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MillimeterC is for Combustion
Aug 1, 2004 5:35 PM, By S.D. Katz
A look at Discreet’s Combustion 3
There is no shortage of excellent compositing tools on the market, but the two most widely used, Adobe After Effects 6 and Discreet Combustion 3, continue to pile on value at an affordable price.
Combustion 3, a 2.5D and paint compositing tool, came into its own in version 2 by building on the strength of technology developed for Discreet’s high-end systems Flint, Flame, and Inferno. Combustion’s high-tech features included superior tracking, keying, color correction, and variable edge/feathered splines. Version 2 added 16-bit precision, a particle system, and dropped the price from $4,995 to $995. Combustion 3 for Windows and Mac continues the rapid development of new features and head-to-head competition with Adobe After Effects that have characterized the software for past three years.
Combustion overview
Before looking at the new features in version 3, here’s a look at Combustion’s basic layout and feature set. One of the most striking aspects of Combustion is what I call the dashboard style layout—a very clean horizontal deployment of tools at the bottom of the screen and viewports at the top. There are several pre-fab workspace layouts that do not allow for window resizing or provide tear off palettes, but that’s because they are not needed with Combustion’s workflow approach—namely that the interface changes with each task. Keying, paint, and 3D all have different tools that appear within the larger workspace layout. The workspace is very clean and uncluttered because of this, but this is at the expense of micro-customization. It really comes down to what you are used to.
Similarly, Combustion offers both a layer-based approach to effects management and a node-based approach. The layer-based approach is probably the easiest for motion graphics artists to understand, and the node-based layout is elegant and very clear. Again, this is a matter of habit and taste. In Combustion, nodes can be wired in the process tree, and effects and tools are called operators. This should be familiar terminology if you are familiar with Shake, Digital Fusion, or Nuke.
As mentioned, the core compositing features in Combustion 2 were developed for Discreet’s high-end systems and are consistently excellent. The OpenGL fired particle system was a great addition to version 2. This system is based on Particle Illusion, a third-party particle system that is tightly integrated into Combustion. This and really slick splines allow an artist to vary the degree of feathering within a single spline. These features give Combustion 3 a very complete tool box for visual effects.
I am particularly fond of the Combustion’s layout for 2.5D space because the interface operates much like that of Maya or 3ds Max. You can quickly set up image planes and move the camera in familiar Cartesian space with a grid for orientation and a camera that is easy to set up. OpenGL performance is very good, and you can set up scenes quickly. Combustion 2 was a very good base for the advances introduced in version 3.
Three’s the Charm
Combustion 2 was a watershed achievement for Discreet’s desktop product line, and version 3’s new features continue the application’s shrewd development path. I say shrewd because version 3’s features fill in large and small holes in equal measure. As a compositor, you don’t feel that you have to jump into another program for any significant aspect of 2D special effects creation.
The Edit Operator
One new big Combustion 3 feature is the addition of the edit operator. This allows you to perform basic editing operations, such as one and two-point cuts, trims, slips, and slide and ripple edits. You can also split layers and add timeline markers for reference. Because editing works as an operator, it’s treated as any other effect, so changes to any other part of a project are reflected in the edited sequence.
While editing will be useful for visual effects compositors who generally work on single effect projects, editing is essential for compositors in the commercial field. Nowadays, spots contain so many visual effects, special “look” treatments, and motion graphics treatments that non-effects shots are the exception, not the rule. Consequently, it makes sense for the effects compositor to perform basic editing, for reasons of efficiency and because it helps the compositing artists understand how motion in one shot flows into the next. Combustion 3’s edit operator fits the way motion graphic and visual effects commercials are made today.
A related new feature is the ability to capture footage via a FireWire connection. Again, this is another move to allow a compositor to work in a seamless environment.
Custom Brushes
Paint has been a part of Combustion from its earliest days when it was acquired from Denim Software. Version 3 is a completely rewritten product, but it still uses non-destructive vector paint. Any brush stroke (on its own layer) can be individually edited and the order of paint layers manipulated. You can also paint with the color, alpha, color/alpha, luminance, or alpha channel.
Combustion 3 adds the ability to define custom brushes. Brushes can be based on images, particle operators, or other paint operators. You begin with a paint operator, and in its most basic form, you save attribute settings such as brush size, aspect, angle, spacing, and flow. Things become interesting when you use particle operators to create or modify brushes. However, this method uses a single frame of a brush—you cannot paint particles in motion. Similarly, you can base a brush on footage—again, only one frame will be used. As with particles, brushes cannot “emit” a series of images or a sequence. As you would expect, paint in Combustion is compatible with Wacom and other drawing tablets.
Another new feature added to paint’s vector system is support for Macromedia’s Flash .swf format. You’ll find the Export to Flash option in the Paint Control panel, where a single button puts you in Flash Mode. Now here’s the rub: Not all Combustion effects are supported by Flash, so if web work is an important part of your project, plan your Flash output from the beginning. Otherwise, you may find some key part of your project cannot be exported as Flash. For instance, alpha and pressure brush settings are not supported, nor are custom brushes. This is not a failure of Combustion, but is typical of Flash output from host 2D programs, including AfterEffects. Still, compared with creating animation directly in Macromedia Flash, you may find that you can do much more sophisticated Flash animation using Combustion’s tool set.
Get Bent
In the mid-90s, inexpensive morphing tools were widely available. Then came a period when standalone morph products disappeared. One of the best of them, Elastic Reality, was purchased by Avid. Now all the warping and morphing tools are third-party plug-ins like RE:Flex from RE:Vision Effects. RE: Flex Warper and Morpher are now bundled with Combustion 3. Of the various morphing tools on the market, spline-based morphers are the most controllable, and RE:Flex provides some nice, time-saving innovations. One example is auto align. This feature intelligently lines up the eyes and mouth when morphing from one face to another. Other nice features are splines that work without having to be closed, and very fast feedback--warps update instantly as you drag splines. Lastly, both the Morpher and the Warper support 8-bit and 16-bit precision.
Script Support
Expressions are not for everyone, but if you spend a little time learning the basics, Combustion has implemented a reasonably painless way to tap into the power of math to control animations.
An expression is a formula composed of arithmetic operations, such as addition and multiplication. These are used to control individual channel properties of layers or operators. Expressions can be defined, saved, used over again, and applied to multiple channels, which can save a lot of time when setting up complex animations. In Combustion, expressions are based on a few basic constructs, but you don’t actually have to write out these constructs because Combustion comes with lots of commonly used pre-defined expression scripts to get you started. This is a big help in learning how to write your own expressions.
Expressions are probably not as challenging as many people suppose, but not something that you’ll pick up in an afternoon either. You can get a lot of value out of moderate expression-writing skill. Combustion’s implementation of expressions is clear and based on standard JavaScript. I think this feature will win new users as the number of available predefined scripts and tutorials increases—either on Discreet’s site or on user group sites. This is an absolutely necessary feature for the high-end user and perhaps the final big feature that was missing in the Combustion feature arsenal.
Odds and Ends
Combustion 3 adds a few new predefined workspaces that are needed because of its somewhat more rigid approach to interface design. There is also enhanced Cineon support, which will be of interest to film effects designers. There is also new support for so-called stained glass filters on lights. While this may seem like a one-trick pony, when combined with 3D objects from 3ds Max and using z-buffer information, this is a very powerful tool for effects and motion graphics. It can be used to simulate underwater caustics and other special lighting effects. Lastly, previous versions of Combustion did not allow you to save individual operators for use in other projects. In version 3 you can.
Conclusion
If you are looking for an excellent and affordable compositing product, Combustion is one of the best options in a market that now includes several new and estimable products. Discreet has really wrestled its tough acquisition of Denim Software to the ground and come up with a winner.
