NEW IN CONTINUUM 2022.5, the BCC+ Multi-Star Dissolve filter creates multi-point star patterns in the higlights of the image that automatically animate in intensity as the transition progresses to obscure the dissolve between clips.

Presets and the FX Editor

The FX Editor provides a convenient way to store and retrieve factory installed and/or user generated filter presets. To select a preset, open the FX Editor interface and pick one from the Presets panel. Click the apply button in the FX Editor to return to the host user interface.

To save a custom preset, click the “Create Custom Preset” icon in the top right corner of the parameter list, next to the filter name, set a name for the new custom preset in the dialog that appears and click done.

Filter Parameters

GPU Rendering: allows for the selection of GPU or CPU software rendering.

• Default: Uses the GPU to render the effect.
• 16 bit float
• 32 bit float
• Disabled: disables GPU rendering and allows for CPU software rendering.

Animation: Menu controlling what drives the animation of the transition.

• Auto – automatically generates a transition based on the transition length (when used as a transition) or the clip length (when used as a filter).
• Manual – requires the user to set keyframes to control the transition progression.  Can be useful in customizing the exact timing of the transition or when applying the filter as a stylized effect as opposed to a direct NLE-style transition.

Layer to Reveal – This layer selection popup is not relevant when you have applied the filter as a true NLE-style transition and it will be hidden or disabled in that context.  When applied as a normal “effect” as opposed to a transition, however, this menu is used to select the “Incoming” or “Reveal” layer for the transition.

Percent Done:  Disabled/Hidden by default.  When the Animation menu is changed to Percent Done then this slider can be manually keyframed to control the transition progression.

Multi Star

The Multi Star settings control the various qualities of the generated star patterns.

Blend: Used to determine the blend mode to be used when adding the stars.

• Add: The stars are added to your image.
• Screen: The stars are combined with the image using a Screen blend mode. This looks kind of like the Add blend mode, but highlights are retained.

Brightness: Used to control the brightness of the stars. Higher values yield a stronger glow across the image while lower values restrict the glow intensity.

Spokes: Used to control the number of star spokes. Higher values increase the number of spokes in each star, while lower values will reduce the amount.

Size: Used to control the star size. Higher values increase the overall size of each star, while lower values will create smaller stars.

Angle: Used to rotate the stars. Typically sed when Spoke values are above 1, rotation of the angle will change the orientation of the star and spokes

Color: Used to control the star color. In it’s default state the color is white. By selecting a color with the color chip, the color can be set to any RGB value. With the eyedropper, the color can be selected directly from the image pixels.

Matte

A matte is used to create the star effect. 

Position: Pinpoints the color values to be used in the matte. For a luminance matte, a Position value of 100 would make a white matte of the highlights and a value of 0 would make a white matte of the shadows. In the flower image below, look at how the matte varies for different Position values in a red extraction. When the Position is at a value of 100, the red flowers are shown as white in the matte.

When the Position is moved to 50, the red flowers turn black.

Range: Increases or decreases the range of values in the matte. A low Range value indicates a narrow range of values. A high Range value indicates a large range of values included in the matte.

Star under Source: Applies the filter effect to alpha images.

Color Correction Group

The Color Correction group provides a range of color correction tools to adjust the overall look of the transition.

Hue: Control the overall hue of the transition.

Saturation: Used to control the overall saturation of the transition. Higher values create a more intense color saturation than lower values.

Brightness: Used to control the overall brightness of the transition.
Higher values create a more intense highlights than lower values.

Contrast: Used to control the overall contrast of the transition. Higher values create a more intense contrast between light and dark pixels than lower values.

Gamma: Used to control the overall gamma of the transition.

Temperature:  Used to control the overall temperature of the transition. Moving the Temperature slider to the left (negative values) will yield a cooler result, while moving the slider to the right will warm up the shot.

Cyan/Magenta: Used to control the overall amount of cyan/magenta in the image..  Moving the slider to the left (negative values) will add a cyan tint, while moving the slider to the right will add a magenta tint.

Red: Used to control the overall value of the red color channel. Higher values increase the overall influence of the red color channel than lower values.

Green: Used to control the overall value of the green color channel. Higher values increase the overall influence of the blue color channel than lower values.

Blue: Used to control the overall value of the blue color channel. Higher values increase the overall influence of the red color channel than lower values.

Animation Tuning Group

These parameters control the overall timing of the transition.  On hosts which permit on-screen heads up display widgets (such as AE, Premiere, and Avid) you should never need to modify these sliders directly since they can be configured in a more convenient and intuitive manner by manipulating the widgets directly in your comp/preview pane.  On hosts without heads up display widgets you can use these sliders directly to fine tune your animation timing, taking advantage of the View Ease Curve option to help visualize the animation rates.

Glow Ease In: Control how quickly or slowly the glow amount increases at the beginning of the transition.

Glow Ease Mid:Control the rate of change of the glow amount (how quickly it reaches its peak amount and how long it holds there) during the middle of the transition.

Glow Ease Out:  Control how quickly or slowly the glow amount decreases at the end of the transition.

Dissolve Duration:  Control the timing of the underlying dissolve relative to the timing of the rest of the transition.

OSC Enable: Only visible in hosts that support heads up display widgets for manipulating these controls directly on screen. Enables/Disables on screen controls.

View Ease Curve: (Only visible/enabled in hosts that don’t support heads up display widgets for manipulating these controls directly on screen.)  Enable this control to display a preview graph of the the animation curves rendered into in the composite window.