Did you know you can get really classy effects that you simply drag and drop onto your timeline without using plugins?
Here's an idea: what if you could buy textured video stock footage that had an alpha channel. You could key or blend it with your own material to give you any number of unique effects.
That's exactly what Rampant Design Tools has done. They have a range of Quicktime-based clips that are designed to be overlaid and blended with actual footage to give a wide variety of effects.
The beauty of this approach is that you can use these effects with any NLE or compositing software that understands quicktime.
They've just reached their 4th birthday and are marking the anniversary by launching a range of new products. Here are some examples from their latest press release:
Hard Light Overlays:
120 1080P HD (1920×1080) royalty-free Quicktime Movies of light elements for video. Rampant Hard Light Overlays™ instantly add vibrance and texture to your video. These elements allow you to effortlessly take your video up a notch. Great for editors, compositors, and motion graphics artists.
Style Mattes 4:
90 Drag and Drop animated Mattes for video. Modern and stylized elements that will instantly change the look of your video.
Style Mattes 5:
90 Easy to use animated mattes for editors. Drop them in your timeline to instantly change the look and feel of your video.
MatteFX:
165 High Definition Animated Texture and Radial Elements for your video. Instantly add texture to your motion graphics.