Tools

Slugline. Simple, elegant screenwriting.

Red Giant Color Suite, with Magic Bullet Looks 2.5 and Colorista II

Needables
  • Sony Alpha a7S Compact Interchangeable Lens Digital Camera
    Sony Alpha a7S Compact Interchangeable Lens Digital Camera
    Sony
  • Panasonic LUMIX DMC-GH4KBODY 16.05MP Digital Single Lens Mirrorless Camera with 4K Cinematic Video (Body Only)
    Panasonic LUMIX DMC-GH4KBODY 16.05MP Digital Single Lens Mirrorless Camera with 4K Cinematic Video (Body Only)
    Panasonic
  • TASCAM DR-100mkII 2-Channel Portable Digital Recorder
    TASCAM DR-100mkII 2-Channel Portable Digital Recorder
    TASCAM
  • The DV Rebel's Guide: An All-Digital Approach to Making Killer Action Movies on the Cheap (Peachpit)
    The DV Rebel's Guide: An All-Digital Approach to Making Killer Action Movies on the Cheap (Peachpit)
    by Stu Maschwitz

Entries in Adobe After Effects (83)

Wednesday
Apr042007

New Look

It's been over five years since I designed Look Suite, the look creation tool that has become the most important feature of Magic Bullet. The "magic" of the Bullet used to be its ability to convert interlaced video to 24p, but as 24p cameras hit the scene the Bullet stayed relevant and, in some peoples' eyes, necessary, because of Look Suite.

So what have I been doing in the years since the original Look Suite design? I've been using Magic Bullet of course, on my own video and on professional projects. I've been talking to users and staying active on forums. All the time pondering and experimenting with better ways of making video look more cinematic. Meanwhile, Red Giant updated Look Suite to run in hardware, for a massive speed boost.

At NAB, we'll reveal the result of combining Red Giant's work with hardware-acceleration and my new design for a look creation tool. It will be called Magic Bullet Looks, and it will be available both as a part of an all-new Magic Bullet Suite or on its own.

Rather than a regular plug-in with a ton of sliders, Magic Bullet Looks features a standalone application with its own UI. Called Looks Builder, this application is launched when you apply the Look Suite 3 plug-in in After Effects, Premiere Pro, Final Cut Pro, Avid, or Motion. Within Looks Builder, you build and edit looks using Look Tools; modular mini-effects for things like bleach bypass, gradient filters, and film stock simulation. All of these tools work in realtime and can be tweaked and edited in context. All processing is done in floating-point color. With over 30 Look Tools to assemble however you like, you can create an infinite variety of Looks.

Or choose a preset. Pop open the Looks Theater to see 100 different preset looks applied to your image (not a canned thumbnail) in realtime.

Magic Bullet Looks was designed to be easy and fun to use, but it's powerful enough for pros too. Filters and exposure adjustments work in real-world units. Color corrections obey industry standards. Cineon film scans and digital cinema images, such as those from the Panavision Genesis camera, are interpreted correctly and can be converted to video or left in their native color spaces. The same look that you develop on an Avid rough cut in video color space can later be applied to a 35mm scan.

That's a lot of talk, but this is obviously something that must be seen to be appreciated. Magic Bullet Looks will be unveiled for the first time at NAB on Tuesday morning. I can't wait to show y'all what we've been up to.

Thursday
Mar292007

NAB Pimpin'

When I'm not trying to distract whoever's holding the Red One prototypes with my patented "look, a blimp!" technique, I'll be pimping some goodies at NAB.

I've been working with Red Giant Software on the next generation of Magic Bullet tools. This is going to be a must-see. Red Giant's booth, Tuesday 4/17 10am and Wednesday 4/18 2pm.

I'll also be talking about The Orphanage's film effects work using Adobe After Effects, touching on my favorite topic: linear light compositing, at the Adobe booth. Tuesday 2pm, Wednesday 11am.

Sunday
Mar182007

Camera Projection

PLTV 006 is a simple screencast of the camera projection setup I used for Fender Bender. Although camera projection is well covered in AE7 Studio Techniques, I don't think many people would consider it capable of creating as complex a form as an aircraft carrier. The lesson is that a good image (mine, shown above, was a 3008x2000 pixel RAW file shot with a Nikon D70s) projected on very simple shapes can be convincing for small moves.

Saturday
Mar102007

Foundry Buys Nuke

The Foundry has acquired Nuke.

Update: The fxguide article now features an interview with The Foundry's Bill Collis.

Nuke is impressive to say the least, but it's a bit pasty from being behind closed doors for so long. Maybe a handsome Brit to escort it to its coming out party is just what it needs?

The world of compositing software is confusedly annoying right now. Shake has voluntarily succeeded the throne, only to watch Fusion stumble and fall on its face in an attempt to take the seat. After Effects, while still the best place to be creative with images, added 32-bit support to an aging architecture, effectively putting gold rims on the hoopty. Toxik offers you the option to composite using Russian politics.

Meanwhile, Nuke is production-proven, has great kung-fu under the hood, and an "interface" that makes Kodak's Cineon look luxurious. With a fresh take on how it might be bundled, dressed-up, and marketed, Nuke might just pull out ahead in the race to suck the least in the world of desktop compositing.

Read the story at fxguide.