Boris, developer of integrated effects technology, announced at the SIGGRAPH 2001 trade show the upcoming release of Boris RED 2.1, an upgrade to their compositing and titling application.
Boris RED contains a 2D and 3D title animation feature for both Mac and Windows/NT non-linear editing applications. It’s designed for professionals in the commercial television, non-linear online/finishing market. Boris RED contains all the features of two other Boris products, BorisAE (production oriented compositing filters for After Effects) and BorisFX (a special effects plug-in application for non-linear editing systems), plus 3D particle effects, motion blur, advanced masking; and plug-in portal technology, the ability to use inside of your editor.
New features in Boris RED 2.1 include: new host integration, faster 3D rendering, improved motion tracking, improved Flash Export, export to DV, and a wide variety of workflow enhancements, according to company spokesperson Sheri Henderson. In addition to non-linear editing systems such as Adobe Premiere, Apple Final Cut Pro, Avid (Symphony, Media Composer, Xpress and Xpress DV), and Media 100 i/iFinish RED 2.1 will integrate directly into nonlinear editing solutions from Canopus, DPS, Discreet, FAST, In:sync, Incite, Matrox, Panasonic, Sony, and Ulead.
“RED 2.1 will also integrate into Adobe After Effects and the Avid|DS nonlinear production system. While also working as a standalone compositor, RED 2.1 provides effects power where video editors want it: inside their editing applications,” said company founder and president Boris Yamnitsky.
The update also offers “significant” speed increases for 3D rendering, Yamnitsky added. Interface improvements include: new buttons in the Controls window that provide fast access to options such as Make Texture Track, Make Motion Path, Add Drop Shadow and Wireframe mode; a new track naming scheme automatically names tracks by their media type until renamed by users; Filter Favorites for mapping frequently used effects to buttons in the timeline; and more.
RED 2.1 has expanded motion tracking. Tracking the output filters is now easier, and the history of production points now follows motion, Yamnitsky said. Motion paths may also be edited by adjusting onscreen keyframes. What’s more, the update offers users additional control over the size and quality of animations. Animations may now include MP3 audio in mono or stereo. There are also improvements to the Library Browser and Style Palette.
“These two features, unique to Boris, significantly boost productivity by allowing artists to save animation and design elements to be reused,” Yamnitsky said. “They are now even more flexible, so that users can customize them to their own needs. For example, animation settings may now be saved anywhere and still viewed in the Library Browser. Saved Styles for text, gradients, splines, brushes, extrusions and more may all be sorted in a variety of ways.”
Output options have also been expanded. In addition to a more robust Render Queue, animations may now be exported directly as native DV, said Yamnitsky. For users of DV editing systems, this saves the additional step of having to convert footage from other formats, he added.
Boris RED 2.1 will be available in the third quarter of the year as a free upgrade from Boris RED 2.0. Upgrades from previous version of RED are US$295. Upgrade pricing is also available for registered owners of Boris FX and GRAFFITI. RED 2.1 has a manufacturers suggested retail price of $1,995.
System requirements are a Power Mac with Mac OS 8.5. or higher; 128MB of RAM; and 125MB of hard disk space. RED hasn’t yet been Carbonized for Mac OS X.
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