Thu, Mar 28, 12:58 PM CDT

Review of Red Giant’s Shooter Suite 12.5

Sep 29, 2014 at 12:00 am by Store Staff


“Red Giant Shooter Suite is a set of 6 tools that gives you the freedom to shoot the way you want, with the confidence that your footage will make it from your camera to the editing timeline safe, sound and in sync.”

-Red Giant Shooter Suite page

 

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In slightly over a decade, Red Giant has become an essential provider/developer of software for visual effects. No easy task considering the level of competition they’ve been up against. They have succeeded by adhering to a few simple business philosophies: build quality software that is easy to use and connect with the artists who use your software so you can improve and tailor the software to their needs.

Primarily focusing on software for compositors and NLE (non-linear editors) like Adobe After Effects, Apple Final Cut Pro, Adobe Premiere Pro and Sony Vegas, Red Giant has build a solid reputation on plug-ins like their Magic Bullet Suite and Knoll Light Factory. However, in recent years the company has moved into the cloud with their very successful Red Giant Universe site where filmmakers, editors, VFX artists and motion designers have access to a number of free and paid plug-ins that operate across multiple platforms. We reviewed Red Giant Universe recently and found it to be a top flight application subscription service.

Red Giant Shooter Suite 12.5

The most recent release by Red Giant is a major update to their Shooter Suite of tools. These collections of plug-in suites are selected by Red Giant as a package for the very specific needs of particular users. In the case of the Shooter Suite, Red Giant is focusing on filmmakers/VFX artists who need to be sure that their on-set footage will get back to their editing room exactly the way they want it to.

Composed of a set of 6 tools, the new Shooter Suite 12.5 includes updated versions of Denoiser, PluralEyes and Bulletproof. The full suite of tools includes:

  • Bulletproof 1.2 - a standalone application for reliable on-set backup, review of footage and first-pass color grading/metadata. New in version 1.2 is expanded camera support, inclusion of AVCHD and Canon FX media formats and complete integration with PluralEyes 3.5.
  • PluralEyes 3.5 - the updated audio/video sync tool offering expanded media support, better accuracy and drift correction. PluralEyes 3.5 is also integrated with Bulletproof 1.2.
  • Denoiser 2, 1.4 - a powerful video noise reduction tool to improve the quality of videos with new speed and stability upgrades.
  • Instant 4K - an upgrade to Instant HD, equipped with speed optimization and new presets geared towards higher resolution formats
  • Frames 1.1- is a tool used to deinterlace older footage and convert it to 24P
  • LUT Buddy - a color tool that allows you to bring LUTs directly to your editing timeline

 

 

Using Shooter Suite 12.5

Although I’m not currently involved in film production, I did have the opportunity to try out Red Giant’s Shooter Suite 12.5 on several previous film projects and impromptu DSLR shoots around Los Angeles with an eye to creating and adjusting on-set filming so that editing would be an easier process.

I was particularly impressed with the Bulletproof 1.2, PluralEyes 3.5 and the Denoiser 2, 1.4 tools. Being able to organize, metadata structure and export clips to better formats for editing in Premiere Pro CC (which is my editor of choice) is a huge benefit.

PluralEyes 3.5 is simply amazing in how it can correct even slow drift in unsynced video. This program is a huge time-saver for editors who have to painstakingly sync clips by hand. Now editors can be rid of all that tedious work and focus on actual editing instead.

Although most of the footage taken with my DSLR is very clear, I used Denoiser on some older clips taken over a decade ago and the results were beyond my expectations. The presets included with Denoiser are most likely all you’ll ever need to clean up noisy footage. Especially impressive was Denoiser's ability to save low-light footage even from clips that were shot on an old VHS camera, although just about any DSLR camera footage that has ISO problems will benefit from Denosier.

Frames 1.1 came in handy here as well since the old footage was interlaced. Converting the old footage into a Progressive de-interlaced format will make editing this footage so much easier. Most modern HD video cameras are progressive, but there will be times when you’ll need a solid method to de-interlace footage, and Frames 1.1 does an excellent job using two frame interpolation methods, one based on “field blending for speed, and another which is motion adaptive for smoothing the edges of moving areas.”

 

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Denoiser II in action: Red Spots indicate noise on 5 year old video downtown Los Angeles

 

Final Thoughts

Red Giant is one of those companies that knows that there is a balance between making money and serving the needs of your customers. That they’ve chosen to listen to their customers speaks for itself - their product popularity is off the charts. Red Giant Shooter Suite 12.5 is a perfect example of the company's focus on serving their customers: when you buy this excellent suite of filmmaker tools it is cheaper than buying each individual component. Plus, the suite is an excellent value at $399 (upgrade for $99), which is quite affordable for the small, indie filmmaker on a budget.

Red Giant has hit a home run with the Shooter Suite series and this new version (12.5) is their best yet. Any filmmaker who is considering shooting/editing/post on a new film, either small or large, will save themselves a ton of time (and possibly grief) by buying this superb suite of video tools. The community is supportive (and huge) and the quality of each plug-in is excellent. The Red Giant Shooter Suite 12.5 has our highest recommendation.

Be sure to read more at the well-designed Red Giant website and download the trial version of the Shooter Suite 12.5 (individual plug-in trial versions are available as well). Red Giant has 4 other plug-in suites (Color, Keying, Trapcode and Effects suite) that serve the particular needs of specific user groups. Although I haven’t used the other suites, I have no doubt they are of the same high quality as the Shooter Suite 12.5. Depending upon your needs as a filmmaker, perhaps one of the other suites may serve you better. Trial versions are available for all suites. There are also some excellent video introductions to each suite at the Red Giant website.

Notes

Red Giant Shooter Suite 12.5 is available for the Mac OS 10.6 and later, and Windows XP and higher operating systems. Full system requirements are available here. A complete FAQ on the Shooter Suite is available here.

My thanks to Red Giant for providing Shooter Suite 12.5 for review, and to Bianca Illion at Zazil Media Group for suggesting this review.


Ricky Grove [gToon], Staff Columnist with the Renderosity Front Page News. Ricky Grove is a bookstore clerk at the best bookstore in Los Angeles, the Iliad Bookshop. He's also an actor and machinima filmmaker. He lives with author, Lisa Morton, and three very individual cats. Ricky is into Hong Kong films, FPS shooters, experimental anything and reading, reading, reading. You can catch his blog here.

 

 

 


October 6, 2014

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