How to Apply FilmTouch                          FilmTouch's main help page

In Adobe Premiere Elements 11:
1. From the Effects tab at the bottom of Premiere Elements, choose Pixelan in the tab's top menu. Then drag-and-drop FilmTouch (or FilmTouch Pro if you have that) onto a clip.
2. In the Applied Effects panel of Premiere Elements, all FilmTouch controls are available (as shown at right) EXCEPT the top Presets section buttons (due to plug-in limitations of Premiere Elements -- see NOTE below). In FilmTouch Pro only, you can Alt-click the Setup button at right of the FilmTouch Pro name to access the Pixelan custom interface (as shown below). Both interfaces are similar, but the Effect Controls panel offers native keyframing of controls and is most convenient for quick tweaking of film looks. The Pixelan custom interface shows detailed help more visibly and has a handy Recent button to quickly re-choose recently used presets.

3. Click the Setup button at right of the FilmTouch name to open a large Effects Browser window to visually choose/compare FilmTouch presets.

 

NOTE: Missing Presets section buttons are available by these shortcuts:
-- Open Pixelan UI (in FT Pro only) or About info: Alt-click the Setup button.

-- Save: Shift-click the Setup button.

-- Recent: Ctrl-click the Setup button.

-- Menu: Ctrl-Shift-click the Setup button.

-- Open: Alt-Shift-click the Setup button.

-- Help: Ctrl-Alt-click the Setup button.

-- Fx Help: Ctrl-Alt-Shift-click the Setup button.

In Adobe Premiere Elements 10:

1. From the Edit panel (Effects Section) of Premiere Elements 10, scroll down to the Pixelan listing and drag-and-drop FilmTouch (or FilmTouch Pro if you have that) onto a clip.
2. Click the small Edit Effects button at the bottom of the Edit panel. In the Effects Properties view, all FilmTouch controls are available (as shown above) EXCEPT the top Presets section buttons (due to plug-in limitations of Premiere Elements -- see NOTE above). In FilmTouch Pro only, you can Alt-click the Setup button at right of the FilmTouch Pro name to access the Pixelan custom interface (as shown below). Both interfaces are similar, but the Effect Properties panel offers native keyframing of controls and is most convenient for quick tweaking of film looks. The Pixelan custom interface shows detailed help more visibly and has a handy Recent button to quickly re-choose recently used presets.
3. Click the Setup button at right of the FilmTouch name to open a large Effects Browser window to visually choose/compare FilmTouch presets.

FilmTouch Presets

FilmTouch 2.0 has two types of presets -- Effects Browser presets and Section presets (Pro version only). Premiere Pro additionally can create Animation presets in its Effects Control panel.

 

Effects Browser presets

This is the most powerful and visual way to access presets and is where HUNDREDS of film look effects presets are located. (There are 200+ presets in FilmTouch 2.0, or 500+ in the Pro version.) Click the Click here to load a preset... button at the top of FilmTouch 2.0 to open a large Effects Browser window to visually choose/compare pre-made effects. The Effects Browser is shown below. To save your own custom presets in the Effects Browser, use FilmTouch controls to set up the desired look, then click the Save button in the main FilmTouch control area. (In Premiere Elements, Shift-click the Setup 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. (In Premiere Elements, these buttons are not available -- see the equivalent keyboard shortcuts described in the How to Apply FilmTouch in Premiere section of this page.)

 

Prefer to use the Pixelan custom interface instead of Premiere's interface? Instead of the above, use these shortcuts to load presets faster: To see recently chosen Effects Browser presets, click the Recent button. For a drop-down menu of Effects Browser presets, right-click the Click here to load a preset... button. To use a standard Open file dialog box, Alt-click the Click here to load a preset... 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, hold the mouse pointer over the right panel then use arrow keys or the mouse wheel.
• 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.
• To toggle between viewing the source file image and the FilmTouch preset, click the top large preview image in the Effects Browser.

Section presets (FilmTouch Pro only)

Unlike the Effect Browser presets, these change ONLY the controls in ONE section of FilmTouch Pro. Mixing presets from several sections is a quick and easy way to try hundreds of fresh film look effects and variations. In Premiere Pro's interface, within any section (aka "twirly") of controls, choose Section Presets. (In the Pixelan custom interface, click the blue FX folder icon at the top right side of any section.) To choose a section preset visually instead of from a list, in Premiere Pro's interface click the submenu to activate it, then use your mouse's scroll wheel. In the Pixelan custom interface, simply move your mouse through the choices.

 

Premiere Pro Animation Presets

In Premiere Pro, you can also create an Animation Preset by right-clicking the FilmTouch name, then choosing Save Preset... to save a re-usable effect you can drag-and-drop from the Presets section of the Effect Controls panel of Premiere Pro.

Detailed Help on Each FilmTouch 2.0 Control

 

Note: FilmTouch 2.0 'regular' version has Mid Contrast, Gamma, and Mix with Original controls only -- the three most useful ways to tweak existing film look presets.

IMPORTANT: As noted in the above section, to quickly try common settings in any section of FilmTouch 2.0 Pro, use the Section Presets menu at any section's top. To vary a control over time, in the Premiere Pro interface use Premiere's standard keyframing controls.

Basics

Adjust midtone contrast, brightness, or saturation -- the most common overall ways to fine-tune a film look.

Mid Contrast. Positive values increase the contrast in midtone areas. Negative values decrease.
Gamma. Positive values increase the proportion of brighter areas to darker areas. Negative values decrease.
Saturation. Positive values increase the intensity of colors. Negative values decrease.
Apply Saturation... Sets when the above saturation adjustment applies. After... is handy to easily saturate or desaturate the look no matter what other color adjustments occur below.
Split Preview. Easily compare the effect to your source clip’s original look. IMPORTANT: Be sure to turn this off before rendering to not include the split in your video.

Preserve in Source

Optionally leave untouched (from Basics and RGB section adjustments) an already “just right” color or luminance within your scene.

All pixels with... To define the Target area where the source clip's look will be preserved, select from Target’s color, Target’s luminance only, Target’s hue only, or Target’s hue & saturation only.
Target. 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. 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.
Range. Positive values preserve additional hue/luminance areas that are similar to the Target. Negative values reduce the range.
Falloff. Positive values increase the feathering around preserved colors. Negative values decrease.
Invert. Switch preserved and adjustable image areas. Handy when clicking an adjustable color is easier than clicking a color to preserve.
View the Mask. Turn on to clearly see the preserved region’s mask.

RGB Low/Mid/High

Fine-tune a film look by adjusting shadows, midtones, or highlights per color channel. Easily tint only shadows towards a desired color, for example.

Low R/G/B. Fine-tune shadows by brightening or darkening the red/green/blue channel.
Mid R/G/B. Fine-tune midtones by brightening or darkening the red/green/blue channel.
High R/G/B. Fine-tune highlights by brightening or darkening the red/green/blue channel.
Pin Black/White. On protects pure black or white areas from adjustments in this section.

 

RGB Gain/Offset/Gamma

Fine-tune the film look by adjusting the strength and brightness of a color channel.

Gain R/G/B. Fine-tune highlights by adjusting the red/green/blue channel’s gain.
Offset R/G/B. Fine-tune all image areas by adjusting the red/green/blue channel’s offset.
Gamma R/G/B. Fine-tune midtones by adjusting the red/green/blue channel’s gamma.

 

Diffusion

Optionally add realistic light diffusion to a film look.

Blur. Sets the blur strength.
Blend Mode. To fine-tune the blur, choose a Photoshop-like blend mode.
Blend Opacity. Set the opacity of the blend mode above. 100% is pure blending, 200% is pure blur. For unusual looks, enter values outside the 0-200% range.
Dark/Light Bias. Increase to shift the diffusion into darker areas.
Range. Increase to spread the diffusion effect. 100% is uniform diffusion over the entire scene.
Glow. Optionally add a glow to enhance the diffusion realism.
Glow Size. Increase to spread the glow further into darker areas.
Glow Color. In the preview, click the eyedropper to choose a glow color from your scene. Or use the color swatch to choose a glow color.

 

Vignette

Optionally add a realistic lens vignette to a film look.

Strength. Set how strongly the vignette conforms to the current shape.
Shape. Choose a shape from several options. Inverted choices brighten instead of darken the vignette.
Softness. Set the shape's edge softness.
Size. Set the shape's size.
Center. 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, such as to match the shape in two different film looks.
Style. Choose the vignette’s style, from standard to unique looks. Standard is a 'real world' lens vignette. Standard 2 is similar but treat colors in the vignette area differently. Color only vignettes only color adjustments (the RGB sections). Diffusion only vignettes only the diffusion section. Color and Diffusion vignettes just the Basics and RGB sections.

Mix with Original. To alter the film look effect’s overall strength, adjust its transparency with the source image. Positive values increase the source’s strength. Negative values can create unusual looks -- experiment!

 

 

FilmTouch 2.0 Preferences Settings -- In the Pixelan Custom Interface ONLY

 

In the Preferences settings of the Pixelan custom interface, you can customize FilmTouch 2.0 significantly to your video editing system's power and your working style. At right are the default Preferences Settings. Three options in particular may be handy for you to change (all shown with an adjacent red triangle):

 

If you have very fast video editing hardware, consider turning off Drop frames to maintain preview pacing.

 

If you also have a high-resolution monitor and are editing with HD or larger footage, consider turning ON Use largest available preview which will use the largest preview size in FilmTouch that can fit in your monitor while still leaving sufficient room for FilmTouch's controls. Note that your choice for this setting will appear the next time you open FilmTouch's window.

After you become more familiar with FilmTouch 2.0, consider turning off Show pop-up text and help text. That will leave more vertical space for the section controls and also reduce any distraction from the ever-changing help text.

go to FilmTouch 2.0's main help page