MacDirectory magazine is the premiere creative lifestyle magazine for Apple enthusiasts featuring interviews, in-depth tech reviews, Apple news, insights, latest Apple patents, apps, market analysis, entertainment and more.
Issue link: https://digital.macdirectory.com/i/43027
REVIEW
BORIS RED 5 WORDS BY TREY YANCY
Red 5 provides 41 top quality filters from the Final Effect Complete suite, including two blur and sharpen filters, 12 distortion effects, nine edge filters, four particle- based effects, three stylize filters, and 10 transition effects.
Interface
While everyone has seen the complex animated 3D title sequences and lower thirds for popular sports shows, chances are that few outside the world of pro video are familiar with the software that is used to create them. One of the leading applications in this area is Red, from BorisFX.
While Boris Red does an impressive job of 3-D bling (which should place it on any video pro's must-have list), it does a first- rate job with titles, clip compositing and transitions. It comes in a bundle of two versions: plug-in and standalone. As a plug- in it is compatible with Premiere Pro and After Effects CS4, Final Cut Pro 6 and 7, Avid Media Composer 4 through v5.5, and the Media 100 Suite, as well as with a variety of Windows applications. Software updates for Premiere and AfterEffects CS 5 and 5.5 are forthcoming. Users of Final Cut X are in the same boat with Red as with just about every other plug-in that supports FCP 7 but thanks to Red's stand- alone version it works well for generating content for FC X.
Among the new features of Boris 5 are first-rate image restoration tools, including noise reduction, a tone smoother that is excellent for skin, fixers for dead pixels and DV aliasing. It also includes 32 particle- based effects, painterly effects, a great SD to HD converter, a 3-Way color grade filter, realistic in-camera and stylized effects. Boris also includes a keyframe library of more than 50 transition effects that were created with Boris Continuum Complete and Final Effects Complete. Interface improvements, while not overwhelming, include drag and drop panels and a curve editor.
For those who are unfamiliar with Red, it has an interface that has much in common with the look of AfterEffects with the added layer-based control interface of Motion. Every track can be expanded to a dizzying degree, allowing the user to tunnel down to just any function, and users can add sublayers to their heart's delight, making it possible, for example, to combine video with texture and grime layers, EPS art, fonts, metallic effects and just about anything else to generate content that is extremely rich.
Type
The text and title generator will be familiar to users of other applications but as Red is a true 3-D application, it takes things several steps further, such as applying different texture maps, reflection maps and so-on to the various faces and bevels. Add a splatter font or art font to the mix and things become interesting. Once you begin stacking multiple instances in the same 3-D space with complex textures, glass effects and such, you begin to realize that this is not your grandfather's titler.
Hands-On
Boris Red 5 is a great tool and it opens a lot of possibilities, particularly when you take a less traditional approach to the tools, an example being the employment of fields of non-alpha numeric fonts to create complex textures. As for the interface, it does retain a bit of a '90s feel that has more in common with Flash than with Motion. Things can become a bit confusing when you start creating layers within layers, as you will have to keep track of which effect or control is applied to which level of a seemingly infinitely expandable layer. The addition of drag and drop panels is a big help in this regard, particularly for users with dual monitor systems.
Minor interface snipes aside, it works wonderfully and once you have spent a bit of time with Red things start to feel more natural. If you would like to take a look, a
14-day full featured trial version is available. If you then decide to purchase it, just punch in the license code and you will be ready to go.
Conclusions
Boris Red 5 is highly capable tool and the more time you spend with it and the more imagination you apply to its use, the more amazing the result. The interface is a touch old school and we are looking forward to its support for CS 5.5 but Boris Red 5 is a worthy addition to the toolbox of any video pro.
Product From BorisFX