   Controls In Detail -- PosterWise™ -- CreativEase Plugin |
To access useful presets per section, click the Section Presets button at the
top of the Posterization, Border, Edges/Details or Blending section.
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| Source image | Pre-blur = 2 | Pre-blur = 15 |
Two check boxes can modify Pre-blur:
Smart blur -- Turn on to retain more detail when strongly applying Pre-blur, especially within 10% to 30%.
Anti-alias-- Turn on to give all color regions a smooth, anti-aliased edge --- a major advantage over the jagged edges produced by typical posterize effects.
• Pre-blur occurs before other PosterWise processing. Therefore, it is usually a good idea to adjust Pre-blur first to roughly the value you want before working with other controls.
Posterization
Model -- Use the Model menu to choose the color space PosterWise will use to process Levels (the posterization strength per color channel -- see below). Each color space can produce different visual results. Five choices are available: RGB (red/green/blue, the default), HSV (hue/saturation/value), HLS (hue/lightness/saturation), YUV, and XYZ. If you desire certain colors in your effect, HSL or HSV can be more intuitive than RGB. Set the H Level slider to the colors you want, then adjust the other Level sliders.
Levels -- Three sliders provide individual control of the posterization strength per color channel. The higher the value, the stronger the posterization. A 100% value limits a channel to only two colors; 0% allows the maximum (256) colors in the channel to appear. For example, 100% value for all three sliders in the RGB color space will create an effect with 2x2x2 = 8 colors.
Multiplier -- The Multiplier slider multiplies the value of the three sliders above, giving you a quick way to change posterization's strength in all channels at once.
| RGB Levels = 30 | RGB Levels = 50 |
• To posterize the scene to fewer than 8 colors, in RGB set all Levels to 100, then set one or two Offset sliders to -100 or +100. In HSV set all Levels to 100, then set the H Offset and S Offset sliders to +100.
• To vary posterization during the effect, keyframe the Levels sliders. PosterWise will then smoothly animate the posterization strength per channel during the effect. This is a major advantage over the integer-only number of levels produced by typical posterize effects, which produce sudden color 'jumps' if keyframed.
Offset -- These three sliders shift where posterize color boundaries occur (i.e. color 'thresholds') in the image, and which colors per channel are used for posterization. Use it to emphasize certain features or colors in the effect. To vary boundaries during the effect, keyframe any Offset slider.
Offset All -- Offsets all channels above, giving you a quick way to change the offset in all channels at once.
| HLS Model, Offset = 0 | Offset = 40 |
Soften -- This control softens the posterized color regions, but not other elements such as Border and Source effects (see below).
| Soften = 30 | Soften = 80 |
Random and Seed --Used together, these two controls can randomize the colors created in the PosterWise effect, without affecting the color shapes/boundaries. First move the Seed slider to a new value. Then drag the Random slider as desired. To vary or even cycle colors during the effect, keyframe the Random slider. The controls are handy to create unusual treatments and to create fresh effects you may not have realized were possible with PosterWise.
Border
To create a wide range of borders around PosterWise color regions, five options are available in the Style menu:
Dark -- Applies a dark border related in hue to the color region it surrounds. Therefore, several colors of dark borders can appear in a clip.
Light -- Applies a light border related in hue to the color region it surrounds. Therefore, several colors of light borders can appear in a clip.
Relief -- Applies an emboss-like depth effect instead of a border.
Custom color -- Applies a single-color border throughout the clip. The color is selected by the eyedropper or color palette in the Color control.
Border over transparency -- Similar to Custom color option above, except all non-border areas of the clip become transparent to reveal overlapping clips in lower tracks of your timeline. Note: This option previews only from your timeline.
| Dark border | Light border | Relief border |
| Custom color border (white) | Border only (w/ Custom color) | Border over transparency |
Border only -- Turn on this check box to have ONLY borders appear in the clip's image, as shown above. This control synergizes with all Style options except Border over transparency.
Width -- To change the width of all borders in the effect, adjust this slider.
Amount -- To adjust the intensity of all borders in the effect, use this slider. Higher values increase the border opacity, especially along its inner and outer edge.
Color -- To choose a custom border color when Custom color, Border over transparency, or Border only is active, use the eyedropper or color palette in the Color control. To match the border color to a color in your PosterWise effect (or any other color on your screen), click the eyedropper, then click on the color desired. To apply a border color than is not already visible on your screen, click the color palette. Then click the Other button at the bottom of the palette to access a standard Windows color picker. The color palette will store your 20 most recent color picker choices.
• To match the border color to a color in another clip, make the other clip visible on your screen, then open PosterWise for the new clip. Now move the eyedropper tool over the other clip's image and click the desired color.
• To quickly match the border color to a color in the source clip (instead of the PosterWise effect), temporarily turn on the Border only option (described above). Then use the eyedropper tool.
Edges/Details
Seven Add options provides several ways to add texture/details from the source image into the PosterWise effect. Use the Amount slider under the Add slider to set the strength of the chosen option. Higher values show more texture/details.
Unlike the Border controls, applying black/color edges in the Source section will trace OBJECT contours instead of level edges, adding a more sophisticated cartoon-like look.
Restore details -- Source image details with a "High-pass" (or "unsharp mask") filter are added to the effect.
Relief -- Applies an emboss-like depth effect to source image details.
Color edges 2-way -- Applies color to some edges instead of only highlighting/shadowing.
Color edges 4-way -- Similar to Color edges 2-way, but applies color to all edges.
Black edges 2-way -- Similar to Color edges 2-way, but applies only black or gray to edges.
Black edges 4-way -- Similar to Color edges 4-way, but applies only black or gray to edges.
Edge Detection -- Applies black to object edges.
| None | Restore details | Relief |
| Color edges 2-way | Color edges 4-way | Color edges 4-way (more Density) |
Density -- Determines the visual density of the details produced by the chosen Add option, as shown in the last two images above. Higher values show more extensive Add details.
Smooth -- Fine-tune the details produced by the chosen Add option.
Blending
To creatively blend portions of a clip's source image with the PosterWise effect, experiment with nine compositing options in the Blend menu produce a wide range of blends between the PosterWise effect and the clip's source image. The options are similar to blending modes found in programs such as Adobe Photoshop. Use the Amount slider to set the strength of the chosen Blend option. Higher values show more of the clip's source image blended with the effect.
Normal -- Blends details from the source image uniformly throughout in the image, like a video dissolve.
Lighten -- Only blends in pixels from the source image that are lighter than the PosterWise effect.
Darken -- Only blends in pixels from the source image that are darker than the PosterWise effect.
Add -- Combines color values in the effect and source image, creating lighter colors. Black pixels remain unchanged and white pixels remain white.
Screen -- Lightens/brightens all colors in the PosterWise effect. Black pixels remain unchanged, however, and white pixels remain white.
Dark/Light Bias -- Shift the effect into darker/lighter areas. NOTE: Blend Mode must not be None for the Bias and Range controls to have visual impact.
Range -- Increase to spread the effect.
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