To access useful presets per section, click the Section Presets button at the
top of the Blur or Spice
Effect sections.
Blur
These
initial controls are simple and most familiar. Box, Fast, and Gaussian are
available in the Type menu, with Gaussian highest quality but slowest to render (just like in Photoshop) and Box fastest but lower quality. Set the blur strength (radius) with the Size slider. To vary the blur strength during the effect, keyframe Size.
Style
Use
the Style section to create many useful variations of a standard blur. This is where BlurPro's
unique power becomes evident. Ten options are available in the Effect menu. To set the
strength of the chosen Style option, adjust the Amount slider. To vary the strength during the effect, keyframe Amount. For example images of each option below,
see the prior page.
Preserve Edges -- This option blurs the image,
but retains high-contrast details. It works especially well with the Gaussian blur. The Amount slider controls the extent of preserved
details. This is a great way to nicely smooth/remove slight blemishes on a subject
or image.
Blur Light -- Use this option to soften light areas of an image, while retaining detail in dark areas.
Increasing the Amount reveals more dark area detail.
Blur Dark -- The inverse of the above option:
blur only dark areas, while retaining detail in light areas.
Unsharp Mask -- This option increases contrast
around high-contrast edges, just like the similar effect in Photoshop. The Amount slider sets the radius of the sharpened area. The greater the radius, the larger
the edge effect and potential "halo". Unless you desire an abstract
look, small values therefore usually appear best. What is unusual about BlurPro
is the easy combination of blurring with Unsharp Mask, allowing you to selectively
blur AND sharpen the image. Note that you must have at least a some Blur > Amount active to apply this sharpening.
Unsharp Edges -- Similar to Unsharp Mask,
but here the Amount slider works as a threshold control
instead of radius. The threshold determines how different a pixel must be from
adjacent pixels to be sharpened by this option. Thus you can easily enhance only
high-contrast details. Use the Source slider (see below) to decrease the overall effect.
Blarpen -- This funny-named option strengthens
high-contrast edges but simultaneously softens the rest of the image. It is a
great choice to easily produce surreal "dreamy" looks while retaining
detail, such as for wedding videography. Like for Unsharp
Edges, the Amount slider works as a threshold
control -- how different the pixels must be from adjacent pixels to be affected
by this option. Useful values are typically from 10-30%. Use the Source slider (see below) to decrease the overall
effect.
High-Pass -- This option retains only the
image details engraved over a gray background. By itself, a high pass look is
not often desirable, but in BlurPro it can be combined with the Source slider (see below) to variably bring
color back into the image. Cool!
Light Relief -- Adds a light "relief"
look selectively to highlights in the blurred image. A creative way to enhance
highlights.
Dark Relief -- The inverse of the above option:
adds a dark relief look only to darker areas in the blurred image.
Relief -- Choose this option to apply a relief
effect to the blurred image. In combination with the Source slider (see below) you can selectively
retain color and details.
Source Use
this slider to variably blend
the effect with the original image. Higher values decrease the overall effect's
strength, usually creating a different look than simply decreasing the Effect > Amount slider.
Spice
Effect
Like our popular SpiceMASTER plug-in, BlurPro utilizes our top-rated, industry-standard
"spices" to generate fresh effects -- in this case, to geometrically
mask where the BlurPro effect (established from sections described above)
will appear within the frame. Adjust Spice Effect settings
together with the Spice/Position controls.
Spice/Position -- To select from hundreds of available spice geometries, click the Choose Spice
File button.
H Flip -- Flip the spice horizontally.
V Flip -- Flip the spice vertically.
Invert -- Reverse spice (invert the effect).
Center -- Drag the handle or enter X and Y coordinates to move the spice.
Rotate -- Rotate the spice.
Mixer -- This unique control
blends the spice and source clip's luminance to create a mask shape that is determined
by your clip. At 100%, purely the source clip's luminance is used as the effect
mask. To mix using
the spice geometry AND your clip's luminance, adjust
the Mixer to an intermediate value, such as 50%.
Experiment -- the Mixer is one of BlurPro's most
unique and powerful controls. NOTE: Progress must not be 0 or 100
for the Mixer to have visual impact.
Spice FX -- An on/off control
for the spice effect.
Progress -- Based on the selected
spice file, this slider sets the area where the BlurPro effect will be visible.
At 0% the effect will appear where blackest pixels reside (in the spice file's
grayscale image, not your content). At higher values, the effect will be visible
where lighter grays reside in the spice file's image, and at 100% where the whitest
pixels exist in the spice file's image.
Softness -- Higher values
soften the boundary of the spice mask.
Effect
only in soft area--
Use this option to limit the BlurPro effect only to the Softness area (set by the above control). Increase Softness to widen the effect area. Adjust the Progress slider
to determine where the effect area appears.
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