Pixelan ULTRA Bundle for Vegas

verticalheat wrote on 11/29/2007, 8:50 AM
I've got an offer from Pixelan for Vegas plug-ins (SpiceMASTER 2.5 PRO, Creatives, and all extras) for $129. What's your take on this? Can you show me samples of your work done with this software? How fast or slow is rendering after adding a few effects from Creativebase?

Question number two. Digital Juice offers Red Giant - The Trapcode 3S Pack (Shine, Starglow, 3D Stroke) for 114.50... but this plug-in combo doesn't work with Vegas. I think that only 3D Stroke is worth the money.(You can see similar effects used with text and video in almost every second ad on TV). Is there anything similar on the market - in this price range? I know Pro Dad Vitascene but it's not as good as 3D Stroke and the price is more than 500.00 USD

Comments

backlit wrote on 11/29/2007, 10:02 AM
Although I can't answer your specific questions on the Pixelan plugin, I can say that I found that plug to be a great value. I use Rise and Shine on nearly every title I make. I also use the Flow Texture a lot. I think that the Pixelan effects are single threaded so the rendering will be slower.

The only DJ products I user are SoundFX-1 and 2. They are awesome as well. They have great fidelity.
UKAndrewC wrote on 11/29/2007, 3:08 PM
Well worth it, especially for the offer price. They render almost in realtime for me.

Here's one I did with all Spicemaster transitions and frames http://www.ukedit.co.uk/showreels.html select the first showreel for Dave Williamson.

Andrew
verticalheat wrote on 11/29/2007, 8:46 PM
Thank you both. I couldn't find any info about 'Rise and Shine' effect on the Pixelan web site - too bad because any text extras are always welcome. I also like some stuff from DJ (like you mostly soundFX and music) but the software I refer to is from Red Giant. DJ is only reselling it (imho they are not yet in the same league), but they offer good price... too bad it's not for Vegas.

Andrew, very nicely done - the 'moving' frames in particular. And you right about the price - the last year they were asking something close to 250.00USD.
kentwolf wrote on 11/29/2007, 9:27 PM
>>...too bad it's not for Vegas..

www.velvetmatter.com

...makes Radience.

It is very similar to Trapcode Starglow and Shine and is very good.

I'm surprised no one mentioned this earlier.
UKAndrewC wrote on 11/30/2007, 3:31 AM
last year they were asking something close to 250.00USD.

LAST MONTH ;-( That was the first project I did with the Pixelan software, and I had to persuade them open a PayPal account, as they only take US debit cards.

Still, glad I've got it now, shame I missed out on the discount though.

Rise Shine sample here: http://www.pixelan.com/ce/intro.htm

KentWolf: Thanks for the velvetmatter link, I've been doing all this manually using exports from Particle Illusion.

Andrew
alltheseworlds wrote on 11/30/2007, 4:04 AM
I use those plugins all the time - excellent. But they kill my CPU, I can't really get an accurate idea until I render.
UKAndrewC wrote on 11/30/2007, 4:23 AM
But they kill my CPU, I can't really get an accurate idea until I render
I don't get any rendering problems. The only issue I have is that the interface is not very well coded.

Pixelan claim Vegas doesn't allow them to integrate their control window into Vegas, but it is possible.

Spicemaster also hogs undo records. When you have a SpiceMaster transition, it adds an undo event to the undo list. So to undo 4 actions you have to undo 8.

I have reported these issues to Pixelan but they aren't interested.

The core of the software works well and produces good results, so we have to live with the clunky interface to get the results.

Andrew
UKAndrewC wrote on 11/30/2007, 4:34 AM
... don't be silly, what sort of an idiot would keep clicking the button when it was just the server being extremely slow??
Kennymusicman wrote on 11/30/2007, 5:13 AM
lol. I know how that part is. I always copy my text before I click post, since the servers tend to take a while...
verticalheat wrote on 11/30/2007, 7:52 AM
For a day I was thinking that not too many 'Vegas people' use this software.. Looks that I was wrong. I'm playing now with the demo version and I think that this is 'a keeper' . I can see this tool to be use often and without the risk of 'overkill effects'.
Andrew, thank you for the link to the Rise Shine effect page. I was there before... time to get the glasses.
The special pricing is once a year special offer for people who has used the demo version before. Two years ago I had to make a choice: Pixelan or VASST UltimateS 2. Vasst won. It was my first plug-in for my Vegas 6 . This year I've got Vegas 8 and I think I'll spoil myself with Pixelan.

KenWolf: thanks for the link. This software is similar to Starglow and Shine from Red Giant, however I'm looking for application which can do 3D light animation effects (like 3D Stroke) and can be use with Vegas 6/8.
Jeff_Smith wrote on 11/30/2007, 10:10 AM
I use Pixelan quite a bit. I really like BlurPro and as said, rise and shine on text. Also I use the PIP borders alot. You can check out my dogs youtube channel

http://www.youtube.com/profile?user=wienerworld