And we’re back! Update #2 just went out the door and you’ll be seeing update notifications the next time you run HitFilm 3 Pro. Or you can hit one of those links above to grab the installer right now.
Update #2 includes three brand new effects! These will be available in your Effects library as soon as you’ve updated.
LUT – instant film looks
You can now use look up tables inside HitFilm 3 Pro courtesy of the new LUT effect. LUTs are used to transform color values, which helps to ensure accurate color correction across many software and hardware setups.
However, it also provides a powerful way to provide a one-click grade, simulating specific film stocks and processing techniques. Applying a LUT to flat footage can yield remarkably awesome results.
Take a look at this comparison:
On the left, the original footage was purposely shot to be ‘flat,’ providing a neutral starting point for the grade.
I achieved the middle image using a LUT designed to mimic the look of KODACHROME film. The only additional alteration I’ve made is to slightly reduce the saturation. In about 10 seconds I went from a basic flat look to a highly dramatic and filmic grade. Find out more about KODACHROME and grab the LUT here.
The image on the right is using a Kodak 2393 emulation LUT. Again, I’m achieving a good film look with literally a couple of clicks, and note how different this look is to the KODACHROME. You can download several film emulation LUTs and find some great behind-the-scenes info here.
Vignette Exposure
This alternate vignette effect takes a different approach to the standard vignette. Rather than applying a colored (though usually black) overlay to create the vignetting, this new effect instead adjusts the exposure in the affected area.
The result can be subtler and more natural. You can control the vignette’s strength and size, even punching the vignette in the opposite direction and brightening the edges, which means you can sometimes use the effect to reduce unwanted vignetting on source footage.
Deinterlace
HitFilm has always been designed as a tool for working on progressive video, which for the vast majority of users is now the common standard. Old school interlaced video does still show up from time to time and there’s now a good way to process it inside HitFilm 3 Pro.
There are two methods on offer. Field separation does a basic removal of one of the fields, deinterlacing the footage but resulting in lower resolution footage. Alternatively you have field displacement, which utilizes optical flow techniques to blend the two fields together, creating a new, full resolution frame. Nice.
Fixes & tweaks
As before, your feedback has been super useful and helped us pinpoint areas that needed improving. There are about 27 individual fixes across the application in this update, so after updating you’ll find HitFilm 3 Pro even more stable.
Here is a summary of what’s been polished up:
- Fixed issues when importing large numbers of Quicktime movies in Windows version
- Improve the loading performance of HitFilm plugins in Final Cut Pro X and Motion
- Fixed depth sorting in atomic particles
- 3D model texture paths can now be saved as absolute or relative paths in project files according to user preference
- 3D model textures are now listed in the relink window if they are not found at their previous location
- Can now import indexed-color PNG image sequences
- Fixed issue where some TGA images displayed upside down
- Corrected issues of shortcuts not working in floated panels
- Fixed text layers not accepting text
- Various Viewer time and duration fixes
- Fixed control panel angle properties not snapping to 45 degrees
- Fixed layer pickers not refreshing after an undo
- Zooming in the Trimmer now works with trackpad and magic mouse
- Audio waveforms now generated on Editor timeline for proxied composite shots
- Fixed render issue with masks applied to 3D effect and model layers
- Fixed some effects incorrectly invalidating proxies (eg atomic)
- Particles no longer disappear from view unexpectedly
- Fixed Denoise effect to preserve masked regions
- Fixed 16-bit rendering issue with models and particles in 3D unified space
- 3D masking of particles using deflectors now works when the simulation is set to 2D
- Frame thumbnails now update after relinking assets
- Billboarded layers now render correctly in non-active camera view
- Various OpenFX fixes
- Various stability fixes
- Many UI fixes
- Various styling tweaks
Which new feature or fix is going to be most useful for you? Let us know how you get on the with the update and keep the feedback coming, as the team is already working on the next one.
In the meantime, have fun scouring the internet for LUT files.
