Apple Shake 4.1 Visual Effects (Mac)

by Apple

Product Features

• Optimized to run on new Intel-based Macintosh computers; now available at a lower price
• Unified 2D/3D compositing delivers the most efficient compositing operations for handling large images with pristine quality
• Integrates the latest image processing technology into a single, affordable visual effects package
• Open, customizable architecture lets you extend Shake by using internal C-like scripting language and macros to make custom effects and functions
• Drop Motion 2 projects directly into Shake to create a powerful graphics and effects combination

Product Details

• Shipping Weight: 5.8 pounds
• Shipping: Currently, item can be shipped only within the U.S. and to APO/FPO addresses. For APO/FPO shipments, please check with the manufacturer regarding warranty and support issues.
• ASIN: B000BX5GGY
• Item model number: MA434Z/A
• Date first available at Amazon.com: June 20, 2006
• Average Customer Review: 5.0 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (3 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #7,143 in Software (See Top 100 in Software)
  • #28 in Software > Video & Music > Digital Video > Compositing & Effects
• Discontinued by manufacturer: Yes

Product Description

Amazon.com

The choice of Oscar Winning effects artists over the past nine years, Shake now offers a host of new features that give you the highest quality output for film and HD. Use Shake to create convincing, photorealistic, Hollywood-caliber visual effects on a desktop -- and on a budget.

Shake 4.1, optimized to run on new Intel-based Macintosh computers, is now available at a price that will fit even tight production budgets. Used to create the world's most celebrated visual effects, Shake provides the only compositing software with a complete toolset for both single artists and visual effects facilities.

Shake's advanced node-based interface makes managing and organizing composites more intuitive. View larger.

With Shake 4, you can leverage the creative work you're producing in Final Cut Studio, extending it with an integrated workflow that puts a wide range of tools--e.g., sophisticated 3D multi-plane compositing, 32-bit Keylight and Primatte keying, cutting-edge Optical Flow image processing, smooth stabilization, image tracking, and an open, extensible scripting program -- at your fingertips.

You can, for example, drop Motion 2 projects directly into Shake to create a powerful graphics and effects combination; then render the resulting project using the shared OpenEXR format for film quality reproduction. The result: now everyone who uses Final Cut Studio has the power to create the most sophisticated film and television visual effects. Without breaking the budget.

Unified 2D/3D Compositing
Shake delivers the most efficient compositing operations for handling large images with pristine quality. From full 32-bit float Keylight and Primatte keyers to OpenGL-accelerated 3D multi-plane compositing, no other visual effects software delivers as complete a toolset for individual artists and full visual effects facilities.

Shake's new multi-plane compositing is integrated directly into the node view, making it seamless to jump from 2D paint, rotoscoping and image processing into a 3D layered composite.

3D Multi-Plane Compositing: Shake's new multi-plane compositing is integrated directly into the node view, making it seamless to jump from 2D paint, rotoscoping and image processing into a 3D layered composite. Adding a multi-plane node allows you to "plug in" any number of layers for 3D compositing. Match CGI-rendered elements with live-action scenes by importing 3D tracking data from applications including Maya, Boujou and Pixel Farm. Your layers remain highly interactive while you work, thanks to OpenGL hardware-accelerated previews.

Enhanced Node View: Since every effect in Shake is a distinct node that you can insert into a node tree, use the Node View to select, view, navigate and organize the functions that comprise the node tree. In the Node View, you can access any part of your composite. As you view and select the controls for each node, you can modify them while looking at the final render. You can, for example, paint on a frame that rotates 3D space without viewing the frame in a different window.

Resolution Independence: With Shake 4, you can change the resolution and bit-depth during the compositing process as many times and wherever you wish. Output a film-resolution 32-bit plate and an 8-bit video-resolution image simultaneously. Shake allows you to work in 8 bits, 16 bits, or 32 bits per channel, all within the same project: No need to have all compositing operations in a project at the same bit depth. You optimize the project, using 16- and 32-bit operations where needed while performing quick 8 bit operations as well.

Tracking on Rotoshape Points: In Shake, you can mask a layer or an effect to control which areas of an image are affected. For sophisticated animations, you can keyframe each mask or track each point on the rotoshape and apply a photorealistic motion blur. Create multiple shapes within one rotoshape node while modifying soft-edge falloff controls independently on each control point.

32-bit Keylight and Primatte: Shake includes two industry-standard keyers, Primatte and Keylight, that operate with full 32-bit float precision to ensure the continuation of high bit depth throughout a project. Whereas other packages take a "one-keyer-fits-all" approach to keying, Shake allows you to combine keys to achieve the best results.

Truelight Monitor Calibration: Truelight -- a complete HD-to-film or film-to-film color management system from Filmlight -- is now integrated directly into Shake for pre-visualizing the look of projected film images on LCD and CRT displays. Use Truelight 3D Cube technology to accurately predict the look of your HD or film imagery when printed, without unnecessary film-outs.

Advanced Image Processing
With its use of Optical Flow technology, Shake leads the way in integrating the latest image processing breakthroughs into a single, affordable visual effects package. The results are cleaner, sharper and more natural-looking images.

Shake's Optical Flow-based retiming gives you smooth slow motion effects at amazingly low frame rates.

Optical Flow-based Retiming: A sophisticated method of motion estimation that automatically tracks an image pixel by pixel in order to create "new" frames, Shake's Optical Flow-based retiming gives you smooth slow motion effects at amazingly low frame rates. Shake can nonlinearly retime any clip, allowing you to ramp forwards and backwards though a clip.

Smoothcam and Tracking: Use new Smoothcam to smooth out bumpy camera moves or eliminate camera movement altogether. Smoothcam uses Optical Flow technology to automatically remove camera jitter from static shots without setting tracking points. Smoothcam even revives unusable shots by correcting uneven pans across a scene. Shake also includes powerful tracking technology that follows the movement of pixels over a series of frames to create "motion paths" you can attach other elements to. Shake's tracker allows you to define various parameters to automate tracking of even the most difficult shots. Attach trackers to paint strokes, warper shapes or even individual points on a mask shape.

Shape-Based Morphing and Warping: Use shape-based morphing and warping in Shake to achieve fantastic shape-shifting or seamless corrective effects. Integrated directly into Shake, morphing and warping shapes use the standard spline tools, making it more intuitive to create and modify an effect than with mesh-based warping tools. And unlike hardware-based warping tools, Shake employs software-based rendering for fine precision. Apply trackers to shapes and create moving morphs and warps faster: The Shake warping engine takes full advantage of dual processors.

Auto-Align: Combine multiple source images in to a single panorama with Auto-Align, an Optical Flow analysis-based transform node. Use Auto-Align to align, warp and luminance match images that overlap either horizontally or vertically. Unlike similar photographic tools, Auto-Align works with both stills and image sequences. This means you can, for example, turn three side-by-side shots or an expanse of action into a single, extremely wide-angle background plate.

Open, Customizable Architecture

Harness the power of the OS X Terminal application to modify and execute image processing scripts.

Think outside the box. Shake features an open, extensible architecture -- with internal C-like scripting language and macros -- that gives you the power to create your own effects and functions. Extend the out-of-the-box feature set by using Shake's broad SDK, internal C-like scripting language and macros to make custom effects and functions. Customize it to fit your workflow.

Scripting: Because Shake projects are essentially scripts -- text files saved out in ASCII format -- they are extremely flexible and easy to modify, even without launching Shake itself. If you use a very large script that looks at A, but the 3D artist has just created a new version for that image, image B, you can simply open the script in a text editor and change the reference from image B to image A. In fact, you can access most Shake functions directly from the Mac OS X Terminal application. Type a simple command in the Terminal to quickly take a series of TIFF images, apply a mask and place it over a background image for 35 frames. Then launch the resulting file into a RAM player or write it out to disk. Shake scripting lets you automate simple, repetitive tasks without opening the application, importing images, creating a tree and rendering.

Expressions: Any parameter in Shake may be a mathematical expression that drives the modification or animation of other nodes. Expressions allow you to modify multiple parts of a composite simultaneously or create sophisticated animations -- say, a random flickering on a function that controls brightness -- that would otherwise be unrealistic to create by hand.

Product Description

Used to create the world's most celebrated visual effects, Shake now runs natively on both PowerPC and Intel-based Macs, at a price that fits almost any production budget. Extend Final Cut Studio with Shake and take advantage of an integrated workflow that puts sophisticated 3D compositing, keying, image tracking, smooth stabilization and more at your fingertips. For a powerful graphics and effects combination, Motion 2 projects can be dropped directly into Shake without rendering or rendered using the shared OpenEXR format for film quality reproduction. Now every Final Cut Studio editor can have the power to create worlds beyond imagination.

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

2 of 2 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Last Chance, May 28, 2011

By 

C. Burke (Saint Joseph, Missouri United States) - See all my reviews
(REAL NAME)   

This review is from: Apple Shake 4.1 Visual Effects (Mac) (DVD-ROM)

If your do film editing with FCP Studio 5 on a Power PC G5, or are averse to going to Leopard or Snow Leopard, this is your last chance to accumulate the wherewithal to attain the editing horsepower of FCP Studio 5 with Motion and After Effects without paying through the nose for a new Intel Mac and After Effects (which now runs only on Intel Macs using Leoplard). Shake was discontinued by Apple in 09, but runs flawlessly with FCP5 and it's bundled Motion 2. Some say Apple will release Shake again as Phenomenon, some disagree...either way Shake is still available through others who've bought up the disks. Beware, I bought mine through an outfit sending only the disk and not docs, and the disk is sold as NFR, not for resale. Buying it this way you'd have to print up the docs (1000+ pages) and wonder what NFR really iplies. I'm still learning this ap, Apples training manuals are still available and I refuse to buy another Mac to edit on because my old workhorse is just a G5 Power PC, still works great and since I bought it for editing in the first place (in Dec 2004) I now have every incentive to keep going and learn this ap and it's integration with FCP and Motion (for which it was intended). I don't agree that it's cool for Apple to change platforms to Intel based and leave the Power PC owners high and dry for aps and support. Thank God Shake is still available and this version is Universal, works on both the old chips and Intel, today After Effects runs only on Leopard and Intel. I'm in the middle of shooting a low/no budget feature fully out of my own pocket and need all the horsepower I can get from existing equipment and aps. I own a Macbook pro and Shake 4.1 (and FCP 5/Motion 2) runs fine on it too, but my G5 is where I can really get work done and now, with assets like Video Copilot's Action Essentials 2 and Shake/Motion I don't have to go broke (use credit) to finish my film and get it out there. For what it's worth, hope this helps...Carey

5.0 out of 5 stars Apple Shake - Discontinued but still VERY capable, December 18, 2011

By 

Michael Loomis - See all my reviews

Amazon Verified Purchase

This review is from: Apple Shake 4.1 Visual Effects (Mac) (DVD-ROM)

I've used Shake for several years to handle compositing chores at work (I'm an animator) and I've now purchased a copy for home use, too. I really don't care if the product has been discontinued by Apple - its still a great product with a complete tool set that produces high quality results. I suppose everybody has a favorite compositing package, but for me, Shake fits the way I think and create. Highly recommended!

5.0 out of 5 stars Shake and bake, April 23, 2011

By 

Roboceto - See all my reviews

Amazon Verified Purchase

This review is from: Apple Shake 4.1 Visual Effects (Mac) (DVD-ROM)

Great training in VFX! Get ready to buckle up and learn an amazing product. (intermediate to advanced learning curve) {used with mac 10.5) haven't worked with this product in SL yet.