Damage Blockade
Blockade's main role is simulating low fidelity camera feeds from maybe a cel phone...or PDA. The effect places random blocks of slightly tinted color around your image, which creates the impression that these areas are not being faithfully color sampled, which is a common occurrence in many of the low resolution video cameras in phones as the video has to be highly compressed to be transmitted over the cellular phone...and then stored in as small a file as is practical.
DE_Blockade Properties
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.
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.
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.
Freeze
The Freeze properties affect how the processed clip will infrequently “hang” on a frame, simulating a possible interruption in data transmission.
Freeze Recurrence
Recurrence controls how frequently the video will freeze. A higher value here will result in less moving video in your affected clip and a greater amount of time spent “hanging” on a frame. More frequent freezes might represent a less reliable video source, or a more distant or strained transmission...
Freeze Duration
The duration controls how long the video stays frozen during each occurrence. The higher the value, the longer the freeze duration. The frames that would normally occur during the freeze will not be shown, the video will continue at the point it resumes playback. This value represents the number of frames of freeze duration, but note that it is affected by the Random Seed, Freeze Recurrence and Freeze Duration Variance values.
Freeze Duration Variance
A completely predictable pattern of freeze occurrence and duration doesn't look like a defect so much as a video strobe (which wasn't the most compelling effect, even in the late 1980's when for some reason it was inexplicably popular), so some variation can help sell the “unintendedness” of the effect. Increasing this value will vary the Freeze Duration +/- in increasing amounts as the value increases.
Stutter
Stutter properties make your clip seem to jump around in time, as if some data was lost and the clip is trying to go back and play a small bit over again, or is skipping over some temporal data that is lost, making the video “jump ahead” in time.
Stutter Recurrence
Recurrence controls how frequently the video will stutter. A higher value here will result in more skipping around moving video in your affected clip and a greater amount of time spent “hanging” on a frame. More frequent freezes might represent a less reliable video source, or a more distant or strained transmission...
Stutter Duration
The duration controls the length of the segments that stutter out place during each occurrence. The higher the value, the longer the stutter segment duration. This value represents the number of frames of stutter duration, but note that it is affected by the Random Seed, Stutter Recurrence and Stutter Duration Variance values.
Stutter Dur. Variance
Predictable patterns of any of these properties are best avoided to better sell the effect as a “defect.” Variations in the duration of the Stutter property can help sell the effect. Increasing this value will vary the Stutter segment Duration +/- in increasing amounts as the value increases.
Timing
The Timing parameters control the temporal properties of the namesake blocks in “Blockade”
Blockiness Recurrence
Recurrence controls how frequently blocks will appear. A higher value here will result in more frequent blocks in your affected clip. More frequent and intense blocks might represent a more aggressively compressed video source, or a more primitive camera system.
Blockiness Duration
The duration controls the length of each occurrence of blockiness. The higher the value, the longer each block occurrence is on screen. This value represents the number of frames of stutter duration, but note that it is affected by the Random Seed, Blockiness Recurrence and Blockiness Duration Variance values.
Blockiness Dur. Variance
Variability of all the factors inside the Blockade effect help to portray the results as unintended defects. Increasing this value will vary the Blockiness Duration +/- from occurrence to occurrence in increasing amounts as the value increases.
Blockiness Speed
Blockiness Speed controls how quickly the blocks change form. This effect tends to look more like a cel phone, PDA, or web camera when the speed is set for relatively fast changes.
Sizing
These parameters have control over the size of the blocks and the size of the area they occupy.
Block Amount
The Block Amount parameter controls the amount of picture affected by the Blockade effect. For a simulation of crude palettes evident in aggressively compressed video from hand held devices, a very high value which covers the entire frame works very well.
Block Size
This parameter controls the vertical size of the blocks in your image.
Striping
The Striping parameters control the horizontal aspect of the block artifacts in your image.
Stripe Length
The Stripe Length parameters control the horizontal size of the block artifacts in your image.
Stripe Len. Variance
Increasing this value will vary the Stripe Length +/- from occurrence to occurrence in increasing amounts as the value increases.
Coloring
The Coloring parameters control the color properties of the Blockade effect.
Block Color
The color palette here defines the color of mosaicing / color-blocking. To what degree the color chosen here is implemented in your clip is controlled by the 'Color Conformance' slider.
Color Conformance
At the highest Color Conformance values, the blocks take on the color as defined in the palette. At the lowest Color Conformance values, the blocks take on either the source image colors or more random color (mainly primary colors such as full-red, full-green, or yellow, which is full-red plus full-green).
Color Change
The Color Change parameter determines whether the blocks take more of the source colors (at the lowest Color Change values). High values here causes at least one channel of the blocks to take on the maximum value (e.g. 255 in red channel at 8 bits per pixel), so you will tend to see more primary-colored blocks as a result.
Color Change Weight
The Color Change Weight parameter at lower values allow the blocks to have a mixture of source image colors as well as a partially-blown channel, so the effect seems like a wash of transparent color blocks. On the other hand, high Color Change Weight values cause less of the original source image to modulate the block colors, so the effect looks like solid-color blocks replacing the source.
Transparent Blocks
This parameter controls the balance between square mosaicing and more rectangular bands of rectanbles. At minimum values, the effect is mostly mosaicing, while higher values result in layering of transparently colored blocks.
Alpha Handling
Don't Preserve Alpha. Blockade will affect the entire frame without regard for any alpha channel transparency information.
Mostly Preserve Alpha
Blockade will use the alpha channel as input for its computation, but will not necessarily confine its operation to the opacity defined by the alpha channel.
Completely Preserve Alpha
Blockade will only function where the affected clip is opaque and blocks will appear at a transparency level that corresponds to the target clip's alpha transparency.
