In its efforts to better support the Macintosh-based digital content creation community, the Autodesk Media & Entertainment division has released Autodesk Combustion 4 for Macintosh and Autodesk Cleaner 6.5 for Macintosh. Together, the products offer Mac users new tools for desktop visual effects/motion graphics and desktop encoding and media mastering.
Now shipping, Combustion 4 for Mac promises enhanced interoperability with third-party applications, improved paint tools and other workflow efficiencies. The package has been employed by Meteor Studios on 20th Century Fox’s Fantastic Four, Zoic Studios for Universal’s Serenity and Sci Fi Channel’s Battlestar Galactica series, and Digital Pictures Iloura, Australia on Mandarin Films Co.’s The Seven Swords (Qi jian).
New features of Version 4 include Diamond Keyer, a second generation of sophisticated keying algorithms derived from Autodesk’s Discreet Flame; Time-Warp, a fully key-frameable, time-remapping operator for quickly creating slow motion and speed-up effects; B-spline vector shapes and new point-grouping for faster, more efficient rotoscoping; custom capsules for creating and saving encapsulated single or grouped operator nodes; a new optimized operator to quickly merge two layers of the same size using any of the transfer nodes in Combustion software; and enhanced paint tools including grids and rulers, Bspline in paint and new customized brushes.
Autodesk Combustion 4 software for Mac is available now for a suggested
retail price of $995. Upgrade pricing from Combustion 3 is listed at $249.
Autodesk Cleaner 6.5 for Macintosh is the newest update to the company’s professional desktop application for encoding and optimizing video content for delivery formats ranging from the Internet and DVD to handheld mobile devices. Following on the heels of the release of Cleaner XL 1.5 for Windows, Cleaner 6.5 for Mac offers encoding support for Apple’s QuickTime 7 player, DivX 6.0, and Kinoma Producer, allowing widescreen MPEG-4 playback on Palm Powered handhelds and the Sony PSP video player. Also included is the Flix exporter from On2 Technologies, which allows compressionists to publish video in the Macromedia Flash-supported flv and .swf formats.
Autodesk Cleaner 6.5 for Macintosh is available now for the suggested retail price of $599.00 (same price for Cleaner XL 1.5 for Windows). Upgrade pricing from Cleaner 6 Macintosh or Cleaner XL Windows to the current versions is
$125.00, while upgrade pricing from Cleaner 4 or 5 to Cleaner 6.5 Macintosh or to Cleaner 1.5 XL Windows is listed at $179.00. More information on all products is available at www.autodesk.com.
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