Issue link: https://digital.copcomm.com/i/1416119
PRODUCTS www.postmagazine.com 33 POST SEPT/OCT 2021 NEW EDITING PACKAGES PUT VEGAS PRO 19 AT CORE MADISON, WI — Vegas Creative Software (www.vegascreativesoftware.com) recently announced a new lineup and pricing strategy that's designed to fur- ther empower content creators. Central to the strategy is a complete refresh of the Vegas Pro product line, beginning with the launch of Vegas Pro 19. The refreshed product line — with Vegas Pro 19 at its core — delivers improved video/audio editing, color grading, effects, live streaming and all new cloud-in- tegrated content management and acquisition. Some of Vegas Pro 19's new features include Hub Window, which offers a central location for accessing cloud storage, royalty-free stock footage, tuto- rials and more. Vegas Content is a database of royalty-free stock footage that users can download and import directly into their projects. The Vegas Hub mobile app allows users to upload media files directly from mobile devices into Vegas Hub cloud storage. The color grading panel has been redesigned, and now features a more intuitive and accessible workflow. Range-limited color wheels provide precise controls, allowing artist to better target specific color grading adjustments. Forty professionally-developed camera and LUT presets are included too. A powerful speech generator now transforms text from any source into realistic, synthesized narration in a variety of languages. And AI-based upscale and zoom plug-ins allow users to upconvert footage to 4K. In addition, new codec support includes Blackmagic Design's RAW format (beta). Three packages are now available. The entry-level 'Vegas Edit' option for aspiring editors and enthusiasts includes Vegas Pro 19, 20GBs of cloud storage and Vegas Content (20 royalty-free HD video and/or audio clip downloads per month), all via the company's $12.99 monthly subscription plan. A perpetual license is also available for $249.00. The 'Vegas Pro' plan is designed for content creators working in film, social media and live events. The $19.99/month subscription includes Vegas Pro 19, 50GBs of cloud storage, Vegas Stream for high production value live stream- ing, Sound Forge, Vegas Content (unlimited access to royalty-free HD video and/or audio clip downloads) and +Primatte chroma keying software. A per- petual license is available for $399.00. And 'Vegas Post' is a $29.99/month plan that's been developed for content creators who require a complete video/audio editing and high-end com- positing and RAW image compositing workflow experience. The package includes Vegas Pro 19, 100GBs of cloud storage, Vegas Effects for high-end compositing, Vegas Image for RAW image compositing, Vegas Stream, Vegas Content (unlimited access to royalty-free HD and 4K video and/or audio clip downloads), Sound Forge and +Primatte chroma keying software. A perpetual license is $599.00. AUTODESK'S IMPROVED BITFROST SIMPLIFIES VFX CREATION SAN FRANCISCO — Autodesk (autodesk.com) has announced a feature-rich update to Bitfrost that's targeted at simplifying the creation and delivery of complex simulations and custom effects via realtime tool feedback and a host of new enhancements. New virtual sliders allow fluid ports to be adjusted in realtime with dynamic constants and F-curves to be edited live. With feedback port preservation, artist simulations stay intact during graph edits, pausing and unpausing, while the ability to edit live simulations shortens time between iterations. Broken Bifrost graphs can now be fixed with unknown nodes. Users can now also merge JSON files into single large files, which facilitates faster loading in as little as two seconds. Faster loading further improves time to first pixel in the first Arnold render in a session. Artists can now use fields and arrays to directly drive simulation parameters, making simulation graphics more expressive, readable and artistically direct- able. Aero's post-simulation now only requires a single connection, simplifying refinement workflows. The required data can be cached with the volume to perform a post-simulation refinement from disk, without the original simulation scene. This update has also improved MPM Cloth performance and simulation stability, as well as animation cloth and shell properties. Maya's viewport display of adaptive volumes features significant enhance- ments, and volume adaptivity can now be accessed on simulation compounds to improve performance for input meshes that require conversion. Non-adaptive volumes also now use the adaptive algorithm for accelerated conversions. The Alembic integration now supports writing and reading for more Bifrost user data and corrects the handling of quarternions and matrices. Bugs with writing OpenVDB have also been corrected for a more robust interaction with the ecosystem of OpenVDB readers and writers, and sparse OpenVDB files can be converted to adaptive Bifrost volumes. With steady improvements since the initial release, terminals are now out of beta and ready for production. Terminals now also work in loops, enabling each iteration to add geometry to a scene. Bifrost is available for all Maya users. To download the latest Bifrost extension for Maya, visit: https://area.autodesk.com/bifrost/downloads/.