Photoshop® CS3 Extended Video and 3D Bible

Chapter 14. Using Filters to Correct Video Files or Create Special Effects

IN THIS CHAPTER

• Using Smart Filters on a video layer

• Correcting a video layer using filters

• Adding filters to a video layer to create special effects

When you import a video into Photoshop, it isn't to create a video project. Chances are you just want to make a few needed edits and send it back to Adobe Premiere or another video-editing application. Adding a filter to your video is one of the ways in which this can be accomplished. You can use a filter to sharpen the video to give it a crisp look, to soften and blur your video for a soft look, or to reduce the noise, dust, and scratches on old or badly captured video.

Filters can do so much more than just improve the quality of your video file, however. The special effects that can be created are limitless. Are you interested in creating a liquid metal video? How about adding spotlights? Maybe you'd like to add an underwater undulation. All this and much, much more are possible using the filters in Photoshop.

Turning a Video Layer into a Smart Object

Smart Objects are new to Photoshop CS3 and are among the major advancements in CS3. They allow you to apply filters to a layer by adding those filters as sublayers. These filters are called Smart Filters.

There are several benefits of turning a layer into a Smart Object. Changes that are made to a Smart Object are never destructive to the original file, even if that file is already in PSD format. When you change a layer ...