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Red Giant Software
Let’s just start with the leading and best known company, Red Giant Software. Red Giant Software was founded in 2002 by industry veterans to develop and distribute special effects tools for digital video & film professionals. They’ve developed some of the coolest plugins on the market like Peder Norrby’s Trapcode Particular
and Magic Bullet Looks -
RE:Vision Effects
RE:Vision is a company that provides end-user software tools in the form of plug-ins and add-ons to many popular compositing, NLE and 3D applications. They’ve developed unique plug-ins like
ReelSmart Motion Blur which automatically adds a more natural-looking motion blur effect to a sequence and Twixor Pro for Great Slow- or Fast Motion effects. -
Zaxwerks
Zaxwerks develops software for the digital video, broadcast, film and web markets. They are the leading innovator of 3D title and logo technology with plug-ins as 3D Invigorator Pro and 3D Flag.
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3Dar
3Dar is actually not a Plugin Company But a Visual Effects Studio.
but they developed a great plug-in for motion
blur with RPF Files, called RPF Motion Blur, which of course is used with 3D programs. -
Frischluft
Frischluft creates great plug-ins For After Effects, I especially like the Lenscare Plugin, it creates very realistic DOF effects which are great for VFX as well as Motion Graphics. Frischluft was founded in 2002 by Philipp Spöth.
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Video Copilot
Video Copilot is a progressive web presence offering high quality tools for motion graphics and visual effects artists. Video Copilot’s Twich plugin has become quite well know, and there is much anticipation for the upcoming Plug-in Optical Flares.
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The Foundry
The Foundry is a leading developer of visual effects and image processing technologies that boost productivity and workflow in film and video post production. We all know Keylight, but The Foundry also has .
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Fnord
Fnord software is a small software boutique creating graphics software primarily for Mac. Though they don’t have many plug-ins, one I like is Power Picker, which allows you to have the Adobe Color Picker in the UI.
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DigiEffects
Digieffects is a developer of popular software plug-ins for Adobe After Effects, Apple Final Cut Pro, Adobe Premiere Pro and Autodesk Combustion.
They have a couple of great plug-ins, but the best by far is FreeForm AE. -
FXhome
FXhome is a leading developer and consultancy firm, specialising in video and photo products, web design and third party solutions. They primarily built little VFX programs, but they also have 2 plug-ins for After Effects: PowerPlug, for creating lightning, and MuzzlePlug, for creating muzzle flashes.
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Wondertouch
Wondertouch, headquartered in St. Louis, Mo., is an award-winning software developer specializing in particle effects for the visual effects industry. Yes, the creators of ParticleIllusion now have a plug-in for After Effects: pIllusion AE, which is basically just ParticleIllusion for AE. (Coming Soon)
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Jawset
Jawset is a company that creates plug-ins for After Effects and Cinema 4D. So far they only have one After Effects Plugin, TURBULENCE.2D which creates cool fire simulations. This plug-in is more for Motion Graphics than VFX, since it is really hard to get very realistic fire.
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ABSoft
ABSoft develops different technologies, but they also have a great After Effects plug-in called Neat Video. It removes visible noise from any kind of footage and hardly loosing any quality and I think it’s pretty affordable!
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GenArts
GenArts, Inc. is the premier provider of VFX software for the film, broadcast and video industries. Their After Effects plug-in set called Sapphire has more over 200 plug-ins. They allow you to buy this set as a whole or individually as well as the option to pay a flat rate or rent them on a monthly basis.
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Ultimatte
Ultimatte is an award-winning software and hardware developer that focuses on luma keying. There After Effects plug-in, AdvantEdge, is great for keying, however, seeing as how it’s more expensive then the host program itself, it has a limited reach for the average AE user.
Of course it’s always nice when you can create something in After Effects that looks great… but sometimes we need a little extra help to to get that perfect result. We talk about plug-ins all the time and there are a ton to choose from! Hopefully this roundup can provide some clarity to know who makes what.
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Great post!
Thanks
Your information about Trapcode products being developed by Red Giant Software is not exactly right. It’s more of a partnership. Read below.
From Trapcode.com:
Trapcode was started in 2001 by Peder Norrby in the attic of his fathers house. It is a one-man company and this is made possible by partnering with publisher Red Giant Software that handles sales, tech support and some engineering so that Norrby can focus on creating new technologies.
Trapcode was never funded by external investors, it grew organically and Peder Norrby maintains full ownership and control of the company.
Good call. Updated.
ah sorry, i should have known that, little ashamed of myself
Hey Peder What’s up!
Imagineers Mocha for After Effects is also worth mentioning. Even though its stand alone,..
Basically a lot of things I cant afford…
Regarding fnord:
The OpenEXR and ProEXR plug-ins that After Effects CS4 includes are from fnord. See this page for information about the OpenEXR and ProEXR plug-ins:
http://help.adobe.com/en_US/AfterEffects/9.0/WS3878526689cb91655866c1103a9d3c597-7bd8a.html
video copilot and trapcode both are fab.
Twitch is awesome. Looking forward to what people can do with the flares.
yes, i miss videocopilot.
I’m a little surprised to see that Cycore and Synthetic Aperture didn’t make your list. They make some of the plug-ins that are included with After Effects.
Definitely a great post, good info! I have to admit, however, I was also hoping to see something about Imagineer’s mocha for After Effects (which is bundled with CS4) and mocha shape for After Effects. They’ve made quite a splash this past year in the AE community. http://www.imagineersystems.com/products/mocha_for_After_Effects/
Thanks for listening!
mocha-AE isn’t a plug-in. It’s a standalone application.
Technically very true
I thought however, with its really nice integration with AE and extension of the workflow, it kinda behaved like one and therefore, perhaps worth mentioning. But you’re right! Thanks Todd!
digieffects is awesome
Digital Anarchy might be worth mention, though they don’t offer nearly as much stuff as they used to. Even sold Psunami to RG recently I think.
That’s interesting.Thanks a lot.
Video copilot and trapcode are obviously the defaults a lot of us go to, but it was nice to see a list of some of these others that you don’t here about quite as much.
wow helpful information. Nice sharing. I become know about plug-in more.
what about video co pilot?