NEW: Magic Bullet Looks 1.1? Who's using it?

Grazie wrote on 6/14/2008, 12:37 AM
As the title says.

Why? And Feedback as to what it gives/doesn't give or allow us in Vegas as a plug-in?

Been to the site and I am truly very impressed. I'm wanting to know some Real World "Wow-ness!" from those who ARE using it.

Grazie

Comments

mark-woollard wrote on 6/14/2008, 3:40 AM
I'm using it. I typically start by finding a preset look and then tweak it if necessary--often adjusting lighting by adding a gradient and/or spot highlight or sometimes a spot blur to shift attention to an object. The spot function provides only one shape--a round circle with falloff adjustment. It would be nice to have other shapes and bezier curves as well as motion tracking (apparently those things are in the works for a future release).

I would prefer to be able to see the effect in real time via my SONY BVM CRT monitor instead of just with a still frame on the computer monitor. It often means I have to close and reopen the MB Looks interface repeatedly. But I like the results so much I can put up with that.

Mark
CClub wrote on 6/14/2008, 6:08 AM
I used Magic Bullet for Editors extensively when it first came out, and even bought the nvidia 7800 gtx specifically because it helped rendering/preview times with MB. But in the wait for Looks for Vegas to be available, I've been using the VASST ReelPak Looks very frequently and I've gotten comfortable with them. They are SOO much easier to work with rather than MB Looks, which slows down your preview/render drastically. I bought Looks just because the upgrade is pretty cheap, but I'm not using it that much yet. Hopefully I'll learn to integrate it back into my workflow, but it's very difficult to work with video when the plugin slows down the preview to like 5 fps.
Grazie wrote on 6/14/2008, 7:06 AM
but it's very difficult to work with video when the plugin slows down the preview to like 5 fps.

Hmmm... and you bought a fast Vid card too?

Thanks guys.

Grazie
CClub wrote on 6/14/2008, 7:24 AM
The fps does seem to vary depending on which effect you use... some seem to require more resources than others. "5 fps" might be a bit of drama on my part; I'm not at my work system to test it out, but it was definitely a huge hit on the preview fps. What I might end up doing is finding a Looks setting I like, then switching off all effects in the preview options, and adding it back in before rendering. But that sort of negates the benefit of previewing. And as I said, with a few combinations, 75% of the time the VASST ReelPaks can get close to Looks with minimal if any effect on your system's resources.
Grazie wrote on 6/14/2008, 7:39 AM
Thank you. -G
Tom Pauncz wrote on 6/14/2008, 8:42 AM
Tried on two computers - none of them have a suitable video subsystem. On one Vegas Pro 8 kept crashing until it was removed.
Tom
Grazie wrote on 6/14/2008, 10:51 AM
Thanks Tom . . . hmmm... g