Known since 1997 for a core suite of 18 high-performance Adobe After Effects plug-ins for compositors, the re-branding effort means to elevate the company's presence, expand business and deliver a broader spectrum of creative tools to digital content creators in the film, broadcast, video, animation, gaming, graphics, design, and visual effects industries. Company founder Steven J. Walker will continue to oversee WalkerFX operations as president and lead technology developer.
Along with the name-change comes a major rebuild of the Walker Effects V.2.1 core graphics engine. In order to provide the unique capabilities of WalkerFX to applications other than just After Effects, the company is developing Tranceform a creative tool for producing “complex and mesmerizing animations.” Walker intends for Tranceform to support Adobe After Effects as well as Apple Shake, Apple Motion and Autodesk Combustion.
Tranceform is scheduled for release in Q2 2006, and will be followed by the June release of WalkerFX V.3.0. Walker says the re-branding and new product line is “an exciting leap forward for WalkerFX, and advances our commitment to developing an increasingly broad range of artist-friendly, innovative and robust tools that greatly optimize creative performance and increase productivity for customers at all levels of expertise."