Editing a Hollywood FX Transition

Once the HFX transition has been applied, you can edit many, many different parameters. In fact, HFX is a somewhat complex program to work with outside of the presets; and it really needs a separate book to fully explain the vast potential this it has to offer.

To open the Hollywood FX Editor

• Double-click the HFX transition in the Timeline and the HFX Editor loads, taking over the desktop (Figure 8.75).
  
  

  Figure 8.75. The very scary-looking HFX edit interface.

  
  
  

Tip

• The editor of HFX has a frightening number of parameters to alter, and is, by and large, one of the more complex editors within the Liquid Edition editing suite. Some documentation comes with the program, but I recommend that you do some further reading on this subject.

To select a preset

1.	Open the editor.
2.	Select any of the presets by simply selecting the category from the left of the album and double-clicking on the preset you want.

Tips

• Adjust the preset you choose in any way you like, but always save your altered version under a different name; otherwise, you'll overwrite the original.

• At the bottom of the menu selection is a range of real-world objects and preset movements that allow you to build your own FX from scratch.

• Many fan sites exist for HFX. You might find Mike Shaw's (www.mikeshaw.co.uk) of particular interest. He has been running this popular HFX Web site for many years. His site offers CD tutorials and a range of downloadable HFX presets, assuming, of course, that you've already worked your way through all those that came with version 6 of Liquid Edition.