GenArts Sapphire is the effects suite that I "grew up" with. Working in a post-production studio, I had the advantage of getting to know Sapphire effects early on in my motion graphics career. Having this advantage with my studio footing the bill was a blessing. It wasn't until recently that purchasing decisions for the studio started to rely heavily on my own handling of the budget. Suddenly price and value became a huge factor on deciding which brand of effect to purchase. Recently, I had the opportunity to switch gears and work with Boris Continuum Complete, I found that the world is a lot bigger than I had ever imagined. And I started to find my own effects combinations and preferences lying with the less expensive competitor.
Just a sample of the amount of options given to any given effect. Actually this is probably one of the "lighter" ones.
That being said, I still have a penchant for Sapphire effects. They are high on quality and low on tackiness. While Boris may sometimes be guilty of having a variety of "dumbed down" effects in their arsenal, Sapphire has not one cheesy effect amongst the entire suite. Sapphire 5 For Final Cut Pro has all the great glows, glints, lighting, film effects, warps and textures they are known for, plus some new effects and (best of all) transitions. I was very eager to check out the new features in this update.
Ease of Use
The biggest update within the Sapphire suite puts usability at its core. The new transitions in this update eliminate the old model of Sapphire transitions (the frustrating and tedious practice of keyframing "transition" effects on two separate video clips) and replaces them with simple drag-and-drop transitions that Final Cut users are accustomed to. Not only are they easy to use, but they look fantastic. The new "TV Channel Change" transition is a quick solution to what normally would require using Video Copilot's Twitch plugin in After Effects. There are a few more really impressive transitions in the bunch like "Dissolve Glint" and "Dissolve Lens Flare". These transitions are highly-stylized and may not be used much, but come in handy for making a sequence really pop.
Sapphire's update doesn't offer too much in the way of new effects. There is the "TV Damage", which is sort of like an expansion of the "Channel Change" transition. But the real treat is the "Technicolor 3-Strip" effect, which instantly brings out beautiful vividness in your images. It's sort of like a cleaner-looking version of Sapphire's "Film Effect" with all the beautiful saturation but none of the graininess. While they also offer the more retro-y "Technicolor 2-Strip" effect, I can definitely see using "3-Strip" in most of my videos from now on.
TV Damage does pretty much what you think it would do. I can think of a myriad of applications this effect would be good for.
And there's an absolutely insane amount of options for this effect.
Depth of Options
As always, Sapphire effects come with a myriad of options for each individual effect. The choices open up many doors to new looks for your footage. The depth of options can become somewhat overwhelming at times. That's why Sapphire's mind-boggling lack of preset looks is a frustrating ommision to this effects package. I personally look to presets, not as a solution, but as an alternate starting point. It is my fear that many users simply will not explore the possibilities of these effects without having a nice selection of presets to start off with.
Side by side comparison of the 2-sStrip and 3-sStrip effects. Check out the vividness of the sky and background in the 3-sStrip image! And that's with nothing tweaked.
Performance
The Sapphire suite takes advantage of CUDA capable graphics cards. Luckily I was able to test this claim out on my NVIDIA GeForce GT 120 card with HDV and ProRes footage. As expected, the effects ran smoothly and rendered quickly with full interactivity. I did run into trouble mixing Sapphire effects with Digital Anarchy's Beauty Box. But this was a problem on Digital Anarchy's end, and they were happy to provide me with the latest free update.
Unfortunately, my studio is not setup for Red or HDR footage, so I'll have to take GenArts word that all effects are optimized for HDR footage. Given Sapphire's reputation as being the go-to effects platform for all-res footage, it's a safe bet. Furthermore, this claim is not one that Sapphire's competitors can make. So it's worthwhile to take a moment to think about what kind of footage you will be working with before taking the leap into Sapphire's world.
Here's a little montage of some of the new transitions. TV Channel Change, Dissolve Glint Rainbow, and Dissolve Glint respectively.
Value
The toughest part about reviewing Sapphire 5 was figuring out why the suite is priced $700 more than the competition. Both Boris and Sapphire have nearly the same types of effects. But the key to Sapphire's high-price is the high-performance options that it proudly wears on its sleeve.
To be quite honest, my filmmaking efforts do not rely on high dynamic range imaging. So as long as the effects are suited for HDV or H.264 HD footage (which is provided by most effects suites), then I am happy. But for studios working with these types of footage, Sapphire seems to be the best way to go. Yet, for the Microfilmmaker on a budget, at this price I simply can't recommend Sapphire over Boris.
Final Comments Sapphire 5 for Final Cut Pro packs a lot of punch with their classic effects and the addition of some sweet looking and uber-functional transitions. However, I wish there were more new effects to play with as well as some effects that I simply can't find anywhere else (most of these can be recreated with other third-party applications). And the lack of presets is frustrating when attempting to quickly find different looks. This lack of groundbreaking effects leaves a lot to be desired from the one-time pinnacle of effects suites. On the bright side, the quality of these visual effects is top-notch and will never leave the user (or viewer) disappointed.
Ease
of Use
9.0
Depth
of Options
7.0
Performance
10.0
Value
vs. Cost
8.0
Overall Score
8.0
Nikc Miller is co-producer of Livelihood, and director and editor of several award winning short films. He currently works as an After Effects Artist at Render Perfect Productions in Baltimore. Nikc specializes in consulting small businesses and entrepreneurs on how to increase their visibility by using video and multimedia.
