Jobfinder Review

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(More customer reviews)Job searchers need that: it search for you on dozen of job websites. You enter you zipcode and a keyword for the job your looking for. This software should cost 100$ cause it save you so much time. I strongly recoment it.

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Adobe After Effects CS5 Review

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(More customer reviews)Ignore the star rating. Just a warning that because this is a native 64-bit application it needs to be installed on a 64-bit version of Windows 7 or Vista. While the product description says Windows XP, the box itself does not list 64-bit Windows XP as supported (and you probably don't want to mess with WXP 64-bit in the firs place). Unless you already have a 64-bit OS installed you will need to reinstall your OS and all its other applications as well to install Adobe After Effects CS5.

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Adobe After Effects CS5 delivers the visual richness required to get noticed in today's media culture. Use open-ended creative tools. Work efficiently on high-resolution projects thanks to native 64-bit support. And benefit from tight integration with Adobe's other leading software. Whether you're working in film, broadcast, online, or mobile media, Adobe After Effects enables you to create groundbreaking motion graphics and blockbuster visual effects.

Create motion graphics and visual effects with the industry standard
Innovative compositing and animation tools Create high-impact communications by combining moving imagery, still images and graphics, text, and sound in 2D or 3D space, and then animating virtually any aspect of each element.
Responsive 64-bit performance Work more easily with complex high-resolution projects and see longer RAM previews thanks to native 64-bit operating system support. Enhanced disk caching allows you to spend less time waiting and more time creating.
Unmatched integration with industry standard Adobe applications--Enjoy a streamlined workflow with support for importing Adobe Photoshop images and layer types. Move easily between After Effects and Adobe Premiere Pro CS5 software. Export projects for enhancement in Adobe Flash Professional CS5 software.
Unlimited creative options Manipulate moving and still images using hundreds of effects that stylize, distort, shatter, and more. Combine effects to create Hollywood-caliber visual effects. Create grids, radio waves, particles, and more.
Text and vector graphics creation and animation Create text and vector graphics in After Effects using familiar Adobe tools, and then animate these elements to create visually innovative motion graphics.
Comprehensive masking and keying tools, including new Roto Brush Control which portions of a layer are visible by drawing and animating masks. The revolutionary new Roto Brush tool handles rotoscoping in a fraction of the time. Remove bluescreen and greenscreen backgrounds with the award-winning Keylight.
Timesaving presets and learning tools Get a jump start animating text and creating synthetic backgrounds with more animation presets. Use Brainstorm to experiment and refine designs. Learn fast with help, tool tips, and training resources on the web.
Powerful motion controls Apply realistic motion blur. Use Timewarp to slow down and speed up footage. Remove unwanted movement with the Motion Stabilizer, or precisely match the motion of source footage with mocha for After Effects.
Professional results for every media type Deliver your work anywhere. Compatibility with an extensive list of output formats lets you produce animated content for virtually any media, from film and broadcast to the web and mobile devices.
High-fidelity color Get precise, predictable color in After Effects with support for high dynamic range (32-bit-per-channel floating point) color, including Pro EXR files, ICC-based color management tools, and new color lookup tables (LUTs).
Top new features of Adobe After Effects CS5
Native 64-bit application One of the most significant advances in After Effects is that it is now a fully native 64-bit application. This yields numerous advantages, including the ability to fully use your computer's memory for dramatic improvements when working on high-resolution projects.
Just a few years ago, it was normal to work on standard-definition video at a color depth of 8 bits per channel (bpc). Today, it is common to work on high-definition video at a depth of 16 bpc. And while some artists have used After Effects on film projects since the earliest versions, digital cinema cameras such as the RED One are now commonly in use--making 4K images in 32-bit floating-point color increasingly common. And the memory demands don't stop there.
For example, RED has announced cameras that sport 5K, 6K, 9K, and even 28K frame sizes. Native 64-bit OS support in After Effects CS5 means you can work on ever-higher-resolution projects with confidence.
On 32-bit operating systems, the 2GB to 4GB memory restriction for each application sharply limit how many image frames can be held in RAM at the same time--which in turn constrains the length of full-motion previews and the complexity of projects overall. Even with disk caching and virtual memory, working with HD content using older versions of After Effects on 32-bit systems means you may be forced to wait while images are swapped in and out of RAM or re-rendered the next time they are needed. Resourceful artists have developed strategies to work around these limitations--such as working at lower resolutions or frame rates or using "proxies" of lower-quality sources--but these come with the trade-off of not seeing your composition in its final form while you work.
With After Effects CS5, these limitations no longer apply. Support for 64-bit operating systems means After Effects CS5 can access all of your computer's available RAM. This has a dramatic, positive effect on the type, size, and complexity of projects you can take on--as well as how fluidly you can work. With After Effects CS5 running on a 64-bit operating system with 32GB of RAM, you can preview a 30-second HD comp at full resolution and at 32 bpc. This enables you to preview your entire composition at maximum fidelity without interruption.
Beyond being able to preview longer continuous stretches of your project, rendered image frames are more likely to be kept in memory, allowing you to move around a project's timeline or between compositions without losing already-rendered frames. Additionally, memory buffer errors due to RAM constraints are virtually eliminated. These improvements increase productivity, which in turn facilitates creativity.
Integrated memory management In Adobe Creative Suite 5 Production Premium, you can coordinate RAM allocation for After Effects, Adobe Premiere Pro , Adobe Encore, and Adobe Media Encoder thanks to cross-component memory management. This allows you to make the most of your system resources without learning complex memory-management settings.
Roto Brush Many shots require separating a foreground object--such as an actor--from its current live action background so that the object may be placed in a completely new environment. The revolutionary new Roto Brush provides a fast, efficient solution for isolating these foreground elements in complex scenes. In the past, this kind of work was time-consuming and expensive, and as a result, the technique was often reserved for big-budget projects. The new Roto Brush is so fast that After Effects artists can now perform rotoscoping on virtually any project--from previsualization to final composites--with greatly reduced concern about project budgets or deadlines.
To use the new Roto Brush, just draw simple paint strokes inside the foreground object, and let After Effects calculate where the rest of the foreground object is. If the foreground and background are similar, you can draw additional paint strokes to teach After Effects which elements are in the background. After Effects determines where the foreground and background are on subsequent frames; you can refine results with additional strokes. The process is fast and intuitive--and because After Effects does the hard work of finding the edges, Roto Brush eliminates the tedium traditionally associated with the task.
Once you've defined the foreground and background areas, you can control the quality of the edges between the two using options for smoothing, feathering, or choking (spreading inside or outside of the original edge). After Effects can calculate motion blur for fast-moving portions of the edge to deliver photo-realistic, professional results with minimal effort. "Edge chatter" from frame to frame is automatically reduced, and in addition you can remove background color from semitransparent edges of the foreground object. And if the resulting alpha channel still requires additional refinement, you can use the paint tools already built into After Effects to further tweak your results.
The Roto Brush expands your creative options by enabling you to offer results that require sophisticated rotoscoping--on virtually any project. Professional-quality results can be realized dramatically faster and with far less tedium: artists are already reporting that the process of rotoscoping is taking a fraction of the time it required in the past. This means you can accomplish creative treatments that previously were feasible exclusively on big-budget projects--from isolating elements for targeted color enhancement to placing design elements such as text or logos between actors and their backgrounds.
mocha for After Effects CS5 Real-world projects typically require motion tracking, and many shots present tracking challenges such as elements that go partially out of frame or include motion blur. mocha for After Effects CS5--an updated version of the software included with After Effects CS5--has a unique planar tracker that makes it easy to handle even the most difficult tracking and stabilization tasks. Also included in this release is the mocha shape plug-in, which enables you to use tracking data in new ways. stabilization tasks. (mocha for After Effects CS5 and mocha shape have user interfaces that are English only.)
This updated release of mocha includes the ability to apply motion tracking to hand-drawn masks, which is a significant time-saver. In addition, motion-blurred or semitransparent areas are easily handled with new support for varible-width mask feathers. And like After Effects CS5, mocha for After Effects CS5 is a native 64-bit application.
Included for the first time in After Effects CS5, the mocha shape plug-in enables you to copy and paste multiple motion-tracked masks from mocha to any After Effects layer, fully preserving all their qualities, including any variable-width mask feather settings. This is particularly useful for shots that contain camera movements or moving objects that require masking.
One of the other new features you will find useful is that Bezier or X-spline animated roto shapes created in mocha may be converted into mask shapes in After Effects, where they can be further refined and manipulated without requiring a trip back into mocha. Also with mocha for After Effects CS5, motion blur data is now included in the exported tracking data. This enables you to re-create the motion blur that occurred in the original footage.
AVC-Intra support and expanded RED camera support After Effects CS5 includes native support for the new AVC-Intra 50 and AVC-Intra 100 codecs, as well as expanded native support for footage from RED cameras.
AVC-Intra is used by high-quality Panasonic cameras like the AJ-HPX300, AJ-HPX3700 VariCam, and AJ-HPX2700 VariCam, as well as recorders like the AJ-HPM110. According to Panasonic documents, AVC-Intra 100 is the highest recording quality available in a one-piece camcorder--comparable to mastering video quality--and is explicitly designed and optimized for broadcast and production. Adobe Premiere Pro CS5 also supports AVC-Intra, so there's no barrier to integrating After Effects with Adobe Premiere Pro projects if you want to use AVC-Intra.
After Effects CS5, like Adobe Premiere Pro CS5, provides full native support for RED R3D files, allowing you to import them directly without transcoding, rewrapping, or installing additional software. Because the files you import contain raw sensor data, you edit footage that is as close to what the camera captured as possible, enabling you to work nondestructively on the color and look of your projects. This includes the ability to edit enhanced parameters such as Debayer Detail, Chroma Denoise, White Balance, ISO settings, and more.
With After Effects CS5, you can work with content in all common RED R3D file permutations, including 2K, 3K, 4K, 4K HD, 16x9, and 2x1, using a number of different frame rates.
Auto-keyframe mode After Effects has long featured powerful, flexible keyframing. However, artists new to After Effects have expressed a wish for an automatic way to begin keyframing their animations.
To assist these artists, After Effects CS5 offers an Auto-keyframe mode. When Auto-keyframe mode is on, modifying a property automatically turns its stopwatch on and adds a keyframe at the current time. This prevents you from working with a layer's properties only to realize later that After Effects did not capture any of your changes. Parameters that can be automatically keyframed include position, rotation, shape properties, mask properties, effect point controls, and camera manipulation.
New Refine Matte effect and dozens of other enhancements In every release, After Effects introduces dozens of refinements to popular features. Experienced professionals know that while individually these changes may seem subtle, collectively they make the day-in and day-out experience of working with After Effects smoother and more intuitive. Among many such features added in After Effects CS5 are:
The new Refine Matte effect that allows you to take advantage of the intelligent edge tracking, dechattering, and motion blurring capabilities found in Roto Brush and apply them to any layer with a problematic alpha channel, such as keyed footage
New options that allow you to align layers to a composition's boundaries, making it easier to precisely center objects and clean up the layout of your image frame overall
Enhanced support for Photoshop adjustment layer types, including Selective Color, Black & White, and Vibrance; you can also apply these color correction effects to any layer
A new option for per-character 3D text animation that allows each character to orient toward the camera around its own anchor point, further enhancing the illusion of 3D
A new Type option in the Camera Settings dialog box that allows you to easily specify if the camera is a one-node or two-node camera, adapting to your preferred approach for aiming and animating 3D cameras
The ability to import layered PSD files which include extruded 3D layers created with the new Adobe Repoussé feature inPhotoshop CS5 Extended.
A new keyboard shortcut to point the camera to either selected layers or all layers, along with many other improvements to camera tools and settings
New options to color-code panel tabs with the composition, footage item, or layer's label color, making it easier to identify elements at a glance in a complex project
Rendered Output Modules can now be dragged to a folder in the Project panel, resulting in the import of the output files into that folder for quick inclusion of rendered elements
New keyboard shortcuts and mouse functionality to quickly move between viewing the entire timeline and returning to your previous zoom level
An enhanced Levels effect Histogram display showing individual color channel strengths
New options for specifying the size of Bezier direction handles and vertices for masks and shapes as well as direction handles for motion paths, making them easier to see on today's larger monitors
Tooltips added for each vertex in the Graph Editor, which display the layer name, property name, time, and value of the keyframe, making it easier to precisely check values at a glance
Numerous enhancements to scripting, including the ability to access parameters for adaptive motion blur, text tracking, label attributes, and per-character auto-orientation

Color Look-Up Table support After Effects CS5 adds support for custom color look-up tables (LUTs) in the popular 3DL and CUBE file formats, which may be loaded into the new Apply Color LUT effect. This makes it possible, for example, to receive from a film output facility a custom LUT that reflects the specific color correction they are performing on a project, and simulate within After Effects what the result would look like on a specific piece of footage or final composite. You can also use this new feature to predict how your images will look through an unusual output chain such as displaying through a certain projector at a trade show or site-specific installation. In short, Color LUT support gives you confidence that the creative and technical decisions you make will translate properly to final output in an even wider variety of situations than before, and help ensure color consistency across multiple devices.
Color Finesse 3 LE After Effects CS5 includes an updated version of one of the most powerful desktop color correction tools available: Synthetic Aperture's Color Finesse 3 LE. (Color Finesse has a user interface that is English only.) The latest release of this versatile tool introduces numerous refinements, providing you with new ways to perfect your images. New features in Color Finesse 3 LE include:
Hue and saturation curve controls, yielding finer control over your color corrections
A new vibrance control that works in a way similar to the one in Adobe Lightroom software, providing a more subtle alternative to altering saturation
Auto Color and Auto Exposure buttons for instant corrections
New highlight-recovery feature, meaning you lose less image detail when you have to conform high dynamic range footage to the limitations of video
Improved handling of non-square pixels
A simplified plug-in user interface for improved ease of use

Color Finesse LE is also capable of exporting your "looks" as color look-up tables, which can then be applied in After Effects CS5 using its new Apply Color LUT effect. Plus, Color Finesse 3 LE has been updated to natively support 64-bit operating systems.
Digieffects FreeForm Digieffects FreeForm--included with After Effects for the first time in Creative Suite 5--vastly increases your 3D design options, allowing you to do more in After Effects, such as creating flags, bending floating video panels, and extruding layers without requiring a side trip into dedicated 3D software. FreeForm automatically responds to 3D cameras and lights in After Effects, making it easy to integrate the results of this effect into any 3D scene. (FreeForm has a user interface that is English only.)
Work with collaborative online services Users of After Effects CS5 may also enhance their workflow on large After Effects projects by accessing Adobe CS Live online services, available separately, including:
Adobe Story, the innovative new online service for crafting scripts. Story allows you to capture metadata in the writing phase, and use that metadata to plan your shoot more efficiently in Adobe OnLocation and help produce a preliminary rough cut in Adobe Premiere Pro.
Adobe CS Review, an online service that enables peers and clients to take part in the review of page layouts, image comps, illustrations, and video sequences.
Acrobat.com, a set of online services for creative professionals who need to accelerate discussion and information exchange with colleagues and clients.

For more information about these and other CS Live services, visit www.adobe.com/go/CSLive.

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Adobe Creative Suite 5 Production Premium Student & Teacher Edition Review

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(More customer reviews)The Adobe Creative Suite 5 Production Premium Package has nearly everything you need for high quality, professional-level post-production work as an independent filmmaker. For students and educators who can get it at an educational discount, it's a no-brainer, but even while the retail price may sound expensive it's astonishing what you can get for the price and what you can do with it. (It's easy to justify shelling out thousands for the latest prosumer camcorder, but equally important are the tools for turning your raw footage into something that can be shared with an audience. As far as I can tell, this is the best comprehensive package of tools available for the motion graphics creator). If you have a computer that can run 64-bit applications, this package will basically turn your computer into a sophisticated post-production studio with the ability to create nearly anything you can imagine with images, photos, and video. All you need to add is a bit of creative talent, and a lot of willingness to learn, because these are sophisticated programs with a lot of features, that take experience and practice to use well. You can create animation (even interactive animation) with Flash and Flash Catalyst; you can create drawings and paintings with Illustrator; you can take photos and enhance them or even transform them into something completely new with Photoshop Extended (which also has some fairly sophisticated video and 3-d capabilities), you can edit footage together into a coherent narrative with Premiere Pro, and you can add realistic and fantastic effects and titles with After Effects, and you can fine tune the music and sound mix with Soundbooth, and can create dynamic dvds to distribute your work in Encore. All of the programs play very nice with each other (and have similar features so that once you've learned one you're on your way to learning another), and some allow you to import projects from other programs without rendering them, and also to go back into the original program and edit the project and have the changes appear automatically in the new program.
While I've had a chance to play around with all of these programs in the couple of months since their release, the ones I've spent the most time with are Photoshop Extended, Premiere Pro, and After Effects, which I consider to be the core programs of this package, the ones that really show what you can do with it. Some of the highlights of the new release are: (1) obviously, the Content Aware fill and enhanced selection tools in Photoshop, that give you a greater degree of control than ever before, and allow you to get rid of distracting elements or apply effects selectively, without destroying the realistic tone of a photograph; (2) in Premiere Pro what excites me most is the ease with which it allows you to work with a wide range of formats, without converting them first; the ability to work directly with my AVCHD files has been a decisive factor for me in moving all of my new editing projects over to Premiere Pro from Final Cut; along with this, Premiere Pro has its new Mercury Playback engine that really helps to streamline the editing process, and allows me to preview adjustments automatically, without constantly having to stop and render things before I can see what I've done; (3) one very cool new feature in the CS5 package is that you can open up Final Cut Pro XML files in Premiere Pro, and from there you can open them up in After Effects, as I understand it always used to be much more difficult to get Final Cut Pro project files into After Effects, which was one of the reasons I never really jumped on After Effects until now; (4) After Effects enables you to achieve some very sophisticated and professional results, and its performance is better than ever; but the real standout in the newest version is the Roto Brush, that is basically a sophisticated video selection device, that allows you to isolate moving elements (such as a person) from a video clip so that you can apply selective effects to those elements, or place them in a new background entirely. It's not totally automatic, and requires some finessing (basically you have to make your selection and then it makes a series of very good frame by frame guesses as to what is happening to your selected element over time, and when it makes a mistake you have to fix it and keep going from there).
All of these programs demand some learning, but from what I've seen so far the results are worth it. I'm still effectively a beginner with these programs but I've a lot of fun learning them, and am very excited with what I've been able to accomplish in a short time. After Effects, especially, is an amazing and delightful piece of software, and I love the way it integrates so easily with the other programs in the Production Suite. While I'd used Photoshop and Premiere somewhat before the latest release, and only had a chance to spend a little time with early versions of After Effects, I find this latest version to be a massive upgrade and the most important new features seem to be focused on the needs of the independent media producer, whether it's a photographer who is beginning to work with video or a videographer who is becoming dissatisfied with the limits of doing most of their post-production work on a non-linear editor with limited ability to create sophisticated effects. A quick search on the internet shows that lots of young people already know the power of these tools for creating effects work that is comparable to that seen in big budget professional productions. Highly recommended.
By the way, one final thing I should mention is that Adobe has a very talented team of professionals who create the help files for each of the programs and who are active in the support forums, and available to give artistic and technical support. Nearly any problem you might face has been asked about and answered on the Adobe Forums, and any question that is posted gets a quick response. Plus, as suggested above, there are hosts of amateur and professional users who have posted advice and video tutorials for free all over the web. Just like when you buy a car you should take a look at the dealership, when you buy a piece of software you have to consider the support network behind it to help you get the most of it, and so far I've been very happy with the level of enthusiasm and support that Adobe seems to put behind their products, especially on the technical and creative side.

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New Adobe Creative Suite 5 Production Premium software and supporting resources build the skills students need for the rapidly changing filmmaking, broadcasting, and video post-production industries. Students and educators can more easily use the latest tapeless workflows and work fluidly in HD--with the support of a standards-aligned curriculum and professional development resources. CS5 performance enhancements--including 64-bit operating system support and GPU acceleration--give students more time to experiment. Through integration with Production Premium, students and educators can access Adobe Story, a new Adobe CS Live online service, to speed up production by streamlining scriptwriting and shooting. Flexible volume licensing programs and low pricing for students and educators make Adobe Creative Suite 5 Production Premium affordable for institutions of all sizes.

Use high-performance production tools to create engaging content for virtually any screen
Comprehensive, best-of-breed video production environmentWork faster as you tackle a broad spectrum of planning, production, and post-production tasks. Each component of Production Premium works smoothly with other components thanks to timesaving integration, roundtrip editing with other NLEs, and faster Adobe Dynamic Link performance.
Native 64-bit performance and the new Adobe Mercury Playback EngineWork fluidly at HD and higher resolutions with native 64-bit support in Adobe After Effects CS5, Photoshop CS5 Extended, and Adobe Premiere Pro CS5. The new Mercury Playback Engine is native 64 bit and GPU accelerated* and provides rock-solid performance and stability, even at 4K resolution and beyond. Open projects rapidly, and create multilayer, effects-rich sequences without rendering.
* Supported NVIDIA graphics cards for GPU acceleration include Quadro CX (Windows), Quadro FX 3800 (Windows), Quadro FX 4800 (Windows and Mac OS), Quadro FX 5800 (Windows), and GeForce GTX 285 (Windows and Mac OS). For an up-to-date list of supported cards, visit www.adobe.com/go/64bitsupport.
Broad format support in Adobe Premiere ProExperience the industry's best tapeless workflow while working with virtually any format including DV, HDV, RED, DPX, Sony XDCAM, XDCAM 50, XDCAM EX and XDCAM HD, Panasonic P2, DVCPRO HD, AVCHD, and AVC-Intra. Edit video from DSLR cameras such as the Canon 5D Mark II and 7D; Nikon D90, D300s, and D3000; and others.
Richer, more compelling 2D and 3D images with Adobe Photoshop ExtendedExport video sequences from Photoshop Extended and import them into After Effects, Adobe Premiere Pro, and Adobe Encore. Work with new painting tools; make complex selections more easily; and create 3D logos from text, masks, or vectors.
Compositing and animation tools in Adobe After EffectsDesign groundbreaking motion graphics and blockbuster visual effects with industry-standard After Effects. Get everything you need to create opening titles, animated graphics, and visual effects or to create and move images in 3D space.
Roundtrip editing and streamlined collaborationMove projects back and forth between Adobe Premiere Pro and Final Cut Pro or Avid editing software. Accelerate workflows by taking advantage of integration with new Adobe CS Live online services, such as Adobe Story for developing scripts. CS Live online services are complimentary for a limited time--visit www.adobe.com/go/cslive for details.
Script-to-screen workflow through integration with Adobe StorySpeed up production and post-production through integration with Adobe Story, a collaborative scriptwriting tool that's part of CS Live online services. Integrated metadata support makes it easy to create shot lists in Adobe OnLocation and rough cuts in Adobe Premiere Pro. CS Live online services are complimentary for a limited time--visit www.adobe.com/go/cslive for details.
Editing efficiency through metadataAdd intelligence to your assets using innovative metadata features that make editing and compositing easier, and raise the value of your content when it is distributed online.
Encoding and delivery for screens everywhereBatch encode source files to a broad selection of formats that meet a variety of standards with Adobe Media Encoder. Author once in Encore CS5 for DVDs, Blu-ray discs, and searchable web DVDs. Preview and test content for mobile phones and other devices in Adobe Device Central.
Pristine audio creation in Adobe SoundboothUse Soundbooth to accomplish everyday audio tasks quickly while maintaining high-quality results and creative control. Remove noise from a recording, polish voiceovers, customize music to fit a production, and much more.
Interactive design with Adobe Flash Catalyst or Flash ProfessionalDesign interactive online video portfolios without writing code using Flash Catalyst, a new interaction design tool. Easily add video to sophisticated interactive experiences with a flexible, industry-standard workflow in Flash Professional.
Adobe Premiere Pro CS5--Accelerate production with the new Adobe Mercury Playback EngineCraft your story efficiently with Adobe Premiere Pro CS5 software, the high-performance video production solution that enables you to work dramatically faster thanks to the native 64-bit, GPU-accelerated Adobe Mercury Playback Engine. Edit natively with the video formats you want. Save time by batch encoding source content to a wide variety of video formats for web, disc, broadcast, film, device, and mobile delivery. Easily exchange projects with Final Cut Pro and Avid software, and enjoy efficient, collaborative workflows that accelerate production from scriptwriting to editing, encoding, and final delivery.

Improve your production workflowFocus on telling your story with powerful, flexible editing tools. With the native 64-bit Adobe Mercury Playback Engine, the industry's best native tapeless workflow, and unparalleled Adobe integration, Adobe Premiere Pro CS5 sets a new standard in editing efficiency.
Collaborate openly and effectivelyWork in an open, extensible post-production environment. Write scripts collaboratively. Efficiently gather feedback from clients and teammates. Easily exchange projects with other Adobe software, Final Cut Pro, and Avid software.
Deliver engaging video practically anywhereCreate video optimized for online viewing as well as for broadcast, disc, film, device, and mobile distribution. From capture to final delivery, use metadata to make assets easier to find in production, create engaging interactive experiences, and help audiences discover your videos online.
Adobe After Effects CS5--Create motion graphics and visual effects with the industry standardAdobe After Effects CS5 delivers the visual richness required to get noticed in today's media culture. Use open-ended creative tools. Work efficiently on high-resolution projects thanks to native 64-bit support. And benefit from tight integration with Adobe's other leading software. Whether you're working in film, broadcast, online, or mobile media, Adobe After Effects enables you to create groundbreaking motion graphics and blockbuster visual effects.

Get 64-bit performanceWork more quickly with groundbreaking 64-bit performance that dramatically improves the experience of creating HD and higher resolution content. Streamlined tools and tight Adobe integration also accelerate your workflow.
Innovate visuallyExpress your visual ideas with freedom. Adobe After Effects CS5 revolutionizes motion design with an open-ended environment that fosters creative experimentation.
Composite efficientlyRealize your vision quickly and efficiently by drawing on a broad and deep set of tools designed to help you solve any creative challenge.
Deliver everywhereMaster modern media: Deliver your completed projects to the widest range of formats, from large format feature films and high-definition television to websites and mobile devices.
Adobe Photoshop CS5 Extended--Create powerful images with the professional standardAdobe Photoshop CS5 Extended software helps you create the ultimate images for print, the web, and video. Enjoy all the state-of-the-art editing, compositing, and painting capabilities in industry-standard Photoshop CS5, and experience fast performance thanks to cross-platform 64-bit support. Also create 3D extrusions for logos, artwork, and motion graphics; edit 3D objects with advanced tools; and create and enhance motion-based content.

Innovate in 3DGo beyond traditional image editing by bringing 3D elements to your 2D artwork directly within your favorite digital imaging application, which now offers an easy on-ramp to 3D image creation.
Maximize creative impactExplore new creative possibilities with breakthrough tools that enable you to select, adjust, paint, and recompose images with tremendous precision and freedom.
Boost productivityAccelerate your workflow with fast performance on 64-bit hardware systems, smoother interactions thanks to GPU acceleration, and dozens of time-savers throughout the application.
Adobe Illustrator CS5--Explore new paths with the essential vector toolCreate distinctive designs for any project. Used by creative professionals worldwide, Adobe Illustrator CS5 software provides precision and power. Paint expressively with vectors, draw in perspective, and explore designing for interactivity. Move easily between Illustrator, other Adobe products, and Adobe CS Live online services. Get the job done efficiently but beautifully, moving quickly from multiple ideas to multiple outputs with complete control and delivering exactly what you had in mind.

Design with powerful creative toolsTake advantage of exceptional precision and power to create distinctive vector artwork. Combine highly controllable drawing tools with expressive natural brushes and dramatic effects to make unique, striking designs.
Work smoothly and efficientlySpeed up your workflow with innovations that encourage efficiency. Get the job done with purpose and agility using shortcuts and time-savers to take multiple ideas to multiple outputs.
Deliver virtually anywhereIncorporate vector artwork into essentially any project and deliver resolution-independent graphics across media. Enjoy tighter-than-ever integration with other Adobe products and go anywhere your creativity takes you.
Adobe Flash Catalyst CS5--Create expressive interfaces and interactive content without writing codeAdobe Flash Catalyst CS5 software is an approachable new interaction design tool. Use it to transform Adobe Photoshop, Illustrator, and Fireworks artwork into expressive interfaces and fully interactive content without writing code, and publish as SWF or Adobe AIR files. Collaborate with developers who can open your project files with Adobe Flash Builder software to extend functionality, and leverage the reach and consistency of the Adobe Flash Platform.

Leverage the power of the Adobe Flash Platform to create interactive projectsRapidly create expressive interfaces and interactive content to your exacting design standards. Deliver your creative vision with the reach and consistency of the Adobe Flash Platform.
Approach interaction design without writing codeTransform static designs from Adobe Photoshop, Illustrator, or Fireworks software into fully interactive projects without requiring development or coding skills. Define behaviors and control sophisticated interactions with simple yet powerful menu-based commands.
Speed the design and development processUse familiar design applications to easily create and edit artwork. Developers can open Flash Catalyst projects directly in Adobe Flash Builder software, preserving design fidelity and interactions defined by the designer.
Adobe Flash Professional CS5--Create and deliver rich interactive contentAdobe Flash Professional CS5 software is the industry-leading environment for interactive authoring and delivery of immersive experiences that are presented consistently across personal computers, mobile devices, and screens of virtually any size and resolution. Design expressive content with professional typography and pixel-precise drawing tools, write code precisely and efficiently with code completion and customizable code snippets, and deliver superior-quality video to audiences practically everywhere.

Design with expressionCommunicate your creative vision without sacrifice and set the bar for interactive design with typographic precision, layout fidelity, and expressive motion-editing capabilities.
Write code quickly and easilyQuickly and efficiently write code with powerful authoring tools and integration with Adobe Flash Builder software. Easily add interactivity directly in the ActionScript language by injecting extensible code snippets.
Deliver in fewer steps and in more placesSave time and reduce the number of required steps when moving content from design, to development, and ultimately to delivery. Distribute consistently across personal computers, mobile devices, and screens of virtually any size and resolution.
Adobe Soundbooth CS5--Create and edit audio with easeAdobe Soundbooth CS5 software is a professional audio editor that makes it easy to create, edit, and clean up audio for all your productions. Intuitive, task-based features and tight integration with other Adobe applications save time and help you achieve professional results. Mix royalty-free, customizable soundtracks and sound effects with dialogue in the improved multitrack environment for complete creative control.

Simplify audio workflowsMake short work of everyday audio with a smooth, intuitive workflow that features task-based tools and tight integration with other Adobe Creative Suite Production Premium components.
Fix audio problems fastAutomatically detect and fix common flaws in audio such as hisses, hums, phase problems, crackling, and pops. Add reverb to match on-location room ambience. Match the volume of different dialogue clips.
Create soundtracks easilyDrag and drop Soundbooth Scores to create soundtracks. Make the music fit your visuals with easy adjustments to timing, and suit your project's mood with easy adjustments to intensity, atmosphere, and instrumentation.
Get professional-sounding mixesCombine music, dialogue, and sound effects on multiple tracks. Easily control EQ, volume, pan, and effects on each track using automation. Add mastering effects for final polish.
Locate dialogue quicklyConvert spoken dialogue into searchable text, and use custom dictionaries to increase the accuracy of asset search. Export transcripts to create searchable video.
Searchable web DVDs and other enhancements in Adobe Encore CS5Adobe Encore CS5 software is a versatile, interactive authoring tool for video distribution that allows you to deliver your projects beyond DVD and Blu-ray Disc. In a single operation, you can easily turn your DVD and Blu-ray Disc projects into web DVDs that now include a search interface. The new interface gives viewers a more engaging experience by enabling them to search within a web DVD using keywords. During authoring, Encore automatically creates a search database using metadata from speech-analysis text, subtitles in timelines and slideshows, and menu and button names.
Also new in Encore CS5 is the ability to:
Further enhance the viewing experience by creating web DVDs with a sleek, customizable playback interface that features easy-to-use playback controls and the option to watch HD video in full-screen mode.
Create a smoother experience for viewers when they choose from options across multiple menus on Blu-ray Discs. Browsable multipage menus show options across multiple menu pages without interrupting the playback of audio and video background elements. Multipage menus can be easily created in Adobe Photoshop or directly in Encore.
Working in the Adobe Premiere Pro timeline, you can take 4K projects directly to high-definition Blu-ray Discs using a workflow that maintains the original 4K content all the way to output, when it is finally encoded and scaled. This capability is especially meaningful to video editors and motion graphics and visual effects artists who work on projects at film resolutions.
Experienced Encore users will appreciate the ability to share Encore CS5 projects without worrying about platform compatibility. Encore projects can be moved between Windows and Mac platforms freely, without conversion. Editors and motion graphics and effects artists can benefit from native 24p project support for Blu-ray Disc, DVD, and web DVD titles, complete with 24p timecode in the timeline. (Previously, Encore placed all assets in timelines with a defaultframe rate of 29.97, irrespective of the properties of the assets.)
Continue authoring while you transcode your media assets. Adobe Media Encoder, a separate, 64-bit software application, encodes your files in the background, freeing Encore to process your authoring tasks. This separation of authoring and encoding is particularly important with 4K workflows, which can be taxing on your computer.

Efficient production and tapeless camera support in Adobe OnLocation CS5Adobe OnLocation CS5 provides an impressive array of production tools to help you shoot better and faster while saving time and money, both on set and off. New support for tapeless cameras extend the ways you can use OnLocation in your production workflows.
Spot problems in imported tapeless footage. Thanks to new tapeless camera support, you can use the comprehensive software waveform monitor and vectorscope as well as the audio spectrum analyzer in OnLocation to identify image and audio problems in imported files by quickly scanning your footage for audio pops, clipping, and video overbrights.
Logging with tapeless cameras. Get all the benefits of real-time, on-set logging when working with tapeless cameras. Simply tell OnLocation which shot is currently recording and then enter notes, comments, and additional metadata into placeholder clips. Using timecode as a reference, OnLocation automatically matches the information to the recorded clips when they are imported from the tapeless media, regardless of whether the camera is tethered to OnLocation on-set or whether the clips are imported during post-production.
Faster logging with Turbo Comments. While recording, the new Turbo Comments feature lets you add frequently used words--cast names, sports highlights, and so on--with a single keystroke to log live action accurately, consistently, and efficiently. OnLocation lets you store up to nine comments with unique shortcuts, for immediate, timecode-accurate logging.
Adobe Creative Suite 5 With powerful new creative tools, enhanced performance and workflows, and the ability to integrate with timesaving new Adobe CS Live online services, Adobe Creative Suite 5 software provides the edge you need to create rich content for virtually any media--print, web, interactive, video, audio, and mobile. Whether you need to produce printed pages efficiently or design and distribute engaging content online, on film, on air, and on device, you'll find the right combination of Adobe tools to increase your productivity and keep pace with your creative vision.

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Apple Shake 4.1 Visual Effects (Mac) Review

Average Reviews:

(More customer reviews)If your do film editing with FCP Studio 5 on a Power PC G5, or are averse to going to Leopard or Snow Leopard, this is your last chance to accumulate the wherewithal to attain the editing horsepower of FCP Studio 5 with Motion and After Effects without paying through the nose for a new Intel Mac and After Effects (which now runs only on Intel Macs using Leoplard). Shake was discontinued by Apple in 09, but runs flawlessly with FCP5 and it's bundled Motion 2. Some say Apple will release Shake again as Phenomenon, some disagree...either way Shake is still available through others who've bought up the disks. Beware, I bought mine through an outfit sending only the disk and not docs, and the disk is sold as NFR, not for resale. Buying it this way you'd have to print up the docs (1000+ pages) and wonder what NFR really iplies. I'm still learning this ap, Apples training manuals are still available and I refuse to buy another Mac to edit on because my old workhorse is just a G5 Power PC, still works great and since I bought it for editing in the first place (in Dec 2004) I now have every incentive to keep going and learn this ap and it's integration with FCP and Motion (for which it was intended). I don't agree that it's cool for Apple to change platforms to Intel based and leave the Power PC owners high and dry for aps and support. Thank God Shake is still available and this version is Universal, works on both the old chips and Intel, today After Effects runs only on Leopard and Intel. I'm in the middle of shooting a low/no budget feature fully out of my own pocket and need all the horsepower I can get from existing equipment and aps. I own a Macbook pro and Shake 4.1 (and FCP 5/Motion 2) runs fine on it too, but my G5 is where I can really get work done and now, with assets like Video Copilot's Action Essentials 2 and Shake/Motion I don't have to go broke (use credit) to finish my film and get it out there. For what it's worth, hope this helps...Carey

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Used to create the world's most celebrated visual effects, Shake now runs natively on both PowerPC and Intel-based Macs, at a price that fits almost any production budget. Extend Final Cut Studio with Shake and take advantage of an integrated workflow that puts sophisticated 3D compositing, keying, image tracking, smooth stabilization and more at your fingertips. For a powerful graphics and effects combination, Motion 2 projects can be dropped directly into Shake without rendering or rendered using the shared OpenEXR format for film quality reproduction. Now every Final Cut Studio editor can have the power to create worlds beyond imagination.

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Adobe Flash Pro CS5 Student & Teacher Edition Review

Average Reviews:

(More customer reviews)Before using Flash I have had no exposure to animation programs. Having learned how to use flash I wish the interface was more user friendly, by that I mean I wish it was setup more like Illustrator. Fairly often I found myself wishing it would rotate something or align something like in Illustrator, there is the option of importing but I heard that takes up more memory. I read the review about crashes, on the Mac I have had zero crashes and have not had to fuss about anything like that. So in general I have read this version adds some stuff but it's all new to me, I would recommend this to anyone starting out. Though I am looking into similar programs and might consider switching.

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Adobe Flash Professional CS5 software is the industry-leading environment for interactive authoring and delivery of immersive experiences that are presented consistently across personal computers, mobile devices, and screens of virtually any size and resolution. Design expressive content with professional typography and pixel-precise drawing tools, write code precisely and efficiently with code completion and customizable code snippets, and deliver superior-quality video to audiences practically everywhere.




Create and deliver rich interactive content
New text engine Take control over your text with print-quality typography via the new Text Layout Framework. Work with columns and bidirectional text, and maintain layout and formatting with greater fidelity when importing from other Adobe products.

XML-based FLA source files Manage and modify projects using source control systems and collaborate on files more easily. An XML-based nonbinary implementation of the FLA format allows projects and associated assets to function as items in a directory or folder.

Improved Adobe Creative Suite integration Enhance your productivity and workflow when using Adobe Photoshop, Illustrator, InDesign, and Flash Builder. Leverage the FXG graphics file format and integration with Adobe Mini Bridge for digital asset management.

Code Snippets panel Reduce the ActionScript 3.0 learning curve and promote greater creativity by injecting prebuilt code into projects. Quickly include functional code for timeline navigation, actions, animation, audio and video, and event handlers.

Enhanced ActionScript editor Increase development speed with an improved ActionScript editor, including custom class code hinting and code completion. Use Adobe Flash Builder software as your primary ActionScript editor for Flash Professional projects.

Object-based animation model Use object-based animation and visually achieve granular control over motion attributes with the Motion Editor. Develop interactive content more efficiently with the Motion Preset panel, which offers prebuilt motion effects and lets you create, save, and share your own.

Inverse kinematics Take advantage of advanced motion capabilities and visually add realistic physics effects with new strength and damping settings for the Bones tool. Easily create natural, chain-like motion with a simple and familiar user interface.

Advanced native drawing tools Author expressive interactive content with easy-to-use tools. Draw stylized shapes and transform them into complex patterns and effects, and animate 2D objects through 3D space with 3D transformation tools.

Video improvements Streamline video embedding and encoding processes with on-stage video scrubbing and a new cue points property inspector. See and play back FLV components directly on the stage.

Support across devices Deliver interactive content consistently for more runtimes across personal computers, mobile devices, and screens of virtually any size and resolution, and leverage integration with Adobe Device Central for enhanced testing and debugging.

Top new features of Adobe Flash Professional CS5
New text engine Flash Professional CS5 adds support for the new Text Layout Framework built into Flash Player 10, enabling you to use print-quality typographic functionality and take the experiences you create to new heights. Support for the Text Layout Framework provides rich, multilingual typographic control that previously was not available in Flash Professional, as well as a comprehensive set of APIs to manipulate text content, layout, and markup. The new text engine in Flash Professional CS5 also maintains layout and text formatting with greater fidelity when importing content from Adobe InDesign software and other Adobe products.

Print-quality typographic control Designers have come to expect rich typographic control in applications like InDesign and Illustrator. However, it's been extremely difficult or even impossible to set professional-level typography on the web--until now. With the Text Layout Framework support in Flash Professional CS5, designers can take advantage of rich typographical controls, including:

Advanced text styling such as kerning, ligatures, tracking, leading, superscript, subscript, discretionary hyphens, margins, hypertext, baseline shift, typographic case, digit case (oldstyle/lining figures), and digit width (proportional/tabular figures).
Advanced text-layout controls including threaded text blocks; the selection, editing and flowing of text across multiple columns; linked images; text wrap; and inline images (supporting PNG, JPG, SWF, or any Flash Player DisplayObject). Tab stops and CSS anti-aliasing are also supported.

Global language support The Text Layout Framework brings advanced multilingual typographic and layout features to Flash Professional CS5. This support includes the ability to display and edit not only right-to-left scripts, but also top-to-bottom scripts, and those that often use a mixture of left-to-right and right-to-left scripts such as Arabic and Hebrew.

The new text engine offers additional features for East Asian typography, including an East Asian justifier, vertical text support, and Tate-Chu-Yoko, or blocks of horizontal text embedded into vertical runs of text.

Advanced inline text editing Working with text inside of Flash Professional is now a far more efficient and productive experience. In addition to cut, copy, paste, find, replace, and spell-check functionality and standard keyboard and mouse gestures for editing (Ctrl/Command, Home/End, double-click), a new Selection mode allows text to be treated as read-only, read-select, or read-write.

Advanced rendering support While offering advanced typographic control to designers is important, you want to know that what you see on your screen matches your viewers' experience as well. The Text Layout Framework builds on the history of consistent high-quality playback and display across multiple devices in Flash Player by adding support for transparency and for device and embedded fonts (including anti-aliasing of embedded fonts). A new embedded font format (DefineFont4) provides improved typography features, international support, and reduced file sizes.

Ability to distribute content virtually anywhere Deliver consistently across screens of virtually any size and use Adobe Device Central for enhanced device testing. The Distribution service available separately through Adobe Flash Platform Services offers free and paid methods for distributing applications to social networks, mobile devices, and desktops. It also enables developers and businesses to track the distribution of and user engagement with their applications, and enables monetization of applications through ad hosting.

Deliver to mobile and consumer devices. Deliver content that plays back on millions of devices worldwide. Packager for iPhone preview, included with Flash Professional CS5, compiles ActionScript bytecode into native iPhone application code. iPhone applications are distributed as iPhone application installer (IPA) files, via the iTunes store.
Deliver to desktop computers. Take advantage of the ubiquity of Flash Player within browsers and Adobe AIR for extended support on the desktop. Content displays with a consistent look and feel across operating systems and browsers.

XML-based FLA source files Flash Professional CS5 uses an XML-based implementation of the FLA file format called XFL, offering improved cross-product integration and workflow productivity. This compact and efficient file format both accurately maintains data in a Flash document and makes the individual elements easier to manage and use.

For example, an image that is currently used in a Flash project could be checked out of a source control system, updated, and checked back in. The next time you open the FLA project file, you would instantly see the updated image without having to manually import it into the project.

With better support for multiuser environments and cross-product compatibility, the XML-based format in Flash Professional offers the following benefits:

The uncompressed format allows several users on a team to work on the same project simultaneously--no more having to split the project into multiple FLA files.
Integration with source control systems is now possible because each team member can work on separate assets in the XFL package, eliminating the need to resolve differences.
Mobile developers can work on the same files as other developers. (In the past, mobile content could not load other SWF files.)

Using XML-based FLA source files, Flash Professional CS5 provides a richer environment in which to exchange data with other key Adobe Creative Suite tools, including After Effects, InDesign, Illustrator, Adobe Encore, and Flash Catalyst.

Code Snippets panel Flash Professional CS5 provides a new way to quickly include code for things like timeline navigation, actions, animation, audio and video, and event handlers with the Code Snippets panel. By injecting prebuilt code into projects, you can work faster, freeing up more time for creativity.

For example, the sample code snippets allow you to create interactive buttons without extensive code experience. Code snippets also contain helpful comments and clear instructions right in the code and can greatly reduce the ActionScript 3.0 learning curve by helping new users learn how the ActionScript language works. In addition, because the panel is extensible, you can create and share snippets with others, helping to reduce overall production time.

Enhanced ActionScript editor Increase development speed with an improved ActionScript editor, including custom class code hinting and code completion, and reference your own code or external code libraries more efficiently. Novice developers can start projects and have code hinting assist them as they try to grasp the fundamentals of the ActionScript language. Flash Professional CS5 can automatically write the import statement for libraries, and more experienced and advanced developers can more quickly reference their own code or any external code libraries they are using.

Improved Creative Suite integration Flash Professional is an integral part of all Creative Suite 5 Premium editions. Flash Professional CS5 adds more ways to work directly with other Creative Suite 5 components for a more efficient workflow, including:

Edit bitmaps in Photoshop using the new Edit With Photoshop CS5 command
Export complex graphics via the FXG format, which you can open in Illustrator
Place finished SWF files into Flash Catalyst projects
Use Flash Builder as your ActionScript code-authoring environment
Open content from InDesign with greater text fidelity
Import FXG files from Fireworks
Open content from After Effects and retain editing flexibility

Flash Builder integration Adobe Flash Builder (formerly Adobe Flex Builder) is a professional Eclipse-based developer tool that enables intelligent coding, interactive step-through debugging, and visual design of the user interface and behavior for Flex applications. Rather than having to choose between one integrated development environment (IDE) and another, you can now write your ActionScript code in Flash Builder and then test, debug, and publish your content in Flash Professional.

Test Movie and Debug Movie. When invoked, these commands bring up Flash Professional CS5, open the FLA file that has been set in the properties of the current project, and test or debug the movie. Once the SWF window is closed (or the debug session is ended, in the case of Debug Movie), focus is returned to Flash Builder (and the FLA file remains open). You can also set breakpoints in Flash Builder that work in the Flash Professional debugger.
Publish Movie. When invoked, this command brings up Flash Professional CS5 and publishes the target FLA file. Once the export is complete, if compiler errors were found, Flash Professional is brought to the front with its Compiler Errors panel open and the errors listed. If no errors were found, a dialog box in Flash Builder indicates that the Publish request was successful.

Spring for Bones With Flash Professional CS5, Adobe integrates the power of a dynamic physics engine into the Inverse Kinematics (IK) system. This engine allows new users to create lifelike animation with ease, and gives expert users powerful functionality that is supported for both runtime and authortime. Spring gives IK animation movement that is 100% configurable, so you can now get realistic multi-object interactions that don't look robotic and rigid. Spring, a property of an IK Bone element, consists of two attributes: Strength and Damping.

Strength sets the amount of spring. When the value is greater than zero, the bone reacts with a physical movement that is proportional to the Strength value and the overall movement.
Damping adds resistance to the Strength value. This affects the rate of decay of the spring, which in turn determines the duration between the initial movement and the time when the IK Bone returns to its rest position.

Video improvements With integrated support for content created with Adobe Premiere Pro or Adobe After Effects software, it's easy to work with video content directly in Flash Professional CS5. Streamline embedding and encoding processes with on-stage video scrubbing and the ability to define cue points directly in the Properties panel. Now, when you have an FLV playback component on the stage, you can see the video on the stage, whereas previously you had to test the movie. Flash Professional CS5 also includes Adobe Media Encoder, enabling you to convert just about any file format to FLV or F4V.

New Deco drawing tools Flash Professional CS5 extends the functionality of the dynamic Deco brush tools, enabling you to easily draw shapes and add advanced animation effects. These new brushes include:

Particle System. Quickly create movement for particle phenomena like clouds or rain.
3D, Decorated, and new Grid brushes. Draw stylized lines or create patterns with multiple objects at once.
Tree, Flame, Lightning, and Building brushes. Use specialized tools to add and customize these stylized shapes.

Adobe Flash authoring tools With Creative Suite 5, Adobe delivers a variety of tools with the capability to author interactive content for the Adobe Flash Platform. Each project you work on is unique, presenting various requirements and specifications regarding design, development, and deployment. This comparison chart is a quick reference that will help you choose the best tool or tools for what you want to accomplish.

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Anime Studio Pro 6 Review

Average Reviews:

(More customer reviews)I thought that I would buy this product and then produce some great political cartoons lampooning Barrack Obama. This idea hasn't worked out. Not because of this product but because I'm apparently not cut out to be a cartoonist.
I know something of computer graphics. I was hired at a local business college once to teach Photoshop and I spent a couple years making dinosaurs in Animation:Master (a lower cost photo realistic competitor to Soft Image). I knew that 3D modeling would be too slow and that I didn't need all the Photoshop drawing muscle. Anime Studio seemed about right.
The product looks like a toy but is in fact quite sophisticated. The "bones" feature is something I could have used when I was making dinosaur models. OTOH there are some limitation in a 2D program that I didn't expect. In a 3D program once you have made your model of - say a head - you can just move the camera or the head to see the other side of the character's face. In 2D animation there are a number of techniques for what is called a "head turn". I never could quite visualize characters who always faced the same way.
In some ways 2D animation requires you to be more clever than 3D animation. But 3D takes much more time. My biggest deficiency however was that I simply wasn't able to develop any funny plots.
I stopped using Anime Studio for a couple months but recently I have started to use it to make animations for a some music software I'm developing. I'm not sure it will work as intended but I have gotten good preliminary results with almost no effort.
Don't do what I did. My mistake was like buying a word processor in the hope that when you knew all the codes you would be able to write a best selling novel. I did a lot of research - this is the best product of its kind on the market, but it won't make cartoons by itself. If you have hundreds of pages of hand drawn cartoons all over your office, buy this product.


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Anime Studio Pro 7 Review

Average Reviews:

(More customer reviews)I've had so much fun making animated shorts! It's become my main hobby lately, and with this software you can produce animations that are as good as the pros (if you have some experience/knowledge of story, design, and graphics especially). Warning: As with any powerful software program, there is a learning curve here. The first few hours you will find yourself floundering around and getting pretty angry... and even once you start to get the hang of things, you will make mistakes or find yourself wondering why things haven't worked out... But once you've put in your time, the sky is the limit! Things become very easy and intuitive with some practice. And the software gives you a lot of power. Anime Studio 7 is awesome! I'm so excited with the movies I've made.
I'm just doing this for fun and as a creative outlet, but after seeing my initial results, I'm beginning to have some aspirations to make things other people would actually want to watch. I will say, though, that I think even true professionals would find this software to be excellent.
I have a couple suggestions for new users:
1. Until you really to get to know your way around, an easy way to learn is to play with the characters that come pre-loaded. Practice moving them, sizing them, transforming and turning them, adding sounds (you can even have the mouth move automatically with your recordings--look for tutorials on youtube to learn how (youtube user: contentparadise, if I remember correctly). Get accustomed to "bones" "switches" and "layers" and "keyframes".
2. Workflow and Rendering: You might want to make your longer movies in segments (in fact, I did about 20 different files with 30 seconds each to make a short movie)... This is partly in case you mess something up, and partly because rendering can be a little slow and create HUGE files (I think like 2GB per minute!... IF you are using the top-notch, lossless render... And what worked best for me was to use this lossless render of all the short segments, then use Adobe Premiere (you could also use Roxio I think, or Microsoft Movie Maker) to edit them together and re-render into a much smaller file format. I used WMV9, and the end result is a 10 minute film that's in 720p HD, super sharp, only taking 200 MB. You don't have to first render into the "lossless"--you can create a wide variety of file types and sizes with Anime Studio 7, but lossless will look sharper. I wanted to add that in this review because I'm very picky and had to do about 20 different rendering trials to figure out the sharpest results. Render lossless from Anime Studio 7, then edit and re-render into wmv9 720p 100%. Honestly, it looks like DVD + quality in the end.

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Anime Studio Pro is the ideal application for professional artists and animators looking for an alternative to tedious frame-by-frame editing. Bolstered with powerful features like bone rigging, lip syncing and audio recording, 3D shape design, physics, motion tracking, and more, Anime Studio is the indispensable tool in your production pipeline.

Create High-Quality Animations
Make your own characters, objects, and scenes using powerful vector-based drawing tools combined with the ability to import your scanned drawings and images.
Powerful Production Tools Robust bone-rigging and drawing tools make character creation and animation easier than ever. Save time animating with the new Curve Profile, Follow Path, and Stroke Exposure tools, plus new automatic line-smoothing features.
Physics Simulation Intuitively integrate simulated physics into your projects and create stunning animations where you set the density, gravity, friction, and springiness of objects and see how they collide.
3D Shape Design Make your own 3D objects from vector layers and bring them into your 2D animation projects. Choose from Extrusion, Lathe, and Inflate, then select from multiple shading options for your 3D model, including Smooth, Toon, and Hatched.

Unlimited Output Formats Output to formats including NTSC/PAL D1/DV Standard and Widescreen; HDV and HDTV 780p and 1080p; AVI, MOV, Flash, and more.
Features
NEW! Set the density, gravity, friction, and springiness of objects and see how they collide with Simulated Physics
NEW! Make 3D objects from 2D vector layers
NEW! Quickly organize and access your content with the new library resource
NEW! Animate curves with precision tools
NEW! Record your own sound clips from within Anime Studio
NEW! Use StuffIt Connect to upload video and project files to the Web, making collaboration easier than ever*
NEW! Import your Poser Scenes and combine 2D and 3D animation. Requires Poser 7 or later.
NEW! Gather up and organize all your project files in one location
Implement realistic shading based on line and object contrast within each layer
Make your characters talk with automatic lip-syncing features
Easily combine video, audio, and animation
Attach objects to video with Motion Tracking
Import Adobe Photoshop, Illustrator files
Pen tablet support simulates drawing on paper
Add effects like motion blur and shadows
Output in HD or for the Web; easily export your projects at ideal resolutions for iPad, iPhone, and Droid
Customize functionality with LUA scripts
Upload directly to YouTube and Facebook
* A free one-year subscription to the StuffIt Connect service is included with your Anime Studio purchase, offering 2 GB of storage and 4 GB of bandwidth per month.

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