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Edit Review — Quick Fixes

Sep 1, 2005 12:00 PM, By Tom Patrick McAuliffe

Inexpensive but effective niche video solutions.

Today's software tools have made great strides toward providing video makers with low-cost tools that deliver professional-level results. Often, however, software programs are somewhat lacking in a specific area or two, or they're more complex than necessary. The solution could very well lie with low-cost software programs or utilities that you will never see on the shelf of your local computer store.

At the outset, let me say that I've never liked cheap stuff, and I understand that companies and sometimes innovative individual programmers are walking the thin line between features and price. But every once in a while, developers hit upon the perfect combination. Whether you're a fulltime working professional or a part-time weekend warrior, there are effective low-cost solutions that fill the gaps in some of the larger programs' toolsets. These cost-effective tools are easy to operate, and with a bit of work, they can produce realistic, high-quality results.

Further, computer video postproduction now has so many third-party professional audio and video software solutions that even diehard users of mega-buck hardware solutions are turning their heads. Taken individually, each application is powerful enough, but when you choose just the right combination of low-cost tools, you can achieve an unprecedented level of integration and flexibility that few, if any, all-in-one software packages can provide.

Ultimately, the idea is to fill specific needs for the kind of work you do, establishing a more complete postproduction environment without spending too much money. Also, ensuring compatibility with your editing package, especially where plug-ins are concerned, is paramount. When a software program is platform-agnostic, so much the better.

If you want professional software tools without sacrificing an arm and a leg, check out the ones mentioned here, and don't be afraid to consider tools whose prices might seem less than pro-level. You can't judge a plug-in's value by its price alone. What follows are highlights of the inexpensive tools I've recently found helpful.

Perhaps best of all, these tools are had at a price of a good dinner — most are less than $100, and there's plenty more where that came from. Some utilities can be had at even lower shareware prices. Sure, there's a lot of junk out there, but I was surprised at the combination of quality and reasonable price available after some serious searching. Aside from word of mouth, the Internet is really the only way to find some of these gems.

SoundSoap 2.0

The folks at Bias have a long history of delivering high-quality software. The new SoundSoap 2.0 provides professional noise reduction with a simple click. It's very handy, and you don't need to fool around with all sorts of settings. Originally made to clean up vinyl LP recordings during transfer to CD, it works well in cleaning up your video's audio track. While it may seem a bit simplistic (more advanced features are available with SoundSoap Pro — $599 MSRP), simply play your audio file while the software analyzes using its Learn Noise feature. Then make adjustments using two parameters, and quicker than you can say “done,” the software eliminates such undesirables as hiss, fan noise from air conditioners, wind, 50/60Hz hum, and other background noises. There's also a window where you can see the noise visually, as well as a timecode window.

The most exciting thing is this software technology works to remove hiss, hum, rumble, clicks, and crackles quickly and effectively. The EQ-like Enhance feature adds crispness and boosts the low and high ends. SoundSoap 2.0 works with Mac OS X and Windows XP on the PC, as a standalone application or plug-in under DirectX, VST, RTAS, and AudioSuite formats. For example, I use it as a plug-in right within the timeline of Digidesign's Pro Tools, while sometimes I just need to clean up a music bed for use in my editing program, be it iMovie 4 HD or Final Cut Pro on the Mac or Adobe Premiere on the PC. One thing's for sure: The audio sounds better once processed. SoundSoap 2 has been the best $99 I've spent to improve audio in my videos.

Test Gear 1.0

Available for purchase on the company website, Test Gear 1.0 from Synthetic Aperture offers standard waveform monitor and vectorscope measuring for After Effects users. With this software utility you can measure video and even audio values in your work without expensive hardware equipment. When performing computer-generated effects, one of the main challenges is CG work sometimes looks completely different on video than in the RGB computer realm when output and played back. Test Gear helps alleviate that. The one major caveat: It works with only After Effects, although it is rumored that a standalone version is in the works.

Be it on the PC with Windows 2000 or XP or with a Mac under OS X, there are plenty of lights to indicate the status of important measurements at a glance. Everything is logically laid out and easy to monitor from right within the After Effects interface. But Test Gear offers more than just a waveform/vectorscope, although for $99 that would be enough. The software allows you to choose different colors in a frame and measure their values using RGB, HLS, HSB, web color, and grayscales. For measuring black levels, the display can determine the exact IRE level.

One of the coolest timesaving features is that colors exceeding NTSC broadcast signal limits are automatically flagged. Colors can then be lowered in intensity and made “legal” with one click. Test Gear is also resolution-independent, working with SD, HD, and film, as well as NTSC and PAL. Moreover, Test Gear features an audio waveform display and audio spectrum analyzer, so you can easily see audio levels. There's even an optional over-modulation warning alarm to help you avoid digital audio clipping. If you are a serious graphic effects artist, this software is for you.

Effect Essentials

I found this software through an online user forum. Buena Software is a small, innovative developer bringing a low-cost, high-quality solution to video makers. Effect Essentials is a set of 10 plug-ins for Adobe After Effects 5.0, Final Cut Pro, and other compatible editing applications for Mac and Windows.

Of special interest — and what proved the most useful to me — are the HSV Curves and HSV Manipulator tools. This was an especially attractive feature, allowing me to correct colors subtly. I used the HSV tools to turn some green summer foliage into brown fall foliage and make some adjustments to scenes that were over- or underexposed. I was able to split the difference between a washed-out and a dark sky and generate frames with a perfect sky. Sure, there are other ways to accomplish these things, but Effect Essentials makes it that much easier.

Buena Software also makes such other useful packages as Au Natural (for exposure and blur effects) and Dissolve Factory (for new types of cross-dissolve transitions based on luminance or color). Both of these apps work well and are only $99. Before you go out and spend big bucks on an effects program, you'd do well to check out these and the other low-cost solutions that Buena Software offers.

As a whole, this set of tools, while it has its own way of doing things, allows you to create hundreds of creative effects. From the basic Camera Flash Bulb, Video Feedback, and Radial Glow effects to the more advanced Frame Manipulator, which allows such features as having audio dictate frame size, each effect works on 8-bit and 16-bit per channel video for maximum quality.

Slick Volume 8

GeeThree is a fairly new company that sells its products direct to end users via the Internet. The company, established by former members of Apple, specializes in Mac-only iMovie plug-ins and enhancements. In a relatively short time, it has become the de facto standard for third-party products for the consumer-ish iMovie, turning it into a much more professional tool. There are seven other Slick volumes; volume 8 is the newest.

The problem is fairly simple: How many times have you shot a one-time event (or had someone shoot it for you) only to find that the footage was shaky to the point of being unusable? Volume 8 has the fix. With Slick Stabilize, image stabilization happens quickly and effectively, taking the shakes and jitters right out of your video. Using two passes, the software analyzes each frame of video, finding the steadiest elements in the footage. In the second pass, the software moves each frame so that it appears steady, sort of like a frame floating within a frame. The only downside is that no preview is available, so you don't know how effective it will be until it's done. Sometimes, depending on how much shake is involved, there's a small black frame around the processed footage, but you can adjust for this. Nothing's perfect.

Slick 8 also has a number of other useful tools that make it an easy buy. For example, Ani-Mattes gives you more than 100 high-quality animated backgrounds that, when you place a title upon them, appear as though a very expensive television paint box created them. There's also Picture-in-Picture Pro, Cosmic Stencil (which lets you fill text with animated graphics), and a utility called Lower Third Titles (which lets you create lower-third tiles with animated text and motion background). There's also a lot more.

With these features, it's easy to see that this is one of the most exceptional values available for iMovie users. Slick Volume 8 helps a lower-caliber application achieve professional custom results.

Cheaply effective

These and other low-cost tools can help you not only fix video and audio problems, but also make more interesting presentations, all without breaking the bank. But you often have to search the Web to find a compatible fit. Perhaps best of all, these tools make creating videos and effects easy, fun, and profitable. Even with their shortcomings and sometimes their own unique way of doing things, for all-around value these inexpensive, little-known apps can't be beat. That holds doubly true if you can find just the right one that perfectly fills that forgotten niche or automates that repetitive task. May your search be a fruitful one.

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BOTTOM LINE

Company: Bias Sound Creative
Petaluma, Calif.; (707) 782-1866
www.bias-inc.com

Product: Sound Soap 2.0

Assets: Low cost, PC or Mac compatibility.

Caveats: None.

Demographic: Anyone needing noise reduction.
Price: $99

Company: Synthetic Aperture
San Juan Capistrano, Calif.;
(949) 493-3444
www.synthetic-ap.com

Product: Test Gear 1.0

Assets: Free seven-day demo.

Caveats: Works only with After Effects.

Demographic: Special effects artists wanting to test their work before outputting to video.
Price: $95

Company: Buena Software
Arlington Heights, Ill.
www.buena.com

Product: Effect Essentials

Assets: Dual-platform, 10 plug-ins in one package.

Caveats: Little documentation.

Demographic: Videomakers and artists.
Price: $149

Company: GeeThree
Palo Alto, Calif.; (650) 328-2359
www.geethree.com

Product: Slick Volume 8

Assets: High-quality, easy-to-use software from a well-known company.

Caveats: Mac only.

Demographic: iMovie editors.
Price: $69.95
(direct download version)

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