Issue link: https://digital.copcomm.com/i/16039
review GenArts Monsters GT for After Effects T he phone rings, its Post Magazine. “Want to review GenArts’ new plug- in set?” My heart starts pumping. I manage to scream,“Yes!” Click. I await the email. It’s here with my trial info. Why am I so excited? For one, I love By DAVID BASULTO Producer/Editor Filmmaking Central South Pasadena, CA dave@filmmakingcentral.com plug-ins. I am addicted to their wonderful creativeness. Sure the folks at Adobe come up with some killer plug-ins in-house, but there are also a lot of creative types out there making their own. GenArts is one of those companies. To say they make top- notch, useful additions to my toolbox is an understatement. What is important to me is a plug-in set These GPU- accelerated plug-ins offer more than just pretty graphics. that makes me more creative. I think,“Wow, it can make my footage look like this?”That triggers all my creative juices and allows me to think way outside the box. Now what made me excited initially on getting this assignment is GenArts makes awesome plug-ins.Yes, they can seem pricey to some folks, but you will find clients blown away by what you can do and the money will recoup itself. MONSTER GT For the first time ever, GenArts brings After Effects artists the ability to create awe- some effects only available before to Flame and Smoke users. Not only can we create magic but we can do it on our GPU-acceler- ated machines, too! Monster GT is made for realtime speed freaks like me.With the GPU- like peering through a steamy shower look. Now it’s a click and add to my timeline.A few customizations and I am in business. INCREDIBLE EFFECTS From adding ultra-realistic items like the moon, rainbows and the night sky, to some of the best fire, heat, fireworks, smoke, snow and rain, this is one set that will make your toolbox ultra powerful. Each effect has the ability to do many different configurations — you are only limited by your imagination. I had fun adding the Brush effect to my client’s logo, doing some simple keyframes to start with the full logo, then subtly ending with a cool oil brush. I added some music and sent it to them. I got an email back say- ing,“We love it, can we add this to future work and if so how much will it add?”When I said yes and free they were blown away. Add value where you can, I always say! Also inside the Stylize folder of Monsters GT are some of the best Night Vision, Thermo and Infrared I have ever seen. Add to this an amazing effect called Dots that will make your clip look like it was straight from the print industry, and another called Num- bers that makes the footage look like an old-school Paint by Numbers set. NOT JUST EYE CANDY Although the effects included in Monsters GT are some amazing eye candy, they are also huge time savers.Taking advantage of PRICE: $999 for either node-locked or floating licenses. Sapphire/Monsters bundle, $2,299. Existing Sapphire for AE owners get Monsters GT and upgrade to 64-bit Sapphire 5 for AE for $999. · Unlimited customization · Monsters GT plays back at real- time speeds, perfect for showing the client sudden changes · Audio Extract effect is a massive time saver PRODUCT: GenArts Monsters GT for AE WEBSITE: www.genarts.com The Brush Effect palette is bursting with creative choices. times after stacking five of the effects on one clip! Even my old version running on a Mac Pro with an ATI card still played back much faster than even some of the pre-installed ef- fects that came with After Effects. Monsters GT also includes some really useful tools. One in particular is Audio Ex- tract.Audio Extract is a massive time saver. It allows you to “extract” the audio source and animate the clip you choose to the beats of the audio.To do this manually is painful and very time consuming. Now in a matter of moments, Audio Extract analyzes the audio and creates keyframes that you can then connect to a property, such as scale, rota- tion, or any other animatable property.With a simple expression and pick whip connec- tion you are in business.Your clip will now come alive with the audio. After doing this a few times I really see the huge time savings you get here. enabled rendering ability, waiting to show a client or yourself the magic is not painful any- more. It happens in the now. Love it. Monsters GT contains over 50 “one-of-a- kind” effects. I have to say some of them completely blew me away. I honestly never knew where to begin to create something 48 Post • September 2010 CS5’s 64-bit architecture, Monsters GT takes on full GPU-acceleration to minimize render times, thus making your workflow more effi- cient. If you are on a CUDA card watch out; the realtime playback and rendering will blow you away. My PC has an Nvidia Quadro 4800 and I was amazed at my fast render www.postmagazine.com FINAL THOUGHTS I loved Monsters GT. GenArts really hit the nail on the head putting together this ex- tremely useful bunch of effects and time-sav- ing tools.The ability to utilize the 64-bit tech- nology and GPU enhancement really makes these plug-ins the cream of the crop.You will become the Rembrandt you have aspired to by being creative with the Monsters GT set. The GenArts Monsters GT is available now on Mac and PC for After Effects CS5 and CS4. In my opinion, Monsters GT is a great investment. CREDIT: DAVID PEPE VITAL STATS