Apple has released Shake 4.1 and dramatically discounted the product's price: from £1,999 to £329 (including VAT). It's the first Universal version of the compositing software which lets Final Cut Studio editors create sophisticated 3D compositing, keying, image tracking and stabilisation effects.
This update is only for Mac versions of the Shake software. The price drop also appears to only be relevant to Mac users and not Linux users of the software.
Shake continues to be the tool of choice for major motion-picture studios and leading effects houses to create award-winning visual effects including this year's Oscar winner, King Kong, Apple points out.
"At just $499, Shake is now priced as low as a plug-in for Final Cut Studio," said Rob Schoeben, Apple's vice president of applications product marketing. "Now Final Cut Studio customers can retouch their shots with Shake's optical flow technology or add photo realistic visual effects to their productions, even on a shoestring budget."
Shake 4.1 offers a range of operations from simple re-touching to complex 3D compositing. Launched directly from the Final Cut Pro timeline, Shake uses optical flow image analysis to re-time, track and stabilise shots with precision. Particle effects from Motion 2 can be dropped directly into the Shake process tree to add elements such as smoke, sparkles and fire to 3D composites.
Shake 4.1 delivers significant performance gains on the new Intel-based Macs, Apple claims. Performance tests on a MacBook Pro have shown that common tasks such as colour correction, warping and the application of filters are processed up to 3.5 times faster on a MacBook Pro than on a PowerBook G4.
Shake 4.1 is now available through the Apple Store.
News source: Macworld UK
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