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Re:Vision Effects SmoothKit

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Contents
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The Stats

Image:aecs3.pngImage:ae7comp.jpgImage:macuniversal-sm.jpgImage:Leopard-sm.pngVista

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Purchase SmoothKit

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Download Demo

Download SmoothKit demo

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Description

RE:Vision Effects has released SmoothKit version 2, the ultimate plugin set to smooth imagery that combines user-directed controls and feature-sensitive methods.

SmoothKit is a set of 9 special purpose filters that complements the basic blurs provided by host applications. SmoothKit's emphasis is precise control on the filtering process, with no compromise on image quality. SmoothKit allows you to blur without blurring over edges, sharpen with much less ringing, intelligently reduce small image defects, reduce jaggies, blur with per-pixel direction control, and z-blur using greyscale depth images. Many plugins have per-pixel controls, allowing you to vary the amount of blur or the direction of the blur, and many other controls, at each pixel.

Image:RVesmoothkit.jpg Image:Smoothkitexamples.jpg Image:Smoothkitsharpen.jpg


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Features

  • Ability to selectively filter the luminance, or the chrominance, or each of the RGB channels independently
  • Ability to limit how much each pixel may change via a "Maximum Deviation" control
  • Optional grayscale images may be used to scale filters on a pixel-by-pixel basis
  • Includes a jaggie-reducing filter, to help eliminate stair-casing (especially useful in frames that have been reconstructed from fields)
  • Intelligently reduces block artifacts (for example, DV or MPEG compressed footage)
  • Ability to soften areas without blurring edges
  • Directional filtering with per-pixel direction and strength controls
  • Multi-frame (temporal) filtering with several processing modes
  • 8 and 16 bpc support
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What's new in version 2?

  • A new Z-Blur filter for depth of field effects using depth maps from 3D systems
  • Floating point support within After Effects 7.0 or later
  • Optimization to take advantage of After Effects's region-of-interest and other smart rectangle processing (AE 7.0 and up)
  • More aggressive multiprocessing support
  • Ability to use splines to control the direction of the blur at each pixel (After Effects and combustion only)
  • New sharpen feature, with a mode that reduces ringing and other artifacts
  • New compositing alpha handling modes are introduced including "grow alpha" which allows you to blur without creating inner transparency on large blur kernels.
  • A new blur filter mode option, 'Bloom', that better preserves highlights
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Other SmoothKit features

  • Selectively filter the luminance, or the chrominance, or each of the RGB channels independently
  • Blur areas while preserving sharp edges.
  • Scale filters on a pixel-by-pixel basis by specifying optional greyscale images
  • Reduce or eliminate staircasing by using the jaggie-reducing filter (especially useful in frames that have been reconstructed from fields)
  • Intelligently reduce block artifacts (for example, DV or MPEG compressed footage)
  • Soften areas without blurring important features
  • Directionally filter images with per-pixel direction and strength controls
  • Blend sequences using the multi-frame (temporal) filter with several processing modes
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Compatibility & Requirements

  • Macintosh: Adobe After Effects 7.0 and up, Autodesk combustion 4.0.5 and up, Adobe Premiere Pro CS3 and up, Apple Final Cut Pro 5.1 and up, Boris Red 4.0 and up. Includes native Intel and Leopard support.
  • Windows: Adobe After Effects 5.0 and up, Autodesk combustion 3.0.4 and up, Adobe Premiere Pro 2.0 and up, Boris Red 4.0 and up, eyeon Fusion 4.04e and up. Quantel generationQ support via Video Design Software.


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Known Issue: Note from RE:Vision Effects

Apple OS X 10.4.6 update may break our plug-ins.

Some of our users are having a problem after updating to Mac OS 10.4.6 when running our plugins. The error message will say something like "Can't load plugin, veclib missing", or "error in code fragment." The message varies depending on which host application you are running.

Turns out that there is a problem with the Mac OS 10.4.6 updater that removes a particular system file we rely on (the veclib.framework).

If you have updated to Mac OS X 10.4.6 and are seeing this problem with our plugins, then simply download and install the Mac OS X 10.4.6 Combo installer (not the simple updater), found here: Mac OS 10.4.6 Combo installer.

What to do if you are running FCP and after running the combo MacOS 10.4.6 installer you can successfully load RE:Vision Effects' plugins, but you get no parameter settings and black output frames.

First quit FCP. You need to remove the file "Final Cut Pro Obj Cache".

It's found in your home directory ( /Users/"your login account"), then go to the Library directory, then the Preferences directory, then the "Final Cut Pro User Data" directory.

It's a file that's built when FCP starts up and stores lots of things, like parameter for AE plugins. Because the first time you ran FCP our plugin didn't load, FCP *mistakenly* store no parameters for the plugin.

By deleting the file mentioned, FCP will then figure out what parameters our plugin(s) really need.

Warning: you may lose other preferences (but at this point, if you want to run our pugins, you don't have much of a choice... It's a bug with FCP, and this is the only fix). We think the file we are telling you delete is a fairly benign thing to do and you shouldn't lose any important prefs, however Apple doesn't tell us what is in each cache file for FCP.

If you are in a time crunch, then before deleting the "Final Cut Pro Obj Cache" file you should make a copy of it and save it somewhere else, then delete it from the directory described above. If important prefs or other favorites go away then you can put the file back (however, if you put the file back then you can't run our plugins until you delete that file).

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Reveiws and Comments

  • Trish and Chris Meyer- "If After Effects' Compound Blur is too "boxy" for you, try Smoothkit Gaussian. It's a true compound blur with a smoother look."
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