» Posts Tagged ‘software’
Are you ready to add Adobe software to your stack of monthly power, cable, and water bills? Announced in October, Adobe is offering an alternative to their typical software upgrade cycle — instead of buying their forthcoming CS6 suite, you can sign up for Creative Cloud, launching “first half of 2012,” for $49.99 a month. This will get you access to the forthcoming CS6 apps, their new Touch apps, and 20GB of cloud storage. They’re also killing their old upgrade policy — partially. More »
With Story and OnLocation, Adobe has been adding to their better-known video applications (Premiere Pro, After Effects) and transforming their suite into an end-to-end production solution. The latest addition is an application called Prelude, and in San Francisco they recently demoed the new software, which looks to be an on-set ingest and logging program.
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Canon’s EOS Utility software, which includes the ability to edit picture styles on your HDSLR, has not worked on OSX Lion since Apple released the new OS in July. However, Canon has just released version 2.10.4 which remedies this problem. Here’s the deal with this new version: More »
DaVinci Resolve Now Available on Windows Thanks to Free Public Beta
Just because the popular color correction software DaVinci Resolve uses a Mac monitor for its press image (at left) doesn’t mean it’s Mac only — any more. Resolve, which has a free version known fittingly as Resolve Lite, now comes in a Windows version for the first time thanks a newly-released Public Beta. If you have already purchased Resolve for Mac, the Windows version comes included, so you now have a Windows license too. More »
Celluloid is expensive. And besides, literally nobody makes film cameras anymore. But it does have a very particular aesthetic, one chief component of which is grain. There is a grit to film that today’s digital cameras lack, and while there are plenty of plugins out there to simulate this grit, there are no substitutes for the real artifacts. The guys at CineGrain took dozens of different film stocks and painstakingly scanned them in, delivering authentic grain, dirt, headers, tails, lens flares, and flash frames on a nice branded hard drive. Film grain isn’t appropriate for every project, but if you want your video to look like grainy 35mm, 16mm, or 8mm — but can’t shoot the real thing — you’ll find CineGrain to be a handy addition to your toolbox of tricks. More »
I’m not usually big on the blitz of consumerism that is Black Friday here in the United States, but as someone who just upgraded to Adobe CS5.5, I went palm-to-forehead as soon as I saw Adobe’s just-announced Black Friday deals, good until November 29. I should’ve waited! The biggest discounts as far as video folk are concerned is 30% off upgrades to CS5.5 (10% off full versions), 30% off Photoshop, $50 off Lightroom 3, and $50 off any Student/Teacher edition. If you were looking at any Adobe software and you had more patience than I did, check out the sale.
I am way late with this, but better late than never — and better free than $500. Wes and Harry Plate, the father-son duo behind Automatic Duck, were recently hired by Adobe. Automatic Duck makes (made) the well-known plugins Pro Import AE, Pro Import FCP, and Pro Export FCP, which allow users to open Final Cut Pro projects in After Effects, as well as enabling some other interoperability. This move by Adobe seems as much to prevent the duo from updating their must-have plugins for Final Cut Pro X, as much as it is to help Adobe with their already admirable integration between Premiere Pro and After Effects, but as a result all of Automatic Duck’s existing plugins — which formery ran $500 apiece — are free. Said Wes and Harry: More »
No one’s denying the power of Avid’s editing systems, but they haven’t been the most accessible or open programs… until now? Today Avid announced Media Composer 6, bringing a brand new user interface, 64 bit processing power, stereoscopic 3D workflow, and new “Open I/O” architecture that interfaces with existing hardware cards from the likes of AJA and Blackmagic Design. Media Composer 6 will be $2,499, with upgrades from MC 5.5 starting at $299. Similar to how Adobe offered 50% off for Final Cut Pro 7 editors disenfranchised by the new FCPX, Avid is making a similar offer for users of Final Cut Pro 7: you can purchase MC 6, with video training included, for $1,499. Here’s a brief look at Media Composer 6 from Alex Walker: More »
Upstart Screenwriting Application Movie Draft SE Looks Promising
First of all, industry standard screenwriting software Final Draft is $70 off until Sept 30. But thanks to @navesink on Twitter, I found out about a new screenwriting program that brings some appealing changes to the table. Movie Draft SE is available through the Mac App Store for just $30 (“for a limited time,” though I don’t know how limited of a time we’re talking) with some very promising features. Chiefly I’m interested in the modularity of the scenes and the navigation sidebar, as demonstrated in this video: More »
Pomfort makes a number of interesting Mac tools for DSLR and indie filmmakers. I went to their site to check out DSLR Log2Video Plugin, a $29 plugin for working with DSLR footage shot with Canon’s CineStyle picture profile. The plugin is a part of the $129 Silverstack LT H.264, which I found myself evaluating as a tool for offloading and backing up DSLR-originated projects. Silverstack LT is, in turn, the limited version of the $825 data wrangling workflow aid Silverstack SET, which adds advanced features and support for the ARRI ALEXA and RED cameras. Then I found myself checking out their MamboFrame, which turns an iPad into real, physical clapper sticks — it’s not just an app: More »
Adobe's Mac Video Apps Up 45 Percent Thanks to Final Cut Pro X; Buys IRIDAS SpeedGrade
Since Apple introduced the much-maligned Final Cut Pro X, Adobe’s Mac Video apps have reportedly enjoyed a 45% boost in sales. This is in all likelihood partially thanks to Adobe’s offer of 50% off for Final Cut Pro users (Avid editors are also eligible). Perhaps as a result of this newfound confidence, Adobe has also purchased IRIDAS, a company known best for their high-end SpeedGrade color grading software. More »
The Foundry Axes Storm Post-production Software Because of REDCINE-X PRO
In a hypothetical future wherein I start shooting on a RED camera, one of the first things I was planning on doing was getting The Foundry’s Storm post-production (and on-set) software. The RED folks really seemed to love it, as they were quoted on the Storm product page, and at this year’s NAB I was impressed by The Foundry’s numerous demos (some of which took place in RED’s tent). But then RED released REDCINE-X PRO this week — their own version of Storm, in a lot of ways — and now The Foundry has officially killed Storm, at a nascent version 1.04. While Storm was priced very affordably, putting it well within the range of indie filmmakers — $375 — REDCINE-X is free, and you can’t beat that. Via fxguide, here’s the official word: More »
In-the-cloud screenwriting app Adobe Story is free until April 12th, 2012. I got a chance to use it recently (instead of my normal app — and industry standard — Final Draft) because I was in search of a two-column, A/V writing layout and I find Celtx’s A/V mode disappointing. In the process I found out Story now has an iPhone app that’s also free. Unlike the mobile version of Celtx, Story doesn’t let you edit the screenplay through iOS, but it does let you read scripts, add comments, read notes from others, and sync everything to the cloud. Adobe’s making a play to offer a complete script-to-screen solution, and Story is a central piece. Here’s the desktop version in action: More »
Color grading plugin Magic Bullet Mojo gives very dramatic results very quickly, and for many shooters (especially those doing their own editing), a tool that makes video look more filmic — and does so with only a few sliders — is very handy. To be clear, it is not an advanced color correction tool for professional colorists (check out Colorista or the Magic Bullet Suite if that’s what you’re looking for). But I’ve got a deal for NoFilmSchool readers who want results quickly: Magic Bullet Mojo at 75% off. Normally $99, this coupon brings the plugin down to just $25. More »
Just a couple of years ago the statement, “step up to the toolset the pros use, Adobe Premiere” would be taken as a joke by any professional editor. Yet there it is on Adobe’s site, thanks to numerous updates over the years. And with the release of Final Cut Pro X, suddenly the easiest NLE to transition to from Final Cut Pro 7 is not FCPX but rather Premiere Pro. Recognizing this with what one can only assume are ear-to-ear grins, the folks at Adobe are offering 50% off Adobe CS5.5 Production Premium or Premiere Pro if you own Apple Final Cut Pro (or Avid Media Composer). Here are the details (and an instructional video for doing so): More »
Red Giant Software has released Magic Bullet Suite 11, which introduces a new version of Looks and adds another component, Cosmo. The nine-plugin suite is priced at $799, with upgrade pricing available at $199 if you own MBS 10, or $399 if you own any other two Magic Bullet Products — which if you do the math is a steal. The Red Giant folks have released a number of informative videos to go along with the new release, starting with a launch trailer: More »
Regular readers know I’m a fan of Red Giant Software’s post-production plugins, as they offer a lot of value for the money (and that’s when they’re at full price). Because their tools are such a good match for DIY and indie filmmakers, this week I’ve got a special deal from the Red Giant folks: the color grading plugin Magic Bullet Quick Looks, normally $99, for only $25. 75% off. No catch. Quick Looks is a great way to get really dramatic results with just a click of the mouse. I can show you better than I can tell you: More »
It was a big deal when Premiere Pro CS5 introduced native HDSLR editing, because it removed the need to transcode h.264 video to a more editable format like ProRes. However, just because you can does not mean you should. After editing a couple of projects in Premiere without transcoding, I’ve since started using Magic Bullet Grinder to convert to ProRes anyway, because shuttling and scrubbing in the timeline is much more responsive on transcoded footage. I’ve found that Red Giant Software’s multi-core, dead-simple processing tool ends up saving a lot of time in the editing session. So whether you’re editing in FCP and need to transcode, or just want to speed up your editing, here’s a 30% off coupon for Grinder — a NoFilmSchool exclusive! More »
When Divergent Media’s Scopebox was released a few years ago, it was a $700 piece of software that was fairly unique at the time: a way to turn any Mac laptop into, well… a box of scopes. Waveforms, vectorscopes, and RGB parades were handy on-set aides, and though similar to Adobe OnLocation (now bundled as part of Premiere Pro), the fact that the forthcoming version 3.0 of the software will drop the price from $700 to $99 makes it a new ball game. More »
The previously announced upgrade to Adobe’s Creative Suite, version CS5.5, is now shipping. From individual titles all the way up to the $2,599 behemoth known as the Master Collection, the new programs are available as instant downloads (well, depending on the speed of your connection). Direct links: Adobe Master Collection CS5.5, Adobe Production Premium CS5.5, Adobe Premiere Pro CS5.5, Adobe After Effects CS5.5, Adobe Audition CS5.5.
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