New Pixelan Plug-in Interface *is* the Spice of Life!!
Pixelan SpiceMaster2 is indeed a 'hot' spice for any video editor. Pixelan, long known for their SpiceMaster products, have recently released version 2 of their SpiceMaster interface, and it's absolutely worth the wait. SpiceMaster runs in most NLE applications, including Sonic Foundry's Vegas, Ulead's MediaStudio Pro, Adobe Premiere, DPS Velocity, Canopus Storm, Avid, Speed Razor, Pinnacle Edition, and other applications.
SpiceMaster2 may be used as either a transition or as an effect/filter in an NLE, providing frozen/continuous transitions, motion masks, picture-in-picture, and multi-layer reveals, among many other uses. The 500 Spices that are packaged with SpiceMaster2 are only a beginning to what SpiceMaster2 offers users. These Spices may be blended, appended, and adjusted to personal preferences.
Users may create their own Spices, which are essentially bitmaps created around organic, geometric, and artistic concepts. Custom logos, shapes, text, etc may all be saved as part of a personal Spice library. Figure 1 displays the new library interface found in SpiceMaster2 where all 500 Spices and user images are accessed and located.
Sonic Foundry's Vegas is used for this look into the workings of the new SpiceMaster interface, which does function slightly differently than other plugins from the Vegas world. There are a few shortcomings in the current Vegas keyframing SDK for third-party vendors, but Pixelan has created a very functional means of getting around those limitations.
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| Figure 2 |
The Sync-Cursor button in the Vegas keyframe tool is automatically shut off when using SpiceMaster2's new interface, and the Spicemaster2 interface provides a realtime playback of Spice shapes, motion, size, and other attributes. By selecting a radio button next to each parameter in the SpiceMaster2 interface, the keyframe window is switched to that particular attribute.
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| Figure 3 |
This is a great advantage, only one series of keyframes are only displayed for each attribute at a time. Otherwise, monitoring keyframes for multiple attributes could rapidly become confusing.
Also new in the SpiceMaster2 keyframe interface is the ability to create bezier curves in the keyframe tool, controlling the exact velocity attribute of a keyframe. (See figure 2) The control allowed by this is intuitive and organic, allowing soft or harsh transformations of attributes such as position, softness, and texturing. (all attributes are bezier curve capable)
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Additionally, this new keyframe control has the ability to drop keyframes on the fly. While manipulating an attribute during preview, a keyframe or series of keyframes are drawn in the keyframe tool, allowing for a very natural 'feel' to creating the behavior of the curve. Most keyframe tools require that the cursor be parked, the attribute adjusted, and then previewed. In figure 3, the Scale selector is adjusted during preview and the keyframes follow automatically. Due to both Vegas and Spicemaster's interfaces, a loopable preview of the effect is available in either the SpiceMaster2 preview window, or in the Vegas preview window. For applications that don't enjoy the real-time preview of effects, the SpiceMaster2 GUI always allows users to see the behaviors of the Spices in the SpiceMaster2 preview window.
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| Figure 4. Positioning and transparency are keyframed to create the image seen in figure 4a. The red area in the preview window defines the revealed areas in the image. |
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| Figure 4a Mask reveals the upper track with adjustable transparency, softness, size, and shape. (images courtesy of Artbeats High Definition Lifestyles library) |
Figure 4 illustrates positioning keyframes and shape of Spice used to create the masking previewed in Figure 4a. The "Prior Choices" button allows users to switch back and forward to Spices previously used on a transition or filter making it quick to determine whether a previously used Spice should be inserted to match an earlier transition or effect. The round target in the preview section allows positioning and rotation of a Spice to be accomplished with a mouse; numeric entries are also possible for power editors that edit with the keyboard.
In prior versions, a virtual transition required using two copies of the same event, while placing Spicemaster on one event, allowing the other event to flow through. (some applications still use this method of two copies of the same clip) However, in SpiceMaster2 this is done on one clip only, thus saving time, concern for event sync, and making the application more simple to use.
Placing two unique events on the timeline (two tracks total) the Spicemaster2 plugin is applied to the upper event. The upper event is then revealed in the lower event in the form of the Spice inserted as a mask. In Vegas, this is usually accomplished by using a Parent/Child switch for compositing, but SpiceMaster2 does not require any compositing chops, adjustments, or knowledge. It does all the work for you. All you need to do is select the shape of the Spice from the library, select the size, position, and any additional parameters you may wish to enhance or change for personal appearance, and then apply the Spice to the event via the "Apply changes to event" button in the lower right hand corner of the SpiceMaster2 interface. The changes are immediately apparent in the Vegas preview window.
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