4.5

141Compressor User Guide
Add a video or audio effect
1. In Compressor, do one of the following:
• In the batch area, click an output row to select a setting that is part of a job.
• In the Settings pane, select a custom setting from the Custom area. (If the Settings
pane is hidden, press Shift-Command-1.)
2. In the Video inspector or Audio inspector, click the Add Video Effect pop-up menu or
the Add Audio Effect pop-up menu, then choose an option.
If the inspector pane is not visible, click the Inspector button
in the upper-right
corner of the Compressor window.
After you choose an effect from the pop-up menu, its adjustable properties appear at
the bottom of the inspector. For detailed information about these properties, see Video
effects in Compressor and Audio effects in Compressor. You can apply multiple video
and audio effects. When you add an effect, a checkmark appears beside the effect
name in the pop-up menu.
3. Preview effects that you’ve added to a setting by clicking the Play button in the
preview area.
Because effects may interact in unexpected ways, be sure to preview the transcoded
file each time you add an effect.
Note: Depending on your system, the source media file type and the number of effects
in the job, the preview area showing the filter settings may update at a lower frame rate
than the source frame rate.
Turn an effect off or on
After adding an effect to a setting, you can turn its properties off or on. This can be useful
when previewing an effect.
• In Compressor, click the activation checkbox next to the effect properties.
Remove an effect from a setting
• In Compressor, click the Add Video Effect pop-up menu (at the bottom of the Video
inspector) or the Add Audio Effect pop-up menu (at the bottom of the Audio inspector),
then choose a checkmarked item.
The effect’s properties are removed from the list below the pop-up menu.
Video effects in Compressor
The Add Video Effect pop-up menu in the Video inspector contains the following effects:
• Black/White Restore: Compresses the solid black and white areas (luminance) in the
video, such as backgrounds. This effect can restore nearly black colors to pure black
and restore nearly white colors to pure white without affecting colors in the rest of the
image. Drag the sliders to set the black and white values between 0 and 100.
• Brightness and Contrast: Brightens or darkens the overall color and luminance of the
video. For example, use this effect to counteract the darkening to video that some
QuickTime codecs can cause. It’s recommended that you avoid extreme settings,
because they can make colors look washed-out. Drag the sliders to set brightness
and contrast values between –100 and 100.