Wednesday, August 24th, 2011 Posted by Jim Thacker

Red Giant ships Trapcode Suite 11 for After Effects


Trapcode Form 2.0 in action. The updated plug-in forms one part of Red Giant’s Trapcode Suite 11.

Red Giant has released an update to Trapcode Suite, the collection of After Effects motion graphics and visual effects plug-ins created by legendary developer Peder Norrby.

Trapcode Suite 11 updates two of the nine plug-ins: particle tool Form 2.0 and lighting system Lux 1.2.

Form 2.0 significantly updates the plug-in’s toolset, enabling users to import OBJs as base forms to convert to particles; new particle types; and Layer Map control over particle properties.

The other plug-ins in the suite remain unchanged.

Trapcode Suite 11 costs $899, or $99 as an upgrade from the previous version. Trapcode Form 2.0 costs $199 as an individual purchase, or $99 as an upgrade.

PRESS RELEASE (Excerpts)
Red Giant today announced the release of Trapcode Suite 11. Designed by Peder Norrby, Trapcode’s original creator, Trapcode Suite 11 is a major upgrade to the industry standard VFX tool set for high quality broadcast design and 3D motion graphics.

With this release, Trapcode Suite 11 includes a new release of Form 2, featuring full support for OBJ files, enabling artists to import OBJs directly into After Effects for significantly enhanced 3D modeling and design. Trapcode Suite 11 also includes a new update for Lux 1.2 which adds 32-bpc support for deeper color effects for After Effects artists.

What’s New in Trapcode Suite 11
Trapcode Suite 11 consists of nine full-featured tools for beautiful, realistic effects, with an emphasis on flexible 3D motion graphics. The suite offers two major new upgrades to the suite:

Trapcode Form 2.0 – A significant upgrade, Form 2.0 now enables artists to bring OBJs directly into After Effects with support for 3D models and sequences, offers Particular 2 features, such as Textured Polygon and Streaklet particle types, and illuminate particles with Shading for visual depth and tight integration with After Effects lights. Form 2.0 also provides full Layer Map support with advanced animation control over particle size, rotation and color. An expanded Spherical Field feature enables artists to distort spheres into any elliptical shape, and built-in Audio Reactors simplifies application of variables, such as motion, dispersion, size and twist so particles organically react to frequencies and sound effects;

Trapcode Lux 1.2 – Lux simulates the ‘visible light’ phenomenon of light in a dark or foggy environment. Lux creates realistic visible light sources for spotlights, flashlights, headlights, or stage lighting of all kinds, and now offers 32-bpc support.

Trapcode Suite 11 also includes:

Trapcode 3D Stroke 2.6 – 3D Stroke uses paths from one or more masks to render volumetric strokes that can be rotated and moved freely in 3D space. It also includes a built-in camera to create dynamic 3D environments. Path reveals are made simple with keyframeable start and end sliders;

Trapcode Echospace 1.1 – Speeds and automates the creation of sophisticated 3D layer effects in Adobe After Effects. Layer iterations can be controlled as a group or individually for sophisticated ‘house-of-cards’ or ‘Cover Flow’-style animations;

Trapcode Horizon 1.1 – Creates ultra-realistic environments using Trapcode Horizon to wrap sphere maps, panoramas or video around the After Effects world;

Trapcode Particular 2.1 – Particular 2 is a fast, powerful 3D particle system with full camera and light support, delivering the most powerful particles for After Effects. Particular creates a wide range of realistic natural effects – from natural smoke and explosions to geometric, 3D, or organic abstract elements;

Trapcode Shine 1.6 – Shine is a 2D plug-in that simulates 3D volumetric light effects within an editor. TV and movie professionals use it daily to create light rays that sweep through logotypes or any kind of footage;

Trapcode Sound Keys 1 – Sound Keys is a keyframe generator plug-in for Adobe After Effects and enables users to visually select parts of an audio track and convert that audio into keyframes. Sound Keys is ideal for audio-intensive animations;

Trapcode Starglow 1.6 – Enables users to add Hollywood glamor, with multiple colors and point and shimmer controls, to text or shapes with the fast-rendering Starglow plug-in.

Pricing and Availability
Trapcode Suite 11 is available immediately and is priced at $899.00 for new customers, and as a $99.00 upgrade for existing customers. Additionally, customers who already own Trapcode Suite 2004 and 2005, Particular V2 or any four individual Trapcode products, can purchase the entire Trapcode Suite 11 for $499.00.

All products in Trapcode Suite 11 are 64-bit and designed for use with Adobes Creative Suite 5.5.

Read the full feature list on the Red Giant website

Read the Trapcode blog (link to starter tutorial for Trapcode Form 2.0)