Digital Anarchy ToonIt v2.5.1 for Photoshop. is out this week. This is a free update for existing users, just download the demo. It should recognize your serial number. ToonIt v2.5 had a bug so please update asap.
There are new outlines styles, more presets, and an improved UI so you can work faster.
ToonIt for Photoshop is also on Sale through Feb 7th, 2010. Get it for just $99, regularly $159!
Digital Anarchy Releases a Free, Feature Filled Update to ToonIt! Photo for Photoshop, Elements & Aperture
Version 2.5 Adds New Outline Styles, SuperSmart Blur Option, and Interface Improvements to Popular Cartooning Software
San Francisco, CA - January 13, 2010 -
Digital Anarchy, a leading provider of cost-effective software for photographers and Photoshop artists, today announced a free update to their popular ToonIt! Photo plugin. ToonIt! 2.5 creates cartoon-like images from photographs, freeing artists from time consuming techniques such as hand painting and masking. A believable cel-shaded 'toon' effect is automatic, and users have a great deal of control to customize the cartoon with different paint styles, shading and outlines.
The feature-packed 2.5 update expands ToonIt!'s cartoon outline effect with three new styles: Woodcut Outlines, Conte Outlines and Scratchboard Outlines. A new option called Supersmart Blur has been added for more stylization of the cartoon color fields. ToonIt 2.5 has an improved interface with its controls rearranged into more intuitive groups. Minor UI elements for workflow improvement have also been added.
"We are very proud of the reception that ToonIt! has found in the Photoshop and photography market," said Jim Tierney, president of Digital Anarchy. "We feel it's a great product but there were some additional features that we had wanted to add before ToonIt! 2.0 was released in December 2008. A year later, we have completed those features and are happy to give them to folks who already own the product, as well as ship an improved product."
New & Improved Features for ToonIt! 2.5 include:
New Outline Effects: Woodcut Outlines, Conte Outlines and Scratchboard Outlines provide three new options for stylizing the line quality of the cartoon.
New Color Blur Option: The new Supersmart Blur has been added for more stylization options of the cartoon color fields.
Improved Interface: The ToonIt! interface has been rearranged with its controls placed into more intuitive groups for a better workflow.
Toggled Preview: A Caps Lock disable command gives the option of turning on/off the ToonIt! preview, which makes the design process faster.
New Cartoon Presets: The Preset Manager now ships with more cartoon presets to make the tooning process fun and easy.
About Digital Anarchy
Digital Anarchy is a privately owned company operating out of San Francisco, Calif., that creates high-quality creative software for broadcast designers, 2D animators and professional photographers. These tools solve a wide range of design issues, from creating background design elements to masking out bluescreens for commercial still photography. Digital Anarchy products work in conjunction with host applications from companies like Adobe and Apple. For more information, please see the company’s website at www.digitalanarchy.com or call 415-586-8434.
Digital Anarchy is a registered trademark of Digital Anarchy Inc. All other brand names, product names, service marks, or trademarks belong to their respective holders.
Digital Anarchy returns to the film/video market with a powerful skin smoothing and blemish removal plugin
San Francisco - Monday, Dec. 7th, 2009 - Digital Anarchy, a leading provider of cost-effective special effects software for Adobe and Apple products, has today announced the release of a new product for Adobe After Effects, Adobe Premiere, and Apple's Final Cut Pro. The Beauty Box 1.0 provides editors and visual effects artists working with film and video an easy and powerful way of smoothing out skin and removing blemishes. Regardless of whether it is used for a feature film, reality TV show, or just a corporate talking head, Beauty Box provides best-of-class skin beautification.
Beauty Box 1.0 marks Digital Anarchy's return to making expert products for the film/video market. "This is a problem we've wanted to solve for a long time," said Jim Tierney, president of Digital Anarchy. "There are so many cases where the on-camera talent doesn't have enough makeup on or you're trying to make a 45 year old rockstar look 25. Especially now that HD is so common, seeing skin flaws has become a big problem. Beauty Box provides a great solution that, in many cases, requires little or no masking on the part of the editor or artist."
Beauty Box uses face detection to automatically identify skin tones and create a mask that limits the smoothing effect to just the skin areas. This process usually requires little or no input from the user and does not involve hand masking. Just apply the filter, click auto-detect, set the amount of smoothing, and render. This is designed to speed up the workflow that is usually required for skin retouching. Effects artists and editors no longer have to manually create masks and retouch frame by frame.
The skin smoothing itself is also new technology. It keeps the important features of the face sharp while reducing or eliminating wrinkles and blemishes. By incorporating state-of-the-art face detection and smoothing algorithms, Beauty Box is designed to give actors a makeover in post-production.
Some of the practical and creative features of Beauty Box 1.0 include:
Face Detection: Use face detection algorithms to identify skin tones and create an automatic mask.
Skin Smoothing: Advanced smoothing algorithms will reduce wrinkles and remove blemishes.
Sharpening: Built-in sharpening keeps important details like facial features.
Add Grain: A grain generator helps add back any grain that is lost because of the skin smoothing.
Mask Creation: Improve the auto-mask by using optional built-in mask tools.
Use An External Mask: Control the amount of smoothing with a separate layer when using other mask/roto tools.
Use Paths As Garbage Mattes: In After Effects, paths can be used to set the area of a layer that the effect will be applied to.
Pricing and Availability
Beauty Box is regularly priced at USD $199, and will be available for an introductory discount of $139 through Thursday, January 7, 2010. The filter works in After Effects 7.0 - CS4, Final Cut Pro 6.0 - 7.0, and Premiere Pro CS4. On Macintosh, the product runs on OS 10.4, 10.5 and 10.6. On Windows, the product supports Windows XP Home, Windows XP Pro, Vista 32-bit, Vista 64-bit and Windows 7.
About Digital Anarchy
Digital Anarchy is a privately owned company operating out of San Francisco, Calif., that creates high-quality creative software for broadcast designers, 2D animators and professional photographers. These tools solve a wide range of design issues, from creating background design elements to masking out bluescreens for commercial still photography. Digital Anarchy products work in conjunction with host applications from companies like Adobe and Apple.
Cartoon Bubble is designed to create basic speech bubbles to go along with ToonIt Photo or any time you need to make your photos talk! It creates simple ellipse and rectangular speech bubbles that can be any size. You can adjust colors, fonts, outline thickness, and position. It's a great way to make your ToonIt images start speaking.
You don't need to be an owner of ToonIt, anyone can download it free and use it. It works on Windows and Mac and any recent version of Photoshop. Click here to go to the download page:
The Power of Film and TV Design is Now Available for Photoshop Artists and Photographers
San Francisco - April 7, 2009 - Digital Anarchy, a leading provider of cost-effective special effects software for Adobe and Apple products, has released today announced the release of a popular 3D design tool for use in Adobe Photoshop. Co-developed with Zaxwerks Inc, 3D Invigorator for Photoshop allows artists to easily create incredibly complex 3D objects, logos and text.
"The product has long been known as the best 3D title creator and logo modeler for any 2D visual designer or special effects artist," said Zax Dow, president of Zaxwerks. "I have wanted to offer this kind of control to the Photoshop community for a long time, and Digital Anarchy is the company to do this for us."
Already known as the industry standard software for creating 3D text and logos in film and television, 3D Invigorator starts with Adobe Illustrator outlines or text generated within Photoshop, gives the object depth, and then sculpts the graphic into a 3D masterpiece. Photoshop artists can use the vector tools in Invigorator for real-time changes to their 3D objects. They can also access its built-in text engine to transform True Type and Type 1 fonts, and take advantage of Photoshop features like Smart Objects and Smart Filters.
"3D Invigorator has been a must-have tool for Film and Television designers for years." said Jim Tierney, president of Digital Anarchy. "We think Photoshop designers will find it opens up a whole new world of creating 3D text and objects."
The practical and creative features of 3D Invigorator include:
3D Text Creation: Use the built-in text designer to create beautiful 3D text objects.
Sculpted 3D Edges: Sculpted edges add important details to 3D objects. Get complete control over how the 3D text or objects extrude and what their edges look like.
Import Illustrator Files: Any Illustrator file can be extruded into complex 3D shapes for an easy way to start the design.
Rendering Styles: Create different looks with a wide variety of rendering styles, including wireframe, cartoon, flat shading, and raytracing.
Full 3D Environment: Rotate the Objects and Camera in 3D space to view the 3D design from any angle, or move individual elements into new arrangements.
Material Presets: Over 100 different material presets give easy options such as gold, chrome, glass, lacquer and puffy surfaces.
Material Creation: If the presets don't provide the desired effect, users can design their own materials using the built-in tools or by importing custom files.
Custom Lighting: Lights can be aimed in any 3D direction for creative flexibility. Create custom lighting like an art deco style, mood lighting, rim lights, high keys or color washes.
Pricing & Availability
3D Invigorator for Photoshop is regularly priced at USD $199, and will be available for an introductory discount of $149 through April 30, 2009. The product works in Photoshop CS2 and higher, although CS3 or CS4 are recommended for use. 3D Invigorator runs supports on Macintosh OS 10.3.9 and higher, and runs natively on Intel Macs and PPCs. The product supports Windows 2000, XP Home, XP Pro, Vista 32-bit and Vista 64-bit systems. Demo filters and samples are available at www.digitalanarchy.com.
About Digital Anarchy
Digital Anarchy is a privately owned company in San Francisco that creates high-quality creative software for professional photographers, Photoshop artists and graphic designers. Since 2001, our tools have solved a wide range of design issues, from masking out bluescreens for commercial still photography to generating custom lighting effects. Digital Anarchy products work in conjunction with Adobe Photoshop, PS Elements, and related design applications. For more information, please see the company's website at www.digitalanarchy.com or call 415-586-8434.
About Zaxwerks
As the world's leading innovator of 3D title and logo technology, Zaxwerks develops software for the digital video, broadcast, film, web and print markets. Customers include ABC, Firestone, Dallas Cowboys Football, TBS SuperStation, Fox Sports, Tech TV, Pixar, Bank of America and many other post production facilities and TV stations around the world. Zaxwerks is a privately held software company with headquarters in Temple City, California.
Save 35% on the recently acquired and re-released former Digital Anarchy titles from Red Giant! Save even more when purchasing multiple quantities. Save 35% on the newest offerings from Red Giant Software Sale Ends today, February 20th at 11:59pm PST- Don't miss out! Use the code rg35 in the checkout.
Datamator: Animate 3D charts and graphs in After Effects: $65 (Regular Price: $99)
PlaneSpace: Arrange and animate 3D layers: $130 (Regular Price: $199)
Text Anarchy: Create a stunning array of unique text animations like in the Matrix: $130 (Regular Price: $199)
Psunami: The waterworks wonder, used to create the water in Titanic: $130 (Regular Price: $199)
ToonIt: Turn video footage into a cartoon with simple, effective controls: $260 (Regular Price: $399)
Save $383 when you buy all products above included in the DA Effects Bundle for $712 (Regular Price: $1,095)
New Filters for Apples Aperture Allow Photographers To Add Lighting and Cartoon Effects to Their Images
San Francisco, CA - February 4, 2009 - Digital Anarchy, a leading provider of cost-effective special effects software for Adobe and Apple products, today announced the release of two software products for use in Apple's Aperture. Knoll Light Factory generates lighting effects that dramatically enhance the natural or man-made lighting in photographs. ToonIt! Photo creates cartoon-like images from photographs, freeing artists from time consuming techniques such as hand painting and masking. Both products are currently available for Adobe Photoshop and Photoshop Elements.
"Customers have responded tremendously to our Photoshop plugins and asked if they could get the same functionality for Aperture," said Jim Tierney, president of Digital Anarchy. "This release gives photographers and digital artists a great way of working with images that theyre managing in the Aperture environment.
Aperture gives photographers the ability to manage large groups of images and work with RAW files. By using image processing filters like ToonIt and Knoll Light Factory directly in this environment, it is easy to design with multiple images and compare the results side by side. The Aperture workflow can be a huge time saver when dealing with Digital Anarchy effects and empowers photographers by giving them complete creative control.
Knoll Light Factory is a powerful tool for enhancing stock photos, wedding/portrait photography, and landscape photography. The plugin creates extremely realistic lens flares and other lighting effects, including sun rays, street lamps, headlights, candle flames, light rays, and glows. These lighting elements and vibrant graphic effects are not available natively in Aperture, and go far beyond the standard lens flare found in Photoshop or Photoshop Elements. Light Factory has been used in many feature films and television shows, and was originally written by John Knoll, Academy Award winning Visual Effects Supervisor at Industrial Light and Magic, to create the Photon Torpedoes in Star Trek First Contact.
ToonIt! Photo analyzes photographs and then creates flat regions of color and outlines that produce a cel-shaded cartoon look. A believable toon effect is almost automatic, and Aperture users have a great deal of control to customize the cartoon with different paint styles, shading and outlines. One of the key features of ToonIt! is its ability to translate the details of the human face and form into a believable cartoon. This process is great for turning a sequence of photographs into a graphic novel or cartoon sequence with very little work involved.
The products are available for Aperture 2.0 and higher. Both products run on Macintosh OS 10.4, 10.5 and higher, and are native to both Intel and PPC systems. Aperture is a Mac-only application. For Windows/Vista use, Knoll Light Factory and ToonIt! are available as separate products for Adobe Photoshop.
About Digital Anarchy
Digital Anarchy is a privately owned company in San Francisco that creates high-quality creative software for professional photographers, Photoshop artists and graphic designers. Since 2001, our tools have solved a wide range of design issues, from masking out bluescreens for commercial still photography to generating custom lighting effects. Digital Anarchy products work in conjunction with Adobe Photoshop, PS Elements, and related design applications. For more information, please see the company's website at www.digitalanarchy.com or call 415-586-8434.
Re-Branding of Digital Anarchy Video Plug-Ins Now Complete
San Francisco, CA, January 13, 2009 - Red Giant Software, with popular products including Magic Bullet Suite, Knoll Light Factory and Trapcode Suite, today introduced Datamator, a plug-in set for creating data-driven animations for news programs and corporate videos. Red Giant Datamator (formerly Digital Anarchy Data Animator) turns charts and graphs into compelling animated masterpieces in After Effects. Datamator includes a set of eight plug-ins that make it easier for videographers to create graphs and charts directly in After Effects instead of using PowerPoint or re-creating graphics from scratch.
"We have worked hard to make Datamator a solid product that delivers fast 3D data charting in After Effects," said Sean Safreed, Co-Founder and Director of Product Management at Red Giant Software. "With this release, we have completed the re-launch of the full line of the former Digital Anarchy video plug-ins for broadcast designers. We are committed to updating and enhancing these tools with user-driven features."
Highlights
True 3D capabilities Most charting software is limited to fake 3D, but with Datamator, users have control over built-in cameras, lighting and rotation, including true After Effects Comp camera support for easier animation.
Complete Control Once the data is inside Datamator, users can easily customize every aspect of their charts and graphs. It is easy to adjust colors, typefaces, grids, legends and labels, and create alpha channels, or choose from popular presets. Datamator even has a way to check for updated data in the original file.
Updated Speed and Hosts Version 1.5 delivers a new render engine that is more than 2x times faster than the previous version. Users with four or eight core machines will see even greater speed increases. This version is specifically updated for Adobe After Effects CS4.
Combine with other Red Giant plug-ins such as Radium Glow for truly eye-popping imagery
Pricing and Availability
Red Giant Datamator supports After Effects 7.0-CS4 on Mac OS X including Intel Mac and Windows (XP and Vista). The product is available now for $99.
About Red Giant Software
Red Giant Software LLC is a San Francisco-based company that develops professional tools for digital video production. Products are available as plug-ins for popular video editing and effects applications, including After Effects, Final Cut Pro, Motion, Premiere Pro, and Avid. All tools are based on production-proven technology developed by visual effects veterans.
Adobe Photoshop Plugin is Essential and Fun for Creating Believable Cartoons From Photographic Images
San Francisco, CA - December 9, 2008 - Digital Anarchy, a leading provider of cost-effective software for Adobe and Apple products, today announced the release of ToonIt! Photo 2.0 for Photoshop. ToonIt! reliably and easily creates cartoon-like images from photographs, freeing artists from time consuming techniques such as hand painting and masking. The filters use advanced algorithms from Toonamation Inc to create cartoon shading and outlines in Adobe Photoshop and Photoshop Elements.
ToonIt! for Photoshop analyzes photographs and then creates flat regions of color and outlines that produce a cel-shaded cartoon look. Photoshop users have a great deal of control that makes customizing the ‘toon' effect easy with different paint/toon styles, shading and outlines. The Effects Palette adds various special effects like outlines, enhanced shadows, color effects, and halftone effects. The Style Creator has 12 different algorithms that can be used to create the underlying cartoon or painterly style. A Preset Manager and Preview Window give further options to control the appearance and behavior of the cartoon.
Jim Tierney, CEO of Digital Anarchy, said, "ToonIt! has been incredibly popular for video applications. The photographers and print designers who've seen it have asked us repeatedly when it will be available for Photoshop. We're excited to finally release the product for still images because there's no better way of creating cartoon images."
One of the key features of ToonIt! is its ability to translate the details of the human face and form into a believable cartoon. People are typically most difficult to 'toon' because most people know what facial features and expressions should look like. ToonIt! is able to identify areas that should be shaded as one color and uses sophisticated edge detection to draw outlines. This creates very consistent, pleasing large features in the face and body while also retaining smaller details like hair and eyes. The filter allows photographers and designers to quickly create the effect on a wide variety of images without time consuming experimentation and masking.
Stan Schwartz, co-founder and President of Toonamation, said, "Since its initial release, ToonIt! has been well known for high quality cartoon effects. We've been working to extend its capabilities with a variety of new painted and graphic design effects that are equally visually compelling and that render just as cleanly as our originals. We're proud to offer to them you now, packaged together as Photoshop ToonIt!."
This product release follows the popularity of ToonIt! Video 1.0, a cartooning plugin set for video applications like After Effects and Final Cut Pro. While ToonIt! Video was sold to another development company in August 2008, the successful partnership between Digital Anarchy and Toonamation will continue to bring new and interesting products to the photography and graphics market.
Great features in ToonIt! Photo 2.0 include:
Beautiful Variety of Styles. Create a number of sophisticated looks including Flat Cartoon, Graphic Novel, Comic, and Pen & Ink using the 12 different algorithms and dozens of controls.
Outlines Only: Unparalleled edge detection creates stunning effects that simulate drawings, etchings, brush painting, and woodcuts.
No Hand Masking or Rotoscoping: Each toon effect is generated automatically. While there are customizable controls in the plugin, no manual work is needed to achieve desired results.
Customizable Looks: With 50+ parameters available to adjust the plugin results, there are many possible approaches to get the best result for different types of imagery.
64-bit Support: Works with Windows Vista 64-bit (Vista x64) and Photoshop CS4 64-bit.
Works In Most Photoshop Modes: Supports RGB, CMYK, and Grayscale in 8-bit, 16-bit and 32-bit.
Pricing & Availability
Regularly priced at USD $159, ToonIt! Photo 2.0 will be available for USD $129 through December 22, 2008. The filters work in Photoshop 7.0 and higher, including CS4 64-bit, and Photoshop Elements 5.0 and higher. ToonIt! for Photoshop supports Macintosh OS 10.3.9 and higher, and runs natively on Intel Macs and PPCs. The product supports Windows 2000, XP Home, XP Pro, Vista 32-bit and Vista 64-bit systems. Demo filters and samples are available at www.digitalanarchy.com.
About Digital Anarchy
Digital Anarchy is a privately owned company in San Francisco that creates high-quality creative software for professional photographers, Photoshop artists and graphic designers. Since 2001, our tools have solved a wide range of design issues, from masking out bluescreens for commercial still photography to generating custom lighting effects. Digital Anarchy products work in conjunction with Adobe Photoshop, PS Elements, and related design applications. For more information, please see the company's website at www.digitalanarchy.com or call 415-586-8434.
Michele Yamazaki of Toolfarm & Sean Safreed at the Trapcode Party, NAB 2007. Not the best photo, I know...
Studio Daily has a Q&A with Sean Safreed, co-founder, owner and manager of Red Giant Software. Sean discusses the acquisition of the Digital Anarchy video plug-ins and the future of Red Giant. Read it now!
Digital Anarchy is fully focused on their Photoshop plug-ins and have some new tutorials on their site which use Knoll Light Factory for Photoshop.
Creating Volumetric Light (pops) - We all know the look of a beam of light bursting through the clouds or coming from the top of a dusty (and otherwise dark) cave. Usie Knoll Light Factory in conjunction with some of Photoshop's built-in filters to create this look very easily.
Blurring Elements (pops) - On high resolution images, Knoll's light flares sometimes show thin lines that don't look realistic. This tutorial talks about ways to deal with this problem and produce natural looking lens flares. This movie may take a few minutes to load.
Free Update of Knoll 3.0.2 is the First Digital Anarchy Product to be Released for Vista x64
San Francisco, CA - September 24th, 2008 - Digital Anarchy, known for its high quality creative software in the Photoshop market, today announced the full compatibility of their popular Knoll Light Factory plugin with Adobe Photoshop CS4 and Windows Vista 64-bit (x64). Photoshop CS4 64-bit is streamlined to take advantage of the faster performance and better memory handling that Vista x64 supports. Digital Anarchy’s Knoll plugin, which enhances the lighting in Photoshop images to produce dramatic or natural effects, takes advantage of that speed and performance increase with version 3.0.2.
Jim Tierney, president of Digital Anarchy, said, "Photoshop CS4 is a big release for Adobe and Vista x64 offers the potential for greatly accelerated performance. The performance bar keeps being raised with the ever increasing size of digital images and incredible but processor intensive new CS4 features like Smart Filters. Making certain that our entire product line for photo manipulation performs well in Photoshop CS4 has been an important priority for us."
Digital Anarchy's other Photoshop products have been fully tested to support Photoshop CS4 in both Mac and Windows 32-bit environments. These Digital Anarchy plugins will be updated for the Windows 64-bit environment in Q1 2009.
Knoll Light Factory 3.0.2 for Photoshop CS4
Improved performance: Version 3.0.2 supports 64-bit Windows (Vista x64).
Better usability: Version 3.0.2 has UI improvements and bug fixes.
Photo-realistic lighting effects: Used in films and TV to produce realistic lens flares and lights.
Real-Time Preview: The main Preview Window now supports real-time manipulation, as well as the ability to resize and zoom in/out.
100+ Light Presets: There are now 110 great starting places when looking for that special flare.
16-bit Color Support: Light effects now render out to higher bit depths, which reduces banding and outputs better looking glows and gradients.
Mac Intel compatible: Full support of all new operating systems.
All sales and support questions for Knoll Light Factory for Photoshop CS4 should be directed towards Digital Anarchy at digitalanarchy.com. All improvements, except Vista x64 support, are supported in Photoshop 7.0 and higher.
About Digital Anarchy
Digital Anarchy is a privately owned company in San Francisco that creates high-quality creative software for professional photographers, Photoshop artists and graphic designers. Since 2001, our tools have solved a wide range of design issues, from masking out bluescreens for commercial still photography to generating custom lighting effects. Digital Anarchy products work in conjunction with Adobe Photoshop, PS Elements, and related design applications. For more information, please see the company's website at www.digitalanarchy.com or call 415-586-8434.
Now includes the Geomancy shapes and select Anarchy Toolbox plug-ins: free!
Whether you're adding visual background noise, using text as a texture, or flashing words to reinforce a theme, text is an important element of your composition. Choose from Bezier paths, particle arrays, and Matrix-style patterns: Text Anarchy will generate the coolest effects while giving you fine typographic control. Also includes the Geomancy Shapes plug-ins.
Rich animations with particles With particle plug-ins designed for text, you can move text in grids, lines, spirals, or other paths to create simple or complex effects. Randomness sliders add natural variations, while built-in alpha channel generation makes compositing easy.
Extensive typographic control Text anarchy plug-ins give you pinpoint control over font size, kerning, tracking, leading, hinting and baseline shift — features seldom seen outside layout applications. Animate between different fonts, or scroll type across a screen.
Geomancy Shapes plug-ins included For creating backgrounds and patterns of all kinds, Text Anarchy includes the Geomancy plug-ins for animating lines, squares, circles and other shapes in 3D space.
Sale of Video Products Allows Company to Fully Concentrate on Photoshop and Professional Photography Markets.
San Francisco, CA - August 4, 2008 - Digital Anarchy, known for its high quality creative software in both the broadcast and Photoshop markets, has announced today the sale of their full video product line to Red Giant Software. For seven years, Digital Anarchy has made a name for itself by delivering innovative software for visual effects, video editing and 2D animation in the film and television industry. Effective Monday, August 4th, the company will transfer sales and support of 12 plug-in products for host applications that include Adobe After Effects, Apple Final Cut Pro, Avid systems and Autodesk systems.
This asset sale will allow Digital Anarchy to focus on their other core market, Photoshop plug-ins for photographers and digital artists. Since 2004, the company has released tools that help professional and hobbyist photographers to uniquely create a fully digital portrait studio. The company has recently focused on software that provides custom graphic effects, and plans to release new innovative products by the beginning of Q4 2008. Digital Anarchy is also considering development for related host applications like Adobe Lightroom and Apple Aperture.
Jim Tierney, president of Digital Anarchy, said, "We have been a leader in the After Effects and related markets since 2001, but have decided to focus on the Photoshop and digital photography markets. We’re excited about some of the opportunities there and are looking closer at current customer needs. Developing more creative and productive technology to service the wide variety of Photoshop artists and digital photographers is an important part of our strategy moving forward. In making this decision, it was important that we find a company who would take excellent care of our current film/video customers, and we think Red Giant Software is that company."
Photoshop Products Kept; Video Products Sold.
The sale of its video products will not affect Digital Anarchy’s Photoshop customers. Digital Anarchy has retained its full Photoshop product line and will continue to provide the quality software and support that the company is known for. These Photoshop products are: Primate Chromakey, Backdrop Designer, Knoll Light Factory, and Texture Anarchy. All sales and support questions for Photoshop products should be directed towards Digital Anarchy at www.digitalanarchy.com.
Digital Anarchy has sold the following video products: 3D Assistants, Data Animator, Anarchy Toolbox, Geomancy, Psunami Water, Text Anarchy, ToonIt!, Microcosm, Color Theory, PlasmaFX, Chaos Stock and Knoll Spark Pack. Already a recognized video plug-in company, Red Giant Software has rebranded and reissued some of the Digital Anarchy products, and pulled others off the market temporarily for future re-release. All sales and support questions for video products should be directed towards Red Giant Software at www.redgiantsoftware.com. Existing Digital Anarchy customers will be fully supported for product upgrades, updates and changes.
About Digital Anarchy.
Digital Anarchy is a privately owned company in San Francisco that creates high-quality creative software for professional photographers, Photoshop artists and graphic designers. Since 2001, our tools have solved a wide range of design issues, from masking out bluescreens for commercial still photography to generating custom lighting effects. Digital Anarchy products work in conjunction with Adobe Photoshop, PS Elements, and related design applications. For more information, please see the company's website at www.digitalanarchy.com or call 415-586-8434.
About Red Giant Software.
Red Giant Software LLC (www.redgiantsoftware.com) is a San Francisco-based company that develops professional tools for digital video production. Products are available as plug-ins for popular video editing and effects applications, including After Effects, Final Cut Pro, Motion, Premiere Pro, and Avid. All tools are based on production-proven technology developed by visual effects veterans.
Six New Motion Graphics Packages Expand Product Line
San Francisco, CA, August 4, 2008 - Red Giant Software, with popular products Magic Bullet, Knoll Light Factory, and Trapcode, today announced that it has agreed to acquire the video plug-in portfolio of Digital Anarchy, a San Francisco-based plug-in developer. Digital Anarchy is known for its high-quality creative software for broadcast designers and 2D animators. The acquisition will add six new products to Red Giant Software's roster, which will be repackaged under Red Giant Software's own product names.
These new products make Red Giant Software a one-stop shop for plug-ins, with over 30 plug-in packages for Adobe After Effects, Premiere Pro, Apple Final Cut Pro, Motion, and Avid. Users can now turn to Red Giant to create a wide variety of effects, including particles, keying, color correction, lighting, cartoon effects, look creation, animated titles, and ultra-realistic water. Several of Digital Anarchy's former products will distributed free of charge, including PlasmaFX, Color Theory, and Microcosm Codec. These free products will be introduced later in 2008.
The six new tools include PlaneSpace (formerly 3D Assistant Lite/Pro), a 3D layer animation tool; Datamator (formerly Data Animator), which creates and animates charts and graphs in 3D space; Psunami (formerly Psunami Water), a photorealistic water and wave generator; ToonIt (formerly Toon It!), which creates cartoon-style art from video footage; and Knoll Light Factory Spark, a version of the popular lens flare generation tool especially for advanced Autodesk platforms.
Jim Tierney, president of Digital Anarchy, said, "As I looked to exit the video plug-in business to fully concentrate on our photography/Photoshop products, I approached Red Giant Software to help ease the transition for our users. Red Giant Software is recognized in the industry for taking care of its customers with a solid record for support and marketing. It was important to find Digital Anarchy's film/video users a good new home - Red Giant Software fits that bill."
Sean Safreed, owner of Red Giant Software, said, "This is an exciting milestone for our company. We entered the plug-in market nearly six years ago, and we are now are one of the largest providers of tools to production professionals. We are dedicated to providing innovative tools for broadcasters, film designers, and independent filmmakers, and Digital Anarchy's video toolset expands our palette. We look forward to providing Digital Anarchy film/video users and future customers with the best support and on-going updates to these new tools, and we're already working on updates and compatibility enhancements."
Digital Anarchy will continue to publish plug-ins and filters for Adobe Photoshop. For more information, visit www.digitalanarchy.com. Frequently Asked Questions
About Red Giant Software Red Giant Software LLC (http://www.redgiantsoftware.com/) is a San Francisco-based company that develops professional tools for digital video production. Products are available as plug-ins for popular video editing and effects applications, including After Effects, Final Cut Pro, Motion, Premiere Pro, and Avid. All tools are based on production-proven technology developed by visual effects veterans.
About Digital Anarchy Digital Anarchy is a privately owned company in San Francisco that creates high-quality creative software for professional photographers, Photoshop artists and graphic designers. Since 2001, our tools have solved a wide range of design issues, from masking out bluescreens for commercial still photography to generating custom lighting effects. Digital Anarchy products work in conjunction with Adobe Photoshop, PS Elements, and related design applications. For more information, please see the company's website at www.digitalanarchy.com or call 415-586-8434.
All product and company names herein may be trademarks of their respective owners.
Yes, it's been a long wait for the ToonIt! speed update. But it's arrived! Version 1.1 brings multi-processor support to the product.
While ToonIt! is definitely not real-time (especially on HD), the update does dramatically improve things, especially when using After Effects CS3. ToonIt! is still a little render-intensive, but that is necessary to get the unparrelled cartoon rendering from video.
New Update Takes Advantage of Multi-Processor Machines for Notable Speed Increase During Render
San Francisco, CA - June 3, 2008 - Digital Anarchy, a leading provider of visual effects software for Adobe, Avid, and Apple products, today announced the version 1.1 update for ToonIt! Film/Video and ToonIt! Avid. Version 1.1 speeds up the rendering of ToonIt! by taking advantage of multi-processors. This allows users to quickly render cartoon-like images from film and video footage. The filters use advanced algorithms from Toonamation to create flat shades of color with full control over details like outlines, shading styles and halftone effects.
The ToonIt! 1.1 update adds a few new features, bug fixes, and speeds up rendering time by taking advantage of multi-processor machines. ToonIt! 1.1 renders 70-90% faster than version 1.0.2 and over 300% faster when using After Effects CS3 and a quad-core machine. Standard Definition footage takes about 1 sec/frame using After Effects CS3 and a quad-core.
Jim Tierney, president of Digital Anarchy, said, "ToonIt! has been incredibly well received, but many users have complained about the speed. So we spent some time optimizing it and retooling it for multi-processor machines. This has given ToonIt! a tremendous speed boost. When used with the great multi-processor support in After Effects CS3, the speed increase is pretty amazing. We're very excited about this update."
With these four plugins, artists can customize the 'toon' effect for almost any image with styles like Flat Cartoon, Graphic Novel, Line Art, and Pen & Ink. One of the main features of ToonIt! is its ability to create a smooth animation over time with very little jitter and minimal temporal artifacts. While other cartooning software frequently produces an undesirable 'vibrating' image when played back at full speed, ToonIt! filters reduce these graphic issues and produce very consistent, pleasing results from one frame to the next.
Pricing and Availability
ToonIt! Film/Video is priced at USD $299. ToonIt! Avid is priced at USD $295. Both products are on sale for USD $259 through June 15, 2008. Version 1.1 will ship with all new orders. The 1.1 update is free to existing users, who should visit the company's website for update instructions at: http://digitalanarchy.com/toonVID/request.php
ToonIt! Film/Video works in After Effects 5.5 and higher (including AE CS3), Final Cut Pro 4.5 and higher, Motion 2.1 and higher, and Premiere Pro 2.0 and higher. ToonIt! Avid works in Avid host applications that support the AVX1 and AVX2 standards. Both products run under Macintosh 10.3.9 and higher (including 10.5) and runs natively on Intel Macs. The products run under Windows 2000, XP Home, XP Pro, Vista 32-bit and Vista 64-bit systems. Demo filters and samples are available at www.digitalanarchy.com.
The Mac version is looking very good, but we're having a bit o' trouble with the Windows version. Those of you that emailed last month about the Windows version are still on our list. We just need to get a build that we think is stable enough to send out. No point in sending you software we know is going to cause a steady stream of errors. Sorry this has taken so long, but that's the way it goes with development sometimes.
HOWEVER... those of you with After Effects CS3 don't need to wait for the multi-processor version of ToonIt. AE's multi-processor support, the Render Frames Simultaneously checkbox in the Preferences, will usually supercede ToonIt's MP support anyways. So if you have enough RAM for AE to render multiple frames on each of your processors you're getting as good of performance from ToonIt as we'll be able to give you. Same goes for those of you using Nucleo Pro from Gridiron Software.
Note on CS3 multi-processing: It is something of a black art as to how you get AE to fully use all your processors. What is happening is there will be a separate instance of AE running on each processor. Thus, you will need enough memory for all those instances of AE. Playing around with the settings in the Memory & Cache preference section will determine how many additional processors are used by the Multi-processing preference section. You don't usually want the Memory & Cache set to the defaults if you have a multi-processor machine. Changing the memory usage to 50 or 60% will free up memory to be used by other instances of AE. Also, setting the cache to a low amount like 10% can also affect how many processors will be used. Of course, if you have a memory intensive project, say 4k comp with a ton of layers, setting your memory to 33% may not be a great idea. And you might want to wait until you're ready to render to change the cache settings, as a low setting will affect how much you can ram preview. As mentioned, it's a bit of a black art which I admit I don't fully understand, so don't take this as the definitive guide on AE multi-processor support. These are just things I've run into while fiddling with settings on the various dualcore and quadcore machines we have sitting around the office here at the Anarchy World HQ.
We've just added a quick sale on most of our Wacom Tablets. Save an additional 4% off the regular discounted price at Toolfarm! Save on the Intuos and the new Cintiq tablets. It's an instant rebate.... so instant that we just knocked it off the price! The offer expires February 29, 2008.
Also on special: Digital Anarchy ToonIt! for Avid Limited time Toolfarm only introductory pricing of $229! Save $70! This offer also ends February 29, 2008.
Buy Boris Continuum Complete 5 AE and get Title Toolkit for FREE! Expires Saturday, March 1, 2008. Title Toolkit is available for a suggested retail price of $299 USD. In addition, Title Toolkit is now included FREE with Boris Continuum Complete 5 AE purchases (including the AE/FxPlug bundle and BCC 5 upgrades). This offer expires Saturday, March 1, 2008 and is valid for the download version of Title Toolkit.
Check out our Current Specials page for all of our specials. We keep it updated with the latest deals and we have some AWESOME deals for March. Be sure to sign up for our newsletter so you don't miss out.
Digital Anarchy ToonIt! the popular cartooning effects package, now gives Avid editors the ability to reliably and easily creates cartoon-like images from footage. This is Digital Anarchy's first product for Avid. ToonIt! uses advanced algorithms from Toonamation to create beautiful cartoon shading and lines from your footage. It works in Avid Media Composer, NewsCutter, Avid Xpress, and any other Avid application that supports AVX 1 or AVX 2 plugins. This product is Intel Mac native. Mac 10.3.9 +higher. Windows 2000, Win XP Home, Win XP Pro, Vista 32-bit, Vista 64-bit.
Limited time introductory offer! Get ToonIt! for Avid for just $229. Save $70! This offer is a Toolfarm only special!
Other news about ToonIt!, the long wait (and long render times) is over. They finally have a multi-processor aware version of ToonIt available to those of you who own it. To get it, please send your name, platform, host application(s), and serial number to beta@digitalanarchy.com. You MUST have already purchased it (the AE/FCP compatible version) to receive the beta. This will be a free update.
New Version Has Improved UI, Real-Time Preview, and Support for Intel Mac and 64-bit OS
San Francisco - October 9th, 2007 - Digital Anarchy, a leading provider of cost-effective special effects software for Adobe and Apple products, has released version 3.0 of the acclaimed Knoll Light Factory. The new features in this Photoshop package give increased control over the look of hundreds of lighting effects, and further the creative abilities of photographers and designers to enhance existing images or create original works.
Version 3.0 introduces a complete redesign of the user interface, with a simplified layout, new functions, a quick Preview Window, and preview thumbnails for light presets. The Light Editor has been integrated into a single interface that can be moved and resized to the user's workspace. An additional 50 light presets give users additional pre-made effects that range from naturalistic to dramatic.
Some of the exciting features in Knoll Spark Pack 3.0 include:
New User Interface: The UI has been redesigned for ease of use, including previews of light presets and access to editing functions in one window.
Real-Time Preview: The main Preview Window now supports real-time manipulation, as well as the ability to resize and zoom in/out.
100+ Light Presets: There are now well over 100 great places to start when looking for that special flare.
16-bit Color Support: Light effects now render out to higher bit depths, which reduces banding and outputs better looking glows and gradients.
Mac Intel and 64-bit Windows compatible: Full support of all of the new operating systems and religious preferences.
Obscuration Layer: Use a grayscale mask to partially obscure the lights, and make more realistic effects when lights are being partially blocked by an object.
Tint Layer: Use a separate layer to change the flare color for easier compositing on complex images.
Randomize Feature: A Randomize button and slider let users organically discover fun new effects.
Undo Functionality: Multi-level undo allows for an improved workflow when designing lights.
Pricing and Availability
Knoll Light Factory 3.0 is priced at $149 USD. An upgrade path from version 2.0 to 3.0 is $89.00. Until October 31st, it will be available for $129 and the upgrade will be $79. The product is available for Photoshop 7.0 and higher, including CS3, and Photoshop Elements 3.0 and higher. The product also works in other drawing applications that fully support the Photoshop API.
For Macintosh, Light Factory runs on OS 10.3 and higher, and is native to both PPC or Intel systems. For Windows, the product runs on Windows 2000, XP Pro, XP Home, Vista 32-bit and Vista 64-bit systems. Demo filters and samples are available at www.digitalanarchy.com.
About Digital Anarchy
Digital Anarchy is a privately owned company operating out of San Francisco, Calif., that creates high-quality creative software for broadcast designers, 2D animators and professional photographers. These tools solve a wide range of design issues, from creating text effects and background design elements, to masking out bluescreens for commercial still photography. Digital Anarchy products work in conjunction with a wide range of products from companies like Adobe, Apple and Autodesk. For more information, please see the company's website at www.digitalanarchy.com or call 415-586-8434.
Digital Anarchy is a registered trademark of Digital Anarchy Inc. All other brand names, product names, service marks, or trademarks belong to their respective holders.
ToonIt does a great job of creating a cartoon look from video, but it's also capable of other types of 'painterly' and non-photorealistic looks. In this tutorial, we take a look out how to create some of those looks, by adjusting the ToonIt settings and applying other After Effects' filters before and after ToonIt.
This creates a pretty cool range of interesting effects. Check out the video tutorial and let us know what you think. Or... better yet, submit some of your own receipes for getting more than advertised out of ToonIt!
I wasn't at the meeting since I'm clear across the country, so I'm living vicariously through those who were lucky enough to attend. First, Dave Basulto has posted some images from last night's MGLA meeting on his site.
Second, Chris Meyer of Cybermotion had some great things to say about the meeting in a post to the AE List. Imagineer Mocha was shown. It's a planar tracker that uses the technology in the more advanced Mokey and Monet. Chris says, " It did some pretty darn amazing things, including continuing tracks successfully when large portions of the tracked object went off screen."
Marco S. from Digital Anarchy showed PlasmaFX and ToonIt! Chris says about ToonIt! " It was also an excellent example of the role frame rate plays in whether we perceive something as real or fantasy; keeping the result at normal video rate didn't look like you would expect it to."
Peder Norrby showed Trapcode Form (codename Flux). Form is the plug-in that people are really keyed up for the release, which will hopefully still happen this summer. It's similar to Particular but does lots of other cool things. Chris says "The couple of examples Peder showed using displacement maps and alpha mattes were particularly impressive".
Sean Safreed showedMagic Bullet 3 at the meeting. Chris says "...the new UI... it makes things soooo much easier for quick, broad strokes to get the look you're after without having to come to terms with a bunch of sliders (however useful they are)."
Chances are: You know Digital Anarchy. For many of us, the software that Jim Tierney provided was the only way that we could get the clients to say "Ahhhhhhh".
For me, it started with Psunami Water. A studio I worked for wanted some "watery" animation - and I suggested some "water-like" plug-in. They looked at it, we punched in some new values, and the resulting animation wrapped up an otherwise long project.
Before Text Tools in AE Text Anarchy was the only way we could make "THE MATRIX TEXT", and every animator knows there are clients who asked for it on everything (shudder).
Digital Anarchy has paved the way with a bunch of tools that make creating "what clients see and want" easier for animators. Now - another: TOONIT!
While I DO NOT SUGGEST that slapping this plug-in on video will make your footage of an intern in a red dress look like Jessica Rabbit - it is an excellent alternative to rotoscoping, posterization and stripping channels.
(Plus, I've already seen is used on-air in its "AS IS" condition, so somebody out there has already used its default settings as a solution).
Jim gave me (and others who started to crowd in around me) a demo of the software.
After you decompress from SIGGRAPH, remember that the next MGLA meeting is Tuesday, August 21, at Barnsdall Gallery Theatre. It is Plug-In Night 2, with a stellar line-up:
Imagineer Mocha motion tracker (okay - it's a standalone rather than a plug-in, but it's a heckuva tool)
Trapcode codename Flux (Peder Norbby is over from Sweden and will demonstrate in person)
Magic Bullet 3 (the upcoming version of this much-loved film look suite)
$36,000 IN DOOR PRIZES!
Details are online at the MGLA site. They will be posting prizes and sending out a full email in the next week. This will be one of those don't-miss meetings. (And by the way - it's MGLA's 10th anniversary that night as well!)
While it's true that SIGGRAPH didn't officially see an Adobe booth this year - After Effects isn't the only host application for the software of the PLUGIN PAVILION. Autodesk was (and always is) a big draw for SIGGRAPH (now with mudbox too).
Digital Anarchy, a leading provider of cost-effective graphics software, today announced the release of Primatte Chromakey 3.0 for Photoshop. Primatte Chromakey is the award winning, best-of-breed green/blue screen solution for photography, bringing the power of high-end Film/TV technology to Photoshop and Photoshop Elements. Primatte removes a blue/green background from a still image or footage, leaving the subject against a transparent background with any color cast removed.
"We're excited to bring serious batch processing capabilities to Primatte", said Jim Tierney, Digital Anarchy founder. "This is going to be a huge advance for photographers dealing with large volumes of images shot against chromakey."
Primatte Chromakey excels in preserving important, difficult details like wisps of hair, translucent glass or other materials, and mesh fabrics. This makes it easy to convincingly place the subject on a custom background, then substitute that background as needed. The new version 3.0 adds great customer-requested features, like a one-click 'auto mask' button, batch processing, better blending between subject and backdrop, and support for Intel Macs and Photoshop CS3.
The ability to batch process has been dramatically improved, allowing users to apply Primatte to hundreds of images via Photoshop's Actions. Backgrounds can be removed and replaced automatically, providing photographers who shoot school, sports, or event photography with a powerful addition to their workflow. Primatte 3.0 also supports Photoshop CS3's Smart Objects and Timeline functions, making it possible to use the plugin on video as well as still images.
New features in Primatte 3.0 include:
Batch Processing: Better support for processing large numbers of images via the AutoMask tool and Photoshop Actions.
AutoMask: Analyzes an image and automatically removes its background, eliminating or reducing the need for manual keying. With properly shot images, hundreds of images can be masked at once.
Light Wrap: New control panel gives better spill suppression and a more convincing blend of the foreground and background.
MacIntel Support: Primatte 3.0 fully supports Macintoshes using Intel processors.
Photoshop CS3 Support: Full support of Smart Objects and video footage via CS3's new Timeline. Improved Tools: A variety of new tools and preview modes are available to speed up the masking process.
Improved User-Interface: More intuitive interface and keyboard shortcuts for Primatte's popular tools.
Pricing and Availability Regularly priced at USD $299, Primatte Chromakey 3.0 is available now for USD $269. This special pricing is available until August 15, 2007. The version 3.0 update is free for existing Primatte 2.0 customers who purchased after May 1, 2007; users should contact Digital Anarchy for details. The update costs USD $149 for owners of Primatte 2.0 who purchased earlier than this date. This 2.0 to 3.0 update is on sale for $129 until August 15, 2007. Primatte 3.0 supports all variants of Macintosh OS X and runs natively on Intel Macs. The product supports Windows 2000, XP Home, XP Pro and Vista 32-bit systems. Demo filters and samples are available at www.digitalanarchy.com
Digital Anarchy's ToonIt 1.0 for Film and Video has been released and is available for purchase and download. Until July 4th, you can get it for $249 (reg. $299). ToonIt! runs in After Effects and Final Cut Studio. It's Mac Universal and FxPlug and even works in Vista.
ToonIt! is an easy way to give film/video footage that sought-after cartoon look. ToonIt! uses advanced algorithms to process your image and create cartoon shading and lines. Giving footage a 'toon' look is notoriously difficult and ToonIt! gives you the tools to create sophisticated cel shaded, pen & ink, and other stylized looks. I demo'd ToonIt! at NAB in Motion and it is amazing how it works. It analizes pixel by pixel and gives you freakin' amazing results.
Download the demo from Digital Anarchy, then come back and buy it at Toolfarm. Why? Because we love you.
Keith and Alan recorded the podcast live at NAB.... and it's a HUGE Triliogy of HOT shows!
Podcast 2 recorded at the Toolfarm Party on Sunday night at the MGM Grand
Exclusive interviews with the tops in the industry including Paul Babb, President of Maxon (Cinema 4D), Zax Dow of Zaxwerks, Christoph Vonhreim of CHV-Electronics, Debbie Rich of Digital Anarchy, John Dickinson of Motionworks, Niclas Bahn of Noise Industries, and Jason Sharp, President of Toolfarm.
Podcast 3: Live Interviews at the IMUG Media Motion Ball
Interviews Chris & Trish Meyer, Rob Birnholtz from Absolute Motion Graphics, Wes Plate of Automatic Duck, Frank Capria of Xprove, Brian Maffitt of Total Training.
Podcast 4: Interviews from The Promax Digital Cafe at the Empire Ball Room
Exclusive interviews with Carey Dissmore of IMUG, Phil Hodgetts of the Digital Production Buzz Podcast, Barbara Dehart of Telestream, Jason Levine Sr. Worldwide Evangelist of Adobe Systems or something like that... a really long title, and Dan Hatch of ProMax.
There are two ways to listen to the podcasts in iTunes:
Well, it was a long and wonderful week at NAB. I worked on the show floor at the Apple booth. I had a primo spot on the corner of the massive booth, right in the center of all the traffic. Look, I made Apple.com!. (Photo courtesy of Apple.com).
At the Apple booth, I demo'd FxPlug Plug-ins for Motion and Final Cut Pro. I was using a lot of beta plug-ins on Motion 3, which is in beta. Oh, boy.... Motion 3! Now this product is something to get excited about! I've always been an After Effects evangelist, but Motion 3 is going to give AE a run for it's money. I don't think it will replace AE by any means, but let's just say that there is a new kid in town who can play previews real-time, intuitive 3D, mind-blowing tracking and matching (using Shake technology) and has an incredible number of plug-ins that are out or coming out soon for it. I have to admit that I've never really given Motion the chance it deserves, but it ROCKS. I admit, I love it. I'm a convert.
I plan to review some of the plug-ins that I demo'd in the next week or so. I am completely impressed with CHV-Electronics plug-ins. They play real-time and are extremely versatile. A lot of the developers stopped by my station throughout the week. I saw a lot of Christoph Vonhrein, of CHV. He demo'd his plug-ins and really was able to show me the cool things that they can do. They do some mind-boggling effects... with real-time previews. These are probably my favorite FxPlug plug-ins. I had so much fun with them.
The Noise Industries FxFactory also impresses me. Noise Industries took the 2007 Videography Vidy Awards at NAB. Yes, they're that good. If you're using Motion or Final Cut Pro, YOU NEED BOTH CHV plug-ins and FxFactory. It takes a lot to impress me... really it does. I'll get some samples up soon. I highly recommend both plug-in developers products. They're inexpensive and fast!
I showed Trapcode FxPlug betas of Shine, Starglow and 3D Stroke and on a beta of Motion 3. They are basically the same plug-in as their AE counterpart. They are CPU accelerated, as opposed to GPU accelerated like most FxPlug plug-ins, so they were running about 8 frames per second for previews on the dual Intel processor I was running (it had 8gb ram and an ATI Radeon 1900 card). Not real-time but pretty fast. They brought lots of oohs and aahs.Trapcode 3D Stroke in FxPlug is a little different than the AE version. There are no paths in FCP, so they have a work around. There are a ton of preset shapes, plus, Sean Safreed from Red Giant told me that the trick is to save an SVG file (vector file) and drop it into the FxPlug folder. It will then show up in the drop down menu. I didn't try this, of course, because I didn't have Illustrator installed, but it sounded pretty straight forward. The Trapcode plug-ins will ship in a month, when Final Cut Studio Ships.
Zaxwerks 3D Flag was running real-time previews in Motion 3 and people were really impressed with it. I've made curtains and clothes hanging on a clothesline with it. It's also inexpensive and has a good track record, so it's a great tool for the old Final Cut Studio arsenal.
On Wednesday morning of the show, Boris Yaminsky of Boris FX comes up to me and was asking me about their Boris Continuum Complete 5.0 FxPlug plug-ins, which I didn't have on my machine. He comes back 10 minutes later with a drive and gives me a personal 20 minute demo of some of their plug-ins. They're really pretty fast and ran well in Motion 3. They were not quite realtime, but ran about 10-12 frames per second in previews. Not too shabby. They have a really nice keyer. I didn't have the full set, only about 20 of the 180 or so plug-ins that will be shipping, but what I saw was very cool stuff indeed.
I showed DV Matte Blast from DvGarage, which Toolfarm doesn't sell, unfortuately. It's very fast... real-time! However, it doesn't have a lot of the bells and whistles of a more robust keyer. It does what it does well, but if you're looking for something with a light wrap, matte choker and so on, the Boris Continuum Complete Keyer was a really nice keyer. It got in nice and tight around hair and fingers on moving footage.
Another plug-in I didn't have was ToonIt! from Digital Anarchy. Marco from DA came over to my booth and installed it and gave me a quick tour and It totally gives the look of those Charles Schwab commercials. It does run really slowly, but it analyzes pixel by pixel so it's doing a lot of work. Also, it's still in beta, as is Motion 3. The look is perfect. They've got that nailed. I was using the ToonIt! Roto plug-in on some Ducati footage from Apple and it was impressive to say the least. Slow, but impressive. If you've tried to create this look on your own, it's not an easy task. I think ToonIt! is going to do very well in the plug-in marketplace.
Also, Marco from DA gave me a behind the scenes look at the Quartz Compositor and programming that goes into Plasma FX. That was really interesting. I had no idea what goes into the programming of plug-ins. I also had DA Plasma FX on my box, but unfortunately there was an old build installed, not to mention a beta of Motion 3 and things were not working as well as I would've liked.
The CHV, Noise Industries plug-ins and Zaxwerks 3D Flag are available now. The Boris, Red Giant, Trapcode, and Digital Anarchy plug-ins are shipping in a month or so.
Final Cut Server also took a few awards - Television Broadcast Top Innovation Award, Television Broadcast Top Innovation Award and the DV Black Diamond Award. I was so surprised to find out how many people are migrating from their Avids and are going to get Final Cut Server in their post houses.
They didn't show Shake there and several people asked me if Shake was EOL. Word on the street is that in 2008 a new version of Shake is going to blow all of our minds. Hold tight on that one.
Adobe Photoshop CS3 Extended also won a Television Broadcast Top Innovation Award and a 2007 Videography Vidy Award and Adobe Soundbooth CS3 took a DV Black Diamond Award. Unfortunately, I didn't get to check out much of the Adobe stuff. I was at the Apple booth for the entire show. I did manage to see an hour long demo of the new features in AE CS3 and saw some great new features. The vanishing point feature looks really swell. The Beta of AE CS3 is now available here.
No, I didn't see the RED Camera, but there was so much buzz surrounding it. Everybody wants some.
I'll get some photos of the show, the parties and the people I met up this week. Our Podcast guys, Keith and Alan, did a knockout job and got interviews with Chris and Trish Meyer, Brian Maffitt, and so many other well known people in our little industry. They did the interviews at parties in the evening so everyone is relaxed and having fun. Keith played the Chris and Trish Meyer interview at the airport and it's a hoot. That Trish really dished it to Alan. I expect them to be up by Monday, after we've all had a chance to recover. Keith and Alan and I all flew out at 1am on the red eye last night. Alan and I were actually on the same flight. Anyway, I am totally looking forward to these podcasts from NAB.
Jim Tierney of Digital Anarchy Posted the following message to the AE-List:
Digital Anarchy are introducing a new plug-in at NAB called ToonIt!. As you might expect, it gives video various types of 'cartoon' looks, along with different edge styles (or Pen&Ink mode, which is just outlines). The plug-in does an excellent job of maintaining the fidelity of lines and color regions overtime, which is the usual downfall of most of the products that attempt to create toon-looks.
Adobe After Effects New York (AENY)first meeting is set for February 22. There is no fee for this event, thanks to sponsorship from Adobe and Pratt Manhattan. They are covering Maxon Cinema 4D 10 and After Effects Integration, as well as Mograph, Stephen Neary will present "Bigfoot's Eulogy" and Aharon Rabinowitz will be presenting some quick After Effects tips. I met Aharon at NAB NY.
Digital Anarchy ToonIt v2.5.1 for Photoshop. is out this week. This is a free update for existing users, just download the demo. It should recognize your serial number. ToonIt v2.5 had a bug so please update asap. 
San Francisco - Monday, Dec. 7th, 2009 - Digital Anarchy, a leading provider of cost-effective special effects software for Adobe and Apple products, has today announced the release of a new product for Adobe After Effects, Adobe Premiere, and Apple's Final Cut Pro. The Beauty Box 1.0 provides editors and visual effects artists working with film and video an easy and powerful way of smoothing out skin and removing blemishes. Regardless of whether it is used for a feature film, reality TV show, or just a corporate talking head, Beauty Box provides best-of-class skin beautification.
The Power of Film and TV Design is Now Available for Photoshop Artists and Photographers
Starting tomorrow, save on the recently acquired and re-released former Digital Anarchy titles!
San Francisco, CA - February 4, 2009 - Digital Anarchy, a leading provider of cost-effective special effects software for Adobe and Apple products, today announced the release of two software products for use in Apple's Aperture. Knoll Light Factory generates lighting effects that dramatically enhance the natural or man-made lighting in photographs. ToonIt! Photo creates cartoon-like images from photographs, freeing artists from time consuming techniques such as hand painting and masking. Both products are currently available for Adobe Photoshop and Photoshop Elements. 
San Francisco, CA, January 13, 2009 - Red Giant Software, with popular products including Magic Bullet Suite, Knoll Light Factory and Trapcode Suite, today introduced Datamator, a plug-in set for creating data-driven animations for news programs and corporate videos. Red Giant Datamator (formerly Digital Anarchy Data Animator) turns charts and graphs into compelling animated masterpieces in After Effects. Datamator includes a set of eight plug-ins that make it easier for videographers to create graphs and charts directly in After Effects instead of using PowerPoint or re-creating graphics from scratch. 
Yes, it's been a long wait for the ToonIt! speed update. But it's arrived! Version 1.1 brings multi-processor support to the product.
One of the biggest Plugged-In podcasts ever, Show 21 NAB Special Edition! Keith Larsen and Alan Spaulding talk to dozens of guests.
We've just added a quick sale on most of our Wacom Tablets. Save an additional 4% off the regular discounted price at Toolfarm! Save on the Intuos and the new Cintiq tablets. It's an instant rebate.... so instant that we just knocked it off the price! The offer expires February 29, 2008.
You still have time to cash in on the Imagineer Systems mocha Node-locked License Crossgrade for mocha AE owners February 2008 Special! mocha AE owners can upgrade to the full version of mocha for just $399 through February 29, 2008. If you don't own mocha AE, you can still get in on the offer.
Buy Boris Continuum Complete 5 AE and get Title Toolkit for FREE! Expires Saturday, March 1, 2008. Title Toolkit is available for a suggested retail price of $299 USD. In addition, Title Toolkit is now included FREE with Boris Continuum Complete 5 AE purchases (including the AE/FxPlug bundle and BCC 5 upgrades). This offer expires Saturday, March 1, 2008 and is valid for the download version of Title Toolkit.
Digital Anarchy, a leading provider of cost-effective graphics software, today announced the release of Primatte Chromakey 3.0 for Photoshop. Primatte Chromakey is the award winning, best-of-breed green/blue screen solution for photography, bringing the power of high-end Film/TV technology to Photoshop and Photoshop Elements. Primatte removes a blue/green background from a still image or footage, leaving the subject against a transparent background with any color cast removed.
Well, it was a long and wonderful week at NAB. I worked on the show floor at the Apple booth. I had a primo spot on the corner of the massive booth, right in the center of all the traffic. Look, I made Apple.com!. (Photo courtesy of Apple.com).
