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Soft Contrast
Having searched countless forums (this one included), online tutorials, and books, I’ve joined Creative Cow to ask what is probably anything BUT a simple question:
I’ve recently switched from Sony Vegas Pro 9 to Adobe Production Premium CS5, and I’m finding it incredibly challenging to achieve the look Sony offered through the “Soft Contrast” plug-in. Summarizing what the plug-in could accomplish, it could “soften” video, add a slight “glow,” and then increase the contrast (all on sliders); and if that weren’t enough, a second tab introduced a powerful and flexible vignette (shapeable and movable in x,y coordinates). The plug-in greatly crimped performance (as expected), but the results were breathtaking.
SO, that leaves me wondering how to accomplish something similar through my copy of Adobe’s Production Premium CS5? Any input would be appreciated!
Brad
(And please know that I could care less about previous Adobe vs Sony vs… posts. All I’m interested in accomplishing is achievement of a “look” that’s not easy to achieve…aside from a plug-in not readily available in the toolset I’m currently attempting to utilize.)
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7 Replies
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Hi Brad,
Creating that exact look is extremely easy to do in Adobe After Effects with it’s native filter set and once you create a preset that you like, you just save it and then re-use it whenever you want.
However since you were using Vegas, than I am assuming you are looking for a solution that comes native in Adobe Premiere Pro, i.e. the editing program.
Sorry to have to tell you this but as far as I know there is no native plug-in that does this inside of premiere. You could of course create a clip and add all the individual “video effects” and tweak the settings and then any time you want to use it, copy and paste all those effects to the new clip. But this really is a hassle.
However Red Giant Software Magic Bullet Looks does all of this and more and it is just a one click application or a very diverse set of “look” defining tools.
You can download a free trial and check it out if you want.
There are several other similar products but that is my weapon of choice for the last several years.
Best,
Darius
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Darius,
Thanks for replying. And no, I’m not looking for a simple plug-in like the one discussed.
But I am looking for a solution within Production Premium CS5, as I don’t have money to pursue the other solutions you suggested.
Can you provide a list of the “effects” I’d need to use in After Effects to accomplish what I’ve described? That would provide me a great start.
Thanks,
Brad -
Darius,
Thanks for replying. And no, I’m not looking for a simple plug-in like the one I previously discussed.
But I am looking for a solution within Production Premium CS5, as I don’t have money to pursue the other solution you suggested.
Can you provide a list of the “effects” I’d need to use in After Effects to accomplish what I’ve described? That would provide me a great start.
And just for added info, I own a copy of Magic Bullet Mojo (great plug-in), but none of the “effects” requested are color related. Softening, glow… are rather tricky effects that I’m willing to learn in AE…and possibly pointing to the reality that I started this thread in the wrong place? 🙁
Thanks, sincerely,
Brad -
I’m a Matrox user and used to have a Matrox RT “Soft Focus” effect that is no longer supported with CS5, so I found a workaround that looks quite similar.
Put a COPY of your clip directly above itself, and apply Gaussian Blur to that top clip. By then varying the amount of blur, along with Opacity of the clip, it does a pretty nice job!
Jeff Pulera
Safe Harbor Computers -
Hi Jeff,
Before Vegas 9, that’s exactly how I learned to “soften” footage (while still retaining some sharpness). It was a great trick to fix noise issues resulting from low-light shoots with the now forgotten GL2. And maybe that’s the solution I’ll have to go back to. Bummer is that I have no desire to be a professional video producer; and when tools that worked easily are no longer readily available, I get nostalgic for the easy solutions I once relied on.
And no doubt the rise to 64-bit code left some things like your Matrox “soft focus” solution behind (as it did my “Noise Reduction” plug-in).
I’ve accepted that Adobe has great tools (particularly, Photoshop); I just wish their software was more intuitive and pared down with a few more easy fixes for people like me who don’t want to make a career out of learning the toolset. (Just venting a bit.)
Thank you for replying, and for reminding me of a past solution still readily available today.
Brad
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Hi Brad,
Matrox used to have dozens of GPU effects available with their hardware, but since CS5 took over the GPU for the Mercury Engine, Matrox dropped all GPU effects. Too bad.
Jeff
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Matrox video cards were once my favorite, even before the acceration you described. Now, with CUDA, I’m using what everyone else in the CS5 spectrum is using.
And hats-off to the higher end systems you guys at safe harbor build. I entertained returning to Apple last summer, but I couldn’t find a Mac laptop with a full HD screen (…at that time). But looking at your 12-core Mac, it’s tempting. (I’m currently running a 6-core desktop PC that does well enough, especially for AutoCAD and the stuff I get paid to do.)
Thanks again for the response to my question!
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