obvious artifacts.
I spent some time playing with the Pixelan Sharpen, and could not find a single setting that worked to improve a “normal” image.
Rick Wise
director of photography
Oakland, CA
http://www.RickWiseDP.com
email: Ri**@********DP.com -
17 Replies
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I use velvetmatter.com’s plugs as well as newbluefx.com’s and the extensions and plugs on vasst.com are excellent. Don’t write off third party plugs- a majority of them are useful and expedite workflows.
j razz
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Sorry about that Rick,
You could have reserved that cash as a make-up towards purchasing a more needed visual effects plug.Well,Yes, the more you use vegas, the more you find yourself discovering things you never knew vegas can do…this application is absolutely limitless….but the most impressive thing about vegas for me as an NLE is how well it does compositing that no other NLE can come near to match.
Well…lets hope now that whenever you feel that silly moment coming again you give your credit card to someone trustworthy to hide it until it wears off. (smile).
Steve Rhoden
Creative Director
TNX EFFECTS STUDIOS.
http://www.youtube.com/hentys -
Jeremy,
Indeed, i use all three and i treasure them highly:Velvetmatter: Especially has a defocus filter that emulates perfect depth-of-field that when used with vegas precise masking can create that cinematic feel to a shot.
Newbluefx: Especilly love its color grading and 3D transition effects.
Vasst: Its usefullness is too numerous to mention in one post.
Steve Rhoden
Creative Director
TNX EFFECTS STUDIOS.
http://www.youtube.com/hentys -
Thanks, Steve. My wife would love to take over control of my spending….
About your “favorite” add-ons, I can’t find anything there that you can’t do within Vegas. I must be missing something. I hate to argue with those who know much, much more than I do. On this topic, my knowledge is limited. Nevertheless, I just have to say, “show me….” Show me something there is no way to do within Vegas.
Rick Wise
director of photography
Oakland, CA
http://www.RickWiseDP.com
email: Rick@RickWiseDP.com -
Rick,
Even as jeremy pointed out in his above post…”a majority of them are useful and expedite workflows”.
You have to understand Rick that vegas can achieve many things as i
have said in my previous post, But plugins make the work flow
a little more varied and speedy…..and with more than one option to
achieve a certain look or feel it opens up a wider channel for you
to be creative to create variations and different styles to your projects that you create. You need variations.Steve Rhoden
Creative Director
TNX EFFECTS STUDIOS.
http://www.youtube.com/hentys -
quote: “show me….” Show me something there is no way to do within Vegas.
Rick Wise “end quote
What about video stabilisation? Motion tracking? Import of 3D objects? etc….
Theo
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Ha! You got me there!
Rick Wise
director of photography
Oakland, CA
http://www.RickWiseDP.com
email: Rick@RickWiseDP.com -
Good points Theo.
You definitely need plugins for those task…can you imagine
motion tracking or rotoscoping say a 3 minute scene and have to be
adjusting each point in the mask, frame by frame….
That spells suicide right there.
And speaking of stabilization, “Mercalli by Prodad” is a life saver
for me at times.Steve Rhoden
Creative Director
TNX EFFECTS STUDIOS.
http://www.youtube.com/hentys -
Mercali looks to be terrific. What do you guys like for Motion Tracking?
Rick Wise
director of photography
Oakland, CA
http://www.RickWiseDP.com
email: Rick@RickWiseDP.com -
note: Mercalli is 50% off the pro version at the moment, via Digital Juice site – $59
🙂
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