If you’re still scrambling to finish those digital holiday greetings to clients and customers by the end of the year, help is on the way from plug-in and stock media companies offering time-saving comps as well as deep discounts and free giveaways on some of their products.


Ready-Made Comps
Over at RedGiant, Harry Frank’s Holidays for Particular features a set of 175 Particular presets to get your seasonal spots and Web animations finished before it’s too late. At $99, it’s not exactly a bargain, but worth every penny when you consider the 15 animated templates (with background, lower third and title page) and some 85 backgrounds included in the package.

Harry Frank’s Holidays for Particular from Red Giant Software on Vimeo.



Snow a la Carte
Digieffects has gone a la carte with its Digieffects Delirium v2 filters for After Effects, starting with the timely SnowStorm, which you can buy for under $50. You control the direction of the snow, but there’s also a fair amount of random motion built into the algorithm, lending your finished clips more realistic blizzard effects.






Free Downloads from Pond 5
In its “Holiday Giveaway,” stock house Pond 5 is giving away 12 video clips (thumbnails seen above) through the end of the year, plus another 40 free stock media gifts, including music and sound effects. If a jolly, bellowing Santa or a music box playing “We Wish You a Merry Christmas” is the loop you’ve been searching for, you’re in luck.