Scroll down for details on each compositing features, or select one of the following to learn more about a particular feature: 3D Compositing | Transitions | Apply Modes | Motion Blur
Boris FX was the first to introduce integrated 3D compositing to the world of nonlinear editing.
At its most basic level, this has meant full control over elements in Z space from the very beginning. More than that, Boris FX allows the creation and animation of primitive 3D shapes within editing applications. Map independent media sources onto different surfaces within the shape, crop source images before they are applied to the shape, move and rotate the object in 3D space, apply lighting and shadow effects to the object, even apply effects filters separately to individual sides of 3D objects.
A powerful tool for creating and animating 3D scenes in Boris FX 6.1 are nested Container tracks, providing easily organized parent-child relationships between elements. Motion blur, filters and other effects may be applied once to all layers in a container, or individually to each. Each container contains its own light sources and camera for precise control, and may be composited over other layers in a composition with their own apply modes, which can themselves be animated.
The 3D animation power of Boris FX 6 offers an exceptionql range of options for transition animations in video editing applications. Especially compelling is FX's ability to animate filters in 3 dimensions, allowing for the fast creation of truly unique transitions that go well beyond any traditional conception of DVE.
Once animation parameters have been created, they can be saved to the Boris RED Keyframe Library, and repurposed at any time. Boris FX 6 ships with over 500 customizable presets of animations for filters, transitions, and many transition animations built on such compositing techniques as displacement maps, color corrections, noise maps and lights.
Below, reduced view of Boris Browser, Displacement Maps category of saved effects.
One of the compositor's primary tasks is to manage the transparency of layers, and Boris FX 6.1 offers a number of unique ways to do this.
Among these is the animation of compositing modes in a single layer through the "Apply Mix From" setting. This can be used to soften the effect of a composite mode, or animated to transition from one mode to another. Not only does this approach offer more options than traditional approaches, it offers reduced rendering times by not requiring copies of additional layers to provide the transition between composite modes.Boris FX 6.1 features 27 modes in all, including 6 new ones: Boost Expo 1 and 2, Boost EQ + and -, Boost Bias, and 50-50 Mix. Although the algorithms they use are different, each carries the exact colors of the original layers through to the composite, without the crushing introduced by standard composite modes.
Below, top: unfiltered images. From Lower Left: Boost Eq +, Boost Eq -, and Boost Bias. Note consistent chroma values in each.
Boris FX 6.1 provides motion blur to simulate the way that film handles image capture of moving objects. The default setting of 180 refers to the rotation of the camera's shutter across a frame, in this case, 180 degress, or open for half a frame. Higher settings mean more blur, lower settings mean less blur. This feature is useful to give moving layers a less "computer-y" feel.
Adaptive Motion Blur is unique to Boris FX: it takes fewer samples when images are moving more slowly, thus reducing rendering times without sacrificing the blur's quality. Elements at rest have no motion blur applied.
