Autodesk releases Flame 2025
Autodesk has begun its Flame 2025 release cycle, the latest annual series of updates to Flame, its compositing, finishing and effects software
Flame 2025 itself introduces a new Match Grain node, a new lens distortion workflow, and overhauls the handling of user preferences.
The other products in the Flame family – the two cut-down editions of Flame, Flame Assist and Flare, and colour grading tool Lustre – have also been updated to their 2025 releases.
New Match Grain node matches film grain automatically to source footage
New features in Flame 2025 include Match Grain, a new node for matching the grain of footage to that of a source clip, with the option to adjust RGB values, dispersion and scale.
It should provide a more streamlined workflow than the existing Degrain and Regrain nodes.
New workflow for correcting and reapplying lens distortion
Lens distortion workflow has also been overhauled, with a new Lens Distortion node replacing the old Lens Distort node.
Like its predecessor, it can be used to correct or simulate lens distortions in footage, but provides a wider range of options, computing lens distortion from a Lens Grid clip, manually inserted splines, or importing distortion data from 3D tracking software 3DEqualizer.
Users can then apply multiple distortion models to undistort the footage, and output an STMap and Inverse STMap to apply the same undistortion to other clips via the new STMap node.
Flame User Profiles ditched as part of new workflow for managing preferences
Handling of preferences and presets has been overhauled, with Autodesk dispensing entirely with the concept of Flame User Profiles to which version-specific user settings are tied.
Preferences are now organized in a version-agnostic four-level hierarchy (user, project, version, system), and there is also a new option to create centralized presets on a studio network.
Other workflow improvements
There are also a number of smaller workflow improvements to the timeline, to Batch, to the Keyboard Shortcuts Editor, and to the user interface.
Other changes include support for Apple Log color space, introduced with the iPhone 15 Pro, and updates to the SDKs and media formats supported.
Pricing and availability
Flame 2025 is available for Rocky Linux 8.5/8.7/9.3 and macOS 12.0.1+ on a rental-only basis. Subscriptions cost $610/month or $4,870/year.
Flare 2025 and Flame Assist 2025 are also available for Rocky Linux 8.5/8.7/9.3 and macOS 12.0.1+. Single-user subscriptions cost $2,595/year.
Lustre 2025 is available on Rocky Linux 8.5/8.7/9.3. Single-user subscriptions cost $4,870/year.
See an overview of new features in Flame on Autodesk’s website
Read a full list of new features in Flame 2025 in the online documentation
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Cover image: Autodesk’s promo image for Flame 2025, courtesy of MBUSA, M+P, The-Artery.