Shake 4 due in June

, a major upgrade to its compositing software used by independent artists and visual effects studios for film and television. Shake 4 features 3D multi-plane compositing, cutting-edge optical flow image processing and integration with Final Cut Pro 5. Apple says that artists can now composite live action and 3D CGI layers with added realism using Shake’s new OpenGL-accelerated 3D multi-plane compositing node. "Seamlessly integrated into the node view, 3D compositing works with the same flexible user interface as every other operation and is as fast and high quality as 2D operations. Shake 4 presents an entirely new dimension by offering the ability to position, rotate and animate unlimited layers and cameras in 3D space." Shake 4 for Mac OS X with unlimited render licenses will be available in June for $3,000. The cross-platform version is $5,000; upgrades are $1000.

"From Academy award-winning films to broadcast television, Shake helps bring realistic visual effects to life," said Rob Schoeben, Apple's vice president of Applications Marketing. "With 3D multi-plane compositing, advanced optical flow technology and tight integration with Final Cut Pro 5, Shake 4 opens up a wide range of new creative opportunities for artists everywhere."

Shake 4 features advanced optical flow technology that uses pixel-by-pixel image analysis to create smooth retiming and automatic stabilization. Editors and visual effects artists can now effortlessly adjust the speed of any clip to achieve Hollywood-quality results, according to Apple. Shake 4 can also revive unusable content by automatically removing camera jitter from static shots and correcting uneven pans across a scene without setting tracking points.

The update alsointegrates Truelight monitor calibration to maintain color consistency between the computer screen and the final look of the film, allowing compositors to accurately pre-visualize the look of their HD or film imagery, saving time and effort. Shake 4 can also distribute visual effects processing across a cluster of Xserve G5 servers or Power Mac G5 desktop computers for maximum rendering performance and efficiency.

New integration with Final Cut Studio allows Shake 4 to be launched directly from the Final Cut Pro 5 timeline and using the XML interchange format, cuts and layers from the timeline automatically generate a Shake process tree.

by MacNN Staff