VFXER reviews Zaxwerks ProAnimator 8

VFXER has a great new review of the new Zaxwerks ProAnimator 8. It is a good review and does the comparisons with Element 3D and Cinema 4D.Here is the first video from Zaxwerks on new features. And it seems that the newest feature is speed, as they say fast many many many times in the video! And it does look fast even with Ray Tracing turned on, which Element 3D cannot do.And the Shadows sounds great, as you don't get shadows from Element 3D, and it includes Lens Flares and Lighting Rigs within the plug in (or stand alone app) which you need Optical Flares to do this with Element 3D.Honestly I had written off 3D Invigorator Pro as soon as I tried out Element 3D, as it was just so much easier to use and more powerful and quick. And I like how Element 3D integrates the 3D so well into After Effects 3D world (which it looks like it still does better), but this version is the first to impress me in a while. The biggest issue for me is price. $399 is more than basic Element 3D and Optical Flares from VideoCopilot. And even the $149 upgrade price seems a bit steep. And I don't know that I need it now that I have element 3D and can use Cinema 4D within after effects. Still looks like the upgrade they should have done long ago!

Larry Jordan on why Final Cut Pro 7 editors should consider Adobe Premiere Pro CC and some of my thoughts

Larry Jordan has a very informative and in depth article on why Final Cut Pro 7 Editors should consider Premiere Pro.I long ago made the switch on my personal system, and am starting to see companies move away from Final Cut Pro 7.I know that Trailer Park made the move fully to AVID Media Composer for all of it's bays, but they have graphics departments, so you basically are only cutting graphics into your edit there. And I have heard rumored that it is the studios forcing many companies to move to AVID. I actually wonder if they are getting kickbacks or if it is just older people more familiar with AVID? It is a rock solid system, but it seems so dated compared to Premiere Pro which I would say is a much more modern editing software.As for Direct Response Beach Body made the move to Premiere Pro, which to me only makes sense for Graphics Heavy projects. Especially with a fast video card.

AVID Media Composer 8.1 Update

AVID Blogs has the news on AVID releasing the 8.1 update to Media Composer. This is the first update since releasing their subscription model, and has come fairly quickly. Lets hope AVID keeps moving this quickly with updates. This was what I was worried about as AVID usually has a fairly slow update cycle.

Red Giant has updated it’s Shooter Suite to version 12.5

Red Giant has updated their Shooter suite to Version 12.5. It is $399 for full and $99 for upgrades from version 12.It has a new version of BulletProof 1.2, Plural Eyes 3.5, it now includes Denoiser II, LUT Buddy, and now Instant 4K for uprezzing.A great suite for on set work, and Plural Eyes is essential for all shoots with separate audio!

Fitness in Post a very cool new web site

There is a very cool new web site that was pointed out by HDSLR Shooter, and it is called Fitness in Post. It's aim is to get us post people who spend way too much time sitting down, to get in better shape.It wants us to exercise and also recommends standing desks. And it has things like community fitbit boards to see who is exercising the most.I would love to have a convertible standing desk, but I mostly work in different offices with set desks, so that really isn't an option most of the time. And I have an Aeron at home, but never get that nice of a chair at work. I would love to try one of these Isometric Ball Chairs though.Anyway, and interesting site, and worth checking out.

An argument against Xeon Processors, QuickSync and H.264 Compression

Mac Performance Guide has a new test showing a MacBook Pro vs a MacPro doing h.264 encoding. The MacPro has a consumer CPU which has QuickSync. Now you have to do specific encoder settings to get this result, but it clearly shows the MacPro being thoroughly beat by the MacBookPro!It is pretty idiotic that Intel would actual have better features in their consumer chips than their much more expensive professional Xeon chips! Really for most uses the Xeon is really best because you can have more cores and you can have dual processors, but since you can get higher core i7 chips now, maybe a hackintosh with a Core i7 would be better in many circumstances!

Adobe Premiere Pro CC 2014.0.1 Update

The Adobe Premiere Pro blog has the skinny on the latest update available through the Creative Cloud app. Mostly bug fixes with a few enhancements (Codec column in the project panel, sequence timecode added to display, and Clip Name and Timecode Filters can be set to reference info on clips specified for source tracks).

Apple kills Aperture, really getting out of Pro Apps

The Loop has the story.Since iPhoto is being replaced with Photos in Yosemite, they are killing Aperture. Looks like Adobe Lightroom (always the better program) is the only solution, but it loses the great integration that iPhoto had with Aperture.Seems pros have less to trust in Apple. Is Logic next to go? Will Apple kill FCP X after that? I wouldn't mind that, but for a company that has killed so many great Pro Apps, they are making less trust for Pro users. They already killed Shake and Final Cut Pro 7. What is next?I love Apple computers and OS X, but I don't trust them. The new MacPro is powerful, but not expandable enough. Are they pushing pros to Windows? Or do they want us to make Hackintoshes?