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  • Hey all, just changed over the backend after 15 years I figured time to give it a bit of an update, its probably gonna be a bit weird for most of you and i am sure there is a few bugs to work out but it should kinda work the same as before... hopefully :)

Shake Replacement

Charles Angus

Charles Angus

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Hey there folks, wanted to throw this out there.

I'm primarily a DP, but do some "one-man-band" VFX stuff as well (simple stuff, getting rid of boom in the shot, simple composites, etc.).

I'm currently using Shake, but am growing more concerned about continuing stability and support. I don't want to be left with the choice of keeping Shake or keeping my OS and etc. current when something really important finally breaks.

So, I'm looking into options for replacements. Nuke seems like an obvious choice, from my limited knowledge it seems to be very similar to Shake terms of interface.

I was also considering Combustion, but I've heard that program is quietly nearing EOL as well.

So, my question to any VFX types out there: What do you/your firm use, and why? (Workflow, compatibility, extensibility, interface, some tool that nothing else has).

And any thoughts on what I could replace Shake with?
 
Shake was used for last Batman :wink:
 
Nuke and Toxik. Toxik is now on the Mac. And there is nothing you can't do with AE it seems.
 
AE CS4 rocks. Shake is still good. If you want to really upgrade, get Nuke.

Toxik looks very interesting, but I've never used it. I've used Fusion a bit, not so much in the past year, but it's good too -- I prefer Nuke. Pretty much all of them have demo versions available.

Don't count Shake out of the game yet, it's still a great program. Still very much in use by a lot of people.
 
If you don't have to throw money out keep Shake. All major posthouse here in Germany still use Shake as their primary compositor (feature, not commercials) Until Nuke replaces Shake it's going to take another 3 years or more.

The only reason I see for upgrading to Nuke would be the need to purchase The Foundry's Furnace and Tinder plugins. The full package (Nuke, Furnace, Tinder) is ca. 7.000 EUR

Otherwise stick to Shake.

Hans
 
Fusion is a mature package and you're already familiar with node based concept.

They announced that R3d support is coming and if you don't need the full features, "Rotation" may be all you need it is meant for rotoscoping, retouching and keying and it lists for 695$.
 
Still use Shake everyday, but started this month my migration to Nuke.
I agree that Shake is so good and stable that it can be used still for a long time, but i do not want to realize sometime later that it would have been better to migrate sooner.
When you're so used to a sw it gets some time to achieve the same speed and confidence on a new one. Do not want to be found unprepared when the future will come ...
When i'll be better into Nuke i'll be able to make a better Shake/Nuke comparison. Eager to learn the 3D environment, Shake one just sucks.
 
I use a combination of Shake, AE, and have been learning Nuke. I say, if you can afford to have different tools in the toolkit for different scenarios. I still use Combustion every once in a while for its paint tools which i feel more comfortable with than shake or AE. However, if I'm going to do any kind of Motion graphic work its an AE no brainer. Straight compositing with many layers and complex comps I would use Shake without a doubt. That may change when I get a better handle on Nuke which I have not purchased yet until i learn it in and out. Of course, that takes time and they are probably sick of me asking for another temp license every couple months :-)

Fusion is a great tool from what i hear but I have never used it. Also, in considering a compositing package I would take into account what if any 3D applications i use and how compatible with one another they are. Wouldn't it be nice to wrap an all in one, editor, compositor, 3d animation package together? In my dream world I would have Maya, Shake, and FCP all wrapped into one application where I could test different versions of a shot from blocking to full render without rendering anything until the very end of your movie. Anyhow, good luck with your decision.
 
shake replacement

shake replacement

i think the greatest advantage of shake today over other apps is its price... 499$ is nothing to pay for the worlds that shake opens to you. furthermore, being an abstract application, it is the best introduction you can find to higher composting tools and concepts, it is very different from AE or combustion in what it does and what it can do, namely in its Concatenating features (which i believe AE still does not have) and rendering... but also in its elegant approach (AE has a guerrilla feel to it:shiftyph34r: )

Nuke (from what I've read and heard) was developed by people from the Shake team and built to be its improved, more modern successor. the Foundry were always very talented and capable (check out furnace plugins for shake) and there is a very good, made for compositors, free introductory training (FXPHD) for Nuke on their website
http://www.thefoundry.co.uk/pkg_training.aspx?ui=CBC2593A-2C9F-4EF9-84BE-C198B0171453

also a test version of the app you can download.

seems natural to switch to Nuke if you come from Shake

toxic is interesting... don't know enough about it apparently there is a new mac version...
fusion is the most expensive of the ones you mentioned... and does not work on Macs from what i know

and there is still the hope that 2009 will be the year of apple phenomenon :)
wait for NAB before you make any decisions like that





hector berrebi
slowair@me.com
www.schibber.com
 
Have the bugs been worked out of Shake with that new release? I have not had a chance to get in and play with the update. I don't do too much that requires Shake (better left to people who know what they're doing) but I do have an interest in using it occasionally for the small jobs that I might be able to handle. Last time I played around with it was on a G5 quad 2.5 and OS 10.4. Is it working properly with Intel and Leopard?

Thanks.
 
hector said:
and there is still the hope that 2009 will be the year of apple phenomenon :)
wait for NAB before you make any decisions like that
Click to expand...

... are there any signs of this? Phenomenon was said to be announced in 2008, and right now Apple does not seem to care a lot about real pro world ... i think that if they've really got something cooking up they should say something, everyone is already going Nuke now ...
 
stevesherrick said:
Is it working properly with Intel and Leopard?

Thanks.
Click to expand...
works perfectly with leopard, and for quite a while now

there was a bug with 10 bit QT files but it was solved lately in a surprising update by apple

i believe 2009 was at least supposed to be phenom's year. they killed Shake in 07 so 08 would have been too early for a complete rebuild.

apple had always been extremely secret and quiet about releases. this is no different.
i tried squeezing it out of an apple rep at NAB last year... all he said is that apple doesn't tend to announce things and then ignore them, i could swear i saw a secretive smile but before i could ask anything else he poofed himself away...:blink:


hector berrebi
slowair@gmail.com
www.schibber.com
 
hector said:
i believe 2009 was at least supposed to be phenom's year. they killed Shake in 07 so 08 would have been too early for a complete rebuild.
apple had always been extremely secret and quiet about releases. this is no different.
i tried squeezing it out of an apple rep at NAB last year... all he said is that apple doesn't tend to announce things and then ignore them, i could swear i saw a secretive smile but before i could ask anything else he poofed himself away...:blink:
Click to expand...

whew, dunno if hoping you're right or not, just spent quite a lot of money on Nuke + Furnace + Tinderbox ! :tongue:
 
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