Sausalito, California-based Puffin Designs has announced Commotion DV, aprofessional image editing and effects program for digital video artists.Commotion DV is ideal for creating original stylized motion graphics andfixing image problems such as video dropouts. The SuperClone brush allowsusers to move and duplicate objects such as mountains, trees or clouds tocreate just the right background; fill in crowd scenes; or remove visualdistractions such as power lines or a wayward microphone. Playback controlsallow users to create animated write-on effects or motion mattes for keyingand compositing. Created by Scott Squires, Visual Effects Supervisor atIndustrial Light & Magic, Commotion DV is built on the same technology asPuffin's product, Commotion. Commotion DV includes familiar bezier toolsfor creating an animated Rotospline. With flexible options for mergingspline shapes with existing alpha channels and advanced featheringcontrols, Rotosplines are useful for cutting out subjects for colorcorrection or creating animated alpha channels that can be used in AdobeAfter Effects, Apple's Final Cut Pro or other applications. Commotion DVwill be available in October of 1999 for US$795.00. For more informationvisit www.puffindesigns.com. Puffin has also announced Knoll Light Factory,a plug-in set for Adobe After Effects and compatible applications includingPuffin Designs' Commotion, and Apple's Final Cut Pro. A new version will beavailable for Avid's AVX plug-in format. Knoll Light Factory is built ontop of Knoll Lens Flare Pro, the application developed by John Knoll,co-creator of Adobe Photoshop and Visual Effects Supervisor at IndustrialLight & Magic. Knoll Light Factory offers twenty new filters that allow theuser to keyframe each parameter in a lighting effect individually, and toanimate lights with complete control. Based on the Lens Primitives in KnollLens Flare Pro, these filters include primitives modeled on professionalcamera lenses and various light sources. Knoll Light Factory also includesan EZ filter for choosing pre-built effects for anything from headlights toglowing rocket engines, to lens flares, to photon torpedoes. Knoll LightFactory will be available in the fourth quarter of 1999. For moreinformation visit www.puffindesigns.com.
