Shake (software)
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| Shake | |
|---|---|
| Developed by | Apple Inc. |
| Latest release | 4.1 / June 2006 |
| OS | Mac OS X & Linux |
| Genre | Compositing |
| License | Proprietary |
| Website | http://www.apple.com/shake/ |
Shake is an image compositing package used in the post-production industry. Shake delivers visual effects and digital compositing for film, HD and commercials. It enables complex image processing sequences to be designed through the connection of effects "nodes" in a graphical workflow interface. This type of compositing interface allows great flexibility, including the ability to modify the parameters of an earlier image processing step "in context" (while viewing the final composite). Many other compositing packages such as eyeon Fusion, Nuke, and Cineon, also feature a node-based approach.
Shake is available for Mac OS X and Linux. Support for IRIX and Microsoft Windows was once available, but has since been discontinued. It's normally paired with the high-end 3D modeler, Maya.
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[edit] History
Shake was originally developed by programmers and supervisors from Sony Imageworks including Arnaud Hervas, Emmanuel Mogenet, Ron Brinkmann, Louis Cetorelli, and Dan Candela[citation needed]. In 1996, Arnaud Hervas, along with Allen Edwards founded Nothing Real, and released Shake as its flagship product in 1997. Version 2 was released in 1999 for Windows NT and Irix, costing $9900 US per license, or $3900 for a render-only licence.
In 2002, Apple Computer acquired Nothing Real[1]. A few months later, they released version 2.5[2], which introduced Mac OS X compatibility. To strengthen the Mac's position in production studios, the Mac version held a price of $4950 US, and users of the non-Mac operating systems were given the offer of doubling the number of licenses at no extra cost by migrating to Mac OS X. In 2003, version 3 of Shake was announced[3], which introduced the Qmaster software, discontinued support for Microsoft Windows, and allowed unlimited network render clients at no additional cost. A year later, the release of Shake 3.5 at the National Association of Broadcasters show saw the price drop to $2999 for Mac OS X and $4999 for Linux and Irix.
In April 2005 Apple Computer announced Shake 4 at a pre-NAB event. New features included 3D multi-plane compositing, 32-bit Keylight and Primatte keying, Optical Flow image processing (time-remapping and image stabilisation), Final Cut Pro 5 integration and extensions to their open, extensible scripting language and SDK. Shake 4 had no Irix version.
At the NAB event in April 2006, Apple announced that Shake 4.1 would be a Universal Binary version and would ship in May that year. It was actually released on 20 June 2006 and was rebranded as a companion for Final Cut Studio[4]; as such, its price was dropped from $2999 to $499 for Mac OS X (but remained the same for Linux). At the same time, Apple also announced that they would end support for Shake. Rumor web sites claimed that Apple is working on a next-generation compositing application codenamed Phenomenon, to be released in 2008.[5] Existing maintenance program subscribers had the option to license the Shake source code for $50,000 USD.
[edit] Use
Shake has been used in such films as Peter Jackson's The Lord of the Rings and King Kong, as well as Harry Potter movies and Cloverfield. It was also used by The Embassy to create a television advertisement for Citroën with a dancing car. Shake was used by Broadway Video for restoring the release of “Saturday Night Live: The Complete First Season” DVD box set. It is also in use by CBS Digital for creating new visual effects for Star Trek Remastered.
Other major productions using Shake include the 2005 adaptation of War of the Worlds, Star Wars Episode III: Revenge of the Sith, Fantastic 4, Mission Impossible 3, Poseidon, The Incredibles, Hulk, Doctor Who and Pirates of the Caribbean 2.
Shake is also used for video post-production, but in this field Discreet Logic (now Autodesk)'s Flint, Flame and Inferno systems are usually used in conjunction with Shake for a fast turnaround of projects. Shake's historical strength has been the ability to work better with very high resolution formats such as 2k, 4k and IMAX used in the motion picture industry.
[edit] References
- ^ Macworld | Apple buys Nothing Real
- ^ Apple Computer (July 22, 2002). "Apple Announces Shake 2.5 for Mac OS X". Press release. Retrieved on 2006-08-21.
- ^ Apple Computer (April 6, 2003). "Apple Announced Shake 3". Press release. Retrieved on 2006-08-21.
- ^ Apple Computer (June 20, 2006). "Apple Releases Shake 4.1". Press release. Retrieved on 2006-08-21.
- ^ Mac Rumors: End of Shake, Phenomenon in 2008?
[edit] External links
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