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Ken Jarstad

Cool Tools

Wax

Wax is a high performance and flexible video compositing and special effects software. The idea for Wax is to be very general purpose and flexible in video compositing and effects, so that you can compose your dream video sequence with ease everytime.

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Wax can create 2D & 3D special effects and can create and use 'presets' which are a chain of plugins with customized parameters to create unique effects. The basic installation of Wax comes with hundreds of presets (500) created by Vassias Loverdos and you can also create your own using Wax.

Wax can load and use VirtualDub filters, DirectX plugins, Freeframe plugins and Windows Movie Maker presets inside Wax or Adobe Premiere Elements when using Wax as a plugin. (from the Wax website)

It can also use Photoshop filters and effects created with WinMorph morphing software from the same author. (see Caveats)

Installation:

  1. Download Wax20e.zip from debugmode.com/wax/ and extract from the ZIP file. To install Wax, run the extracted file wax20e.exe.
  2. Grab the ends of the work area bar and move them so the bar is only over the matte clip.
  3. At the Installation Options screen, select *only* the Adobe Premiere Plugin.
  4. At the Installation Folder screen, select C:\Program Files\Adobe\Premiere Elements 1.0 (or 2.0)\Plug-ins\en_US
  5. When the 'Wax - Setup' dialog box appears, enter the location of your VirtualDub plugins (if you have them) and the Windows Movie Maker path which is: C:\Program Files\Movie Maker

    Note: you can add or change the locations at any time in the DebugMode Wax 2.0 Preferences menu item in the Start Menu.

  6. I suggest printing the readme.txt for reference.
  7. You should find the following files in your en_US folder: fl-wax.prm, fx-wax.prm
  8. I suggest printing the document 'Wax User Guide'. It is located in the Help folder but is accessable from the DebugMode Wax 2.0 Start Menu or from the Wax Help menu.
  9. I also suggest printing the document 'VL Transistions and Effects' located in the Help Folder. You may want to add this document to the DebugMode Wax 2.0 Start menu.
  10. You can run the Tutorial file firstuse.htm located in the 'firstuse_tutorial' folder under the Help folder. This file was created using the Wink tutorial and presentation software available from the same author. You may want to add this document to the Wax 2.0 menu. Two additional tutorials are available on the Wax homepage: Creating a standard text effect, Creating 'handwriten text' effect
  11. 57 additional presets are available from Vassias Loverdos, a major contributor to Wax, at his website
  12. Download VL_Presets.zip and extract from the ZIP file. To install, run the extracted file VL Presets.exe. When the Setup screen appears, you may choose a full installation or you may pick and choose.

Startup:

Select a clip in the Timeline window and select the Effects Workspace. Wax can be used for video transistions and for video effects.

Click for larger image

Select Video Effects and browse for 'DebugMode'. Toggle the arrow and drag Wax Plugin on top of your selected clip and drop it there. Wax will initialize and open its' interface.

Or, select video Transistions and browse for 'DebugMode'. Toggle the arrow and drag WAX Transistion on to the desired point between your two clips and drop it there. Place your cusor on the transistion and double-click. The Effects Controls workspace will present itself. Scroll the Effects Controls window slider down so the Custom button is revealed. Click the Custom button and Wax will initialize and open its' interface.

Basic Operation:

Select Preferences from the top-left area of the Wax Plugin interface. Here you can Add folder locations for 3rd- party plugins supported by Wax. Wax does NOT use 3D Hardware acceleration by default. You should check this in most cases. If Wax crashes then, of course, un-check that option. Click the OK button to accept any changes.

I suggest using the 'firstuse_tutorial'. To run it, click on 'Getting Started' on the Wax homepage or run firstuse_tutorial.htm located in the 'firstuse_tutorial' folder under the Help folder.

There are many "goodies" in Wax and one that many have asked for is the Star Wars text effect preset. Recently, the rotating video cube has also become quite popular.

Caveats:

Unlike the native DebugMode filters, Photoshop, VirtualDub and DirectX filters are not designed for parameter storage to a project file. You will not be able to save the filter parameters into Premiere Elements’ project file. This means each time you close and open the host application, you have to choose the filter parameters again. To preserve any of your work which includes these filters, arrange the Work Area Bar to cover the filtered clips and use Export/Movie to save to a new clip which can replace the old one on the Timeline.

October 2005

Written and contributed by Ken Jarstad, Adobe Premiere Elements Forum Member

 

About Ken

Ken Jarstad is pleasantly retired and living with his wife in the woods of North Mason County in the State of Washington. Ken has worked with electronics for over 45 years, 37 professionally - the last 17 years with PCs. He built his first computer in 1986 and rose from electronics mechanic, repairing and calibrating electronic test equipment, to manager of a network operations center for a 6000 node computer network.

Ken is now the video editor for Power Talk, the weekly cablecast of the Bremerton chapter of the Full Gospel Businessmen's Fellowship International. Besides his own family website, he manages the website for his local port district. He also works a few hours a month for a local doctor's office maintaining a small computer network to meet federal HIPAA security requirements.