BFX 5.0 Filters Guide

7/26/2019 BFX 5.0 Filters Guide

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FILTERS GUIDE

v e r s i o n 5 . 0


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Boris FX Version 5.0 (Standard and Professional)

The material contained herein is protected by copyrights. Permission to use materialsmay be granted upon written request and proper credit.

Contact information:Boris FX, Inc.381 Congress StreetBoston, MA 02210Phone: (617) 451-9900Fa x: (617) 451-9916E-mai l : [email protected]://www.borisfx.com

For information on site licenses, please call (617) 451-9900 or [email protected]

For technical support, visit the Boris FX Technical Forum athttp://www.borisfx.com/support. You can also contact technical support by calling (617)451-9900 or e-mailing [email protected].

The information in this manual is believed to be accurate and reliable. However, BorisFX, Inc. assumes no responsibility for its use; nor for any infringements of patents orother rights of third parties which may result from its use. No part of this publicationmay be reproduced, stored in a retrieval system, or transmitted, in any form, by anymeans, electronic, mechanical, by photocopying recording or otherwise without theprior written permission of Boris FX, Inc.

Boris FX,Boris FX PRO,and PixelChooserare trademarks of Boris FX. After Effectsand Photoshopare registered trademarks of AdobeSystems Incorporated.

Certain graphics used in the tutorials and illustrations in this book appear courtesy ofEmile Tobenfeld, an engineer for Boris FX, Inc. These images are Copyright 1998 by

Emile Tobenfeld (www.foryourhead.com).

Written by Victoria Merriman and Katherine Higgins.

Copyright 2000 by Boris FX, Inc. All rights reserved. Printed in the U. S. A.

Updated March 2000.


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3

ContentsIntroduction . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 9

About Boris FX Filters . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 9Using the Filters Guide . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 9

Navigating the Filters Guide . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 9Overview of the Filters Guide . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 9Icons . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 10Boris FX Experience . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 11

Chapter 1: Blur Filters . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 15

Overview . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 16Basic Blur . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 17

Blur Tab . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 17Directional Blur . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 20

Basic Tab . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 21Advanced Tab . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 23

Gaussian Blur . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 26Basic Tab . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 27Advanced Tab . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 28

Unsharp Mask . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 30Sharpen Tab . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 31

Chapter 2: Color Filters . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 35

Overview . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 37Artists Poster . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 38

RGB, CMY, and B&W Tabs . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 39Blur/Threshold Tab . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 42

Bright/Contrast . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 45Basic Tab . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 45

Color Balance . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 47Basic Tab . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 47

Color Correction . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 49Basic Tab . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 49

Correct Selected . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 52Basic Tab . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 53


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Advanced Tab . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 54

Hue/Sat/Lightness . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 55Basic Tab . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 56

Invert/Solarize . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 57Basic Tab . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 57

Levels/Gamma . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 59Basic Tab . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 60

MultiTone . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 64Choose Colors Tab . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 65Apply Colors Tab . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 66Settings Tab . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 68

Posterize . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 70Levels Tab . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 71Scramble Tab . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 73

Shift Channels . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 75Basic Tab . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 75

Tint . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 77Basic Tab . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 78

Tritone . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 81Basic Tab . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 82

Chapter 3: Distortion Filters . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .87

Overview . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 88Bulge . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 89

Basic Tab . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 89Displacement Map . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 91

Displacement Tab . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 92Map Tab . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 93

Edge Bevel . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 97Bevel Tab . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 97

Fast Flipper . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 99Flip Tab . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 100

Polar Displacement . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 102Displacement Tab . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 103

Ripple . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 104Basic Tab . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 105Time/Space Tab . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 107

Chaos Tab . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 111Light Tab . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 113


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Vector Displacement . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 115

Displacement Tab . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 115Wave . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 117

Basic Tab . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 117Waveforms . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 118

Advanced Tab . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 120Decay Tab . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 123Light Tab . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 125

Pinning Controls . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 127Pin 1 Tab . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 128Pin 2 Tab . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 129

Chapter 4: Keying Filters . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .133

Overview . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 135Types of Keys . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 135

Binary Keys . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 135Linear Keys . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 135Chroma Keys . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 136

Alpha Process . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 138Basic Tab . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 138Advanced Tab . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 140

Chroma Key . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 142

Matte Tab . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 142Flare Suppression Tab . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 144Garbage Matte Tab . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 145

Clean Up Alpha . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 146Basic Tab . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 146

Composite Choker . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 149Basic Tab . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 150

Linear Color Key . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 152Key Tab . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 153RGB Weights Tab . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 157Region of Interest Tab . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 158

Linear Luma Key . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 159Key Tab . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 160Region of Interest Tab . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 163

Luma Key and Luma Darker Key . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 163

Make Alpha Key . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 164Key Tab . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 164


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Matte Choker . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 169

Basic Tab . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 169Premultiplied Alpha Key . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 171

Key Tab . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 172RGB Difference Key . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 172Two Way Key . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 173

Key Tab . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 174Region of Interest Tab . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 175

Combining Linear Keys. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 176

Chapter 5: Light Filters . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 181

Overview . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 182Alpha Spotlight . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 183

Basic Tab. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 184Advanced Tab . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 185

Edge Lighting . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 189Basic Tab . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 190Highlights Tab . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 191Shadows Tab. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 192Common Tab. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 193

Light Sweep . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 195Basic Tab . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 196

Advanced Tab . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 198Edges Tab . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 199

Reverse Spotlight . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 200Basic Tab . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 200

Spotlight . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 202Basic Tab. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 203

Understanding Position and Target Controls in Spotlight. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 205Advanced Tab . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 207

Gels and Mattes. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 210Edges Tab . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 211

Chapter 6: Noise Filters . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 217

Overview . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 218Alpha Pixel Noise . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 219

Noise Tab . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 220Clouds . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 222


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Contents 7

Basic Tab . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 222

Advanced Tab . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 225Luma Pixel Noise . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 227

Noise Tab. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 228Noise Map . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 230

Basic Tab . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 231Combining Noise Map with Other Filters. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 232

Water or Heat Effects . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 232Particle Transition. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 234

RGB Edges . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 235Light Tab . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 236Intensity/Threshold Tab . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 237Post Blur Tab. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 238Advanced Tab . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 239

RGB Pixel Noise. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 240Noise Tab . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 240

Spray Paint Noise . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 242Noise Tab. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 242

Chapter 7: Particles Filters . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .247

Overview . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 2482D Particles . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 249

Particles Tab . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 250Velocity Tab. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 254

2D Particles Advanced . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 256Particles Tab . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 256Velocity Tab. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 257Gravity Tab . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 257Custom Shape Tab . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 258

Custom Shape Controls. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 259Scatter Wipe Tab . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 261Options Tab . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 263More Options Tab . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 265

3D Image Shatter . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 267Particles Tab . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 268Shatter Tab . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 269Velocity Tab . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 271

Gravity Tab . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 272Custom Shape Tab . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 272


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Scatter Wipe Tab. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 273

Light Tab . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 273Rotation Tab . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 275Options Tab . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 276More Options Tab. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 277

Scatterize . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 278Scatter Tab. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 278

Chapter 8: The PixelChooser . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .283

Overview . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 284Region Tab . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 285

Inside Rectangle and Outside Rectangle . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 285Inside Oval and Outside Oval . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 286Distance to Point. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 286Distance to Edge . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 288

Clock Wipe . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 288Channels Tab . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 290

Levels . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 291Threshold Mask Type . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 291Range Mask Type. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 292

Appendix A: Apply Modes. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 297

Apply Modes . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 297

Index . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .303


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9

Introduction

About Boris FX Filters

Boris FX includes over 30 different filters in six categories, providing an extensive arrayof creative possibilities. Boris FX PRO includes 17 additional filters, including fiverealistic lighting effects.

Each filter in some way alters a source image or video clip, and some filters create newmedia. A filter can do something as simple as adjusting the color in your image, or ascomplex as breaking it into pieces and scattering them in space. All of the filters have arange of parameters which can be animated using keyframes, providing precise controlover effects.

Any number of filters can be applied to any shape, face, or container track in thetimeline. Filter tracks are nested inside the track to which they are applied. Some filter

tracks contain other tracks, such as a PixelChooser Track or Map Track, which allow youto use other source media as input in that element of the effect.

Using the Filters Guide

This guide includes detailed descriptions of the filters available in both the standard andprofessional versions of Boris FX. The Filters Guide is intended as a supplement to theBoris FX User Manual and does not provide general information on using Boris FX. Forinformation on other aspects of the program, consult the User Manual.

Navigating the Filters Guide

This document contains hypertext links that allow you to easily move from one sectionto another. You can click one of the bookmarks to jump to any chapter or appendix

heading. You can also click any table of contents entry, index entry, or cross-referencein the body of the text to jump to the applicable section of the manual.

Overview of the Filters Guide

The Filters Guide is divided into the following sections:

Chapter 1, Blur Filters, includes descriptions of the Basic Blur, Directional Blur,

Gaussian Blur, and Unsharp Mask filters.


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10 Introduction

Chapter 2, Color Filters, provides descriptions of the Artists Poster,

Bright/Contrast, Color Balance, Color Correction, Correct Selected,Hue/Sat/Lightness, Invert/Solarize, Levels/Gamma, MultiTone, Posterize, ShiftChannels, Tint, and Tritone filters.

Chapter 3, Distortion Filters, describes the Bulge, Displacement Map, Edge Bevel,Fast Flipper, Polar Displacement, Ripple, Vector Displacement, and Wave filters.

Chapter 4, Keying Filters, includes descriptions of the Alpha Process, Chroma Key,Clean Up Alpha, Composite Choker, Linear Color Key, Linear Luma Key, Make Alpha

Key, Matte Choker, Premultiplied Alpha Key, and Two Way Key filters. Chapter 5, Light Filters, provides descriptions of the Alpha SpotLight, Edgelight,

LightSweep, Reverse SpotLight, and Spotlight filters.

Chapter 6, Noise Filters, describes the Alpha Pixel Noise, Clouds, Luma Pixel Noise,Noise Map, RGB Edges, RGB Pixel Noise, and Spray Paint Noise filters.

Chapter 7, Particles Filters, includes descriptions of the 2D Particles, 2D ParticlesAdvanced, 3D Image Shatter, and Scatterize filters.

Chapter 8, The PixelChooser, provides a description of the PixelChooser, which isused by many of the filters to selectively filter pixels based on their channel valuesand/or location within the image.

Icons

Throughout the Filters Guide, four icons are used to denote sections of special interest.

Designates features that are not part of the standard feature package and areavailable only in Boris FX PRO. All other features are available in both Boris FX andBoris FX PRO.

Indicates warnings about procedures that might produce unwanted effects, arevery memory-intensive, or cannot be easily undone.

The Notepad icon accompanies useful notes about a parameter, filter, orprocedure. These notes can help you better understand how to use Boris FX.

The Cross-Reference icon denotes a reference to another part of the manual in thetext. Check the indicated sections for further information.

The Bright Idea icon accompanies creative ideas for using Boris FX to produce

exciting and useful effects.


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Introduction 11

Boris FX Experience

This guide assumes that you are familiar with the Boris FX user interface and understandhow to perform basic functions with this program. For more information on using BorisFX, consult the Boris FX User Manual.


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12 Introduction


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BLURFILTERS

c h a p t e r 1


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15

Chapter 1Blur Filters

Overview . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .16

Basic Blur . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .17Blur Tab . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 17

Directional Blur . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .20Basic Tab . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 21Advanced Tab . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 23

Gaussian Blur . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .26Basic Tab . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 21Advanced Tab . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 23

Unsharp Mask . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .30Sharpen Tab . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 31

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16 Chapter 1

Overview

Boris FX has four Blur filters:Basic Blur, Directional Blur, Gaussian Blur, andUnsharpMask. All of the Blur filters have PixelChoosers, which allow you to apply the filter toselected pixels in the source image; and output channel menus, which allow you toapply the filter to selected output channels.

The Gaussian and Directional Blurs have many additional features. The Apply Modesallow you to composite the filter in a in a variety of creative ways. You can use Blur

Threshold to blur high-contrast areas in your image without losing fine detail. TheSpread and Thin parameters can soften image focus or produce double-vision effects.

Blur Filters 17


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Basic Blur

Basic Blur emulates the look of shooting in soft focus or with lens diffusion. This filterallows you to blur the horizontal and vertical components of the image independently.

Blur Tab

The controls in the Blur tab allow you to adjust the amount of blur applied in eachdirection and to specify which channels are blurred.

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18 Chapter 1

HorizontalandVertical control the amount of blur in each direction.

Sou rce im age H or i zon t a l= 80 Ver t i ca l= 80

Mix w/ Original blends the source and filtered images. Use this parameter to animate

the effect from the unfiltered to the filtered images without adjusting other settings, orto reduce the effect of the filter by mixing it with the source image.

Use theChannelsmenu to specify which channels are blurred. You can blur all fourchannels (RGBA), just the RGBchannels, just theAlpha channel, or any combination oftheRed, Green, andB l u e channels. You can create interesting artistic effects by blurring

just one or two of the RGB channels.

Alpha Blendingcontrols the effect the alpha channel has on the blurring process.Fasterblends each channel independently. Betterscales each pixels RGB values to its alphavalue when creating the blur. Use Better if you have an image with an alpha channeland a background color that differs from the foreground. Use Faster with an opaqueimage, or an image whose transparent pixels are approximately the same color as itsopaque pixels.

The Output Channels pop-up and the PixelChooser give this filter a great deal of

additional creative power and control.

Interesting glow effects can be created by using the Region menu to blurpixels based on Lightness or Luminance.

Wipes can be created between the source image and the blurred result bychoosing pixels by Rectangle, then animating the center point of the rectangleso that one edge moves across the screen.

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Ghost image effects can be created by using pixels from another image or text

track as the PixelChooser track and choosing Make Mask fromL u m a or Alpha in the PixelChooser tab. The blurred portion of the source image takes theshape of the second image or text. This works best for high contrast images;text is particularly effective.

Sou rce im a ge Pixel Ch ooser t rack Fi l t ered im a ge

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Directional Blur

Directional Blur blurs the image by displacing it in one direction. The effect is similar tothe way a photograph of a speeding object would look if taken with a slower shutterspeed.

Sou rce im age Fi l t ered im a ge

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Basic Tab

The parameters in the Basic tab allow you to control the amount and direction of theblur, and to blend the original and filtered images.

Blur Levelcontrols the amount of displacement created by the blur.

Directionsets the angle of the blur.

Use theChannelsmenu to specify which channels are blurred. You can blur all fourchannels (RGBA), just the RGBchannels, just theAlpha channel, or any combination oftheRed, Green, andB l u e channels. You can create interesting artistic effects by blurring

just one or two of the RGB channels.

Alpha Blendingcontrols the effect the alpha channel has on the blurring process.Fasterblends each channel independently. Betterscales each pixels RGB values to its alphavalue when creating the blur. Use Better if you have an image with an alpha channeland a background color that differs from the foreground. Use Faster with an opaqueimage, or an image whose transparent pixels are approximately the same color as itsopaque pixels.

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If you selectDisplace Original, the filter displaces each pixel in the direction it is blurred.For example, if Blur Level is set to 20 and Displace Original is on, pixels are displaced 20pixels in the specified Direction and blurred 20 pixels. Thus a Direction value of 0displaces the image to the right, and a value of 180 displaces the image to the left. IfDisplace Original is off, pixels are blurred 20 pixels but not displaced. Thus a Directionvalue of 0 produces the same filtered image as a Direction value of 180.

Direction=0, Blur Level=50

Sou rce im age D isp la ce Or igin a l o f f D i sp lace Or igin a l on

Mix w/ Original blends the source and filtered images. Use this parameter to animatethe effect from the unfiltered to the filtered images without adjusting other settings, orto reduce the effect of the filter by mixing it with the source image.

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Advanced Tab

The Advanced tab provides additional options for Directional Blur. Use these parametersto create multi-vision effects, alter which pixels are affected, or control how the filter iscomposited.

Multi Vision and Spread adjust the blur computation to give multiple image effects. Atthe default settings of Multi Vision and Spread, the blur is completely smooth.

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IncreasingSpreadcauses each point in the rendered image to be affected more bypoints further away from it in the blur, giving a more subtle double vision effect.

Sp read = 0 Sp rea d = 100

Blur Thresholdreduces the amount of color change to each pixel by the thresholdamount. Increasing Blur Threshold causes the parts of the image with abrupt changes

in color to be blurred, while areas with subtle details remain unchanged.

Multi Visionreduces the number of pixels used to compute each point in the blur.Increasing Multi Vision makes the image appear to be breaking into separate pieces.Multi Vision also reduces render time.

M u l t i v i si on = 0 M u l t i v i si on = 50

Apply Modecontrols how the filtered image is composited with the source image.

For descriptions of all the possible Apply Modes, seeApply Modes on page 297.

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Apply Mixcontrols the mix of the specified Apply Mode with theNormal apply mode. Ifthe Apply Mode isN o r m a l , Apply Mix has no effect and the parameter does not appear.If Apply Mix is 0, Apply Mode has no effect. Increase Apply Mix to blend the Apply Modesetting with the Normal apply mode.

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Gaussian Blur

The Gaussian Blur filter implements a popular blur algorithm that produces smootherblurs, but takes more time to render than the Basic Blur filter.

Gaussian Blur softens the image by averaging each pixel with its neighboring pixels. Theword Gaussian refers to the bell-shaped curve commonly used in statistical analysis.

The shape of this curve determines how much each averaged pixel contributes to theoutput.


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Basic Tab

The parameters in the Basic tab control the amount and quality of blur, specify whichchannels are affected, and blend the blur with the source image.

HorizontalandVertical control the amount of blur in each direction.

Mix w/ Original blends the source and filtered images. Use this parameter to animatethe effect from the unfiltered to the filtered image without adjusting other settings, orto reduce the effect of the filter by mixing it with the source image.

TheOutput Channelsmenu specifies which channels are blurred. You can blur all fourchannels (RGBA), just the RGBchannels, just theAlpha channel, or any combination of

theRed, Green, and B l u e channels.Blur Qualitycontrols the quality of the blur.Lo wproduces a blur that is similar in qualityto that of the Basic Blur filter. M e d i u m is adequate for most applications, andHighproduces even smoother blurs. Be aware that theHighestsetting is much slower thanHigh; you should only choose Highest if you see pixilation when using lower settings.

Alpha Blendingcontrols the effect the alpha channel has on the blurring process.Fasterblends each channel independently. Betterscales each pixels RGB values to its alpha

value when creating the blur. Use Better if you have an image with an alpha channel

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and a background color that differs from the foreground. Use Faster with an opaqueimage, or an image whose transparent pixels are approximately the same color as itsopaque pixels.

Advanced Tab

The Advanced tab provides additional options for Gaussian Blur. Use these parametersto apply the blur multiple times, alter which pixels are affected, or control how theeffect is composited with the original image.

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Spreadadjusts the blur computation to create multiple image effects. At the defaultSpread setting of 0, the input image at each pixel contributes the most weight to theoutput for that pixel. Increasing the Spread setting modifies the blur computation togive more weight to points away from the center and less weight to points close to thecenter. This produces a double vision effect.

Sp read = 0 Sp rea d = 50 Sp rea d = 100

Blur Thresholdreduces the amount of color change to each pixel by the thresholdamount. Increasing Blur Threshold causes the parts of the image with abrupt changesin color to be blurred, while areas with subtle details remain unchanged.

Iterationsdetermines the number of times the blur is applied to the image. IncreasingIterations produces smoother blurs but increases render and preview time.

Apply Modecontrols how the filtered image is composited with the source image.

For descriptions of all the possible Apply Modes, seeApply Modes on page 297.

Apply Mixcontrols the mix of the specified Apply Mode with theNormal apply mode. Ifthe Apply Mode isN o r m a l , Apply Mix has no effect and the parameter does not appear.If Apply Mix is 0, Apply Mode has no effect. Increase Apply Mix to blend the Apply Modesetting with the Normal apply mode.

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Unsharp Mask

The Unsharp Mask filter uses a classic image sharpening technique similar to themethod used to sharpen film images. The source image is blurred, and the blurredimage is then subtracted from the source. The resulting image is sharper and has morecontrast. Unsharp Mask sharpens areas in an image with significant color changes byadjusting the contrast of edge details to create the illusion of image sharpness. This filteris useful for refocusing an image that appears blurry due to scanning, poor lighting, orother factors.

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Sharpen Tab

The Sharpen tab contains parameters that control the amount of blur subtracted formthe image and the resulting changes in sharpness, specify which channels are affected,and blend the filtered and source images.

Amountcontrols the amount of blur applied to the image in the sharpening process.Increasing Amount increases sharpness, while decreasing Amount decreases sharpness.

Radiussets the radius of the intermediate blur that is subtracted in order to produce thesharpened image. Increasing the Radius of the blur sharpens the image to a greaterdegree and creates more contrast. Extreme settings can create artificial halos around

image details.Output Channelsspecifies which channels are processed by the filter. You can blur allfour channels (RGBA), just theRGBchannels, just theAlpha channel, or any combinationof the Red, Green, and B l u e channels.

Thresholdreduces the change in each pixel by a set value between 0 and 255. Pixelswhose value would change by less than the threshold setting are not changed at all.

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Mix w/ Original blends the source and filtered images. Use this parameter to animatethe effect from the unfiltered to the filtered images without adjusting other settings, or

to reduce the effect of the filter by mixing it with the source image.


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Chapter 2

Color Filters

Overview . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .37

Artists Poster . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .38RGB, CMY, and B&W Tabs . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 39

Blur/Threshold Tab . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 42Bright/Contrast . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .45

Basic Tab . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 45

Color Balance . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .47Basic Tab . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 47

Color Correction . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .49Basic Tab . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 49

Correct Selected . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .52Basic Tab . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 53Advanced Tab . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 54

Hue/Sat/Lightness . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .55Basic Tab . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 56

Invert/Solarize . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .57Basic Tab . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 57

Levels/Gamma . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .59Basic Tab . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 60

MultiTone . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .64Apply Colors Tab . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 66Settings Tab . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 68

Posterize . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .70Levels Tab . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 71Scramble Tab . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 73

Shift Channels . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .75Basic Tab . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 75

Tint . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .77

Basic Tab . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 78

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Tritone . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 81Basic Tab . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 82

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Overview

The Boris FX Color filters include seven color adjustment and correction filters(Bright/Contrast, Color Balance, Color Correction, Correct Selected, Hue/Sat/Lightness,and Levels/Gamma), three toning filters (Tint, Tritone, and MultiTone), two posterizationfilters, an invert/solarize filter, and a channel shifting filter.

Each of these filters has a PixelChooser. The PixelChooser gives you extra control andflexibility by allowing you to selectively filter image pixels, create masks, and blend thefiltered and unfiltered regions in the image. In addition, many of these filters have a

Channels control that determines which channels are processed.

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Artists Poster

Artists Poster reduces the image to eight pure colors (red, green, blue, cyan,magenta, yellow, black, and white) and processes each color separately. At itsdefault settings the filter outputs the NTSC-safe color that is closest to each of theseeight colors.

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RGB, CMY, and B&W Tabs

The parameters on the RGB, CMY, and B&W tabs determine the output for pixels in theeight different color channels. The RGB tab controls the Red, Green, and Blue inputcolors. The CMY tab controls the Cyan, Magenta, and Yellow input colors, and the B&Wtab the Black and White input colors.

Red Modedetermines how the red pixels in the source image are output. The choicesare Color, Transparent, and Poster Track.

Colorreplaces the red pixels in the sourceimage with the specified Red Color. Inthe example to the right, the Red Color ispurple.

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Transparent makes the red pixels in thesource transparent.

Poster Trackreplaces the red pixels in thesource corresponding pixels from thePoster Track in the timeline. In theexample to the right, the Poster Tracksmedia is a picture of a sky with clouds.

Red Colorsets the color that replaces the original red pixels in the source image when

Red Mode is set to Color. When Red Mode is not set to Color, this parameter has no effect.

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Red Mixmixes the original red pixels with the new red pixels. If Red Mix is 100, the redpixels are output in their original colors. If Red Mix is 0, the red pixels are output

according to the Red Mode setting. In the examples below, Red Mode is set to Postertrack.

Red M ix= 0 Red M ix= 50 Red M ix= 100

The other colors Mode, Color and Mix controls work in the same way.

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Blur/Threshold Tab

The Blur/Threshold tab contains the threshold parameters, which you can use to adjustthe division of pixels into color channels. This tab also contains parameters that allowyou to apply several different types of blurs, softening the effect of the filter.

TheRed Threshold,Green Threshold, andBlue Thresholdaffect the way the filter dividesthe image into the eight colors. The default setting for each of these controls is 50%.Pixels whose red, green and blue channels are less than 50%on become black pixels.Pixels whose red channel is more than 50%on and whose green and blue channels areless than 50%on become red pixels. Pixels whose red and green channels are more than50%on become yellow pixels, and so on.

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Adjusting the Thresholds changes this division into colors. Reducing Red Thresholdmakes some black pixels red, some blue pixels magenta, and so on. If you reduce Red

Threshold to 0, only pixels whose red channel value is 0 can be black, green, blue, orcyan.

Red Th resh o ld = 0 Red Th resh o ld = 50 Red Th resh ol d = 100

Pre Blurblurs the source image before the posterization is applied. This softens theedges of the posterized image without increasing the number of output colors.

Post Blurblurs the posterized image, creating softer edges where the colors blend. Thismeans that the number of output colors is increased again after the posterization hasbeen applied.

Softensoftens color transitions on a pixel-by-pixel basis. Artists Poster works by creatinga color map which transforms the pixels in the source image into output pixels. Soften

softens this color map. This does not reduce the sharpness of details in the originalimage; rather it reduces harsh color contrasts, making even extreme posterizationsmore natural-looking.

Sof t en = 25 Sof t en = 50 Sof t en = 75

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Alpha Blur blurs the alpha channel. This parameter can be useful if you have created analpha channel by setting one or more of the Color Modes to Transparent.


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Bright/Contrast

Bright/Contrast adjusts the brightness and contrast in your image. This filter also has aPixelChooser, so you can select which pixels to adjust.


Basic Tab

The Basic tab controls the brightness and contrast in the filtered image, determineswhich channels are affected, and blends the source and filtered images.

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Brightnessadjusts the brightness of the image.

Contrastadjusts the contrast of the image.

Output Channelschooses which channels to adjust. The choices areRGB, Red, Green,B l u e , Red/Green, Red/Blue, Green/Blue, Dif ference, andAlpha . Difference uses thedifference between each filtered channel and the corresponding source channel.


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Color Balance

Color Balance performs a true photographic RGB color correction, allowing you to makeindependent adjustments to the red, green, and blue channels of the image.

Basic Tab

The parameters in the Basic tab control the amount and type of adjustment to each ofthe three color channels and blend the filtered and source images.

Red, Green, andBlueadjust the relative intensity of each corresponding RGB channel.

Modespecifies the method used to make the RGB balance adjustments. Posit ivesimulates a color correction effect on a device that produces a positive

image, such as a video camera. Brighter pixels are affected more than darker ones,and pixels for which the channel is completely off (0) are not affected at all. UsePositive to correct colors in the lighter sections of the image.

Negat ivesimulates a color correction effect on a device that produces a negativeimage, such as an enlarger. Darker pixels are affected more than brighter ones, and

pixels for which the channel is completely on (255) are not affected at all. UseNegative to correct colors in the darker sections of the image.

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Linear mode adds the corrections to all pixels in the image.

The highlights of this source image have aslight cyan cast, perhaps due to poor lightingconditions or a failure to white balance thevideo footage.

Correcting this image with the Linear modeincreases the red balance evenly throughoutthe image, giving the shadows a red cast.

The Positive mode corrects the imageselectively using luminance information,which allows you to add red to the highlightswithout giving the blacks a red cast.


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Color Correction

Use Color Correction to improve the color of video images, or to create dramatic coloreffects.


Basic Tab

The Basic tab contains parameters that control several different color adjustments andblend the source and filtered images.

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Brightnessadjuststhebrightnessoftheimage Avalueof 100producesapurewhite


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Brightnessadjusts the brightness of the image. A value of 100 produces a pure whiteimage, and value of 100 produces a pure black image.

Contrastadjusts the contrast of the image. At a value of 100 the image is 50%gray. Ata value of 100, the image is at the maximum contrast level and consists only of pureprimary and secondary colors, white, and black.

Huecycles the colors in the image around the color wheel in the HSL color space. T Mostcolor corrections require very small changes in the Hue setting; adjustments of 10 orless usually suffice. For fine control over the color adjustment, enter values into thenumerical field.

Saturationadjusts the intensity of each colors hue in the image.

Output Blackadjusts the luminance level of black pixels. Increasing Output Black fromits default of 0 makes black pixels brighter and squeezes the RGB color space towardwhite.

Output Whiteadjusts the luminance level of white pixels. Decreasing Output White fromits default of 255 makes white pixels darker and squeezes the RGB color space toward

black.Mix w/ Original blends the source and filtered images. Use this parameter to animatethe effect from the unfiltered to the filtered image without adjusting other settings, orto reduce the effect of the filter by mixing it with the source image.

You can create a variety of interesting effects using Color Correction.

To create the appearance of a hand-tinted or split-toned black and whitephotograph, try setting Hue to 120-240, then increasing Mix w/Original to 50.The closer Hue is to 180, the closer the image is to black and white. If necessary,adjust Brightness, Contrast, and/or Saturation to create a greater tonal range.

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You can also use Color Correction to simulate the appearance of an old colorpostcard. Set Hue to 270-330. Then increase Saturation to achieve the desired

effect.

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Correct Selected

This filter allows you to correct a specified range of colors in the source image,leaving the other colors unchanged.

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To correct two or more separate colors within an image, apply the Correct Selectedfilter as many times as needed.

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Basic Tab

The Basic tab contains parameters that determine which pixels in the original image arecorrected.

Selected Colordetermines how the filter matches colors.

RGBmatches colors in RGB space.

H SLmatches colors in HSL (Hue, Saturation, and Lightness) space.

Chromamatches colors based on Hue and Saturation only.

H u ematches colors based on Hue alone.

Selected Colorsets the color of the pixels to be corrected.

Color Rangecontrols the extent of the range of colors to be corrected. A setting of 0applies corrections only to pixels that exactly match the Selected Color. Increase theColor Range value to apply corrections to a wider range of colors.

Blendcreates a blend between the selected and unselected regions in the filtered image.Use this parameter to soften discontinuities between the two regions.

Blur Maskblurs the mask created by the filter between the transparent and opaque

regions.

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SelectShow Maskto view a grayscale mask showing the pixels affected by the filter. Be

sure to deselect this option before rendering.

Advanced Tab

Use the parameters in the Advanced tab to make color adjustments to the pixels chosenwith the Basic tab.

The parameters in this tab are identical to the corresponding parameters in theColor Correction filter. SeeBasic Tab on page 49for more information.

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Hue/Sat/Lightness converts the image to the Hue/Saturation/Lightness color space,makes corrections to the image, and converts it back to RGB. The PixelChooser allowsyou to specify the portion of the image affected by the filter.


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Use the parameters in the Basic tab to color correct the image in HSL color space and toblend the filtered and source images.

Huecycles the colors in the image around the color wheel in the HSL color space. Mostcolor corrections require very small changes in the Hue setting; adjustments of 10 orless usually suffice. For fine control over the color adjustment, enter values into thenumerical field.

Saturationadjusts the intensity of each colors hue in the image.

Lightnessadjusts the lightness of the image.


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Invert/Solarize inverts one or more channels in the source image.


Basic Tab

The parameters in this tab determine which channels are inverted and blend thefiltered and source images.

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Invertspecifies which channels are inverted. You can chooseRGB; RGBA(RGB andAlpha);Alpha ;anycombinationofRed Green andB l u e; L u m i n a n c e; H u e; Saturat ion ;or


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Alpha);Alpha ; any combination ofRed , Green, andB l u e ; L u m i n a n c e ; H u e; Saturat ion; or

Lightness.Mix w/ Original blends the source and filtered images. Use this parameter to animatethe effect from the unfiltered to the filtered image without adjusting other settings, orto reduce the effect of the filter by mixing it with the source image.

In this filter, Mix w/ Original is rarely useful at the mid-range values; a value of 50 mixesthe original and inverted images equally, producing a gray image when Invert is set toRGB.

You can use Invert/Solarize to emulate the classic photographic solarizationtechnique achieved by exposing a partially developed print to light, which exposesand darkens the lighter parts image. Using this filter, you can create a similar lookby selectively inverting the light parts of your image.

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To achieve a solarized look, set Make Mask From in the PixelChoosers Channels tabto Luminance or one of the color channels. Set Mask Type to Range. Adjust Fromand To until you achieve the desired effect. Use Blend to control the transitionbetween the inverted and non-inverted colors. You can also try inverting some of

the RGB channels and not others.

For more information on the PixelChooser, seeChapter 8, The PixelChooser, onpage 283.

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Levels/Gamma provides options for adjusting contrast and eliminating noise in yourimage. Video shot at night or in poorly lit settings often has noise in the dark areas.Increasing Input Black removes this noise by treating all areas darker than the InputBlack setting as black. Washed out or overexposed images do not contain the full rangeof levels. Increasing Input Black and/or decreasing Input White can boost the contrastof the image.


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The parameters in the Basic tab control the input and output levels, adjust imagecontrast, blend the source and filtered images, and determine the channels used by thefilter.

Input Blackand Input Whiteset the levels of the input image that are treated as pureblack and pure white by the filter. All pixels darker than the Input Black level becomethe Output Black color, and all pixels lighter than Input White become the Output Whitecolor.

Increasing Input Black and decreasing Input White have the effect of removinginformation from the input image.

In the following illustrations, Levels/Gamma reduces the shadow noise in achroma-keyed image in order to make the lighting look more realistic. Notice thatthe shadow areas of the original green-screen image look somewhat grainy andwashed out when the image is composited over a dark background. Boosting Input

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Black and lowering Input White gives the image more contrast and removes theshadow noise, creating a more cohesive lighting environment and a more dramatic


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and realistic image.

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of the image. By animating the input levels you can create an animatedposterization.

The posterization effect below was created by using Levels/Gamma with Input Blackboosted and Input White reduced.

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Output BlackandOutput Whitecontrol the range of color levels that can appear in thefiltered image. Output Black is the output level for pixels whose source levels are darkerthan the Input Black setting; Output White is the output level for pixels whose sourcelevels are lighter than the Input White setting. If you do not want the output to include

the full range of color values, you raise the Output Black value and/or lower the OutputWhite value. If you are working with broadcast material you may need adjust theseparameters to avoid NTSC-illegal blacks and whites.

Gammacontrols the slope of the curve used to convert from the input color values tooutput values in pixels brighter than Input Black and darker than Input White.Increasing Gamma from the default of 100 lightens the image and decreases contrast,while decreasing Gamma darkens the image and increases contrast.

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The illustrations below demonstrate the effect of Gamma adjustments on a simpleblack-and-white gradient.


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Sou rce im age (Gam m a = 100) Ga m m a= 25 Ga m m a= 225

Output Channelsdetermines which channels the filter affects. The choices areRGB,Red,Green,B l u e , Red/Green, Red/Blue,Green/Blue, Dif ference, andAlpha . Difference uses thedifference between each filtered channel and the corresponding source channel.


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The MultiTone filter uses the source images color, luma, or alpha information to createa toned image that uses up to five independent colors. MultiTone works by creating acolor map based on a specific channel in the source image, then replacing each color inthe map with a new color.


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Choose Colors Tab

Use the Choose Colors tab to choose the colors that appear in the toned image.


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Use eC ooseCoo s ab oc oose ecoo s a appea e o ed age

Black, Color 1, Midpoint Color, Color 3, andWhiteare the colors used if the

corresponding source Apply Colors menus (in the Apply Colors Tab) are set toColor. Eachsource menu controls a range of values in the source images specified Input Channel(seeSettings Tab on page 68).

This is the unfiltered source image, agradient between black and white.

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In this example, the Black Color is purple, Color 1is red, the Midpoint Color is yellow, Color 3 is


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green, and the White Color is blue.The InputChannel isL u m i n a n c e , and each Apply Colorsmenu is set to Color.

Therefore, the black pixels in the sourceimage are purple, the dark grey pixels arered, the medium gray pixels are yellow, the

light grey pixels are green, and the whitepixels are blue.

Apply Colors Tab

Use the Apply Colors tab to set the outputs for each of the input levels.

Color Filters 67

The five Apply Colors drop-down menus specify the output source for five different levelsin the Input Channel. The input levels that map to each of these outputs are set with the


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Level parameters on the Settings tab. Choose Color, Source, or Off. Coloruses the corresponding color chosen in the Choose Colors tab as the output.

Source uses the source images color information as the output.

O f f eliminates the corresponding input level from the from the composite image,ignoring the corresponding color chosen in the Choose Colors tab. For example, ifyou set Color 1, Midpoint Color, and Color 3 to Off and Black and White to Color, thefilter acts as a simple toner, mapping the image from the black color to the white

color. This option is not available in the Black Color or White Color menus.

Black Color is the source used to replace black pixels in the original Luma or RGBchannel.

Color 1,Midpoint Color, andColor 3are the sources used to replace intermediate pixelswhose input channel values equal the corresponding color level in the Settings tab.

White Color is the source that is used to replace white pixels in the original Luma or RGB

Channel.In this example, all of the Apply Colors menusare set to Color. The source image pixels aretoned according to the colors set in theChoose Colors tab.

In this example, the Color 1 menu has beenset to Source. The dark grey pixels in the

source image retain their original color. All ofthe other Apply Colors are still set to Color, sothat the other pixels in the source image aretoned according to the colors set in theChoose Colors tab.

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In this example, the Color 1 menu has beenset to Off, so the dark gray level is eliminated


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from the range. The dark gray pixels in thesource image have been toned a mixture ofthe Black Color (purple) and the MidpointColor (yellow) according to their luminancevalues.

Settings Tab

The parameters in the Settings Tab determine the range of input channel values that areconverted to each corresponding output channel, the channels used for input andoutput, and the amount of blending between the source and filtered images.

The Color Level parameters control the levels at which the output is taken directly fromeach source.

Color Filters 69

Color 1 Level is the input channel value for which the output is the pure Color 1color. A value of 0 sets this level to the Black Level, and a value of 100 sets it to the

Mid i L l


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Midpoint Level. Midpoint Level is the input channel value (between 0 and 255) for which the output

is the pure Midpoint Source color.

Color 3 Level is the input channel value for which the output is the pure Color 3color. A value of 0 sets this level to the Midpoint Level, and a value of 100 sets it tothe White Level.

Color 1 Level= 10 Color 1 Level= 50 Color 1 Level= 90

Input Channelsspecifies the channel in the source image used to create the color mapfor the MultiToned image.

Output Channelsspecifies the channels in the image to be processed and output by the

filter. The choices areRGB,Red,Green,B l u e ,Red/Green,Red/Blue,Green/Blue,Dif ference,andAlpha . Difference uses the difference between each filtered channel and thecorresponding source channel.


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Posterize

P t i d th b f l i th i b i d d tl d i th


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Posterize reduces the number of colors in the image by independently reducing thenumber of discrete levels in each color channel. The filter also allows you to scramblethe poster levels for additional creative control.


The simplest way to create a video or computer graphics poster is to reduce the numberof different levels in each color channel. The resulting output image has a few distinctvalues of red, green, and blue, instead of having each value spread over the full rangeof 0 to 255.

Posterization effects can produce hard edges that give the output image a roughappearance, which can be exacerbated by image compression and by the bandwidthlimitations of analog video equipment. The Posterize filter has several controls that deal

with this problem by blurring the image after the posterize is applied.

Color Filters 71

Levels Tab

The Levels tab controls the number of levels in each of the RGB channels, set the amount

of biasaddedtoall of thelevels andprovideseveraloptionsforblendingandsoftening


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of bias added to all of the levels, and provide several options for blending and softeningthe filter.

TheLevelscontrols determine the number of distinct levels present in theRed, Green,andBluechannels in the filters output. For example, if Red levels is 5, the red channelcan have only five distinct values. If Level Bias is at its default setting, these values are0, 64, 127, 191, and 255. The red channel in each pixel changes to the Red Level valuethat is closest to its original value.

Level Biasadds bias to the set of discrete levels for each channel, and is useful for

adjusting the look of the posterized output. Positive values push the levels toward white,and negative values push them toward black. In other words, if Level Bias is positive,there are more distinct output levels above 127 than there are below 127.

Color Softensoftens the color transitions on a per-pixel basis. Posterize creates a colormap that transforms the pixels in the source image into output pixels. Color Softensoftens this color map. This parameter does not reduce the sharpness of details in theoriginal image; rather it reduces harsh color contrasts, making even extreme

posterizations more natural-looking.

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Pre Blurblurs the source image before the posterization is applied. This operationsoftens the edges of the posterized image, without increasing the number of output

colors


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colors.Post Blurblurs the image after posterization takes place, creating softer edges where thecolors blend. Increasing Post Blur increases the number of output colors.

Fi l t ered im age w i t h Pre Blu r Fi l t ered im age w i t h Post B lu r


Color Filters 73

Scramble Tab

Use the controls in the Scramble tab to change the order of appearance of the levels in

eachof theRGBchannels


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each of the RGB channels.

TheLevelscontrols,Red,Green, andBlue, scramble the output levels in their respectivecolor channels. Each unit of Scramble applied to a channel switches two of the colorlevels in the output. This setting creates unusual effects, as the darker of two colors inthe source becomes the lighter in the output. For example, a Scramble setting of 1 mightchange the list of values from 0, 64, 127, 191, 255 to 0, 255, 127, 191, 64. Pixels whosered channel was closest to 64 now have a red channel of 255, and pixels whose red

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channel was closest to 255 have a red channel of 64. In the illustrations below, theimages green channel has been posterized to 10 levels of green. The number of distinct

redandbluelevelshasbeenreducedtotheminimumnumberof 2.


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red and blue levels has been reduced to the minimum number of 2.

Scra m ble Green Level= 0 Scra m ble Green Level= 30 Scra m ble Green Level= 50

Noise Seedcontrols the value used to seed the random number generator used by theScramble controls. Adjust this value to get different random arrangements of the

scrambled levels.

Max. Scramblecontrols the maximum distance in color space between the scrambledlevels. At low Max. Scramble values, only levels close to each other in color space arescrambled. At high values, very disparate levels such as pure black and pure white canbe scrambled.

M ax. Scra m b le= 1 M a x. Scra m b le= 3 M a x. Scr am b le= 6

Color Filters 75

Shift Channels

Shift Channels uses values from chosen input channels to compute new RGB and alphachannelsfor theoutput image


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channels for the output image.


Basic TabThe parameters in the Basic tab control which input channels are used to create the newRGB and alpha channels in the filtered image.

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Red From,Green From,Blue From, andAlpha Fromdetermine the channel in the sourceimage whose values are used to generate the new red, green, blue, and alpha channelsin the filtered image.

Red Green Blue andAlpha usethecorrespondingcoloror alphachannelfromthe


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Red, Green, Blue andAlpha use the corresponding color or alpha channel from thesource image as the designated channel in the output image. For example, if RedFrom is set to Green, each green value in the source is used as the red value in thecorresponding pixel in the output.

L u m i n a n c e replaces the specified output channel with the luminance values in thesource image. When Red From is set to Luminance, the darkest regions in the source

have the lowest red values in the output, and the lightest regions in the source havethe highest red values in the output.

Ful l Onor Ful l Of f sets the output channel to either completely on (the maximumvalue of 255) or completely off (the minimum value of 0). If the Red From is set toFull On, every pixel in the output image has a red value of 255.

Red In verse,Green I n verse,Blu e Inverse, andLum a Inverseset the output channel tothe inverse of the specified input channel. If Red From is set to Luminance Inverse

(and the Green From and Blue From left at their default settings of Green and Blue),the lightest parts of the image have the lowest red values and appear cyan, whileblack regions are pure red.

Red Fol ded, Green Fol ded, Blu e Folded, and Lum a Fo lded create a solarization-likeeffect in the channel. Source pixels with corresponding channel values from 0 to127 produce output pixels with values from 0 to 255, and source pixels with valuesfrom 128 to 255 produce output pixels with values from 255 to 0.


Color Filters 77

Tint

Tint creates a tinted or duotone image using the specified input channel value of eachpixel in the source. The default settings produce a classic black-and-white effect. You can


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p g pchange the colors used as the Black Color and White Color to produce a tint that mapsthe black and white pixels in the source to the colors you choose and the gray tones tocolors that are interpolated between the chosen colors.


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Basic Tab

The parameters in the Basic tab control the colors used to produce a tint, the way the

tint is mapped, the input and output channels used in processing the filter, and theamount of blendingbetweenthesourceandfilteredimages


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amount of blending between the source and filtered images.

Black Color is the output color for pixels whose Input Channel value is 0.

Color Filters 79

White Coloris the output color for pixels whose Input Channel value is 255.

Try setting the White Color to a medium

yellow to achieve the look of an old orsepiatonedphotograph


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sepia-toned photograph.

Loopsdetermines how the colors map from input to output. You can use Loops to createeffects that combine toning with a solarized look.

The default Loops value of 10 produces a normal toned image: black pixels are outputas the Black Color and white pixels as the White Color. Increasing the Loops value causes

the map color to repeat. The output color for black input pixels is still the Black Color,but the color reaches

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BFX 5.0 Filters Guide

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