New FX package from Pixelan

rs170a wrote on 2/24/2010, 4:57 PM
And it's only $29 U.S.
The package is called AnyFX.

From the site:
AnyFX is a hardware-accelerated effects engine that combines Pixelan's long experience in video effects with the power of modern graphic cards. Thus in one affordable plug-in with a simple and intuitive interface you get access to a large (and growing) collection of terrific effects which run real-time (or near-real-time) on most graphic cards -- even for very complex effects.

Looks very interesting.

Mike

Comments

ushere wrote on 2/25/2010, 1:21 AM
hi there mike, how you doing? looking forward to warmer weather i bet!

been somewhat preoccupied with my new z5 so haven't been following very much, other than the eager anticipation of 9d or 10! i hope it's the former cause i ain't paying another cent till what's broke is fixed.....

have to say it's a pretty cheap fx package - i have spice master, and thought quite seriously about creativease - which i think looks exceptional - but to be honest, i'm rather tired of 'cheesy' transitions, and as for the rest, well, i really like my videos clean and not cluttered with supurflous fx. i'm not talking cc and a touch of mb looks or the like, but everything else seems over the top.

in an age where i'm bombarded with fx and multiple images for everything from feature trailers to 2am ads for doors (buy 2, get one free...), many of which are superbly produced, i think a little simplicity goes a long way ;-)

stay warm

leslie
Grazie wrote on 2/25/2010, 2:23 AM
Yes - agreed.

As my ole mucky Mr P. Picasso said: "Less is More"

Grazie
Richard Jones wrote on 2/25/2010, 3:14 AM
Yes, I'm inclined to agree.

It's too easy to get swept up with the magical results you can achieve and, in doing so, to lose sight of the final objective you have in mind. My first instinct is to remember "KISS "----"Keep It Simple Sweetheart (or some such word)"

Richard
Dach wrote on 2/25/2010, 4:56 AM
I'll chime in here. While I do agree with the KISS mentality, it should be noted that a FX package is being provided for $29.00. Thats a very fair value, even if oneself only uses a couple of the effects.

Chad
Ivan Ivanov wrote on 3/2/2010, 2:11 PM
Generally AnyFX combine the power of the modern graphic cards with the usual Pixelan user interface. What is unique for AnyFX as you notice above (at least until now) is its price. The use of High Level Shader Language - a language optimized for powerful CG and image processing applications together with the carefully designed AnyFX engine allows us to offer high-quality effects at very competitive price. A few days ago we saw a Photoshop plugin similar to one of the effects included in AnyFX collection at a price higher than the whole AnyFX price.
The time-efficient effect development allows us to frequently add new effects to AnyFX collection, most add-ons are free for AnyFX users, some effects are completely free (fully functional even in AnyFX DEMO). We have two updates until now, 8 new effects (effects, not presets for one effect) all free for AnyFX users.
We will be happy to know what kind of effects you need and want to see in the future AnyFX updates. This includes not only unique new effects you want to have, but also any modifications of the existing and well known effects. If some of the effects you frequently use is missing a useful feature, have too complex or unhandy interface, if some effect is possible, but time consuming, please post your suggestions and if possible we will include such effect in our plans.

Many modified, expanded and time-saver effects are already included in AnyFX collection. Some examples:

Effects with a new features:
-One-way Radial and Linear Blurs, variable-size blurs, 3-band HSV corrector.

Time-savers - effects partially possible with built-in effects, but time-consuming:
-Gaussian, Radial and Linear Blur transitions (you can see an examples at http://anyfx.info/fx-transitions.htm). Some of these transitions (especially one-way variations) will be very time-consuming to do with a built-in effects.
-Soft and dreamy looks. You can blend blurred clip with an original in one UI without to duplicate the track and change the compositing mode (and more compositing modes are available).
-Dynamic effects (you can see an examples at http://anyfx.info/fx-dynamic.htm). You can keyframe built-in Vegas effects and simulate a random parameter variation, but this can take a lot of time. Instead you can use AnyFX dynamic effects (or request a new one if what you
want is missing in our collection).

Completely free:
- Rain, Snow, Channel Offset, Channel Dissolve, S and Gamma curves, some B/C and color corrections.

***Add-on effects are not included in AnyFX installations. You can download AnyFX add-ons here: http://anyfx.info/downloads.htm

Ivan Ivanov, Chief Engineer, Pixelan Software
ushere wrote on 3/2/2010, 2:40 PM
great to read your post ivan.....

i can tell you for sure that i for one will start looking more closely at what i can use (and what's missing) from your software range.

it's always a satisfying and heart warming occasion when a developer writes here.

again, thanks

leslie
Ros wrote on 3/6/2010, 5:15 PM
Well I decided to give it a try after reading Ivan's post.

I like to keep it simple where most of my projects involves mostly cuts but there are times and types of projects where some different transitions can be great to have. So I did a little test drive.

At first I was a little surprised that it would not intregrate into Vegas like other transitions and FX do. You need to navigate into different folders in order to reach differents types of FX or transitions presets.

I might try to gather all the presets into one folder and work from this unique folder since you waste time navigating them. I would rather just scroll down a list of all the presets since they are well identified.

Haven't used the keyframes yet, will figure that one out later since I noticed a bug involving Excalibur auto save feature where it just goes crazy and saves a file everytime I click a cursor in AnyFx while auto-save is set to save a file every 15 minute. You also need to click twice on a cursor before it reacts to your command and it seems that on the first click, it triggers the auto-save.

Just sent a note to tech support about this conflict

Will continue my evaluation once this bug is resolved, but otherwise it seems a good plugin to have. The blurred transitions are really nice, plays well and renders fast. The snow and rain effects are pretty neat. Really like the Brightness and Contrast Radial Mask for creative fx.

Rob
Ivan Ivanov wrote on 3/7/2010, 6:11 PM
Thanks leslie and Rob for the good words and the replies.

Our plans are AnyFX collection of effects to grow rapidly and we not want to overwhelm Vegas with too many effects and icons. It is why the access to all AnyFX effects is through AnyFX's "Load" button. Yes, if the presets are located in a single folder this will save some time now, but in the future the presets and effects will grow and it will become hard to find a particular one.
As a work around AnyFX installer creates "Your Custom Files" folder where you can copy or save your favorite effects. You can make a "Favorite Effects" and "Favorite Transitions" subfolders inside "Your Custom Files" folder, copy or save the effects you frequently use there and after you once load an effect or transition from these folders the AnyFX "Load" dialog will open directly in your "Favorites". Thus you will need to navigate between folders only if want to open some particular, rarely used effect. To further simplify the navigation you can Alt-click "Load" button - this will remember and open AnyFX "Load" dialog in an alternate location.
But you are right - navigation between folders is time-consuming and in the next AnyFX updates we will implement some alternate way to navigate and load effects.

Ivan Ivanov, Chief Engineer, Pixelan Software
Ros wrote on 3/24/2010, 8:41 PM
Purchased AnyFx several days ago!

Just amazed by their customer support. I had a little bug where AnyFx was conflicting with Excalibur's auto-save feature. So I wrote to their customer support and got a quick reply from Ivan. Best of all they issued an update and resolved my problem quickly and even enhanced the software for faster navigation.

Really neat plugin, it's got nice blur and radial blur transitions, amazing snow and rain simulation and much more creative fx, plays fast and renders fast.They will also be expanding it's fx and are looking into your suggestions for new fx as well. It's good to see someone is working hard for us.

Works in 32 and 64bit, and having this kind of support and future enhancements is just wonderful.

Just thinking about Magic Bullet Looks with no 64bit version, no support, overpriced and ressource intensive, you just can't go wrong with AnyFx at $29!

Rob