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MillimeterEdit Review: Boris Continuum Complete 5
Nov 1, 2007 12:00 PM, Reviewer: Franklin McMahon
Venerable effects package keeps up with the times.
Boris Continuum Complete 5 comes with 180 filters, which cover a wide range of uses and effects.
Boris' package of compositing effects plug-ins has been around for years. Boris Continuum Complete 5 (BCC) comprises 180 filters, and it's available for Adobe After Effects (AE), Avid NLEs, and Autodesk Combustion. A new edition specifically for Apple's new FxPlug architecture means the package works with Final Cut Pro and Motion.
I looked at the AE and Apple variations of the plug-in package, which function the same on both platforms. Boris has added a handful of new plug-ins for the new version, and many of them alone are worth the price of an upgrade. The product has a huge array of effects in many categories, including lights, generators, colors, blurs, distortion, perspective, keying, mattes, and wipes. The group pretty much embodies bread-and-butter video effects plugs-ins. Many are basic starters that you go to again and again. Some will be duplicates or variations of effects that ship with your software; however, there are many in the group that are not found in any Apple or Adobe product. Also, several work with OpenGL, meaning that the load is on the GPU and not the CPU. Many effects shipping within a software program cannot claim this. The Boris plug-ins support multi-processor CPUs — again, the plug-ins you already have might not be multi-threaded.
Although the plug-in functions almost identically in After Effects and in Final Cut Pro/Motion, the Apple version of this package allows users to work in YUV format and in 16-bit/32-bit color space. The advantage of these modes is the deeper color processing. These options are no doubt included in the Apple version because the filters were written in the FxPlug format more recently, whereas the older After Effects plug-ins contain legacy code and don't support 16- or32-bit color. Worth noting, too, is that the FxPlug Boris package conforms to the heads-up display (HUD) work style, which uses requestor boxes for the tweaking of parameters. Boris Continuum Complete 5 for Motion makes those attractive heads-up displays prevalent throughout the program, and they can make adjustments more intuitive for some users. Aside from these differences, the packages function pretty much the same.
Continue the discussion on “Crosstalk” the Millimeter Forum.
