Adobe Systems has announced a new Plug-In Power Pack for Adobe After Effects 5.5 incorporating 16 new effects and Advanced Windows Media support. The After Effects 5.5 Plug-In Power Pack works with Adobe After Effects 5.5 software to produce motion graphics and visual effects for film, video, multimedia and the Web. The new Windows Media output module offers a comprehensive set of controls to create Windows Media streaming video content. Users can customize settings, embed metadata, create multi-stream movies and independently optimize audio and video. The Power Pack supports the Mac OS X platform and includes additions such as the new Calculations plug-in, 3D Glasses, Magnify and Turbulent Displacement. The Calculations plug-in is similar to the Calculations command in Adobe PhotoShop, but allows the same flexibility as other effects in After Effects. Calculations can often replace multiple instances of Shift Channels, Compound Arithmetic and pre-composing. 3D Glasses combine left and right 3D views for stereoscopic viewing. Magnify can scale part of an image, or the entire image far beyond 100 percent while maintaining resolution. Turbulent Displacement uses fractal noise to create turbulent distortions such as flowing water, funhouse mirrors, and waving flags. The Power Pack includes several other creativity enhancements, and several new ways to handle noise and shadows. The After Effects 5.5 Plug-In Power Pack is expected to ship in the US, Canada and select European countries in May 2002 and will be available for download from the online Adobe Store for US$25. For a full list of features found in the After Effects 5.5 Plug-in Power Pack go to the Adobe Website at www.adobe.com/aftereffects.
