For visual effects artists, a software plug-in — a small piece of code
that adds new, often spectacular, capabilities to your editing or
compositing application — can be the trick that pushes a show up to a
Spinal Tap 11. Not so long ago, it was only Flame
and Paintbox artists who harnessed high-powered VFX plug-ins for their
systems— and the cost of power plug-in effects often kept pace with the
price of their host system. Yet prevailing trends have brought high-end
software to the desktop, where they’re finding their way into feature
films, commercials and TV series. In fact, Adobe After Effects and
Discreet Combustion have both amassed a legion of software plug-ins
that address everything from particle effects to high-end keying— at a
fraction of the cost of the big-iron systems that held sway just a few
years ago.
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This Aviator composite was created using
After Effects 6.5 and the Primatte 3 keying plugin from RedGiant
Software. Primatte 3 is one of a host of plugins that are now available
on desktop systems.
Zoic Studios used Discreet Combustion and a host of
plugins to create over 200 effects sequences for the science fiction
feature film Serenity (above & top).
Studio: The Chimney Pot.
Gen-Arts Sapphire Plug-ins.
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