PRODUCT: Apple Shake
WEB SITE: www.apple.com
PRICE: Shake 4 is $2,999; cross-platform version is $4,999, upgrade price is $999
· additional display options via Enhanced Node View
· ability to save favorite view
· added support for OpenEXR
Node-based compositing has been a staple of 2D artists for years. One popular package is Apple’s Shake, and it has seen a new upgrade with version 4, out this past quarter. Shake 4 remains comfortably the same, but with some enhancements that make it an improved program over its previous releases, with plenty of niceties that make the interface and workflow easier overall.
Right off the bat, compositors will appreciate the additional display options of the Enhanced Node View that essentially lets you custom color parts of your composite tree for a better first glance appraisal of the comp’s flow; to track down how expressions connect to each other, spot animated nodes and so forth. Noodles can also be color coded completely as the artist sees fit, again making the user experience nicer, especially with complicated scripts.
And even if your script is straightforward, if you find yourself with a tedious task of detailing parts of an image, Shake 4 will save you some time with Favorite Views. There is quite a bit of repetitive work in compositing, particularly if you find yourself painting areas of the frame. With Shake 4 you can save your current view of the image as a favorite in the Viewer, and come back to it without readjusting the zoom level or position. This also applies to views in the Node View, Curve View and the Parameters tab.
You can see two scripts at once with Shake 4. This launches two instances of Shake in reality, but makes for copying information from one script to another much easier, as you would be using one open script for reference to rebuild another, for example. And who wouldn’t want to have two scripts open at once across a wide screen Apple Cinema Display?
When you are working within transform nodes like Move2D, you will find a gentler and kinder set of onscreen controls. The crosshairs and triangles from the previous Shake versions are gone, and you will find discrete transform handles that are easier to work with than before. Now if you try to move your image in X and Y, you won’t accidentally rotate the image because of the old crosshairs handle.
The Truelight color calibration tools allow you to more successfully visualize your final output in your preview monitor. You will find presets for various mediums, such as different film stocks, or you can create your own. While this won’t likely be the best compared to actually seeing the work output in that medium, it can help the artist better gauge his or her color coming out at the workflow’s end. For example, by using the TLCalibrate node, you can adjust a color profile to calibrate for your desired output easily.
NODE IMPROVEMENTS
Apple has added some improvements to a number of key nodes. There is added support for working with the OpenEXR file format. A lot of CG is output in this format since so many buffers can be stored in one easy-to-access and well-compressed file. The FileIn node has improved de-interlacing features as well as better retiming options. The new features in the RotoShape node cannot be understated. You can easily copy and paste shapes between compatible nodes as well as copying and pasting rotoshape keyframes themselves. You can retime shape keyframes and import and export shape data. So much of a solid comp relies on a reliable mask, it’s good to know the roto tools have become easier to edit, especially when a source footage clip suddenly changes mid-production.
A few new nodes bring fresh usability to Shake, including the SmoothCam node for correcting a shaky camera, the AutoAlign node for stitching either still or image sequences together to create wider angle views and the LensWarp node for approximating different lens styles and unwarping effects.The AutoAlign is a great addition and it makes creating a stitched plate much easier to work with. Quite a few occasions call for larger plates than were shot, and a good eye using this new tool can come up with a great plate faster than before.
One of the strongest new nodes is the MultiPlane. This gives the Shake user a simple 3D composite environment that uses 3D camera views much like virtual cameras in 3D animation packages; You can import and use 3D tracking data from a shoot for example, to animate the camera in 3D space. This gives you great ability to create perspective effects simply in the comp. And having been on a few projects that required a fast parallax effect to make a still background plate appear as if it were shot in reality, this is a lifesaver.
FINAL THOUGHTS
I’ve always been a fan of Shake, and I believe Apple has done a marvelous job maintaining and progressing this impressive compositing application. However, I am dismayed not so see Shake on the Windows platform yet, and I find myself using Shake 2.5 at times. While there is a Linux option, it is priced higher than the OS X platform, turning off quite a few PC-based studios and boutiques to the Shake experience. This leaves only a couple of alternatives for Windows users for node-based compositing, but none of them are Shake. It would be a huge coup if Shake were released again for Windows, and I pine for that day. [Editor’s Note: We contacted Apple, which stated that the company’s policy is “to never comment on future plans or unannounced products. Regarding Shake, no announcements have been made for a Windows version.”]
In the end, you shouldn’t expect to see a massive overhaul with Shake 4, but the general feel and usability have certainly been given a lot of love. With a solid compositor already in the form of Shake, it seems the best move for Apple to enhance the artist workflow, which in turn enhances output and relieves the general stress level when it comes down to the wire before the big client handoff. Think of it as an unexpected bump to a first class seat on an airplane.