Top Visual Effects Software,Combustion,Cinema4D,SoftImage

Combustion 4 is a computer program "for motion graphics, compositing and visual effects" (Discreet, n.d.). The software retails for US$995 (MacMinute, 2004). It is commonly likened to Adobe's After Effects, and shares a similar interface with Autodesk's (formerly Discreet) higher-end compositing systems Inferno, Flame and Flint.

Autodesk Combustion v.2008 - is an all-in-one professional compositing application with a powerful visual effects toolset that enables digital video artists to realize their creative potential. It features an easy-to-use interface that helps artists get their work done faster. With Combustion 2008, artists have in-context access to motion graphics, 3D compositing, color correction, image stabilization, powerful vector paint, text effects, short-form editing, expressions, Flash software output and more.

Autodesk Combustion v.2008 includes unmatched integration with industry-standard animation, imaging, and illustration software. Designed to meet the needs of the most demanding effects artists, Combustion v.2008 delivers first-rate performance at an affordable price and augments the creative potential of any suite of desktop tools.
The Colour Warper in Combustion v.2008 performs primary and selective color correction. It also allows for precise fine-tuning with multiple levels of adjustment in a single pass. Colour Warper features include: - Interactive adjustment of gamma, gain, offset, hue, saturation, and contrast.

- Intuitive hue shift and a tint color wheel for fast, accurate color balancing and a visual color sampling palette for precise color matching.

- Interactive Histogram and curves editing modes for subtle, precision tweaking of color components. - Independent controls for color correcting the image’s shadow, midtone, and highlight regions.

- “Match” feature for fast scene-to-scene color correction.

- “Selective” feature for sampling up to three different color regions for isolated correction.

- User interface features: high-quality RGB vector scope, and a 3D histogram for precise color monitoring.

SoftImage XSI 6.5

Model

With the world’s fastest subdivision surface modeler and intuitive tools that make 3D modeling feel like sculpting, XSI’s non-destructive environment lets you focus on your art. A Gigapolygon core architecture that can push millions of subdivided polygons interactively lets you scale your creations to unprecedented levels of detail. With XSI, you’ll never have to wait for your 3D software to catch up to your imagination.

Animate

Fast, flexible animation is the heart of XSI. Streamlined workflows make it easy to pose and keyframe highly detailed characters. You get more keying done while watching your character in the viewports, without having to open another editor. Real-time playback means you can see what you’re doing without waiting for animation previews. A clean, responsive curve editor and dopesheet make it easy to manipulate animation. Easy animation layering and mixing simplify the process of breaking animation into parts and moving it around.

Iterate

XSI offers the best iterative workflow of any 3D package. Non-destructive tools let you add new details to rigged or shape-animated characters whenever you want, without tedious hours of rework. Full mental ray integration means you can generate full-quality previews directly in an XSI viewport for hassle-free client-attended review and approval sessions. And with XSI's built-in compositor you can preview the results of multi-pass renders without switching environments. Change is good.

Collaborate

A successful production is a team effort, so XSI features the industry’s best collaborative environment. Delta referencing technology offers lightweight, production-level referencing so multiple artists can work on assets without getting in each other’s way. Crosswalk interoperability features seamlessly transfer assets into and out of other 3D animation packages.

Reuse

Working with multiple characters often involves tedious manual tasks that you need to repeat for each character. XSI saves you time where it matters most with tools to transfer character setups and animation across rigs. GATOR transfers any surface attributes — including UVs, weight maps, skinning, and shape animation — from one character to another. MOTOR is the world’s first system for moving keyframe animation across characters, regardless of their proportions or control structures.

Shade and Texture

From scales and skin, to metal and stone, to cartoon ink and paint, XSI's Quick Shade technology and texturing tools help you get the look you want—fast. An interactive texture editor lets you unfold UVs and place texture maps precisely. The powerful render tree and texture layer editor make it easy to build complex materials. A fully integrated customizable shaderball engine renders preview thumbnails wherever you need them.

Render

Render A shared-memory architecture with the award-winning mental ray renderer built right in makes XSI the best 3D animation package for cinematic-quality multi-pass rendering. You can delve into powerful shaders in the render tree and set up breathtaking photorealistic lighting with just a few clicks. The Gigapolygon core and shared-memory architecture mean that you can render more detail using less memory than in any other package. And integrated frame buffers allow you to render a single default pass that outputs many common channels to separate files.

And with the open rendering API introduced in XSI 6, our rendering technology partners are taking advantage of our open rendering API to develop and integrate their respective render engines into XSI with similar depth and control.

Softimage customers can now enjoy XSI integrations of the following renderers:

* Indigo Renderer * 3Delight

* V-Ray * Maxwell

Paint and Composite

Can your 3D software edit textures and image-based lighting in real time? XSI’s built-in compositor is designed to do just that. Based on Avid’s Matador, Media Illusion, and Elastic Reality, XSI Illusion is a fully integrated, resolution-independent 2D paint and compositing module. With over 130 film-quality effects and more than 60 programmable brushes for 2D raster and vector painting, you can use XSI Illusion to rough out final shots, touch up your textures, morph, warp and rig images, create custom mattes and tweak the results of a multi-pass render – all without switching apps.

Develop
A Technical Director ’s dream come true, XSI lets you use the best language for the job, offering integrated C#, and support for Python v.2.5 and .NET compliant languages. A Tools Development Environment (TDE) gives developers a dedicated environment for customization and plug-in development. With a completely programmable realtime shader pipeline, a dedicated framework to host custom applications, and a rendering SDK that makes it possible to integrate 3rd party renderers, XSI is simply the most customizable 3D package available.

Try the software! Its amazing at the number of features the software offers!

Maxon Cinema4D v9.603

Model, animate and render with a practical command of all the essential functions and tools in CINEMA 4D 10. Detailed tutorials, suitable for novices and experienced users alike, demonstrate how to navigate the redesigned UI and orient you to the workflow. Next, the author guides you through the creation of a more complex project in which you model, create, apply textures, light, and render a final showcase image of a sports car. Finally, you will model, texture and prepare a comic character for animation using the new powerslider, timeline and the revised MOCCA module.Build on your command of the essentials with an introduction to the new layer system as well as these advanced skills:* Light, texture, and shade with CINEMAs material system, BodyPaint 3D, and the integrated shaders* Build complex mechanical and organic models using NURBS and polygon tools* Compose 3D content into photos* Render with advanced techniques such as Multi Pass rendering, HDRI lighting and radiosity* Simplify animation setups using XPresso constrains* Work with specialized tools such as HAIR, Clothilde or SKY for special effects

CINEMA 4D is a popular 3D application amongst matte painters in film largely due to the BodyPaint 3D functionality and is equally popular amongst motion graphics artists thanks to an excellent integration with compositing application pipelines coupled with a very artist-friendly and customizable workflow and interface. It has been utilized for films such as Polar Express[1], Open Season[2] and Monster House[3].
The application relies on widely used computer 3D technology which works by creating groups of "points" (known as vertices) which form surfaces when connected. The illusion of three dimensions is created by modeling objects out of multiple surfaces. Still pictures, movies and game environments (among other things) can be created with this technique.
CINEMA 4D has its own runtime scripting and programming language C.O.F.F.E.E. which is rather similar in form to JScript and an advanced modern C++ API with extensive SDK to develop platform independent plug-ins.
Four different packages have been released by MAXON: the core CINEMA 4D application, the XL-Bundle (including NET Render [3 licenses], PyroCluster, Advanced Render, MOCCA and Thinking Particles), the Studio Bundle, which includes all modules, and the Production Bundle, which comes with a service contract, Linux version, Renderman support and a number of other high-end studio-specific features. This version is only available upon request.
Initially, CINEMA 4D was developed for Amiga computers in the early nineties but has since been released for Mac OS X, Microsoft Windows, and most recently, via the Production Bundle, Linux.
MAXON has created a way for all users to be able to 'get into' 3D with their software by pursuing this route. Training DVD in addition to install DVD for R10: More than 6GB of video tutorials in German or English. MAXON bundles HTML manuals and tutorials/videos with its software. New in release 10 are context sensitive help menus.
CINEMA 4D has been embraced by the Adobe After Effects community because of C4D's external compositing tags and object IDs which make exporting 3D data and separate alpha and depth information efficient and simple. Because the export feature also supports Apple's Final Cut Pro and other popular software, it fits well into several post production studio configurations.