How to Apply Blur-Sharpen Tools Plugin in After Effects                          Main help page

Blur-Sharpen Tools effects plugin is applied like any plugin effect in Adobe After Effects. Simply drag-and-drop BlurBlender Pro, Smart Blur Pro, or Smart Sharpen Pro on a timeline layer, from the Pixelan folder of the Effects and Presets panel of After Effects. Effect's interface will appear in the Effect Controls panel of After Effects. See below for the basic steps to using the plugins.

Blur-Sharpen Tools's Easy Steps

(1) Click Click here to load a preset... to visually choose from hundreds of pre-made effects (plus saved favorites) in an animated Effects Browser window. Click Recent to quickly load a recently used preset. Click Menu to quickly load an effect via a pop-up menu. Or Open for standard Open dialog box.

To create a new effect or modify a preset, do the steps below...

(2) To make initial changes towards a desired look, use the top section of the plugin to adjust its main settings. BlurBlender Pro is shown as an example here. To try several pre-made settings, click its Section Presets menu. Use the Split Preview menu to compare adjustments side-by-side to your source footage.
(3) If needed, untwirl other sections of the Blur-Sharpen Tools plugin to tune further. For detailed help per control, see below on this web page. A Section Presets button is conveniently at the top of each expanded section to quickly explore and combine handy pre-made settings -- another Pixelan exdusive.
(4) To save your new/modified look in our large visual Effects Browser for easy future re-use, click the Save button. We recommend saving in the "My Favorites" subfolder provided. Done!

Blur-Sharpen Effects Presets

In Blur-Sharpen Tools for After Effects there are THREE ways to access presets -- Effects Browser presets, Section presets, and AE Animation presets.

Effects Browser presets

This is the most powerful and visual way to access presets and is where hundreds of effect presets are located. Click the Click here to load a preset... button at the top of Blur-Sharpen Tools to open a large Effects Browser window to visually choose/compare pre-made effects. The Effects Browser is shown below. To explore presets, click a folder in the left pane, then click a thumbnail image to see animated preview. Double-click to apply. To save your own custom presets in the Effects Browser, use Blur-Sharpen Tools controls to set up the desired look, then click the Save button.

Time-saving tips to load presets faster:
The Effects Browser is fast, but sometimes you may already know which preset you want to use, such as when you are applying the same preset repeatedly in a project. In that situation, selecting a preset by one of the following methods can be faster... To see recently chosen Effects Browser presets, click the Recent button. For a drop-down menu of Effects Browser presets, click the Menu button. To use a standard Open file dialog box, click the Open button.

Handy tips while working within the Effects Browser:
• To scroll through presets in a folder while keeping your eye on the top preview image for comparison, click a thumbnail in the right pane then use arrow keys.
• To increase/decrease the thumbnail image size, use the Size button at the bottom of the Effects Browser.
• To copy a favorite preset into the My Favorites folder located atop the left column of preset folders, right-click any preset image and choose Copy to My Favorites. To copy the preset into a subfolder within that folder (such as if you want to organize presets per project or per client), right-click the preset and choose Copy to My Favorites >> [new subfolder]. You can then name the subfolder as desired. After the subfolder is created, it will also appear in the right-click menu.
• To rename a preset that is in the My Favorites folder, right-click the preset there and choose Rename this preset. To remove a My Favorites preset, right-click and choose Delete this preset.
• To hide any preset, right-click the preset and choose Hide this preset. To show all hidden presets in a folder, right-click any preset in that folder and choose Restore all hidden presets from this folder. To temporarily view the folder's hidden presets, which can be handy if you just want to momentarily browse them, choose Temporarily show hidden presets.

Section presets

Unlike the Effect Browser presets, these change ONLY the controls in ONE section of Blur-Sharpen Tools controls. Within any section (aka "twirly") of controls, choose from the Preset menu. Mixing presets from several sections is a quick and easy way to try hundreds of fresh blur effect variations.

AE Animation presets

If you prefer, you can save Blur-Sharpen Tools presets as animation presets in the usual place within After Effects, by selecting Blur-Sharpen Tools, then choosing Save Animation Preset from the Animation menu in After Effects or from the Effects & Presets panel menu.

Detailed Help on Each Blur-Sharpen Effects Plugin Control

IMPORTANT: To quickly try common settings in any section, use the Section Presets menu at any section's top. To vary a control over time, use After Effect's standard keyframing controls.

Split Preview. Easily compare the effect to your source clip's original look. When you are done comparing, be sure to turn this off to not include the split in your final render.

Blur

Adjust the main BlurBlender controls. Choose a section preset at right for common settings.
Blur Type. Choose the Blur type. To turn a standard blur into a linear blur, use the Stretch slider below. To turn a radial blur into a spin or spiral blur, use the Stretch and Angle sliders below.
Size. Sets the blur strength. To create extreme blurs, manually enter a value greater than 100.
Stretch. To stretch a blur into a linear, spin, or radial blur, adjust towards 0% or 100%.
Angle. Set the direction of a linear, spiral, or offset blur.
Radial Blur X/Y. Position the radial blur center point.

Radial Blur Bias. Controls where the radial blur power is strongest. Affects only radial blur.
Blur Offset. For linear blurs, the Offset controls can create wind trailing effects. For radial blurs, rays and various spin and zoom effects can be created. See the section presets for examples.

Blur Style

More ways to alter the blur's look. Choose a section preset at right for common settings.

Gaussian %. Change the blur's look from Average (0%) to Gaussian (100%).
Cross Style. Cross blurs are available to blur in two perpendicular directions and blend the results, creating various crosshatch textures. For this effect, set the Stretch slider towards 50%.
Text/Alpha FX. For titles and source clips with an alpha channel, this sets the alpha channel processing. "None" affects only RGB channels. "RGB blur within alpha" retains sharp frame edges in clips that are smaller than the project's frame size. "RGBA blur" variations are handy for text blur since the alpha channel is also blurred. "Outer blur" variations can create text glows and related effects.
Blend Mode. To fine-tune the blur, choose a Photoshop-like blend mode. To see these blends, make sure that the Blend/Blur control below is not 0 or 200.
Blend/Blur. Creatively alters the blend mode above. 0-100% sets the blend strength; 101-200% blurs the blend mode. To see results, make sure that the Blend/Blur control above is not 0 or 200. See the section presets for examples. For unusual looks, enter values outside the 0-200% range.
Bias Strength. Increase to limit the blend in dark/light areas. Use together with the Dark/Light Bias control below. See the section presets for examples.
Dark/Light Bias. Increase to shift the blend into lighter areas. Use together with the Bias Strength control above. See the section presets for examples.

Shape Mask

Limit where the blur will appear with an adjustable, movable geometric shape. Choose a section preset at right for common settings.
Shape. Choose a shape from several geometries.

Strength. Set the strength of the shape mask.
Size. Set the size of the shape. For Linear or Door mask shapes, this control affects their position.
Edge Softness. Adjust the softness of the edge of the mask.
X/Y Position. Position the shape within the image by dragging the center point. If "Linear" is selected, you can adjust its angle by moving the center point. For more precision, enter numerical values.
View the Mask. Turn on to clearly see the mask.

Randomize

Randomize one or more settings over time to create pulsing or variable blur effects. Choose a section preset at right for examples.
Random. Choose a control to randomize. Up to three different plugin controls can be randomized independently by using the additional control sets lower in this section.
Variation. Set how widely the control's strength will vary.
Speed. Set how fast randomness will change.
Density. Set how often random events will occur.
Style. Experiment with variations to the nature of the randomness.

Mix with Original. To alter the effect's overall strength, adjust its transparency with the source image. Positive values increase the source's strength. Negative values can create unusual looks.

Split Preview. Easily compare the effect to your source clip's original look. When you are done comparing, be sure to turn this off to not include the split in your final render.

Blur

Adjust the main plugin controls. Choose a section preset at right for common settings.
Size. Sets the effect's strength. To create extreme looks, manually enter a value greater than 100.
Smartness. Increase to preserve the main edges within the image.
Details. Increase to preserve more details.
Highlights. Increase to preserve the brightest areas.
Edges. Increase to preserve sharpness of edges (in Smart Sharpen Pro, to slightly return edges back to the source look.)

Shape Mask

Limit where the effect will appear with an adjustable, movable geometric shape. Choose a section preset at right for common settings.
Shape. Choose a shape from several geometries.

Strength. Set the strength of the shape mask.
Size. Set the size of the shape. For Linear or Door mask shapes, this control affects their position.
Edge Softness. Adjust the softness of the edge of the mask.
X/Y Position. Position the shape within the image by dragging the center point. If "Linear" is selected, you can adjust its angle by moving the center point. For more precision, enter numerical values.
View the Mask. Turn on to clearly see the mask.

Organic Mask

Limit where the effect will appear based on the color or luminance within your scene. Choose a section preset at right for common settings.
Target. Choose which qualities define the Target area. For example, to preserve the white in a source clip's clouds, click the Target eyedropper in the cloud and select "Target's luminance only". To preserve skin tones, click in the skin and choose "Target's color". In the preview, click the eyedropper on the color area to keep it unchanged. Or use the color swatch to choose a color or luminance.
Strength. Set the strength of the source mask. Negative values will invert the mask.
Range. Positive values preserve additional hue/luminance areas that are similar to the Target.
Falloff. Positive values increase the feathering around preserved colors.
View the Mask. Turn on to clearly see the mask.

Mix with Original. To alter the effect's overall strength, adjust its transparency with the source image. Positive values increase the source's strength. Negative values can create unusual looks.

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