Archive notice: This article was originally published on May 1, 2017. Links and embedded videos are preserved as part of the historical record.
Among other things, it includes Knoll Light Factory for generating additional light sources or elaborate lens flares. At most comparable with such powerful effects as Optical Flares from Video Copilot, this filter with its own user interface includes everything a designer’s heart could desire: Every light and every flare can be edited down to the smallest detail, saved and reused. Knoll supplies countless individual elements for this, such as ghosts, spreads and flares, which are dragged into the effects list and edited further there. Although use is not entirely easy, once you understand it you can achieve impressive results within a short time.
A chroma-key collection (without a chroma keyer!) is Composite Wizard, which contains various effects that improve chroma keying (or make the composition appear more realistic), but actually contains no keyer. Instead, the manufacturer supplies tools for color matching background to foreground, various denoisers, edge enhancers and matte cleaners, and of course a Light Wrap. And fortunately a Rack Focus for realistic camera blur.
Although cartoon filters are found in every better (or worse) plug-in collection, hardly any effect is as extensive and powerful as ToonIt. Alongside four ready-made filters with relatively few settings, there is also “ToonIt! Roto Toon,” which allows any kind of individual adjustment based on nine comic styles. Whether detail level, type, width or softness of lines, marker and shadow outlines, or halftone printing, little stands in the way of the (more or less) realistic creation of a comic effect here.
One of our favorite effects—which we do not need all that often but which nevertheless gives us a lot of fun—is Holomatrix, a filter for, well, something like the hologram of the Emperor or Princess Leia in the first Star Wars films. Red Giant actually supplies a considerable number of presets here (in its own window), from which users select a template and edit it further to their own taste. Working with greenscreen objects or other isolated elements is naturally particularly fun, but the filter is also suitable for the impression of surveillance cameras, faulty transmissions or other old-television effects.
The Effects Suite really is only about special effects for very distinctive results. In the overall package, the collection is a real bargain compared with the individual products, but users should consider whether they really need all the effects or whether purchasing individual packages would be more worthwhile. Anyone who treats themselves to the entire suite will have a lot of fun for a long time simply playing around with the effects. Although there are also people who enjoy sorting used postage stamps into sticky collectors’ albums or watching “You are Wanted” …
Red Giant – Effects Suite 11
Extensive special effects for professional applications
Platform: Adobe After Effects
Full version: 5OO US dollars
Info: www.redgiant.com
