New free Avid plug-in

[JWRL]

Just a little tip.... Avid editors should check out DMN Forums if they haven't already done so. The address is www.dmnforums.com and apart from a wide selection of forums they have a free downloadable plug-in for Avid edit systems that allows similar flexibilty for video compositing that Adobe Photoshop and After Effects provides. It is called the Avid transfer plug-in.

With this plug-in (I believe originally developed by Discreet, but don't qyuote me) you can take artwork with an alpha channel and change the overlay mode from Normal to multiply, difference, colour burn, add, subtract, etc. etc. etc., It works a treat on my PC-based Xpress Pro, and I find that I need AE less and less. Give it a try!

[Daz]

Speaking of plug-ins, I REALLY recommend "Stage Tools" http://www.stagetools.com/index.htm
for anyone using stills. It's basically a replacement for rostrum, allowing you to use high quality picture files and zoom, pan & tilt to your hearts content. It's not free, but I've found the $US199 paid for itself on the first job and continues to earn me bucketloads of cash.

daz

[JWRL]

Daz, how does Stage Tools compare with the now bundled Avid Pan and Zoom? That can get the job done, but I for one find it unwieldy and not particularly intuitive.

It also suffers from the problem that it refers to the graphic indirectly. If you are accessing art supplied to you on CD or DVD and don't remember to directly copy that art to your PC and use it from there, when you remove the CD or DVD you lose the artwork from your edit!

[Matthew]

the exact address is http://images.digitalmedianet.com/projects/profoundeffects/plugins/free_plugins.htm

but you have to subscribe to thew DMN forums first.

MT

[Beth Akister]

Yes you do, but the subscription is free also

[JWRL]

DAZ, I've since downloaded the demo and compared it to the Avid version. Apart from the obvious ease of use its interpolation is also way better. Thanks for the tip.

[shilby]

The plug-in has actually been available free for some time but it was definatly worth reminding everyone about it again, I've been using it quite a bit lately, you can achieve some beautiful blending very easily, and to be honest I never use a simple half mix any more.

WaZ.

[Daz]

If you can't solve it...dissolve it!

[JWRL]

Latest in the DMNTransfer saga.... There is an updated version available that supports real time (green dot) effects. You can get it free at http://tinyurl.com/2vl4j (if you are a DMN member, which is also free - see above)