Bases camera effects on Maya

Autodesk has released Motion FX, a free app for OS X Lion. The title is essentially a showcase for the fluid effects in Maya, Autodesk's professional rendering suite; as it samples video from a Mac's camera, one of over 80 preset effects responds to the motion. Some example presets include Fire, Smoke and Rainbow Plasma.

Effects can be cycled, and displayed on their own or composited on top of video. Five general modes are available. In Motion Detect effects chase after movements, while Face Detect has them emerge from any face a camera can recognize; Color Detect links imagery to a particular color. The two remaining modes, Effect Paint and Video Warp, let people simply draw with a cursor or warp the incoming video.

While users can't record video, they can take snapshots and use the app in live performances. This is backed by support for separate control and projection displays, as well multi-camera setups. The title can also exploit Lion's fullscreen mode.

by MacNN Staff