Video editing plug-ins

Adobe Premiere Elements
SteadyMove Pro is an image stabiliser. The standard version, with fewer controls, ships with Premiere Pro.

At $470 (£235), it’s probably out of the price range of many Premiere Elements users, but there are times when a steady shot is worth any amount of money, and compared with hardware stabilisers, SteadyMove Pro is effective and economical.

Other than overall shake reduction, SteadyMove Pro provides additional controls for dealing with specific situations.

Panning can be a problem for image stabilisers, which have difficulty differentiating between deliberate and accidental camera movement. The Camera Motion control lets you specify which is which. Smooth Zooming removes sudden zoom changes and cut detection prevents stabilisation across cuts.

Pinnacle Studio
A demo version of Heroglyph is included on the bonus disc with Pinnacle Studio 9 and 10 – it watermarks the results, but otherwise is identical to the full version. To unlock it you need to log on to the Pinnacle website. This plug-in is also available for other video editors – see the box.

Heroglyph is an advanced video titling and text animation editor, but its use goes beyond captions and credits. Its motion paths and masking tools provide the means to produce motion graphics and animated picture-in-picture effects. The plug-in costs around £170, while Heroglyph Rapid, which doesn’t include the customisation or animation and effects controls, costs about £55.

Windows Movie Maker
In Hands On Digital Imaging and Video, PCW, July 2005, I looked at making SpiceFX. As they are based on greyscale images, Pixelan SpiceFX are easy to produce, so there’s no shortage of options. There are 13 SpiceFX packs for Windows Movie Maker, which provide more than 600 individual transitions and effects.

Windows Movie Maker isn’t exactly endowed with stunning effects and transitions, so this is an affordable way to make good that shortcoming. SpiceFX is as easy to use as Movie Maker’s own transitions and the Pixelan site provides downloadable free demos. Individual packs include from 30 to 99 effects and cost $14 (£7) for one, with multiple pack discounts. All 13 will set you back $59 (£30). See the box for other supported editors.

Sony Vegas
New Blue Motion Effects includes 69 effects and seven video filters, which add movement to shots.

Motion blur and zoom blur, like their still image counterparts, add a dynamic edge by blurring the subject. There’s also spin blur and wiggle – a ripple effect. As with other New Blue filters, they’re well designed and easy to use. Spin blur is typical, with rotary sliders for spin, direction and blend and a drag button with co-ordinate inputs to define the spin centre.

Motion Effects works with Sony Vegas and Vegas Movie Studio and costs £37.80.

Pure Motion Editstudio
Wax is a freeware video compositing and special effects application, and comes in standalone format or as a plug-in for Pure Motion Editstudio, Sony Vegas and Adobe Premiere. You can use it to create 3D animated title sequences, particle effects and for rotoscoping. Wax can create chains of plug-ins with customised parameters that you can apply as presets. The basic installation comes with hundreds of presets and you can add your own.