Choosing Image Filters

Image filters are applied to the 2D array of pixels of the initial render, even though they may reference certain information from the 3D scene. This is technically post-production work, equivalent to taking each frame into Photoshop and applying a filter to it. The information from the 3D scene that may determine the range of the effect is essentially a 2D mask selecting which pixels should have the filter applied. Table 12.1 describes the various filters and their uses.

	NOTE Lens Effects settings are described in more detail in Chapter 11.

Any Lens Effect filter parameter that has a green, double-triangle icon is animatable; if you click the icon, you gray out the icon and turn off animatability for that parameter. While the Lens Effect dialog box is open, you can animate Lens Effects parameters by turning on the Animate button, going to the frame in the scene corresponding to the scene event frame, and changing the parameter. You can also just add keys to the track in the Track View (again, while the Lens Effect dialog box is open). The tracks will be under Video Post in the scene hierarchy.

	NOTE The inferno portion of Lens Effects and Lens Effect Highlight are not part of the Render Effects window. They are only available through Video Post.

Editing Video Clips

We’ve already performed a simple edit, cutting from one camera view to a pre-rendered movie from another camera view. Digital editing is very simple to do technically. Editing well and meaningfully, however, is an artform of considerable depth. If you watch a good film carefully—and you might have to watch it frame by frame—you will see that with good editing you don’t even notice the cuts. Everything flows naturally; that is, it makes enough sense to us, within the context of film conventions we’ve grown used to, that the change of viewpoint fits the unfolding story. It is well worth the time to study cinematography—if not in a school or in books, then through your local video store.

One thing you should take note of while studying films, is that the vast majority of the transitions made between shots are normal garden-variety cuts. The beauty of the art is in using cuts well. The bulk of the remaining transitions are fades in or out and cross-dissolves. These transitions have established contexts of meaning in film that our culture has incorporated into its subconscious understanding. A long dissolve, for example, suggests the passage of time, while a fade to black suggests the end of a period of time, creating a sense of distance. The most common thing that amateur editors do wrong is use a lot of fancy wipes and other transitions. These have no established context of meaning and can stick out like a sore thumb. They distract the viewer from the story. It’s not that you should never use different transitions, but you should learn the conventions first and have a reason for departing from them. That way your departures are more likely to have meaning and less likely to seem tedious and amateurish.

But enough preaching. Let’s look at other editing tools in MAX.

Using the Alignment Tools

If you hold down the Ctrl key, you can select more than one event in the queue. This enables alignment tools in the toolbar, shown below.

	WARNING Changes in Video Post are often not undoable. Do an Edit Ø Hold if you are at all unsure of your edit.

	Align Selected Left moves the first event selected to align its starting point with the second event selected. If the whole queue is selected (by clicking the word “Queue” in the queue), all the events will be lined up to the earliest starting point. Align Selected Right works the same way, except it aligns the endpoints of the selected events.
	Make Selected Same Size changes the duration of the first event selected to match the second event selected. Remember that this does not change which frames are ren-dering in an image input or scene event. Abut Selected moves the start point of the first event selected to the frame following the endpoint of the second event selected.

© 2000, Frol (selection, edition, publication)