This morning, BorisFX announced a pivotal shift in its strategic direction with the 2024 release of its flagship product, Continuum, and updates to CrumplePop audio tools. The new releases mark a significant milestone for Boris FX, becoming one of the first in the industry to integrate AI-driven effects into a visual effects plugin.
“This is a turning point for the company,” said CEO Boris Yamnitsky in interview earlier today. “There is much more to come. What’s exciting is that we are delivering these as plug-ins, not cloud or standalone apps.”
Also released along with Continuum 2024 is the 2024 update to the audio restoration tools in CrumplePop.
“We’ve been working behind the scenes to develop ML (machine learning) models built and trained on the specific needs of the post-production community,” Yamnitsky said in a press release, “and are thrilled to introduce AI technology into the editing and VFX plugin workflows the film and television industry has relied on for nearly thirty years.”
CONTINUUM 2024
(Noisy image (left), clean image (right) courtesy of BorisFX.com. Click to see larger image.)
Continuum’s popular image restoration category adds two new ML effects, each built with custom models. The BCC+ DeNoise ML effect instantly removes unwanted artifacts introduced by low-quality image sensors, low light, or lossy compression codecs. The one-click drag-and-drop effect analyzes the image and produces high-quality results while retaining and enhancing detail contrast. (BorisFX press release)
“The nice thing is that the DeNoise plug-in is available for all our hosts. However, the UpRes ML effect is just available for After Effects.” said Yamnitsky.
(Up-res image on right courtesy of BorisFX.com. Click to see larger image.)
The BCC+ UpRes ML effect scales up footage regardless of format size with clean, sharp results. It also includes options to zoom in on a portion of a clip and sharpen it to preserve the fine details.
“A true strength of our software is that it runs as a plug-in,” said Boris. “We are not abandoning our existing programs or feature set. We are simply extending them. The parameters in these effects are highly-curated to provide good results with the default settings. Then, users can tweak to create something totally different from where you started.”
(Particle examples courtesy of BorisFX.com. Click to see larger image.)
Additionally, Continuum’s Particle Illusion takes advantage of AI technology. Artists can now generate unique, intricate particle sprites using Stability AI. Choosing an existing sprite as a starting point allows artists to achieve great results without relying on complex, prompt crafting. Presets and an entire history encourage experimentation. Users can import resultant images directly into the sprite library. (BorisFX press release)
AUDIO TOOLS
CrumplePop gives editors access to fast, user-friendly tools that fix common audio issues. The new release introduces the next generation of machine-learning models in five of its AI audio plugins — AudioDenoise, TrafficRemover, ClipRemover, RustleRemover, and WindRemover.
“The research that CrumplePop has done on AI is an invaluable asset to our entire team. It allows us to create custom code for Macs that takes advantage of Apple’s Neural Engine, then use that AI foundation to create separate code for Windows and Linux,” Yamnitsky explained.
PRICING
BorisFX sells its software as a one-time permanent license, as well as monthly or annual subscriptions.
Here’s the link to learn more or see demo videos.
