The 10 filters have all been tweaked into preset “looks” in order to put the most common uses of the filter to the forefront and to give you an idea of what else it can do. As I stated above, some of these uses are patently filler, however, the setup of presets makes the filters extremely easy to use, even if some of the sliders to adjust the presets aren’t immediately obvious about their function. High marks here.
The options are plentiful, with each of the ten filters having several presets this leads to 170 different preset effects. Here again is a point where I’ll reinforce though, that at least 40% of these feel like padding the numbers. Within each filter, though, are clearly a wide range of effects to play with, giving you many options for a good price point.
The Auto Contrast filter has several nice levels that are good for a quick punch up of the image.
The Diffusion filter offers an “Afterlife” look that is as glowy and soft as you might expect, perfect for an ethereal scene or dream sequence. “Film dramatic” boosts contrast and edge light while damping down the colors a bit. “Nostalgic cast” has soft focus and a bit of sepia in the coloring with slight halos around everything, reminded me quite a bit of the look of “A Christmas Story.” In a good example of bizarre and unnecessary is the “Ectoplasmic accents” look, turning the scene’s highlights into neon green smudges. Many of the other options in here have similar “yes, but why?” feeling to them.
Gradient tint offers several photographic and useful gradient tints before descending into unusual and anarchy with neon colors and “heat vision.” (Though, Robert Rodriguez might be interested in that one for his current project.)
The Image Mapper is very flexible and well put together. Mapping one image onto another has always been a chore in video editing programs, and the presets give you excellent starting points. This filter is the standout of the package…assuming you have an image that needs mapping.
Proportion helper is an interesting series of overlays designed to help you compose your image. Maybe I’m old fashioned, but I think you ought to do your composition in camera. Though my snarkiness is no fault of the program, so I can hardly take that out on them.
