Camera Mapper: Simulate a 3D scene from 2D still images or video footage. The Camera Mapper plugin allows you to isolate one or several objects in your footage, creating the visual illusion of the object floating in front of the original footage. Free Trial
Falloff Lighting: Digieffects Falloff Lighting provides an enhanced lighting system to After Effects built-in light. Falloff Lighting is much more like that of the real world where light naturally decays or “falls off” as surfaces increase distance from the After Effects light. Free Trial
Atmosphere: The Atmosphere plugin for After Effects realistically simulates atmospheric conditions such as haze and fog in your composition. Free Trial
Sale runs Tuesday March 16th through Thursday March 18th 2010.
In case you're not subscribed to our newsletter (which you should be, because it's GREAT!), Michele Yamazaki from Toolfarm gives you the rundown on the sales at Toolfarm this month. We're just trying something a little different today with live streaming video. What do you think? Worth 4 minutes or not? It's completely unscripted (obviously). Normally we don't have nearly this many sales!
Showcase your skills and win cool tools Call for entries! Create your most eye-popping animation using Digieffects Plug-ins. The top three entries will win the entire suite of Digieffects Plug-ins worth over $1,000!
If you're in the NYC area, come on out to the AENY meeting on March 25, 2010 from 6:45PM-9:00PM at PS 41. Robert Sharp, president of DigiEffects Want the inside scoop? Robert Sharp will discuss the DigiEffects product roadmap for the next year as well as some of the new AE Plug-ins that recently came out (Camera Mapper, Atmosphere, Falloff Lighting).
Ross Shain, Imagineer Systems Imgineer Systems, innovators of planar tracking vfx tools will be previewing the newest version of mocha. Optimized for 64 bit and many new user interface enhancements! Ross Shain will be on hand to present some tips and give a first look at the new features. For more info on Imagineers' product lineup visit: http://www.imagineersystems.com.
This looks pretty sweet! We'll be at the Digieffects headquarters next week and we'll find out more. In the meantime, from Chris @ Mettle:
Shapeshifter AE - New 3D plug-in for Adobe After Effects. We are busy working on series of plug-ins for Adobe After Effects and we would really love to have your help. We will need Beta testers to help us make these products the best that they can possibly be. This is a sneak peak of the first product; Shapeshifter AE. This... plug-in goes way beyond basic text extrusion but enough said... for now :) We will be posting a URL where Beta testers can submit their info shortly. Stay tuned.
It is now possible to experience high-end, workstation class functionality inside of After Effects!
Digieffects FreeForm AE is an intuitive and robust plugin that takes After Effects 3D compositing to the next level. FreeForm AE advances After Effects' 3D compositing from just "postcards in space" by adding three dimensional textures and organically distorting layers in 3D space.
Digieffects FreeForm AE is half off through February 26th, 2010 at midnight EST (Reg. $299.00 SALE $149.50)
Ever needed to fix a clip where an unwanted or unexpected object appears in the scene?
A car is suddenly passing across or a stage hand got in the shot by accident? As long as the object is moving in relation to the scene, this job can be done in minutes instead of days with Boris Continuum Motion Key. Motion Key is based on Optical Flow technology that uses intra-frame data to cleanly remove any moving object- no rotoscoping!
Boris BCC Motion Key is half off through February 26th, 2010 at midnight EST (Reg. $199.00 SALE $99.50)
It is now possible to experience high-end, workstation class functionality inside of After Effects!
Digieffects FreeForm AE is an intuitive and robust plugin that takes After Effects 3D compositing to the next level. FreeForm AE advances After Effects' 3D compositing from just "postcards in space" by adding three dimensional textures and organically distorting layers in 3D space.
Digieffects FreeForm AE is half off through February 26th, 2010 at midnight EST (Reg. $299.00 SALE $149.50)
The Camera Mapper plugin allows you to isolate one or several objects in your footage, project these objects on a separate layer and pull that layer out of the background, creating the visual illusion of the object floating in front of the original footage.
Features
Realistically create the illusion that a still image is fully dimensional moving footage.
Subtly change the perspective of a shot, or animate it over time.
Can be combined with 3D tracking to add or alter elements in a scene.
Now you can step back in time and get another chance to move the camera.
Allows you to stay in After Effects when working with fully dimensional models
Works with dozens of useful scripts to help you make shapes and objects at www.nabscripts.com
Please help us by taking this short GPU survey, designed to help Digieffects and Red Giant learn more about After Effects users GPU setup. It will take less than 5 minutes and you have the opportunity to win a copy of Digieffects FreeForm AE, Red Giant Magic Bullet Suite or Digieffects MegaSuite! Thanks for your help!
Digieffects FreeForm AE allows you the same power and control of 3D applications right inside After Effects. If you require the ability to take a flat object and manipulate that object into almost any shape using a mesh in 3D space, FreeForm AE is for you.
The sale was very popular and has been extended through Friday, December 18, 2009, 11:59PM PST. Save half off Digieffects FreeForm AE! The sale includes the full version of the plug-ins only. Academic/upgrades will not be discounted.
Check out some tutorials for Digieffects FreeForm AE to so you can hit the ground running with the plug-in!
Congratulations to John L. Ross III of Ashland, OH, the lucky winner of the Digieffects Megasuite that was given away last Friday in our Facebook Fan Secret Santa giveaway. John works for Ashland Christian School and he will surely have a lot of fun over Christmas break with so many plug-ins!
Thank you to all of our Facebook Fans. We plan to do more contests in the future like this, so become our fan today!
We'll be choosing a random fan at Noon PST today. Good Luck!
What's in the Megasuite?
Aged Film - Turn back the clock with Aged Film and show which era you set your shot.
Berserk - 20 award-winning special effects plug-ins including StarField, FogBank, VanGoughist and Laser.
Aurorix - A set of updated 26 cool special effects filters including AgedFilm 2, VideoLook 2, Earthquake 2 and Turbulent Flow 2.
Delirium - Delirium is a set of more than 46+ amazing plug-ins and tools for creating particle-based fire, smoke and bubbles.
Camera Mapper - Simulate a 3D scene from 2D still images or video footage.
Damage - Damage is a collection of four effects plugins designed for post production professionals who want to create an extensive variety of digital and/or analog defects/errors in your footage.
Buena Depth Cue - A set of plug-ins that adds realistic depth effects to 3D layers.
Falloff Lighting - provides an enhanced lighting system to After Effects built-in light.
Simulate: Illuma - Light and filter options you didn't have in the field... Halo, Lightracer, Radiance, Photogust, and Luminus.
Simulate: Camera - Who says you can't change your mind once it's shot? Archive, Overexpose, Iris, Destabilize, and Lens Flare.
In this two part tutorial, we will be creating one of the most desired effects in After Effects, a 3D filmstrip. This tutorial will push us a bit further using the mesh warp feature in FreeForm AE.
We will use pre-comps and a few tricks to create moving 3D film that, thanks to FreeForm AE, can take any shape. Part one will focus on creating a filmstrip from a single clip of footage and making it look like it's moving. We'll then use FreeForm AE to bend it around 3D space.
The final tutorial of the series, again, goes one step further. This time we will create two custom displacement maps and apply them to two instances of FreeForm AE. This will give us the ability to give a different surface treatment to each of the FreeForm layers.
The final result will look like brushed metal sheets, which have a duller finish, held together by shiny, almost chrome like, welds (which have beautiful 3D relief). Then we’ll do a two stage text punch-in effect using AE's masks to create two complimentary gradient mattes. Sound confusing? It’s all really simple.
With Digieffects Aged Film, you can turn back the clock and with and show which era you set your shot.
Priced at only $29, Aged Film is the best value for achieving this effect in today's post production applications. The v1.3.5 build for Mac fixes some stability issues.
The v1.3.5 update for Mac is free and can be downloaded here at our demo page.
This week only get Digieffects Delirium for just $99 at Toolfarm.com. It is regularly priced at $299, so it's roughly a 75% savings! The sale expires the Friday after Thanksgiving, November 27, 2009.
Delirium contains 40 special effects plug-ins. It also contains tools for creating particle-based fire, smoke and bubbles. These particle effects enhanced with built-in turbulence processing to create realistic imagery without resorting to complex 3D programs.
Digieffects software plug-ins support Adobe After Effects, Adobe Premiere Pro, Apple Final Cut Pro and Autodesk Combustion. All Digieffects software is cross-platform and when customers purchase a Digieffects application the serial number can be used on either a Mac or Windows operating system (or both at the same time).
In the second tutorial of this series, we will go a step further and add a little "punch" to our displacement mapping by combining it with Freeform's other main feature, Mesh Warping. By adding Mesh Warp, our stamped in effect will do a little more damage by creasing and buckling the entire sheet of metal. We all know Digieffects loves "Damage", so don't miss this one! We'll also tweak our lighting to add a little mood to the scene.
Metal Man by Chris Heuer Part 1 of 3Project files are now below the video
In this tutorial, which is the first in a three part series, we will be digging into Displacement Mapping, a favorite feature in Digieffects Freeform for After Effects.
We will learn more about how it works by creating a detailed displacement map that will turn a Photoshop still image into 3 plates of metal riveted together with amazing 3D details. Then we'll take it a step further by creating the look of text being stamped into the metal from behind. This is a great effect for titles or credits.
Digieffects Falloff Lighting provides an enhanced lighting system to After Effects built-in light. Falloff Lighting is much more like that of the real world where light naturally decays or "falls off" as surfaces increase distance from the After Effects light.
Falloff Lighting offers the control and flexibility you need to properly light your scene. You can display the distance from the camera to the corners of the layers. Also, you can adjust the distance scale to account for the scale of objects in your scene. You can also control the intensity of light reflecting off an object and the gradual falloff as the distance from the light increases.
Why not just use AE? Falloff Lighting offers a key feature missing in After Effects. With After Effects' built-in lights, it doesn’t matter how far away a layer is from a light, it is still illuminated the same amount by that light.
Digieffects Delirium contains 40 special effects plug-ins! It also contains tools for creating particle-based fire, smoke and bubbles. These particle effects enhanced with built-in turbulence processing to create realistic imagery without resorting to complex 3D programs. From now through midnight Thursday, October 22nd EDT, you can get Digieffects Delirium for only $99- that's a savings of $200!
Many of the plug-ins Auto-Animate, meaning that many of the plug-ins will begin to animate as soon as they are applied to an image, meaning you no longer have to tweak parameters to get quick results.
SFMOGRAPH is just around the corner, with our next meeting happening on Thursday, October 22nd, from 6:30 pm - 9:45 pm at Adobe on Townsend in San Francisco.
October is all about inspiration, the seasons are shifting. Its getting cold out there, and you need creative energy and sweet animation to keep you warm. We will be sharing new tools, new films, and tutorials for your viewing and learning pleasure.
Colin Sebestyen & Alexander Tarrant: Will be sharing their short animated film, Catalog # FG -430-7: A Field Guide to Standard Signs in Urban. This film is part of the Twenty 120 Film festival, we will be playing selections from the 2009 Twenty 120 Festival. www.twenty120.com along with a Q&A with the two artists.
Alexander Tarrant is a director at UP Creative, Upper Playground's creative agency in San Francisco. UP Creative provides documentary and animated films, public art campaigns, event planning and branding strategy for select clients and social change.
Colin Sebestyen is a multi-discipline digital artist residing in San Francisco. He has worked as a motion graphics artist is several Bay Area shops: Gunshop, Little Red Robot & Bonfire, as well as freelancing for clients such as Apple, Venables Bell & Partners, Aesop Rock, and Upper Playground. He is currently motion graphics lead at Cobra Creative and also instructs graduate studies in motion graphics in the school of VFX / Animation at the Academy of Art University. He also engages in homebrew bike riding and Sunday park attending.
Using Blender for Motion Graphics: In this session Paolo Ciccone will demonstrate how to integrate Blender 3D in the Motion Graphics artist's workflow.
Blender is one of the most sophisticated, usable and approachable 3D modelers in the market. It's available for all major platforms, and can be used for modeling 3D elements to enhance existing footage, or to create full virtual sets. It has sophisticated animation features and fluid simulation that simply cannot be ignored. Paolo will show how Blender can be used by anybody to add real 3D elements to compositions and how to integrate Blender within After Effects.
Paolo Ciccone is a veteran of the software industry having spent almost 30 years as a software engineer. For the past 9 years, he has dedicated himself to 3D modeling and compositing. His last project is a series of training classes on Blender and After Effects slated to start later this year.
Stash Media 2009 Short film screening & giveaway: Our Brand New sponsor Shash Media and Magazine is sharing the best of short animated film selections from their 2009 DVD. We will be offering an exclusive SFMOGRAPH discount coupon for 25% off all Stash Media, and Screening incredible works from the likes of:
Shilo, The Mill, Blur, The Embassy, The Blackheart Gang, Rushes and others.
Prizes: Of course we couldn't let you go home without the opportunity to walk away with a months rent worth of goods! We have an incredible group of sponsors that make SFMOGRAPH possible, so when your in- between meetings and looking for that special tool to make your project incredibly indelible, visit www.digieffects.com, www.redgiantsoftware.com, and www.toolfarm.com. You needn't look any further.
We better see you at the next meeting. SFMOGRAPH is where all the sickest artist gather to rub elbows, but it only happens once every other month. Don't get left in the dust. RSVP, meet your peers, learns something, and maybe even make a new friend who doesn't mind that you work fifteen hour days behind a console, because they do too.
Supports a wide range of other host applications including Final Cut Pro, After Effects, Premiere Pro, Combustion, and Boris RED.
Includes the ability to customize characteristics such as grain, dust, scratches, frame jitter and color and all those little details that tell the viewer that they're looking at historical footage.
The ability to deinterlace and control source blend and random seed.
All effects are rendered in 16bpc.
All Aged Film effects can be animated over time in After Effects.
Includes dozens of presets such as 8mm, armageddon, grandpa's attic, old home video, scratched film, shaky projector, speakeasy, the 70s and much more.
Fast rendering.
Volume discounts and floating site licenses available for multiple installations (limited or unlimited users).
At $29 its much cheaper than a time machine. Much safer also.
The Digieffects Camera Mapper plug-in for Adobe After Effects allows you to isolate one or several objects in your footage, project these objects on a separate layer and pull that layer out of the background, creating the visual illusion of the object floating in front of the original footage.
Charlotte Animation Visual Effects + Motion Design aka CAVEMODE has their next meeting on October 20 at Limerick Studios in Charlotte, NC. Toolfarm and Digieffects are both sponsors of the group, as well as Focal Press and many other companies.
CAVEMODE “Demo Reel” presentation
Guest speaker: John Lemmon, John Lemmon Films
Project Breakdown: Zach Chambers & Eric Hurtgen, Art Directors, Creative Services at INSP
Studio Spotlight: Limerick Studios
Door prizes by Toolfarm, Digieffects, Focal Press, Artbeats, Peachpit and Boxx
If you're in the area, check them out and do a little networking. Hopefully you'll win a door prize!
John Dickinson of Motionworks does a fantastic interview with Robert Sharp of Digieffects. Robert talks about himself, his days at Terran, and his brother's Colin and Jason Sharp of Toolfarm and his work in founding Toolfarm. And they say some nice things about me! Thanks! So Robert goes on to discuss acquiring Digieffects and all of the Digieffects plug-ins in detail, as well as the new Camera Mapper. Check out the interview here.
Come on out to AENY's meeting tomorrow Thursday, July 30, 2009, 6:45p-9:00p at P.S. 41 116 West 11th St., NYC (corner of 11th Street and 6th Ave.)
Thanks to our sponsors, the meeting is FREE. Visit AENY for more information.
Guests include freelance animator/artist Eric Epstein. He'll break down how he created this truly gorgeous experimental video using Trapcode particular 2 & PF Hoe 3D for camera matching.
Want to give Particular 2 a try? Download a free trial here!
Also presenting at the meeting is The Molecule, who provide all sorts of digital media. Their top shelf clients include ABC, FX, The History Channel, Discovery, National Geographic, and others.
Severyal companies are throwing in door prizes, including Video Copilot, Red Giant, Digieffects and yes, of course, Toolfarm!
Get the Digieffects Aurorix/Berserk/Delirium bundle for just $99! This bundle gives you a plethora of filters for Adobe After Effects. It regularly sells for $399 so this is a massive bargain.
Ben Griggs walks you through stretching a 4x3 image out to a 16x9 image, retaining proper aspect ratio in the central portion using FreeForm AE in After Effects CS4.
Get the Digieffects Aurorix/Berserk/Delirium bundle for just $99! This bundle gives you a plethora of filters for Adobe After Effects. It regularly sells for $399 so this is a massive bargain. Get it here or download a demo and try them out. Sale runs through Saturday, July 25.
Digieffects sponsors Rogue Kite as they drive across America with a RED ONE Camera
Wilmington, NC - July 1, 2009 - Digieffects, a developer of popular visual effects software plugins, today announced that it will sponsor Rogue Kite on The Natural Forces Summer Tour. Rogue Kite, a Wilmington, NC-based production company and rental house founded by Michelle Boley, consists of five current and former UNCW film studies students. The group will spend four weeks driving around the United States shooting hours of footage with a RED ONE camera. The group will be working on several projects including filming footage for the Digieffects Natural Forces upcoming product release and a feature documentary tentatively entitled Revisiting the American Dream.
Rogue Kite will maintain a blog, which can be followed at www.digieffects.com. The blog will incorporate footage shot on a RED ONE and several other behind-the-scenes cameras, music, text and still images to chronicle the group's adventure. Each day, the group's footage will be captured onto MacBook Pros and edited with Final Cut Pro and After Effects. Digieffects latest plugin, Natural Forces, will also be applied to dozens of clips so viewers can see how the plugin can be used in a real-world environment.
Rogue Kite will begin their journey on July 1st from Wilmington, North Carolina. The group's journey will take them from coast to coast and be tracked via GPS so viewers can follow their progress in real-time. Each of the four filmmakers - Taylor Gill, Martin Hagar, Brandon Smith, and Michelle "Scheli" Boley - will also maintain their own blogs on roguekite.com so viewers can follow their individual perspectives on the voyage.
About Digieffects Digieffects is a developer of popular software visual effects plug-ins for Adobe After Effects, Adobe Premiere Pro, Apple Final Cut Pro and Autodesk Combustion. The company has been in the business since the beginning of the "plugin revolution" which dates back to 1996. Over the years, Digieffects has had great success with software products like Cinelook and Delirium and is proud to call thousands of film and video producers all around the world its customers and friends.
For those shooting drama and want to make it obvious that the material being viewed is on a monitor or TV ("Sir, we’ve just recovered this videotape of the rescue mission to the Amazon whose flight crashed in 1992!" "Put it in the VCR now, sergeant!") Damage is an excellent plug-in. Additionally, for those who need to insert newly shot footage into old video, running those new shots through Damage could help them blend much more easily. And for those who wish to spice up their transitions, it could be combined with the usual fades, wipes, and dissolves, to simulate a TV being switched on or off.
You know if you haven't yet tried Damage, you're dying to! Download a demo here. Buy Damage here and save 5% with Toolfarm's everyday discount.
Digieffects FreeForm AE is an intuitive and robust plugin that takes After Effects 3D compositing to the next level.
Finally, an affordable plugin for After Effects that lets you manipulate a flat object into almost any shape using a mesh in 3D space. New Free presets include: pouring liquid, planar pyramid, paper crumple, and terrain scan elements.
Get the latest dot update builds of the Digieffects plug-ins here: Toolfarm demos. If you already own the plug-in in that version, just reinstall the demo and use your serial number. Updated software includes FreeForm AE, and the Mac versions of Delirium, Berserk, Aurorix, Simulate:Illuma and Simulate:Camera.
Seven companies joined forces at NAB last month to launch The Open Effects Association. This non-profit, UK-based company aims to develop and promote open standards across the visual effects community. Founding members are Assimilate, Autodesk®, Digieffects, FilmLight, The Foundry, GenArts® and RE:Vision Effects. These companies have helped artists create ground-breaking VFX shots on just about everything that hits cinema screens.
The Association's initial focus is to improve the OFX image processing plug-in standard launched by The Foundry in 2004. The goal for the OpenFX API is to reduce the level of development and support required for plug-ins across different compositing and editing host platforms. The OpenFX API has, to date, been adopted by:
Assimilate® SCRATCH®
Autodesk® ToxikTM software
FilmLight's Baselight
GenArts® Sapphire® plug-ins
The Foundry's Nuke compositor and Tinder, Keylight and Furnace plug-ins
RE:Vision Effects' ReelSmartTM Motion Blur and DE:Noise plug-ins
Digital Vision's FilmMaster
Grass Valley's Bones
Eyeon Fusion
Avid DS
Photron's Primatte Keyer
The Association hopes that as a new, independent organization, it will encourage increasingly open communication and collaboration between hosts and plug-in developers and establish a uniform specification to benefit everyone involved, starting with the artists.
Bruno Nicoletti, Chief Technical Officer at The Foundry and main creator of the original OpenFX API comments: "It was always The Foundry's aim to make life easier for everyone. I'm reinvigorated by the formation of this new independent body, delighted to have been appointed to the board and am looking forward to collaborating with the other members and encouraging uptake of OpenFX API as a standard."
Gary Oberbrunner, Chief Scientist, Vice President of Engineering at GenArts and newly appointed Director of the OFX Association adds, "GenArts Sapphire has a well-earned reputation for supporting a wide range of host platforms. We've been supportive of the OpenFX premise since its inception, and Sapphire runs on all major OpenFX hosts. We at GenArts are excited about the OFX Association, and we believe this new approach will enable the industry to advance our common goals more quickly."
If you are interested in learning more or joining the OFX Association, please contact Bruno Nicoletti, bruno@thefoundry.co.uk.
Toolfarm :60 Ep.03: Wondertouch Alan Lorence of Wondertouch is at NAB talking about the new After Effects plug-in pIllusion, a particle generator that works much like particleIllusion, and even shares libraries!
Back in January I presented the "Top 10 Must-Have Plug-ins for Adobe After Effects" at MGFest in Chicago. The presentation was only 22 minutes so that really didn't give me much of a chance to show off the capabilities of the plug-ins and I wanted to do a feature on this for Toolfarm with lots of movie samples.
Several people have asked me about the list and wanting to republish it, so here it is. (If you want to republish the list, go for it, just please link back to Toolfarm). First, a bit about the criteria and some notes.
The plug-in should be a single plug-in and so I tried to avoid big plug-in packages when possible. There will be notes included about the product when needed. The plug-in had to be unique, fast, powerful or something I've used a lot and it fits into my workflow. If it hit 3 of the criteria, I would consider it for the list.
This is MY opinion, not because I was paid to say this or because the plug-ins come from a manufacturer that gives us higher margins. It's very tough to seem unbiased, but I want you to know, it is all my opinion here.
These are in no particular order (but I do have a clear favorite).
The list was created in January 2009 and a few new plug-ins that I really like were not included in the list. I guess they'll have to wait for 2010.
Without further ado.....
1 Red Giant Primatte Keyer
Description: A Perfect Key the First Time! The simplest, fastest green-screen tool available that even extracts keys from challenging DV and low lit sources by sampling the background color and clicking.
Why I Like It: With my book about keying (Greenscreen Made Easy) out on the market, I've been doing quite a few seminars on keying. People always ask which keyer I like the best. I've been showing Primatte quite a bit and did two presentations at NAB at the Red Giant booth. I find that Primatte is easy to show because of how it works. It's not a matter of fiddling with a bunch of numbers to get the right settings, but dragging around your mouse and clicking big buttons. It works in a very visual manner, which is perfect for artists (who aren't engineers). Also, Primatte has everything I need in one tool.
Easy to use and very fast
Built in DV Deartifactor, Spill Suppression, Color Matching and Light Wrap
Description: ReelSmart Motion Blur Pro automatically tracks every pixel in a sequence and blurs based on calculated motion.
Why I like it: Again, with the greenscreen book, I've realized how incredible this tool really is! Have you ever tried to key footage with motion blur? Not too easy and the results aren't usually very good. You can shoot with a high shutter speed but then you lose all of that natural looking motion blur. This is where RSMB steps in and adds that natural looking footage back into your shot, without blurring the whole frame, just the movement in the video.
Also great for compositing 3D, which I have in the example below.
RSMB has adjustable tracking points for problematic footage
Description: Telcine-style color correction within After Effects, Premiere Pro & Final Cut Pro, giving you full creative control over the color and look of your images.
Why I like it: Color Finesse gives you total control of image, much more than just curves, levels, hue/saturation. You can make adjustments in HSL, RGB, CMY, and YCbCr color spaces, and have individual control over shadows, midtones, and highlights, as well as overall correction.
Has 32 Bit Float support... so why is this important? It allows you to have much more flexibility and allows AE to be used in higher end productions and more cinematic work. You will have more contrast between your blacks and whites. For details on working in 32-bit Float, check out Stu Maschwicz's article on 32-bit float workflow in AE on fxguide.
It ships with After Effects so it won't cost any extra.
Cost: $595 (Buy | No demo at Toolfarm, but you probably already have it if you have AE)
Sample: Just a couple of screenshots...
4 Red Giant Knoll Light Factory
Description: Light effects from John Knoll for photo-realistic sunsets and motion graphics.
Why I like it: Maybe this is just the kid in me, but plug-ins get bonus points for being fun to play with and easy to use and KLF is both. With KLF, you get natural looking lens flares and loads of great presets that are customizable. I really like the fact that you can set up an obscuration layer so that when an object moves in front of the flare, it dims or turns off.
Tons of variety for one type of effect (not a one trick pony)
Use presets or the Lens Editor to build your own flares.
Auto tracking
As with all of the Red Giant products, one license works in multiple host applications on one machine, so you don't need to buy multiple copies.
Description: Create 3D text and primitives without having to learn a 3D program.
Why I like it: I've attempted to learn a true 3D program and give up after about 30 minutes. I have bad depth perception (that's why I used to hit so many things with the car). ProAnimator makes it so easy to create slick looking 3D elements directly in AE and with a short learning curve. I picked up the plug-in quickly without using the manual (that is how I roll).
Nice presets
Track the After Effects camera and lights
Export wireframe versions for that techie, futuristic computer environment look
Description: 3D Particle system that produces various natural effects like smoke, fire and sparks and also organic and techie-style graphical effects that are very useful for motion graphics design.
Why I like it: I love how it looks and all of the presets. I'm a sucker for presets. I don't read manuals so presets help me get going. I just modify them until I get something I like. Particular has loads of fantastic presets, plus you can preview them and what you've created realtime in the Effect Controls window.
Particular is tightly integration with AE's Camera & lights - oh, wait until you see version 2!
Particular has a complex physics engine, allowing you to fully control your particles, again, new improvements in v2.
Inexpensive, especially considering all it can do. Particular is one of those tools you can use on a multitude of jobs and it will never get old.
Description: Damage creates an extensive variety of digital and/or analog defects/errors in your footage.
Why I like it: It's another plug-in that is fun to play with! I've used the plugin for many creative purposes - interference with a hologram popping on, a luma matte for a gradient wipe, and grungy moving backgrounds and grungy text. My favorite part is the little blue button that randomizes the effects. The effects do have a TON of sliders so it's not always clear on what needs to be adjusted to get the effect needed, and that little blue button is just what I need to get started. The plug-in is very fast for previews and renders and is CHEAP at just $99. Also, one license works in multiple hosts on a single computer (AE, FCP, PPRO, Combustion).
Description: Remove an object from your shot quickly without much work.
Why I like it: I showed Motion Key as part of BCC5 at NAB08 and found that this plug-in absolutely blew people away. If you've ever had to rotoscope something out of a clip of video, you know how tedious and un-fun it can be. Motion Key takes all the work out of it by using Optical Flow technology. It's now sold by it self as a single unit and is also included with Boris Continuum Complete 6.
Description: Academy Award winning keyer. It is simple to use and is particularly good at tackling reflections, semi-transparent areas and hair.
Why I like it: I know, two keyers on the list! What gives? You know I recently worked on a book, right? I have used a lot of keying tools in the past 2 years! Keylight is a very powerful keyer and when others can't do the job, Keylight can usually handle it. It is easy to use, fast and has built-in spill suppression. Keylight gives several ways to view the matte/key, and it's included with After Effects, so most of you already own Keylight. Also, Toolfarm also put out some great training for Keylight called Professional Keying with Keylight, that I highly recommend picking up.
Samples: I thought I'd just put the trailer for the Keylight training up. It will give you a good idea about what the plug-in does.
10 Red Giant Magic Bullet Looks
Description: Define the style of your video or film, regardless of on-set conditions, with powerful imaging tools.
Why I like it: This is my favorite plug-in of the lot. It is extremely easy to use, as the interface was designed for artists, not engineers. It comes with a huge library of Looks that are fully customizable and savable. It's lightning fast because of GPU acceleration. It can make video with flat lighting look amazing and it's also great for matching your foreground and background when compositing greenscreen. I use this on pretty much everything, including photos.
Cost: $399 (Buy | Try) Quick Looks now available for $99 (presets only).
Samples: Here's one from our German friend at MyToolfarm.
And here's a promo for a greenscreen contest that I used Looks on the webcam shots to spice them up.
Late Entry: Boris Continuum Complete 6.0 3D Object Filters
Description: 5 new plug-ins in BCC6 that extrude text, paths and eps/Illustrator files.
Why I like it: Easy to use and very fast (hardware accelerated). It works with the native AE camera and lights and everything except the text type window is in the native AE Effect control window. There are loads of options and loads of presets. All bevels can be customized with paths and did I mention the real-time previews? This will certainly make the 2010 top 10 list (but who will I bump?!)
Samples:Here's the finished video shown at the Boris FX Booth at NAB09.
Here's a tutorial I put out a couple of weeks ago.
And here's a tutorial I did for Boris FX. I plan to do a few more tutorials on these fan-diddly-tastic plug-ins.
Honorable Mention: Noise Industries FxFactory Pro
Description: Revolutionary VFX package with over 300 hardware accelerated plug-ins
Why I like it: I really was going for no big packages but just individual plug-ins in this list however, this one is a little different. Why is it different? With FxFactory, you can create your own FxPlug effects for Final Cut Studio without writing any code. Okay, I know this is for FCP and not AE, but, it's still an excellent package of plugins that are VERY fast and have unlimited expandability (you can download more plug-ins at the FxMarket).
Digieffects MegaSuite: Buy the MegaSuite for 50% discount ($399, regularly $799) and receive Natural Forces for free when it ships!
That's Aurorix, Berserk, Delirium, Damage, Depth Cue, and Simulate Illuma and Camera (AND Natural Forces on release) for the price of Delirium Alone! Sale ends at Thursday, April 30th at Midnight EST.
FreeForm AE is an intuitive and robust plugin that takes After Effects 3D compositing to the next level. FreeForm AE advances After Effects' 3D compositing from just "postcards in space" by adding three dimensional textures and organically distorting layers in 3D space.
Digieffects FreeForm AE allows you the same power and control of 3D applications right inside After Effects. If you require the ability to take a flat object and manipulate that object into almost any shape using a mesh in 3D space, FreeForm AE is for you. Download a Free Demo and try it out for yourself!
So you just bought a fast new computer and dread the process of having to transfer your licenses to your new computer. It can be a hassle, but here is a guide for a few products you may own, to help things go a bit more smoothly. If you have questions, please post a comment below.
Adobe:
If you want to uninstall your product and reinstall it on a different computer, then you must first deactivate it. In the program, click Help > Deactivate, and then follow the instructions in the wizard to deactivate the program. If you have installed a suite product, you can deactivate the entire suite by deactivating any one of the point products included in that suite.
Automatic Duck:
After installing again on the new system, you will get a new Product ID to use for a new Activation Key. DO NOT try to activate the old Product ID on the new system.
Reset your serial number on the registration server so that you will be permitted to activate again. Please reset your serial number at this web page.
Register using your email address that you used to activate and you'll be able to log in and reset your serial number.
Quit After Effects, trash your plug-in's key file, click here to find it. Now you'll need to go through the activation process again.
BorisFX:
Requires a license transfer. Send license transfer request to us with your new Unique Product ID to obtain a new permanent code. Follow your original install instructions to obtain your Unique ID.
Digieffects:
Just reinstall on the new machine. Your serial number will work on either Mac or Windows, and does not require uninstalling your previous system's version.
The Foundry:
To obtain a new license, first fill out the license transfer form. You cannot transfer any of The Foundry products to a different host system.
GenArts Sapphire:
First uninstall the plugin: On Windows: go to Start->Control Panel->Add or Remove Programs. Find 'GenArts Sapphire Plug-ins' in the list, and press the Change/Remove button. On Mac: go to the /Applications/GenArtsSapphireAE folder and double click on Uninstall Sapphire.
During the uninstall, select the option to register that uninstall via the web. As long as the uninstall is successfully registered, you should then be able to install your serial number on the new machine. The license is cross-platform so you can transfer a serial number between Windows and Mac systems in this way.
GridIron:
Requires a license deactivation. Send your old serial number and the MAC Address of the new machine to us.
First uninstall from the old machine by launching the FxFactory application and choose the "Uninstall FxFactory..." command under the Actions menu: Then install as normal on the new machine.
If you uninstall FxFactory, it will uninstall everything, including all the FxPacks.
Furthermore you can also deactivate and remove individual FxPacks. This can be done by launching the FxFactory application.
To turn FxPacks on/off simply click the checkbox to the left of each FxPack in the FxFactory Application interface.
To completely remove an FxPack simply drag it out of the FxFactory application and into the trash.
Red Giant Software:
Just reinstall on the new machine. Your serial number will work on either Mac or Windows, and does not require uninstalling your previous system's version.
Re:Vision Effects:
Request a License Transfer. Delete plug-ins from the old machine, and send an email with serial number requesting a transfer. Note: License transfer fees may apply for certain hosts.
Tiffen Dfx:
First deactvate your license on the old computer by opening the licensing Menu and clicking "Internet Deactivate". On the new computer, select "Activate Dfx" and follow the instructions.
Trapcode:
Just reinstall on the new machine. Your serial number will work on either Mac or Windows, and does not require uninstalling your previous system's version.
Come get a copy of Greenscreen Made Easy signed by yours truly at NAB. I'll be at the bookstore in the South Hall on Tuesday, April 21 from 2p-2:30p. If you miss me in that window of time, not to worry, you can find me at several locations throughout the South Hall all week and I'd be happy to sign one for you.
Toolfarm will not have a booth at NAB but instead will be helping out a few of our vendors. Here's where you can catch us.
Digieffects booth - booth SL2529D in the Plug-in Pavilion. Alicia or I will be at the Digieffects booth at various times during the entire show.
Red Giant Software - also in the Plug-in Pavilion. I'll be showing Red Giant Magic Bullet QuickLooks on Monday (4/20) from 4p-5p, Key Correct Pro on Wednesday (4/22) and Thursday (4/23) from 10a-11a. I'll also be helping Red Giant out at the Final Cut Pro SuperMeet on Tuesday night.
Boris FX - Booth SL5320 in the South Hall. I'll be showing some new features of Boris Continuum Complete 6.0 on Monday, Tuesday and Wednesday from 12p-2p.
It-Enquirer.com reviews Digieffects Simulate: Camera plug-ins. "DigiEffects Simulate: Camera plug-ins for Final Cut Pro again deliver digital video editors the ability to create effects that recall the feeling of film in a digital medium..." Read the full review.
Are you going to NAB this year? Do you need a free pass to the show floor?
Yes Apple isn’t going to be there and neither is RED or Quantel … But Avid is, Adobe is, all of the other camera manufacturers are going to be there. Plus there’s a lot of other great small software developers that will be on the show floor so there’s going to be a lot to see. Plus the Final Cut Pro SuperMeet will be happening as well. You might can find a good deal on a flight if you try hard or fly Southwest and you can definitely find a good deal on a hotel. Get a pass to the show floor and get to Vegas. I looks like I’ll be there too and I am very excited. And I will not eat at any buffets this year.
To get your free pass that includes access to the exhibit floor and the opening keynote (a $150 value) go to http://nabshow.com/passport and enter this code: TP01.
If you're NAB alumni, I've also received the code DM01 for a free Alumni Exhibits passport.
I wrote an article last year or the year before called The NAB Survival Guide. I'll dig it up and repost it. I have a busy week planned once again, working between the Red Giant, Digieffects and Boris booths and even doing some book signings for my new book with Jeremy Hanke, Greenscreen Made Easy.
I should mention that we've extended our upgrade special through this Friday. Upgrade any Adobe product to CS4 and receive Digieffects Simulate: Illuma and Simulate: Camera for free! More Info
If you were a student and bought the academic versions of Adobe software, you can upgrade it to CS4, just like you bought a regular, full license.
Upgrade any Adobe program to CS4 now and get Digieffects Simulate: Illuma and Digieffects Simulate: Camera for free through next Friday, March 6. ($198 value).
There are also a couple of upgrade deals where you can save $100-$200 on Adobe upgrades. These deals expire February 28. See the post about the Adobe deal for all of the information.
If you upgrade any Adobe CS3 product or bundle to CS4 at Toolfarm and you will receive a free copy of DigiEffects Simulate: Illuma and Simulate: Camera, a $198 value entirely for free.*
Please note: Special introductory prices on Path 2 upgrades ends February 28, 2009.
Due to popular demand, the Digieffects One Day Sale has been extended through Friday, February 28.
Get Digieffects Megasuite: Aurorix, Berserk, Delirium, Damage, Depth Cue, and Simulate Series for just $199.00 (Regular price: $799.00). Alternately, Get the Digieffects Aurorix / Berserk / Delirium Bundle for just $99 (Regular price: $599.00).
Wilmington, NC - February 24, 2009 - Digieffects, a developer of popular visual effects software plug-ins, announced that revenue increased by 109% in 2008. The company was acquired by Robert Sharp in May of 2007 and has been proactively reinvesting in it's technology, product development, brand identity and customer service.
"We're thrilled to achieve this kind of growth" said Robert Sharp, President of Digieffects. "We've been working hard to turn the company around and our customers have been very supportive of our efforts".
Since May of 2007, Digieffects has launched three new products (Damage, Simulate: Illuma and Simulate: Camera) which have been positively received by customers and the press. The company also exhibited at NAB and IBC in 2008. Since May of 2007, Digieffects has also acquired Walker Effects and Buena Software which have helped expand it's arsenal of visual effects.
At NAB 2009 Digieffects will launch Natural Forces which will offer the quality of an expensive plug-in, however, will be affordable and sport a highly intuitive interface. Natural Forces allows users to create and simulate a variety natural phenomena such as flashes, fire, snow, rain, smoke, clouds, electricity, stars and much more. The plug-in will support Adobe After Effects and Premiere Pro, Apple Final Cut Pro, Autodesk Combustion and Boris RED.
Digieffects will have a booth in the Plug-in Pavilion at NAB (SL2529D).
About Digieffects
Digieffects is a developer of popular software visual effects plug-ins for Adobe After Effects, Adobe Premiere Pro, Apple Final Cut Pro and Autodesk Combustion. The company has been in the business since the beginning of the 'plug-in revolution' which dates back to 1996. Over the years, Digieffects has had great success with software products like Cinelook and Delirium and is proud to call thousands of film and video producers all around the world its customers and friends.
The Cambridge Motion Graphics Festival begins March 5th, 2009 in Harvard Square with 4 days of Workshops & Art Showcases by internationally recognized artists, including: Shepard Fairey, Nine Inch Nails, Addictive TV (Slumdog Millionaire), The Mill, Digital Kitchen, Dvein, Trollback & Co, Robert Rich, Passion Pictures, Animal Logic, David Lobser, Peter Kirn, superDraw and more.
This 4-day conference in the fast moving field of design technology has opened it's Art & Entertainment events for only $7. Rather than charging the typical $500-$1500 conference fee, the Cambridge Motion Graphics Festival encourages participants to spend their money on new books, DVDs and software, offered at a discount rate during the events.
Festival Sponsors include: Create Digital Motion, Oat Creative, Maxon, Lumen Eclipse, Future Media Concepts, GenArts, Stash DVD Magazine, DigiEffects, VidVox, Boris FX, Livid Instruments, Toolfarm.com, The Chicago Convergence, All City Technology, Sterling Ledet, Resolume, Garage Cube, Lift Motion Design, The Brattle Theater & Clif Bar.
I'm sure most of you are starting to feel the economic crunch, so we've put together a section for plug-ins that are $99 and under. These are useful plug-ins by well known plug-in developers like Red Giant, Trapcode, Digieffects, Noise Industries, Nattress and others.
If you'd like to take the plug-in for a test drive before you buy it, most of the plug-ins are available for download on our demos/trial page: http://www.toolfarm.com/demo/demo.php
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