Red Giant Redesigns Looks, Audio & Motion Graphics for Video

Red Giant is rebuilding Magic Bullet Looks treatments for video, PluralEyes automated audio/video analysis and sync tool, and Trapcode Mir motion graphics plug-in for After Effects.

Magic Bullet Looks 2.5  Speed, LUT presets, Previewing

Red Giant’s set of tools and treatments for video, Magic Bullet Looks, has been updated to v2.5 to include new colour correction tools, better previewing of presets and increased speed. Through GPU-acceleration, substantial speed increases can be achieved on Windows and, to a lesser degree, on Mac. The software has been re-coded in order to work with Red Giant’s new development platform and effects library,Universe, which the company built in order to be able to rapidly create new effects and update existing ones.

The Looks rebuild also includes some new tools and functions. By hovering the mouse over Looks, users can preview their results, and a new Strength Slider controls the overall strength of an entire Look with a keyframable slider. It is also possible to import .cube LUTs, plus 12 new LUT presets, and use an S-curve tool to add contrast without losing detail. Improvements to custom Looks management make it easier to share Looks between several editors.

Magic Bullet Looks 2.5 is afree updatefor current users of Looks and the Red Giant Color Suite.

PluralEyes 3.5  Faster, Drift Correction, more Media Support

PluralEyes 3.5 will update the Red Giant Shooter Suite’s automated audio/video sync tool, which analyzes and automatically syncs the audio from all project devices. A crew can limit their use of clapboards or timecode, and later in editorial manual syncing can also be reduced.

ThePluralEyes 3.5 beta, available soon, focuses partly on expanding support for more media types such AVCHD cameras, including support for spanned clips. Consequently the Replace Audio tool, for example, used to generate new media with replaced audio tracks, now works with many more media types than before.

Version 3.5 incorporates improvements to the sync algorithms for further speed and accuracy.  PluralEyes can now correct sync drift where the audio and video begin to slip over time on longer clips. According to Red Giant, this also helps compensate for audio recorders that don't have the same level of accuracy on their own.

PluralEyes 3.5 has been integrated with the Red Giant footage backup and preparation tool, BulletProof. Prior to syncing files, BulletProof sends the imported footage to PluralEyes in a specific cofiguraton that allows syncing to start immediately. PluralEyes 3.5 beta will be available shortly. Existing users of PluralEyes qualify for a low-cost upgrade. Customers who buy PluralEyes from 31 March 2014 forward are eligible for a free PluralEyes 3.5 upgrade when it ships.

Trapcaode Mir 2.0  Optimised render, Z Range controls, VRAM

Red Giant’s public beta of the motion graphics tool for After Effects, Trapcode Mir, a part of the Trapcode Suite, is now open for public beta. Trapcode Mir creates 3D surfaces for use in motion graphics and visual effects, and is used to shape, animate and light 3D surfaces. The software’s GPU-acceleration allows After Effects users to work in real-time.

Some of the updates that have been implemented so far are rendering optimisations for speed, and Z Range controls in the Fractal group that will, for example, create a plateau in a landscape or limit a map to only go ‘up’. A second pass for Wireframe draws with proper obscuration and fog. Quads is a new Tessellation option that uses quads instead of triangles. Also, a new memory management pop-up has been added in which VRAM can be manually set or memory check can be turned off completely. This may be useful with new graphics cards with over 2GB VRAM because Mir's auto-detection only works with less than 2GB.

During the beta period, further changes are expected to be made to reflection maps, specular maps, depth-of-field camera effects, motion blur and loop options for fractals to create seamless animated loops

Current users of Trapcode Mir 1.0 candownloadthe latest beta for Mir 2 from the Trapcode website. Trapcode Mir is available on its own or as part of theTrapcode Suite. www.redgiant.com.