GenArts Monsters GT v7
Publisher: GenArts
Platforms: After Effects Autodesk, Nuke, Vegas, Assimilate SCRATCH, Eyeon Fusion (PC & Mac)
Description: Video Effects Plug-Ins
MSRP: $99 to $499
Expected Release: Available Now
Official Website: http://www.genarts.com
Samples: Click Here
Demo: Click Here
Special Discount: N/A
Critique Issue: Issue #77 (07/12)
Critiqued By: Mark Colegrove
Final Score: 8.5
Monsters v7 is a set of high-end effects plug-ins, including lots of atmospheric effects, new film damages, TV effects, and more. There are 55 effects in all, but pricing plans are available that allow you to buy just the effects you need if you’re only looking for a few specific ones to complete a project. New to this version are the Sky, Starfield, Water and Candle effects and it features enhanced versions of many effects from the previous version. Here, rain, snow & smoke, for example, have all gone under more realistic upgrades. It is available for After Effects, Autodesk, Nuke, Vegas, Assimilate SCRATCH, & Eyeon Fusion. For this review we’ll be taking a look at the After Effects version.
The snow looks surprisingly good, although it probably would be a bit more convincing had I shot this with some snow on the ground.
Ease of Use
Already being familiar with GenArts Sapphire, I assumed I was going to be able to step right into Monsters and start instantly playing God with the forces of nature. Unfortunately, for certain effects, that wasn’t necessarily the case, and the learning curve on Monsters can be a little steep. Sure, there are some, like the CCTV effect, that only took me a few seconds to master and create my only little 4 screen security camera footage.
Quickly simulate security camera footage with a tenth of the work it would normally take.
Learning Night Vision was a breeze.
But many others, like Puddle, for example, took much more tweaking to get results that I wasn’t quite happy with. For some of these effects you’ll need to spend a little time noodling around. Monsters is intended for the more advanced user, who already has a good deal of familiarity with After Effects and wants to push it beyond what’s normally achievable
Depth of Options
Most of the tools here have pretty specific applications, but within each effect, there are TONS of options for tweaking The new candle effect for example lets you pick between 10 different types of flames, and from there you’ve got just about every option under the sun including amount of glow, flame height and viscosity to manipulate it further. Monsters integrates with After Effects well, and like many of the other effects in the bundle, you can take advantage of the moveable on-screen parameters to visually fine tune your effect.
One of the new effects in v7 of Monsters, Candle, is surprisingly convincing.
Like I said, most of these effect here have very specific uses, so you may want to take a look at the full list of effects on GenArts’ website to see if it’s right for your needs. I know one that I’ll probably be coming back to often is the “light leak” effect which effectively simulates some of my mishandled early student films (and looks really cool).
Performance
As I stated earlier, Monsters is a pretty high-end set of plug-ins. Atmospheric effects like Raindrops for example are meant to seamlessly integrate with live-action footage and give the impression that you rented a $10,000 rain machine on your low-budget shoot. Everything here looks pretty convincing, and unlike many other plug-in sets, there are very few “throw away” effects. GenArts clearly spent a lot of time making these look great.
The “rain on the lens” effect is really cool. Shoot through a window to make this even more believable.
Render time is a bit slow. For this raindrop effect as an example I had to clear the memory cache every time I changed a setting. This can be a bit frustrating at times, but considering the quality of each effect it’s easily forgiven.
Value
It’s great to see several different pricing plans available. I have a few different bundles of plug-ins, and within those, there are a few effects I use over and over, and many that I never use. With Monsters, you can choose from 11 different “mini packs” of 2 to 5 effects for $99, which is great, and super-affordable if you just need the rain effect to complete a project. For $299 there’s the “Natural Phenomena” Theme Pack, which gives you all 19 of Monsters atmospheric effects, and then for $499 you get the full set of all 55 effects. Even for the full set, you’re not really breaking the bank, considering how many great effects you’re getting here. Previous users can upgrade for $99 as well.
Final Comments
GenArts has done it again. Monsters is a killer set of great-looking effects… most of which will help you fix a few conditions that didn’t go so great in production. Since you may not need everything in the bundle, the ability to pick and choose effects is a welcome option (it would be nice to see them offer this for Sapphire as well.) The only thing that’s missing from Monsters is integration with FX Central, GenArts’ online community that provides updated presets for effects in their Sapphire bundle. Having some more preset options for Monsters would have helped me get around the learning curve a bit quicker. Check out a trial and see if Monsters can help bring your production to life!
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Breakdown
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Ease of Use
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7.0 |
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Depth of Options
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9.0 |
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Performance
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9.0 |
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Value vs. Cost
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9.0 |
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Overall Score |
8.5 |
Mark Colegrove
Mark Colegrove is the director of 2008's horror/comedy Isle of the Damned, which is self-distributed through his production company, Dire Wit Films. Based in Maryland, he currently produces corporate video and is working on his second feature, Driven to Succeed, a driver's ed comedy.