While walking through NAB this year, I was stopped cold in my tracks when I saw a demo being given by ILM's lead digital artist, Chad Taylor. He was showing clips from Iron Man and the latest Indiana Jones offering, demonstrating how he created certain effects. Everything from the electricity loops running up the arc reactor in the climactic scene from Iron Man to the atmospheric effects in the nuclear explosion in Indiana Jones and the Kingdom of the Crystal Skull! What amazed me was that many of the effects were done with one plug-in: Sapphire. While he also demonstrated some cool effects with another GenArts plug-in, Monsters, that plug-in is incompatible with most of the editing software a microfilmmaker has at their disposal. However, Sapphire was compatible with Final Cut Pro and After Effects. As such, I immediately wanted to give it a trial run.
Selecting Lens Flare Options.
Ease of Use
Installing this plug-in is very simple, and using it is just as easy. Once it's installed, you can find it in your list of effects. There are video effects, transitions, and render effects as well. Once it's installed, you can also access it while working in Motion. The best thing about each effect is that they are all fully adjustable, easily leaving you with a unique effect.
As with any great plug-in like Sapphire, the render time on your new effects is pretty substantial, even on newer machines. Just factor that into the equation, as it does effect the ease of use. However, as the saying goes, "Good things come to those who wait."
