Software
Review: Boris Continuum Complete 6 , Pg. 4
One thing to note before buying: Double check the system requirements for the 3D effects. These simply won't work on some older systems.
Figure 7.Rays Ripply: The Rays Ripply effect offers a visual effect not unlike Trapcode's Shine, but with built in auto-animation for a more dynamic effect.
Figure 8. LED: With the BCC LED effect you can mimic everything from a Lite Brite to a Fisher Price PXL2000.
Value
For low-budget filmmakers, a $995 investment may seem like a lot of money. I recommend taking some time to think about the value you are getting for that money. Many effect suites sit around the thousand dollar mark, but on top of getting all the great features of blurs, lighting effects, generators, and particle systems, you also get great features not found anywhere else (other than in very specific and costly plug-in sets). For example, to just get into real 3D extrusion effects, the Zaxwerks Proanimator plugin costs $695.00 to do just that. On top of that, you also get plugins that mimics Trapcode's Shine and 3D stroke (while these effects are somewhat different from the Trapcode options, they do the trick in a pinch). You even get a 3D Layer Deformer, which would cost you about $300 for Digieffects Freeform AE (see last month's review).
Figure 9. Damaged TV: Damaged TV has a ton of auto-animating presets that run the gamut of bad reception looks. This works especially well for customizable transitions too.
Not only do I recommend getting the AE suite, but, if you have a Mac, I also suggest putting down an additional $100 to add on the Boris FXPlug in-editor effects as well. Available for Premier Pro (Mac only) or Final Cut Pro, Boris FXplug gives you quick use of the same effects plus additional effects that you might find useful. For instance the Swish Pan transition makes quick use of an often used Hollywood camera trick.
