Tom Stern of Microfilmmaker Magazine reviews Boris Final Effects Complete 5 and gives it a "Microfilmmaker Magazine Award of Superiority".Congrats to Boris for the great review. Read it here.
Labels: Boris, Final Effects Complete, reviews
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Tom Stern of Microfilmmaker Magazine reviews Boris Final Effects Complete 5 and gives it a "Microfilmmaker Magazine Award of Superiority".Labels: Boris, Final Effects Complete, reviews
Posted by Michele Yamazaki
Digieffects Simulate Illuma got a nice review at DigitalArts this week.Low-cost; great lighting tools for motion-graphics artists; innovative preset and randomize system.
Labels: Demo, Digieffects Simulate, Illuma, reviews
Posted by Michele Yamazaki
Wow. Without diving into the toolsets and giving you a tutorial, let me say that the final output of the clips, the control that is possible, the speed at which the plugins perform, the performance inside of Adobe applications and the quality of the interface thoroughly impressed me.
Read the full review here: "Holy Hot Looks Batman, they're Magic Bullets!"
Labels: Genesis Project, Magic Bullet Looks, Red Giant, reviews
Posted by Michele Yamazaki
Damage is a must-have for any animator or editor! These are not redundant effects overlapping things done in other packages I own, they are unique and versatile tools for manipulating and yes, damaging imagery unlike any other tool I have come across. Add to that, that these are, for the most part, FASTER than realtime and Im in love. For $99 its a steal. Digieffects, under new ownership, has set the bar high. Im excited to see what else they deliver us in the future.
Labels: Damage, DigiEffects, DMN, reviews
Posted by Michele Yamazaki
Congratulations to Digieffects for the great review of Damage at Microfilmmaker Magazine. Sort of a humorous review too.Also, if you truly derive pleasure from destroying perfect good footage, the cost of this plug-in is much cheaper than hiring a psychiatrist to tell you why you feel that way. Plus, you'll get the same therapeutic value.
Labels: Damage, DigiEffects, MicroFilmmaker Magazine, reviews
Posted by Michele Yamazaki
I've been plowing through Maxon Cinema 4D version 10.5 Studio ($3500 retail) for a few weeks now, and I'm pretty impressed with the whole experience. The most important feature I needed was MoGraph ($399 retail), a separate module for procedurally animating arrays of objects, much like how Trapcode's Form animates arrays of particles. Demo's I've seen of Form are awesome, and I think you might be able to do the same thing with MoGraph, (though it'll take forever to render). The interface for these procedural animations is probably the easiest to grasp of any 3D application. I get good performance on my MacBook Pro, but I've run out of RAM 3 times, based on excessive polygon counts. Sub-division surfaces, or HyperNURBS in MAXONspeak, was the method of my RAM-busting. I haven't tried distributed rendering yet to see if that avoids my memory issues.Labels: Maxon Cinema 4D, reviews
Posted by Michele Yamazaki
Labels: DMN, reviews, Wacom Tablets
Posted by Michele Yamazaki
Toolfarm Forum Expert Jim Geduldick (aka Apple Jim) reviews Digital Film Tools Power Matte: Generating mattes for After Effects over at Digital Producer.Labels: After Effects, Digital Film Tools, DMN, Jim Geduldick, Power Matte, reviews
Posted by Michele Yamazaki
Here's a quick excerpt from the reviewA toolbox loaded with high quality ready-to-go effects, and the ability to customise, create and share your own effects means your collection can just keep growing. With the FxPacks on offer and FxFactory Pro, you get versatility, dedication and a willingness to develop further, which sounds like value for money to me.
Labels: FxFactory, Noise Industries, reviews
Posted by Michele Yamazaki
Kevin McAuliffe reviews Noise Industries FXFactory Pro 2.0.2 and gives it an 'Absolute Buy'. Labels: Final Cut Pro, FxFactory, FxPlug, Motion, Noise Industries, reviews
Posted by Michele Yamazaki
Here is an excerpt from the Media 100 review:Overall, it is quite amazing (and instructive) to see how Media 100's development has come along recently, with features being added slowly but steadily, and extremely intelligently. They've patiently updated what was necessary to bring the platform back into the modern marketplace, adding and refining features methodically and leveraging the software assets and capabilities of Boris Graffiti, FX, and RED.
They have done all of this and kept the price of both the hardware-based and software-only packages very reasonable. For those who prefer Media 100's clean and uncluttered interface and extensive feature set, this is all very good news. For those who have moved to other editing platforms, it is definitely time to take a peek back into Media 100 and see how it all looks. For those looking to set up a Mac-based suite, a look at the new Media 100 HD is more than worth the effort: Media 100 has reconstituted itself as a full featured, efficient, fast, and a well-priced value worthy of any editing platform.
Posted by Michele Yamazaki
Robert Jensen reviews Tiffen DFX plugins. The review focuses on the Photoshop plugins, but there are also plug-ins for After Effects, Final Cut Pro, Avid and a standalone version. Here are a couple of excerpts from the review:The control Tiffen gives you over the filters is amazing in its scope and very well thought out. The more I played around the more my imagination ran wild and the better my images looked in the end.
The creative possibilities are endless. It would take months to explore every option available. I especially loved being able to add special effects like the 204 Shutter and using the displacement map to make it look realistic.
Labels: reviews, Tiffen Dfx
Posted by Michele Yamazaki
Dave Basulto of Filmmaking Central reviews Trapcode Form Training with Harry Frank and gives it a perfect score.I give Trapcode Form Training with Harry Frank a whopping 5/5 stars for well explained training and ROI. You can pick up the training at ToolFarm.com. I highly recommend Trapcode Form Training with Harry Frank for anyone wanting to get going with Form fast.
Congratulations on the great review, Harry. Trapcode has also endorsed the training. It is really good.
Labels: Harry Frank, reviews, Trapcode Form
Posted by Michele Yamazaki
Marc Franklin over at Studio Monthly reviewed Boris Continuum Complete 5 and gave it mad props....BCC 5 is a sophisticated and fast answer to your workflow. It has a high-end feature set that lets you create top-notch results within minutes.
Read the BCC5 Review at Studio Monthly
Labels: Boris, Continuum Complete, reviews, Studio Daily
Posted by Michele Yamazaki
Here is the review that I mentioned earlier in the month for BCC5 for FCP from Post Magazine. Enjoy. Labels: Boris, Continuum Complete, reviews
Posted by Michele Yamazaki
Wondertouch particleIllusion is a standalone particle emitter and it's really cool. Jeremy Hanke of Microfilmmaker Magazine reviews particleIllusion for Mac and Windows. He thought it was freakin' awesome. Check out the review. Jeremy is a great writer and he has written a ton of reviews.Labels: particleIllusion, reviews, wondertouch
Posted by Michele Yamazaki
Ryan Graham at Microfilmmaker Magazine reviews Avidion Real 3D, a fantastic plug-in for Adobe After Effects. It may be a plug-in you're not entirely familiar with because it doesn't (yet) have the brand recognition of Trapcode or Boris, so I encourage you to download a demo of Real 3D and try it out. After reading the review, you'll be dying to get your fingers on it!Labels: Avidion Real3D, Demo, reviews
Posted by Michele Yamazaki
Labels: Boris FX, Continuum Complete, Imagineer Systems, mocha, reviews
Posted by Michele Yamazaki
Labels: DE:Noise, Filmmaking Central, Re:Vision Effects, reviews
Posted by Michele Yamazaki

Boris Continuum Complete 5 is an exceptional plug-in set for Apple Final Cut Pro and Motion, and I could go on for hours about all the effects and how great they are. The amount of thought that went into this plug-in set is obvious, and Boris is moving this plug-in set forward by leaps and bounds. Don't let the $895 price tag scare you away, as there are a few plug-ins in this set that if you were to buy separately, would almost cost you the same as BCC 5 itself. For all the users of Boris Continuum Complete who haven't upgraded to version five, what are you waiting for, and for everyone else, head on over to www.borisfx.com to download the free demo. You won't be disappointed.
Labels: Boris, Continuum Complete, reviews
Posted by Michele Yamazaki
Also, check out this review for LME Amazing Video Walls & Displays. I've been sitting on this review for a few months, only because I got very busy. If you're not one to read, basically it says that LME Amazing Video Walls & Displays is really great and you need it. You should read it though. It would make me happy.
Posted by Michele Yamazaki
A boxed version of Noise Industries FxFactory is now available. FxFactory is a primo plug-in package for Final Cut Pro and Motion. It's FxPlug, so it's fast, and of course, it's Universal.Labels: Final Cut Pro, FxFactory, FxPlug, Inspirations, Motion, Noise Industries, reviews
Posted by Michele Yamazaki
Jim Geduldick, one of the gifted forum experts at Toolfarm, reviews Noise Industries FxFactory, an FxPlug plug-in package for Apple Final Cut Pro and Motion.Labels: FxFactory, Noise Industries, reviews
Posted by Michele Yamazaki
Kevin McCauliffe at DMN reviews Boris RED 4.1. Kevin says "I have to admit, I went into looking at Boris RED a little skeptical, and walked away almost speechless. RED is an excellent product that every editor should have to complement Motion 3. With Motion's new 3D capabilities, and the effects and graphical WOW of Boris RED, any editor with Final Cut Studio will be able to put a smile on even the most particular client's face."Posted by Michele Yamazaki
Justin Pugh of MircoFilmmaker Magazine reviews Adobe Photoshop Lightroom 1.0 and gives it a score of 9.3! He goes through deep details on the ease of use, value, depth of options, performance and value.
Labels: Adobe, Lightroom, MicroFilmmaker Magazine, Photoshop, reviews
Posted by Michele Yamazaki
Jeremy Hanke reviews Red Giant's Magic Bullet Colorista and give it a 9.3 out of 10. This is a terrific review. Jeremy is the editor of Microfilmmaker Magaine and always gives a great terrific unbiased review.Labels: Colorista, Magic Bullet, Red Giant, reviews
Posted by Michele Yamazaki

Yes, you read that right! The first review of After Effects CS3. I had to wait until the clock struck midnight to post this and it was tough to wait!
WOW! I'm blown away. The new features Puppet, Shape, 3D Type and Brainstorm are killer. The Shape Tool is something I've been waiting for for a long time, Shapes like Photoshop. "BrainStorm can take your effect, or effects and derive a series of alternate options by modifying the various parameters in those effects and keyframes." The Puppet feature is a warping/morphing type of tool and Ko gives a nice Quicktime sample. Oh, and 3D Text.... I need to catch my breath!
Oh, don't wait any longer, Read the Review NOW!
Labels: Adobe, After Effects, Ko Maruyama, reviews
Posted by Michele Yamazaki

The new enhancements, especially the added filters and improved interface, make Boris Red 4.1 worth the upgrade.- James Rankin, DV Magazine
Posted by Michele Yamazaki
Andy Yardy of MicroFilmmaker Magazine has a terrific review of GridIron's Nucleo Pro. He gives it a total score of 9.5 out of 10.Posted by Michele Yamazaki
By Michele Yamazaki, Toolfarm, Inc.After Effects PowerStart training is taught by Stephen Schleicher, who writes for Digital Media Net. Stephen is a smart and funny presenter and his personality comes through in the training, but occasionally it comes off a bit scripted. He says things like "Neato!" and "Good job!" which delivers some schticky playfulness to the program.
The lessons are straightforward and progress logically. In the end, the user creates a compelling title animation that is very "real world". Stephen begins with an intro to the program and then gives a very quick overview of the interface and project settings. There's no reason to spend a lot of time there, since the specifics are revisited several times throught the training. He covers the transform properties, keyframing, animation presets, shortcuts, masks, nesting, a couple of effects, track mattes, an introduction to the Advanced Text Engine and 3D layers with ease. The project files are included on the DVD.
The graphics throughout the program look amazing. The pop-up windows with the shortcuts are similar to the ones we used in Toolfarm's Expert Training Series, and get the job done efficiently by really brining the shortcuts to your attention. It's visual reinforcement at it's best. The color schemes and segment titles are appealing, as is the music bed.
As a veteran After Effects user, I cannot say that I learned any new techniques or tricks. However, the material presented is well-organized, and it was beneficial to me in another way. I teach After Effects at an art college and after viewing this training, I'm now rethinking the order of the material that I cover and how I approach certain topics.
The training is fast, which is great if you have a short attention span or not a lot of time. It gives a more than adequate introduction to After Effects, touching on most of the important areas of the program. If you're new to After Effects, I highly recommend this training. I also recommend it to those teaching After Effects.
Labels: After Effects, DVCreators.net, reviews, Training
Posted by Michele Yamazaki
Check out Boujou 4: Camera and object tracking software introduces scripting control By Todd Sheridan Perry. There's a nice before and after image and Todd says "is and always has been an impressive piece of software, and it's performed beautifully on numerous projects I've been a part of."Posted by Michele Yamazaki
Tinderbox 4 has won The DingBat Magazine: "The Monthly Review of Cool Tools Editors' Choice Award" and there is a cracking review! (If you're not from England, cracking is slang for really brilliant.) Congratulations to The Foundry! Labels: After Effects, plug-ins, reviews, The Foundry, Tinderbox
Posted by Michele Yamazaki