Functions Cover Everything from Timecode to Picture-Stretching

London-based production and post company Pixelfantastic has issued a series of 12 FX plug-ins for Quantel’s eQ, iQ, Pablo and sQ Edit Plus. Functionality includes such practical needs as timecode burn in, counters and timers, viewfinder effects and progressive picture stretch.
Pixelfantastic is a film and video production company based in East London best known for its work with musicians including Kylie Minogue, Robbie Williams, Paul McCartney, and David Bowie. Their facility gear includes an IFX Piranha Cinema v6 editor for VFX and realtime stereo work as well as a Quantel eQ Quattro, which offers plenty of impetus for the creation of useful plug-ins.

The plug-in suite is broken up so that each piece may be purchased individually, rather than as part of the set. Prices range from £99 to £299 (U.S. $158 to $476). Here’s a rundown of what’s available:

Timecode
Burns source and destination timecode into the picture.
Strobe
Creates a “retro” strobe effect.
Counter
Text generator allows users to animate numbers with the Quantel graph.
Timer
Generates numeric countdowns and timers.
Dead Pixel
Lets users revive dead pixels by tapping them with the pen.
Deinterlace
De-interlaces video with an RGBA multi-threaded tool.
Field Invert
Corrects field order problems in 16-bit quality.
Sharpen
Seven levels of sharpening.
Camcorder
Camcorder viewfinder simulator.
Round Corners
Creates round corners with custom on-screen controls; users move the crop position with the pen.
Stretch
Corrects edge problems without zooming with horizontal progressive stretch.
Pause
Pauses a clip, then restarts it. Includes automatic de-interlacing.
Free demo downloads are available from the Pixelfantastic Web site: www.pixelfantastic.com.