The beginning of this series is Drama Tech 101.

While Movie Edit Pro 12’s $59.99 is cheap enough for starters, it became apparent for me to move up into newer levels on what I could do.

MEP 12 continues to perform, especially in the are of managing a soundtrack, but I needed some added visual umph! for my productions. This is where FXHome.com came in to the scene.

FXHomeoffers some of the most exciting programs available and can be used in addition to not only MEP 12 but also Adobe Premiere and Final Cut Pro.

There are three main programs FXHome software offers and they are:

  1. EffectsLab – Lite or Pro
  2. CompositeLab – Lite or Pro
  3. VisualLabPro

Each of these are available in Pro or Lite versions depending on your budget. In fact, that is the tag line for FXHome products: “Ideal for low-budget productions”. The prices range for 109.99 to 499.99.

I chose to go with EffectsLab Lite for the 109.00 (which all three are available for immediate download!) and got to work right away making, solar flares, light bursts, and all other kind of visual effect. Effects come in four main categories:

  1. Particles - a particle generator that creates astoundingly realistic effects like smoke, fire or even a speeding comet.
  2. Muzzles - various kind of muzzle flashes for gun shots but it also has this cool event horizon effect, as well as a searchlight
  3. Optics – my personal favorite. I can create light flares, flashes, moving lights, balls of spinning energy, and the like. I never knew how much I could enhance my main design in a video until I used this feature. Try the “Explosion Grow”
  4. Neon – yes, like Star Wars light saber effects, as well anything that need to glow. It can be formatted in 4 points or by freehand.

Really there is so much to say about this program that I cannot do it justice in just one  small blog. So do yourself a favor and visit FXHome here and see for yourself.

EffectsLab can convert you video footage (for example what I create in MEP 12) and encode all of my chosen effects on to that video and export it in AVI, MPEG or Quicktime formats. You can even take the new EFX version of your video and add more things to it back in your editing software. Say you add an optic effect and want to put a sound effect with it. You can also create video from scratch with EffectsLab.

CompositeLab is similar to EffectsLab but works more directly with compositing effects, Keying (Green Screening) and Mattes. The Garbage Matte is an incredible tool that can help turn a smaller home studio (say one green screen background) into a widescreen shot seamlessly. This is my next purchase.

VisualLabPro is everything you could ever want in both programs in the Pro level. More effects, more composite feature. But at 499.99 it carries a hefty price tag. There is this website that offers 20% or 100.00 off the price if you buy the program from his website instead of FXHome. He will even through in a green screen background.

But download the trial versions to see if you like the program before investing the moula for it.
Then go create!