Wax
I’ve recently been playing with the free video compositing and special effects software – WAX
The software has some very nice features but what I found very interesting from a MM2 point of view is its Plugin Adapter technology. It makes the claim of being able to load and use VirtualDub filters, DirectX plugins, Freeframe plugins and Windows Movie Maker presets . What’s that ! Movie Maker 2 effects inside Max!…You bet !
Many MM2 transitions and effects work within WAX, and that includes the custom ones. Even some of the customPIP+ plugin effects work! The effects that don’t come off to well are those PIP+ ones which make use of overlays. Drop these on the timeline and you’ll be greeted with a nasty “bong” sound. All the others however seem to work, which is incredible considering that pip+ wasn’t designed with wax in mind.
So why should I be interested in using Movie Maker 2 effects within WAX when they already work perfectly within MM2? mmmm , maybe it’s somthing to do with those multiple video tracks!
MM2 does a great job at most things, but very ocassionally there’s a desire to break free of the single video track constraint and play with multiple channels. There is afterall only so much that can be achieved on a single channel. Perhaps the best and most well known illustration of this is the infamous Brady Bunch Effect. If you don’t know what that is , think of 9 grinning faces arranged in a square and you get the idea.
In the past this effect has been bravely simulated within MM2 using multiple passes coupled with PIP+ effects. The resultant quality however will always play second fiddle to a movie effect executed in one pass. There is also the question of ease of use ?
I’ve only just started using WAX so I can’t offer an opinion of the software itself based on experience. I have however managed to succesfully create a 15 second Brady bunch effect using 9 un-prepared AVI videos within WAX and applying 9 custom PIP+ effects and chroma keying the lot to get each mini vid in the correct place.The result can be seen below:
The rendered result came out better than I expected!
So where am I going with this? This post doesn’t intend to be a guide or attempt to explain how to do the Brady Bunch effect (although that is firmly on my to do list !). Consider it as more of an attention getter. There is much to unlock and understand about this software for novices like myself. However, with its intimate connection to MM2 effects via the plugin adapter, it makes for an obvious choice when considering free multi tracked video editing software
The software can be downloaded for free via the Wax homepage