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BS_CompositingBundle
Version: 1.1 Sign up to be notified by email when a new version is posted
Adobe dropped Pixel Bender support in After Effects CS6 so this plugin will not work in CS6.This is a bundle of three pixel bender plugins that will upgrade your current compositing workflow.
The plugins included are:
- bs_SmartSetMatte
- bs_MixColor
- bs_MixLayer
bs-Smart Set Matte
32 bpc compatible Set Matte effect with additional controls.
Takes the information from another layer and converts it into alpha channel.
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- bs_SmartSetMatte UI
1. Input 2:
Layer to take the matte from
2. Matte From Self:
Ignore Input 2 and take matte from the current state of self. All effects applied before bs-Smart Set Matte will be taken into account. If you want to use the source of self ignoring effects ?? disable this option and choose self as Input 2.
3. Use For Matte:
What data from input to use for Matte.
Options: Alpha Channel, Luminance, Lightness, Red Channel, Green Channel, Blue Channel.
4. Brightness and contrast:
Controls for adjusting the input matte
5. Opacity:
Opacity of input matte
6. Invert Input:
Inverts the input matte before mixing with current matte
7. Composite Current Matte:
Operation to be used to mix the input matte with the current matte. NONE means ?? ignore current matte. Other options: Multiply (default), Add, Subtract, Divide, Min, Max.
8. Invert Final:
Inverts the matte after mixing it with the original matte.
9. Display:
Result ?? display final result of the effects
Image before ?? desplay image before. Disable effect.
Matte before ?? display matte before.
Input Image ?? display Input 2 or in case of ??Matte From Self? ?? image before
Input Matte ?? display input matte ?? ??Use For Matte? converted to matte
Input Matte Corrected ?? display input matte after Brightness/Contrast corrections
New Matte ?? display resulting matte.
bs-Mix Color
32 bpc compatible effect. Mixes solid color into image using various blending modes. With combination of ??Set Matte? or ??bs-Smart Set Matte? ?? possibility to use data from another layer to determine alpha used for mixing the solid.
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- bs_MixColor UI
1. Use Current Matte for Input:
Mix the input color using only the area defined by current matte of the layer. Pixels with Alpha ??0? will not be affected.
2. Set Full Output Matte:
Sets output matte to 100%.
3. Color:
Defines color to be mixed.
4. Blending Mode:
Blending mode to be used for mixing color defined by ??Color? controller.
5. Opacity:
Opacity of input color
bs-Mix Layer
32 bpc compatible effect. Mixes another layer into image using various blending modes. Possibility to adjust input layer before mixing it into the image.
With combination of ??Set Matte? or ??bs-Smart Set Matte? ?? possibility to use data from another layer to determine alpha used for mixing the input layer.
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- bs_MixLayer UI
1. Input 2:
Layer to be mixed into the image.
2. Self Color Correction:
Ignore Input 2 and use effect as color correction tool.
3. Use Current Matte for Input:
Mix the input layer using only the area defined by current matte of the layer. Pixels with Alpha ??0? will not be affected.
5. Gain/Gamma/Lift sliders:
Correct gain, gamma and lift of the input layer.
6. Gain/Gamma/Lift color pickers:
Colors to be used as gain, gamma and lift corrections.
7. Preserve Luma:
If checked on ?? luminance correction will be applied after Gain/Gamma/Lift colors, so that it matches luminance determined by Gain/Gamma/Lift sliders. Use it if you want to control luminance via sliders and chrominance (hue and saturation) via color pickers.
8. Tint controllers:
Tints the image. Controllers work the same as in standard ??Tint? effect. Note that by default ??Amount to tint? is set to zero.
9. Clip Output White:
Clips resulting image to 1.0 (255 in 8bpc format). When working in 8 bpc this will happen anyway, but in 32 bpc you have a choice. Note that negative values will be clipped to zero no matter what you do.
10. Effect Strength:
Strength of all the adjustment.
11. Blending Mode:
Blending mode to be used for mixing the layer.
12. Opacity:
Opacity of input layer.
Version History
- 1.1 Fixed small math bug in bs_MixLayer – Apr 2011
- 1.0 Initial release on aeplugins.com – Mar 2011
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great plugin!!!
why oh why did they drop pixelbender in CS6??
Well, we have to call it the end of all of Pixel Bender plugins.
My bundle works only in After Effects CS 5.5 and below.
It’s driven by Pixel Bender so sorry to say that, but CS6 user will not benefit from those plugins.
Hey,
I was trying to make a light wrap using your sets of plugs (for 32bpc) and discovered that there are color as well as matte issues in bsMixLayer.
The color is off (slightly) per channel around: 0.0040-0.0050
and when preserve Luma is on: 0.0004-0.0008
Also it is not consistant within the layer itself.
And this by only choosing another layer while piping thru the current matte (which also leaves a fringe outline).
thanx,
Tobias
April 11th: Updated bs-Mix Layer. Colors will never again be off.
Thank you Tobias for your help with fixing this little bug.
Matte: When using current matte for input – alpha determines how much of the input color will be taken, so it shouldn’t be surprising that sometimes a little fringe appears. It has nothing to do with the plugin. That’s simply how mattes work.
Hi there! Thanks for making these plugins!
This may not be the appropriate way to make this request, but I’m trying to create a simple Pixel Blender filter, am having trouble, and I’d love it if you could write it instead and I could buy it?
Basically, the filter would look at one layer “Layer A” and if Layer A is transparent, then the result would be transparent (empty). Otherwise, the result would be a separate layer “Layer B.” So it’s a little like a logic gate: “If Layer A, then Layer B. Else 0.”
The part I’m having a tough time with is, I want AE to avoid rendering Layer B unless it is going to use it. In my attempt, AE renders Layer B regardless of Layer A. This causes a big performance hit during rendering.
THANKS!!!!!
If you want to link to the opacity of another layer – use simple expressions to link one layer’s opacity to “Layer B” opacity.
If you want to use another layer’s alpha channel – use Set Matte, bs-Smart Set Matte or Track Matte technique.
If you want to take alpha from one layer and colors from another – you can use “bs-Smart Set Matte” to take alpha from layer A, then “bs-Mix Layer” to mix layer B into the image using current alpha for input exactly the way I show in Demo Video.
I’m not sure about performance in this case, but I’m afraid it won’t be improved. The layers will have to be calculated.
Pixel Bender plugins will always calculate all of the pixels. That’s the way they work.
Thank you very much for the reply!!!
Unfortunately simple expressions won’t work for me in this case, since the Opacity of both layers will always be 100%. (It’s the nested material within Layer A that has varying transparency.)
I tried using simple Track Mattes and Set Matte, but AE renders Layer B even if the state of Layer A indicate that none of Layer B will be used.
I’m pretty new to Pixel Bender, but I wondered if there was a clever way to use the needed() function to optimize AE.
The reason why this comes up: I have an edited scene from a film as a .mov that I bring into AE. I then “demultiplex” the scene into close-ups. medium shots, and wide shots. Each type of shot is pre-comped together so that all close-up shots (for example) are in a single comp. Then all the comps are merged back together for the final render. AE wants to try to render each layer of this master comp, even though I’m trying Track Mattes to ‘mask’ out, or short-circuit, the depth-first style of the render order.
The alpha channels involved here are pretty simple: all pixels are either On or Off, since the nested “close-up comp,” say, either has a close-up shot happening or it doesn’t.
Anyhoo, thanks again for your response!
Best wishes,
bobby c
I really like the Idea of these plugins. It means a lot overthinking the oldschool “precomp workflow” – but the benefits will big. I hope Ill find the time to dive in this great set of plugins. Thanks Bartek for explaining so well and doing it step by step.