Chapter 9. Applying Special Effects

Special effects are filters that change the appearance of video either to fix problems (curative special effects) or enhance the video artistically (artistic special effects). Studio has seven classes of special effects: one curative and six artistic classes. Pinnacle calls all effects RTFX (for real-time effects), since you can preview them in real time. You will, however, have to render most effects for high-quality preview and final output.

Studio has standard effects that ship with the program as well as Plus and Pro effects packs that you can buy to add more capabilities. Pinnacle also has opened up Studio's architecture so that third parties can build filters for it.

Pinnacle added a boatload of new effects between Studio 9 and Studio 10, some incorporated in the midterm Studio 9 Plus version, and some with version 10. We're talking Chroma key, picture-in-picture, and the ability to control effects with keyframes, a huge creativity boost.

Another very useful tool is Studio's automatic music video creation routine, SmartMovie, also covered in this chapter. All this on top of Studio's top-notch color correction and image stabilization.

So let's quick talking about it, and jump right in.