Digital Video - January 2009 - (Page 18)

IN REVIEW NOISE INDUSTRIES FXFACTORY PRO 2.0.5 FADE TO FUN COOL NEW FILTERS AND TRANSITIONAL EFFECTS HIGHLIGHT THIS LATEST RELEASE. For instance, the first generation of emember the days of the Video MacBook and the MacBook Air simply don’t Toaster, and how so many produchave the right stuff (the latest 2008 models ers immediately abused it by overwork just fine, however). I was able to install using NewTek’s fancy new transitions? (Who it on my four-year-old Mac G5, but, after can forget the famed “nude girl silhouregistering the software, I was met with a ette”?!) Don’t get excited… those gaudy warning that it wasn’t compatible with that transitions haven’t been ported over to your system’s NVIDIA GeForce FX 5200 Ultra Mac (yet), but Noise Industries has them beat graphics card. To their credit, Noise anyway with the latest version of FxFactory, Industries maintains a lengthy list of com2.0.5, for Final Cut Pro (or Express), Motion patible and incompatible graphics cards on and Adobe After Effects, available their Web site, so be sure to conAWARD OF sult it before buying. (When in in both a free version (sans plugins) or the $400 Pro incarnation doubt, all of their software is availreviewed here. EXCELLENCE able as a free, 15-day trial downMost professional editors load so you can make sure). would agree that the best transition is a But that’s about it for the bad news. simple fade to black or dissolve, or, at the FxFactory Pro 2.0.5 includes a total of 140 very least, something that is subtle yet effecplug-ins encompassing more than 300 tive. But in today’s fast-cut world, someeffects, and more than 50 of them are new to times just the right effect for the situation this version. Categories include Blur, Color can be hard to come by. FxFactory Pro Correction, Distort, Generators, Glow, includes a mind-boggling array of filters and Halftones, Sharpen, Stylize, Tiling, Transitions transitions (over 300), and that’s only the and Video. Installation on my 15” MacBook beginning. Pro 2.33 GHz Intel Core 2 Duo (late 2006 Billed as “a revolutionary visual effects model) was fast and simple. I opened Final package,” FxFactory is a package of joy with Cut Pro, dropped in some video, added a one exception: some fairly strict hardware transition, clicked the Register button to disrequirements. Although it will run just fine able the 15-day trial with a code from NI, and under Mac OS X 10.4 or later with a I was off and running. (Registration can also PowerPC or Intel processor, it’s rather picky be done from the main FxFactory application.) about your graphics hardware. FxFactory is also a hub for what its creators dub “third-party effects artists,” which is a fancy way of describing partner NOISE INDUSTRIES companies that design new plug-ins to FXFACTORY PRO 2.0.5 expand your horizons even further. 15-day PROS: Excellent quality, fast rendering and a wide trial versions are included with the FxFactory variety of effects & presets. CONS: May exclude install, and include CoreMelt from visual many budget producers due to incompatible or effects veteran Roger Bolton (Lord of the older systems with lesser graphics cards. BOTTOM Rings) with their Editing, Motion and LINE: A highly expandable framework for extendImageFlow FxPacks, Idustrial Revolution, ing your favorite NLE and graphics programs, and a SugarFX, DVShade and Yanobox. must for every producer’s toolbox. MSRP: But it doesn’t end there. FxFactory Pro is $399.99 (Pro version, also available as free billed as the first software to give Final Cut FxFactory without plug-ins) CONTACT: and After Effects users the ability to modify www.noiseindustries.com existing plug-ins or create their own from BY J.R. BOOKWALTER R DV SCORE scratch, all without writing a single line of code. This isn’t the same as just tweaking a few presets, as most editors have come to expect over the years — these are full-featured effects scripts that take advantage of the Quartz Composer and Core Image engines at the heart of Mac OS X. FxFactory 2 is more than just a cool set of filters, too. The new version sports a revamped plug-in management interface, which is a quick, efficient way to browse your installed plug-ins, see thumbnail previews of the effects prior to committing to them and disable or even delete packages you have installed. Leopard 10.5 support is included, bringing improved performance and new, exclusive plug-ins to the latest Mac OS X, as well as support for Adobe After Effects 8 (aka CS4) and Final Cut Express 4. The Pro version brings a new masking engine to many of the plug-ins, allowing users to save an extra compositing step, along with completely redesigned, super-fast glow effects in the NI Glow category. Usually this is where good software shows its weaknesses, but in my tests with the stock glow effects, NI’s speed boasts are quite valid. Rounding out the update are improvements to many of the plug-ins that have made FxFactory so popular over the years. Noise Industries continues to make leaps and bounds with each new version of FxFactory Pro. Among my favorites are the Copy Machine and Cell Phone Browser transitions — the latter simulates the Safari browser page shifting on an iPhone, while the former is one of the more distinctive transitions I’ve seen, perfectly emulating the light from a copying machine between your clips. That said, there’s not a lemon in this batch, since even plug-ins that dupe stock filters are faster and easier to use here. DV www.dv.com 18 dv january 2009 http://www.noiseindustries.com http://www.dv.com

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Digital Video - January 2009 Contents First Look: D90 Camera Sonicfire Pro 5 You Pod Instant Expert Muse 2.0 FXFactory Pro 2.0.5 Motype Fxpack DV Product Directory All Powered Up Creating Your Own Sun DV101 Production Diary

Digital Video - January 2009

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