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Autodesk Ships Desktop Visual Effects and Compositing Software for Apple

Dec 28, 2005 11:44 AM


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Autodesk announced it has begun shipping Autodesk Combustion 4 software for Apple Macintosh. Combustion 4, Autodesk’s desktop visual effects software consists of a powerful feature set including vector paint, particles, effects, animation and 3D compositing. This new version for the Mac operating system streamlines the creative process for visual graphics creation by providing enhanced interoperability with third-party desktop applications, improved paint tools and workflow efficiency.

Autodesk Combustion software can be used in the creation process to realize compelling visual effects sequences for motion pictures, television episodics and cutting edge commercials. Recent projects that relied on Combustion software in the creative process include: Fantastic Four (Meteor Studios), Serenity and the Sci Fi Channel’s Battlestar Galactica television series (Zoic Studios), and the Seven Swords (Digital Pictures Iloura, Australia).

Key new features in Combustion 4 software for Mac include:

  • Diamond Keyer—second generation of sophisticated keying algorithms, used to remove green screen/ blue screen background data in film or video, is derived from Autodesk’s Discreet Flame, an online visual effects system, and adds a new level of advanced keying technology
  • Time-Warp—fully key-frameable, time-remapping operator for quickly creating slow motion and speed-up effects
  • B-spline vector shapes and new point-grouping for faster, more efficient rotoscoping
  • Custom capsules—create and save encapsulated single or grouped operator nodes
  • New optimized ‘Fast Gaussian Blur’—removes fine image detail for a smoothing effect that can simulate motion or a blurred speed look
  • Merge operator—new optimized operator to quickly merge two layers of the same size using any of the transfer nodes in Combustion software
  • Enhanced paint—new paint tools, grids and rulers, Bspline in paint and new customized brushes
“This release of Combustion 4 for the Macintosh underscores Autodesk’s commitment to providing the best visual effects technology on the best OS platforms that allows motion graphics artists to realize their creative ideas,” says Marc Petit, vice president of product development and operations at Autodesk Media & Entertainment division. “Our Macintosh customers will be very pleased with this latest release of Combustion, bringing the advanced Diamond Keyer from our professional systems products to the desktop level.”

Autodesk Combustion 4 software for Mac is available now for a suggested retail price (SRP) of US $995; upgrade pricing from Combustion 3 to Combustion 4 is SRP US $249.

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