Magic Bullet Looks

Do you have to have after effects to use MBL?

Is MBL easy enough for someone with no experience coloring?

All I want to do is use the presets.

Is it easy?

>Do you have to have after effects to use MBL?

No. It is a separate application that launches from within AE or FCP.

>Is MBL easy enough for someone with no experience coloring?

There is a learning curve...but that is mainly due to the need to know the technical aspects of color correction.

EASY? That depends on how easily you absorb things. I think Colorista is easier myself. But I don't like the Looks interface. Joe will chime in.


www.shanerosseditor.com

Listen to THE EDIT BAY Podcast on iTunes
[itunes.apple.com]

Let's get something straight...MBL is NOT a "Color Corrector" per say...it's a "Looks Builder". It has multiple preset looks built in that you can tweak. Tool Drawer is where the learning curve comes in. It is VERY easy and the interface rocks (could use a few improvements - promised next version).

Download the trial and decide for yourself:

[www.redgiantsoftware.com]

When life gives you dilemmas...make dilemmanade.

Are there any other programs like LOOKS that don't cost as much?

SugarFX for fxplug. Its not as nice as MBL but it will get you a decent foundation.

""" What you do with what you have, is more important than what you could do, with what you don't have."

> > > Knowledge + Action = Wisdom - J. Corbett 1992 """"

Quote

SugarFX for fxplug. Its not as nice as MBL but it will get you a decent foundation.

It's not even in the same category. SugarFX are cheesy (IMHO) motion graphics templates...not a looks builder / color grading / styllizing plug-in. Read the posts before posting advice please.

Nattress Film Effects is more affordable and I am told creates nice looks:

[www.nattress.com]

When life gives you dilemmas...make dilemmanade.

Yes, the Nattress Film Effects has similar presets to what Magic Bullet Editors offers. And is a good way to get a certain look to build off of with the 3-way.

Or Colorista. I love Colorista.


www.shanerosseditor.com

Listen to THE EDIT BAY Podcast on iTunes
[itunes.apple.com]

Colorista kicks a$$ as well...especially if you master layering and the use of the Power Mask built in. Red Giant just rocks all over the place! You definitely get what you pay for with RGS plug-ins.

When life gives you dilemmas...make dilemmanade.

MBL is expensive? Not for pro work. Color back when it was a standalone app, now that was expensive.

Dan

Color? Pffft. That's nothing. Have you looked at Lustre? Now that's expensive!

Looks is great for fast effect CC
BUT
it creates illegal levels (depending on your setup, if all work is RGB to start with, perhaps not...)
it CANNOT do 'real' CC, as there is no way to output to a client monitor.

AND (my biggest con), it has a nasty but with blurs. If you work on interlaced material, you get strobing left top/right bottom if you apply a blur. Workaround is to crop one pixel top/bottom before applying the effect.

Bouke
www.videotoolshed.com

"It" doesn't create illegal levels...the user does. The same can be said for any CCer. You have to obviously monitor your output.

The realtime output to a monitor is a shortcoming I made a big stink about when working on the BETA. Also the inability to keyframe actions within the Looks builder. It's coming though

When life gives you dilemmas...make dilemmanade.

Na,
what i ment was, you cannot trust a preset to be safe...

Bouke
www.videotoolshed.com