What It Does
Fixel Contrastica 2 AE controls local and global contrast across the full tonal range. Unlike traditional curves or levels, it boosts details in shadows, midtones, and highlights without clipping, making it useful for color grading and creating HDR-like effects in After Effects.
Key Features
Optimized resolution presets. Start with presets for local contrast at different resolutions, then adjust values to suit your footage. Experimentation is encouraged.
Full tonal range control. Choose whether to emphasize contrast in highlights, shadows, or maintain a balanced result across the image.
No clipping. Even at extreme global contrast settings, the algorithm avoids blown-out highlights and crushed blacks. You can push values further than traditional tools allow.
Unique color contrast effect. Applying the algorithm to color channels produces saturated colors. For luminosity-only adjustments, toggle preserve saturation mode to avoid color shifting.
HDR-like effect. Using the highest resolution preset with high global contrast creates a pseudo-HDR look. This can reveal hidden detail in flat footage or add depth to motion graphics.
Multi-CPU acceleration. The plugin is optimized for multi-core processors, keeping render times manageable even on high-resolution footage.
Who It’s For
Colorists and compositors working with footage that needs detail enhancement. Useful for documentary work, product shots, or motion graphics where you want to emphasize texture without over-processing. It fits workflows where traditional curves fall short.
Pricing
Fixel Contrastica 2 AE is discontinued. Last available pricing was $47.20 (discounted from $59.00). A bundle with Premiere Pro and Photoshop versions offered a 25% discount when purchased with the same account. Owners received free minor updates and 50% off major version upgrades. No subscription model was in place.