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| Review: - CHV Electronics Updated Distortion Collection Version 4.0 |
April, 2010 
CHV Electronics Updated Distortion Collection Version 4.0
http://www.chv-plugins.com - $39.00
Review by Steve Douglas
While the CHV Electronics Distortion collection has been around for some time now, Christoph Vonrhein of CHV Electronics has now completely re-written the previous version. This latest version of the venerable Distortion collection, in addition to providing a new plug-in not found in the previous version, addresses and fixes all alpha-channel issues and is now fully compatible with Final Cut 7 and Snow Leopard.
The new collection is available by download from the CHV site and now includes 7 video filters and 6 video transitions.
The newest filter 'CHV Float' is something else, very cool when applied to the right type of clip. It has the power to make you feel just as the the filter is named, as if you were floating. I got the same feeling from watching it as when I am at some IMAX movies. Not sure when, but I hope to find a good use for this one soon
Full control over the amount of wobble and horizontal and vertical movement is easily set.
This is a clip using the default settings at a lower resolution for easier viewing.
The other filters and transitions you have seen before but remember that all of these have been re-written so there are a great number of benefits in getting this new update.
The Storm Circle transition provides several parameters and modification choices allowing for any number of different transitional approaches.
An example of the Storm Circle transition showing just one way to introduce a new clip.
The Storm Front transition provides a very novel way to transition between scenes. The parameters allow you to see in the Canvas just which parts of the clip are being affected as well as a number of appearance choices.
The Storm Front transition applied between two clips on the Video Layer 2 using a base layer on V1.
On the left the CHV Fluid transition applied between two clips.
On the right, the same transition with the amplitude raised considerably. The black edges show the Alpha channel, and in this case, there was no base video layer.
The filters have the same names as the transitions but with the filters you do have more ability to keyframe them to your liking. I see no reason why you wouldn't be able to use these filters keyframed to be transitions.
All in all, this new collection of distortion filters provides, not only a completely new and unique filter, the Float filter, but assurance that as a 3rd party plug in, it is completely compatible with FC7 and Snow Leopard, renders quickly and removes any concerns about stability. I had no problems when testing any of them. I especially liked that I could use the filters as transitions if I wanted and keyframing them to that end was simple.
 Steve Douglas is a certified Apple Pro for Final Cut Pro 7 and underwater videographer. A winner of the 1999 Pacific Coast Underwater Film Competition, 2003 IVIE competition, 2004 Los Angeles Underwater Photographic competition, and the prestigious 2005 International Beneath the Sea Film Competition, where he also won the Stan Waterman Award for Excellence in Underwater Videography and 'Diver of the Year', Steve was a safety diver on the feature film "The Deep Blue Sea", contributed footage to the Seaworld Park's Atlantis production, and productions for National Geographic and the History channels. Steve was a feature writer for Asian Diver Magazine and is one of the founding organizers of the San Diego UnderSea Film Exhibition. He is available for both private and group seminars for Final Cut Pro and leads underwater filming expeditions and African safaris with upcoming excursions to the Cocos Islands, Costa Rica, Lembeh Straits, Indonesia, and Wakatobi. Feel free to contact him if you are interested in joining Steve on any of these exciting trips. www.worldfilmsandtravel.com
copyright © Steve Douglas 2010
This article first appeared on www.kenstone.net and is reprinted here with permission.
All screen captures and textual references are the property and trademark of their creators/owners/publishers.
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