Freeform AE is $299 and I spent a long time debating if its worth the money for the typical low-budget filmmaker.
On one hand, you have a plugin that creates an effect that will add a specialized depth that cannot be easily duplicated by using other effects. It has an individualistic look that will add beautiful detail and believabilty to your 3D world. Outside of using a 3D program, you are not going to be able to manipulate meshes like this.
On the other hand, if you are really looking to get into 3D, why not just use that money to check out a 3D program? Perhaps that may not be in the budget, or you really don't feel like learning an entirely new program. Unfortunately, Freeform AE has a decent learning curve to do the more specialized animations you may desire. Because of the cost and the specialized nature, for the low-budget filmmaker, I would say that Freeform AE might be a plugin you may want to skip. But for the bigger budget commercial and title houses, however, it's a must-have.
If DigiEffects wants to make this plugin more appealing to the low-budget filmmaking audience, I would recommend that they bring the price-point to the $99 mark they use for their popular Damage and Simulate: line of plugins. At this point, I think it would be much more attractive to the low-budget filmmaker.
