Damage Artifact
‘Artifact’ is the term used when some sort of defect can be seen in a video stream. Since almost all modern video is digital (and all broadcast services will be digital very soon if your local service is not already), most of the artifacts a viewer sees on a daily basis are based on digital errors. Typically these errors are caused by data lost along the signal path due to weather interrupting a digital satellite feed somewhere, or perhaps the content has some encoding errors or file corruption that are causing the decoding process to choke. In any event, these errors are becoming familiar to anyone who watches video in nearly any circumstance, whether it is on free broadcast, cable, satellite, or even video content delivered through the internet.
Artifact is an effect designed to simulate these errors, and it does so very convincingly. (Warn your clients before they watch your finished product or they may think you’re trying to sell them corrupt files!) MPEG errors such as hanging frames and blacked out frames (data packet loss) and DCT (Discrete Cosine Transform, which means…uh….well, let’s just say it’s the blocks…) errors such as misplaced content blocks and missing color information all contribute to an effect that will have many uses, not the least of which might be just driving your favorite digital video engineer nuts…
DE_Artifact Parameters
Reset
changes the properties in Artifact back to their default state.
Options
will be the link to click to register your copy of Digieffects Damage, if no valid registration information is found on your system. Otherwise, it will function just like “About”
About
will show you the version of the software you are running
Digieffects
In the twirl-down menu labeled “Digieffects” is the Digieffects preset bar.
Source Blend
Controls how much of the original, unaltered image is blended in the final image. A value of zero shows no original image, a high value of near 100...90 for example...will leave very little effect visible and a value of 100 will show only the original image and no effect, but the rendering will be zippy...
Random Seed
The Random Seed controls the way the “randomness” of the effect is implemented over time. While the property range runs from 0-32000, the value doesn't represent the 'amount' of randomness so much as simply different randomness. Note that this value can be used in multiple cases with the same value and the results will be predictable and similar in cases where consistent use of the effect is required in several instances. If the results you are getting starts looking too predictable, simply change the Random Seed.
Operation Type
There are six different operations to choose from inside of Artifact:
Normal
This mode uses all the operations available inside Artifact in combination to create an effect similar to a digital VTR with dirty heads or a failing digital feed of some kind.
Burst Mode
Burst uses the same combination of operations as Normal mode, but applies them in much higher density. Using keyframing within your host application, you can use burst mode to bring a clip in from complete digital distortion...or keyframe the effect in at the end of a clip to represent a lost digital feed.
JPG Noise
JPG Noise consists of visual artifacts made up solely of multi-color blocks with varying detail inside of them...simulating improperly decoded picture information. This operation can be used to simulate MPEG-2 macroblock glitches, such as those seen when a scratched DVD is played.
Blackout
Choosing Blackout will make the areas of the image affected by Artifact be simply black. There will be no colors or detail inside the affected areas, only black
Recolor
Recolor creates affected areas with simply random color change. The defects will show only as tinted areas.
Shifter
Shifter is useful for creating the look of a digital image defect without having as busy a pattern as you might have when you use Normal or JPG Noise modes. Shifter simply moves image content out of place into the affected areas to create a somewhat more subtle but still disconcerting image problem.
Codec Artifacting
Use the properties under this heading to set the intensity, frequency and duration of the defective episodes and to choose the amount of freezing “frame stutter” or some might call it a “frame dropping” look...
Artifact Amount
Surprisingly, this property controls how intensely (the amount) the defect is generated on your clip. The scale is 0-100 with zero disabling the effect altogether. Extended range of 0-200 is available by typing in the value, or dragging the value field. If you adjust this property to a very low value, your effect may not be visible in the frame you have paused. It's best to scrub or preview the clip to ensure you have the effect you want.
Artifact Frequency
Another surprise, this property controls how often the defect repeats itself. Again, value range is 0-100 with 0 being never repeating and 100 and above being never...uh...notrepeating.
Average Duration
Adjusting Average Duration values affects how long each repeating defect 'attack' actually lasts...on average. 0-100 range running from no duration at all to a nearly solid, constant stream of the effect
Freezing
Often, if a digital transmission is failing in some fashion, the receiving device will just hold frames in a frame buffer until it can again, receive packets. This results in what appears to be intermittent freeze frames in the midst of all these other failures. Adjusting the Freezing property controls how often the clip freezes as if it has lost it's connection.
