GenArts releases Monsters GT for After Effects Windows

GenArts announces Monsters GT for After Effects, with over 50 effects including a variety of stylize, distort effects, fluid, trail, and particle effects. Currently only the Windows version is available (for CS5 & CS4); the Mac version should be out in Summer 2010.

There's floating point support, and the fluid simulation filters especially will benefit from GPU optimization, supported at the maximum in NVidia GeForce 200 or 400 series or Quadro 5800. Many of these are unique filters from the Flame and Smoke world, and several are very similar to other AE filters. Monsters GT was acquired in the purchase of SpeedSix, adding to GenArts stable of AE filter sets that include Sapphire, Tinder, and particleIllusion. Monsters GT features these tools:

• Stylize effects such as CCTV, NightVision and Brush
• Warps and distort effects such as HeatHaze, Puddle and Ripple
• Particle effects such as Rain, Smoke and Snow
• Fluidz, a set of plug-ins that use the power of 2d fluid dynamics to create Fire and fluid flow simulations (was in Raptors)
  
• Trailz, a set of plug-ins that create a variety of smooth, particulate and stop-motion trails (was in Raptors).

Here's an overview, plus a demo of Aurora (Autodesk version):

Fluid simulation in Audi 'Filter'

Via Andrew Webb on the AE-List and John Nack, who adds more type art, is Audi Filter on Motionographer. Some versions of Firefox aren't so happy with QuickTime, so here's Vimeo versions of the piece and a basic 'making of':

Update: in early 2011, Exotic Matter began shipping Naiad, the fluid-simulation software used on movies like Avatar.

Update: via @Filmbot is Contained Fluids from Andrew Lyons' Houdini User Group at Pixar Studios. It "demonstrates how Houdini's unique procedural tools can be used to create automated solutions to VFX challenges that might otherwise require costly dynamic simulations."

Contained Fluids - Andrew Lyons from Go Procedural on Vimeo.

Ethereal Morphing Letters

Satya Meka posted a cool method to Create an Ethereal Morphing Letter Canvas over at AETuts.com. He cleverly uses the Radio Waves filter built into After Effects to control Autotraced text masks.

Turbulence 2D: a filter for After Effects

Turbulence.2D, from Jawset Visual Computing, brings fluid dynamics to After Effects, with 7 channels of video input, one texture coordinate channel, and numerous other controls to help create organic textures, animations and typographic effects. You can find samples in their gallery, more about features, and a demo version at Jawset.

A similar filter in public alpha testing from the same company was mentioned last year in AE smoke filter(s) in alpha.

Update: BTW, there was similar filter Fluid Dynamics filter from Electrocolor that was released for AE 7.0/CS3. And Kevin Goldsmith noted that David Lenaerts has created a smoke/fluids simulation in Pixel Bender utilizing 49 Pixel Bender kernels per frame; he's giving out the source code.

GenArts acquires SpeedSix

GenArts, Inc., makers of the Sapphire 2 plug-in superset for After Effects, announced that it has acquired all the assets of SpeedSix Software Limited, which makes effect plug-ins for high-end post apps.

Details are hush-hush, but Fxguide has a story.

Hopefully Red Giant (which has acquired Digital Anarchy video plug-ins) or GenArts will port SpeedSix filters to AE. Here's a quote from Chris Meyer last year in New AE filters: FxFactory & DA FLUIDZ:

"Digital Anarchy has licensed technology from SpeedSix Software Limited and announced a new FLUIDZ effect set for Adobe After Effects and Premiere Pro. FLUIDZ uses 2D fluid dynamic simulations to create fire, water, smoke, and vapor-based effects."

Red Giant TV Beta & blog

Red Giant TV is in public beta. They carry a ton of cool After Effects plugs-in, so it looks to be a great resource -- each episode comes with a video tutorial and example and project files. Background and news can be found in the new Red Room Blog.

Episode 01: Binary Transition Part 1 by host Aharon Rabinowitz shows you how to use Trapcode Form to create a transition where footage breaks into particles of "binary code," and re-forms as different footage.

Trapcode itself already has a ton of graphical resources to learn about some of its essential extensions to AE. And via AE Freemart, Harry Franks has an excerpt from his Class on Demand set explaining how to Create a Fluid Plasma Effect with Trapcode Particular.

Update: RGTV host Aharon throws a change-up in another post, Slowing Things Down (see the numbers clearly).

Update 2: later... Binary Transition Tutorial, Part 2 - Now Available!

Flocking with 3D Perlin noise

Robert Hodgin of The Barbarian Group (makers of iTunes visualizer Magnetosphere), presented a movie (pictured left) at "Flash in the Can" in Toronto earlier this year.

He talks about the Processing environment and his use of 3D Perlin noise for flocking. Flash people were quick to experiment after an earlier presentation on Perlin noise; here's one, Animated Perlin Clouds in Papervision3D.

There's a bunch more generative processing stuff around beside the recent video by Radiohead. Toolbox is a node-based generative editor app that was featured recently on Create Digital Motion, which also features regular write ups on Processing projects. You can find demo movies of Toolbox on Vimeo, where the programmer links to Vector Field animations that do not use Perlin noise (implemented in After Effects in the Fractal Noise filter).

AE smoke filter(s) in alpha

After Effects filter developer Philipp Spöth of Frischluft.com posted a note on the AE-List about "a friend who is working on a Smoke and Fire plugin. This will not be the usual fake stuff. So maybe you are intersted in giving him some good feedback to help him turn this into a great plugin."

Apparently the filter is Windows-only and requires NVIDIA CUDA-enabled graphics for now, which will exclude some good feedback. The developer, Jaswet.com, has set up a small forum and two example renders: IncenseTest.wmv and IncenseTest2.wmv.

Update: On the AE-List, Ko Maruyama mentioned that DigitalAnarchy was re-developing similar fluid-dynamics tools from SpeedSix (shown at NAB).

Trapcode Form released

Trapcode released another cool After Effects filter today. Form "is a grid-based 3D particle system with a twist. It can be used to create fluid, organic patterns, complex geometric structures and swirling strings. Using other layers as maps for various properties provides endless possibilities," as does controls for audio visualization and easy seamless loops. Form ships with 61 presets and built-in help.

Check out the fun demo movies and see how Form works at Form in action. There's 3 more Peder Norby tutorials at Red Giant).

Update: Form beta testers are already posting examples on Trapcoode People, and Harry Franks posted a coupla presets on AE Freemart.