Red Giant Magic Bullet Suite 13 includes seven high quality plug-ins to give you better looking video. More than just color correction tools, they are also creative color tools.

Red Giant Magic Bullet Suite 13 is a robust set of color correction tools. Denoiser III gives you up to three more stops of light and Cosmo II makes poor complexion or harsh lighting easy to resolve. With Colorista IV, Red Giant gives you guided color correction to quickly balance color.

Red Giant has been around since 2002 and is one of the most popular plug-in companies. Their products run the gamut from keying, to special effects, and color correction. Their reputation in the plug-in world is one of pioneering and innovation.

Everyday Tools

Magic Bullet Suite 13 includes Looks, Colorista IV, Denoiser III, Mojo II, Cosmo II, Renoiser and Film. Each plug-in can be purchased individually or as part of the suite. For just under 900 dollars, version 13 should be amazing — and it didn’t let us down.

As we stated before, with Denoiser III, you can gain up to three more stops without having to worry about noise. When applying Denoiser III to Sony a7RIII and Canon 5D Mark IV footage, they both benefited. The 5D Mark IV is not a good low-light camera, but with Denoiser III, instead of having a maximum ISO of 1600 before noise became an issue, we were able remove noise all the way up to ISO 6400. With the a7R III, a much better low-light camera, we were able to push it up to ISO 6400 with minimal noise without Denoiser. With Denoiser, we were able to crank up the ISO to 12800. One thing to consider with any denoiser tool is that the more noise you remove, the less sharp the picture becomes. We were impressed that, with the 5D Mark IV, there wasn’t significant smoothing from Denoiser III, even at ISO 3200. It’s only after the noise starts to take on color and becomes less random that Denoiser III is no longer enough. Denoiser III is worth buying even if you can’t afford the whole suite.

In many cases, the default settings for each will get you most of the way there.

Just like Denoiser III, Magic Bullet Cosmo II doesn’t require much ability to dial it in. In many cases, the default settings for each will get you most of the way there. Released in 2011, Magic Bullet Cosmo is a remarkable plug-in for making skin look great. I suffer from a constant red face and don’t have the best complexion. However, whenever I am on camera, I apply Cosmo II and my skin looks smooth. Anytime you have a subject on camera and their skin needs to look better, Cosmo II will save your butt. The first time I realized Cosmo is key was after I shot a commercial at a dermatologist’s office and the doctor told the patient to not worry, as we knew how to make skin look great. We didn’t have any big secret outside of Cosmo….[continue reading]

Video effects are incredibly important with any project today.  There are so many visual effects in shows and movies today that may go unnoticed because of their realism.  The cost or difficulty of producing an effect live may cause the effect to be produced in post-production and that’s where a solid software for video effects is imperative.  Red Giant released Trapcode Suite 14, the latest After Effects plug-in.  For anyone specializing in video effects this article is a good read on what benefits the Trapcode Suite 14 update has.  The three effects that received updates directly within Trapcode Suite 14 are: Paricular, Form and Tao.

What’s important for me to point out with the Trapcode suite, is that when a new release comes along, not necessarily all the effects are updated, so in this version the effects that are the same as the previous release include:

• Trapcode Mir 2.1

• Trapcode Shine 2

• Trapcode Lux 1.4

• Trapcode 3D Stroke 2.6

• Trapcode Starglow 1.7

• Trapcode Soundkeys 1.4

• Trapcode Horizon 1.1

• Trapcode Echospace 1.1

Particular has taken some interesting steps over the last few years, and it’s been an interesting journey for it, as well as the other effects that Red Giant make. If you’re familiar with Magic Bullet Looks, you’ll know that it was designed with a very cool interface that let’s you expose and hide all the panels you need to work with, so you can keep your work as the center of attention.  Well, Particular’s toolset has been expanded to be more in line with MB Looks, as well as other effects in the Red Giant family (like Universe).  Once applied, you’ll notice that the standard default particle system looks just the way it has since version 1.0 of the effect.

It’s very interesting that Red Giant decided to focus on Particular and Form for this update, as they are very similar effects to each other, but different in one key way.  Particular’s particles are born, do something in their “lives” (change color, grow bigger, etc), and then they, for lack of a better term, die.  They disappear.  Particular also has an emitter, so you can decide where these particles will being their “life’s journey”.  The difference in Form is that it, much like Particular, works with particles, but these particles are always here.  There is no lifespan, and no emitter.  You choose what “form” you would like the tens, hundreds or even thousands of particles to make.  That’s essentially the difference between the two effects, but how you create your “forms” in Form is very similar to creating your particle systems in Particular.  You have access to over 70 presets in the Form Designer:

• GPU-Accelerated – up to 4X faster

• Updated Designer for building effects visually

• Multiple particle systems in the same 3D Space

• OBJs as Emitters

• Library of over 60 3D Objects/Models

• Expanded Library of over 270 Sprites

• Updated, keyframeable Aux System

• 175 new presets (Over 300, in total)

You can create your forms, again much like in Particular, via the tools at the bottom of the Form Designer, and as soon as you click “Apply” it’s immediately available to you in After Effects.  The great thing is that your Forms will interact with AE’s lighting and cameras to make them a seamless part of your compositions.  Here’s a brief breakdown of what’s new in Form 3.

• Designer for building effects visually

• Expanded library of over 60 3D Objects/Models

• 270 New Sprites and Polygons

• Powerful parameter graphing keyframeable system

• Over 70 Presets for fast motion graphics creation

Click here to read the full article.

Particular 3 lets you add organic-looking particle systems to your motion graphics or visual effects. This version adds GPU acceleration through OpenGL, which Red Giant says could boost speeds up to four times over the previous version. Particular 3 also includes an updated Designer tool that aims to make building effects more intuitive with instant visual feedback. In addition to a simplified building process, the overhauled Designer now brings in the composition and camera information, allowing you to more accurately preview your effects.

For even more flexibility, Particular 3 for the first time allows you to work with multiple particle systems in the same 3D space. With this feature, particle systems can interact with each other while also responding to shared parameter settings like turbulence and gravity — useful in creating complex 3D environments. In addition, OBJ files, used for 3D models, can now be used as particle emitters, and Particular 3 allows you to use any image in your composition as a 2D sprite or textured polygon. Also new in this version is an updated Aux system — for spawning child particles — and more than 210 new customizable particle system presets for effects like fire, muzzle flashes, smoke and more….[continue reading]

Click here to watch the video on YouTube.

Hi Folks – we are proud to announce Trapcode Suite 14, a major update to our industry standard tools for creating Motion Graphics and Visual Effects in Adobe After Effects.

Trapcode Suite 14 includes 11 tools:

• Trapcode Particular 3 (NEW)
• Trapcode Form 3 (NEW)
• Trapcode Tao (UPDATED)
• Trapcode Mir 2
• Trapcode Shine 2
• Trapcode Lux
• Trapcode 3D Stroke
• Trapcode Echospace
• Trapcode Starglow
• Trapcode Sound Keys
• Trapcode Horizon

PRICE

• Full: $999
• Upgrade: (from previous versions of Trapcode Suite) $199
• Academic: $499

COMPATIBILITY:

• Host-App: All of the tools work in Adobe After Effects. Trapcode Shine, Starglow, and 3D Stroke also work in Premiere Pro.
• OS: All tools work on both Windows and Mac.
• Check the individual product pages for specific host-app and OS compatibility.

OK… So now on the real details. This update includes Major updates to Trapcode Particular and Form, and well as new features in Trapcode Tao.

Trapcade Particular 3 – What’s New

• GPU-Accelerated – Get fast feedback with Trapcode Particular’s new GPU Acceleration through OpenGL. Depending on your system and setup, you could see speed boosts of up to 4X or more over previous versions.
• Designer – Creating particle effects is easier than ever before, in the newly overhauled Designer. Add adjustable blocks with preset behaviors and styles for emitters, particles, physics and aux particles. Or add complete, customizable particle effects with a single click. The designer gives instant visual feedback, making the building and previewing of effects an intuitive and creative experience. New in Particular 3, the Designer respects the AE comp size, bringing in the composition and camera info. Preview your particle layout with camera and emitter position controls.
• Multiple Systems – For the first time ever, explore endless creative possibilities when you combine multiple particle systems in the same 3D space. Create beautiful, complex effects through the interaction of different systems, all within one instance of Particular. Emitters in Multi-system setups can share parameter settings (such as turbulence, gravity and more), and can be saved as a single preset.
• OBJs as Emitters – Give your particle systems a new dimension by using 3D models and animated OBJ sequences as particle emitters. For added flexibility, you can choose to emit particles from the vertices, edges, faces or volume of your OBJ file. Choose from Particular’s library of over 60 OBJs, or easily load your own models using the new OBJ Loading Panel directly in After Effects or within the Designer.
• Sprites and Polygons – Use any image in your composition as a particle by assigning it to a 2D sprite or textured polygon. Particular 3 now includes over 270 still and animated sprite images, easily loaded directly within After Effects or in the Designer via the new Sprite Loading Panel.
• Aux System – Spawn new child particles through Particular’s Aux system. Create organic trails and branching, or build splashes after a bounce. Particular 3’s updated Aux system now includes the ability to add custom particles for even more variation, as well as keyframable parameters for more control.
• 300+ Presets – Hit the ground running with over 300 fully-customizable Designer presets. Particular 3 includes over 210 new presets that show off powerful features like multiple systems, OBJ emitters and more. Explore the library to find beautifully designed effects for creating fire, spaceflight, fireworks, muzzle flashes, explosions, smoke and more. Save your own presets, and share them across your facility.

PRICE

• Full: $399
• Upgrade: $149
• Academic: $199

Buy alone or as part of the Suite.

Trapcode Form 3 – What’s New

• Designer – Creating particle grids is easier than ever before in the new Designer. Add adjustable blocks with preset settings and styles for emitters, particles and more. Or add complete, customizable particle effects with a single click.The designer gives instant visual feedback, making the building and previewing of effects an intuitive and creative experience.
• 3D Models – Bring your motion graphics into a new dimension by using 3D models and animated OBJ sequences as particle grids. Choose from Form’s newly-expanded library of over 60 OBJs, or easily load your own models using the new OBJ Loading Panel directly in After Effects or within the Designer.
• Sprites and Polygons – Use any image in your composition as a particle by assigning it to a 2D sprite or textured polygon. Form 3 now includes over 270 still and animated sprite images, easily loaded directly within After Effects or in the Designer via the new Sprite Loading Panel.
• More Control – Get more control over your particle parameters with the new graphing system, updated for Form 3. Animate controls over time for the color, size, opacity, and dispersion of your particles, as well as their fractal and audio reactivity. Draw your curves from scratch, or start with presets and adjust.
• 70+ Presets – Form 3 Includes over 70 new fully-customizable Designer presets for creating backgrounds and motion design elements.

PRICE

• Full: $199
• Upgrade: $99
• Academic: $99

Buy alone or as part of the Suite.

Trapcode Tao

• This release also includes a free update to Trapcode Tao, which gives the tool depth Of field effects, which allow you to create camera-realistic blurs for your Tao objects, based on their distance from the After Effects 3D camera. The new Depth of Field effect makes it easy to integrate Tao into your live action shots and motion graphics.

HOW TO GET YOUR FREE UPDATE FOR TAO:

The Free updates can be installed by downloading the latest Trapcode Suite installer from our downloads page. Please note that with this update, Tao will now be found in After Effects under Effect > RG Trapcode > Tao.

IMPORTANT: Make sure to only select Tao for installation. Otherwise you may install new Trapcode products over your older plug-in versions.