Dik's AE.6 OS X Plug-In Test 23 Sep 2003

To: "After Effects Mail List" <AE-List@media-motion.tv> CC: "Kendall Anders" <kendall@digieffects.com>, tech@BigFX.com, "After Effects Pro list" <AEpro-List@media-motion.tv>, "M.I. Free" <aefilter@yahoo.com>, matti@belle-nuit.com, "Panopticum" <admin@panopticum.com>, support@redgiantsoftware.com, sakurai@reiji.net, support@graphicxtras.com, sebi@cyte.de, support@virtix.com, jim@digitalanarchy.com, support@frischluft.com, support@visinf.com

Subject: AE.6 OS-X Plug-In Test
Date: Tue, 23 Sep 2003 00:04:15 +0800

This is a quick test of OS-X plug-in compatibility with AE 6.0. It is being posted to the AE list and also copied to developers whose plug-ins seem to have issues running under AE 6.0, for their information and comment.

Preamble:

As mentioned in the AE OS-X Compatible Plug-Ins List post a short time ago, tightening of the tolerance levels of the After Effects plug-in API and maybe other revisions in AE 6.0 have meant that some plugs which worked under AE 5.5 now don't work properly under AE 6.0. This is not unusual since it seems that a few plugs break at every dot-zero release of AE.

The most common error that you see is that the image goes into a severe digonal shear. When this happens it is quite likely that AE will become unstable and may crash with an "Abnormal Condition" error - although this doesn't always happen.

If it *does* happen, it will sometimes happen immediately, but sometimes it won't happen for a while. I'm unclear whether if you apply a filter which goes into this kind of diagonal distortion whether it inherently makes AE unstable (viz. even if it is then removed) or whether it only stays unstable if you continue to try to run the plug. As we've seen on the AE list, Kenneth and others are experiencing problems with "Abnormal Conditions" even when 3rd. party plugs are not in use, so it seems that this problem runs deeper than might be explained by the stricter effects API.

"Abnormal Condition" errors are terminal. Most of the time you get the chance to save your project, but sometimes the dialogue which allows you to do this will lock, and you cannot initiate the save. In this case you will lose all unsaved changes. One wonders why the AE error checking could not give a more elegant solution to this and catch whatever causes the abnormal condition earlier....

Note that the AE Prefs do have a section which allow you to nominate plugs to follow a less strict API regimen. However, putting plugs into the Prefs like this does *not* return their behaviour to that found under AE 5.5. It may not even cure the shear/diagonal distortion, although it may help alleviate the tendency of plugs to cause an "Abnormal Condition" crash.

The AE 6.0 prefs are in text format and the section which allows the workaround is:

["Effect Misbehaves And Requires Slow Handle Workaround (Mac Only)"]
All Effects = "0"
FilmFX2 = "1"
ISFX Spill Killer Pro = "1"

FilmFX2 and Spill Killer Pro (originally from ISFX - hence the matchname - now part of the Pinnacle/RedGiant Composite Wizard set) are the only ones listed in the default prefs.

Other errant plugs can be added to this list in two ways. (In either case, make sure that AE is not running when prefs are edited.)

If you know the matchname/ID of the effect, then type a new line in this section with:

{Matchname/ID} = "1" (as with FilmFX2 and Spill Killer above)

or:

Change the first line to " All Effects" = "1" and save prefs. When you next launch AE, any plug-in you apply will be added to the list of plug-ins to workaround. Note that this *includes plug-ins that have already been applied to layers when you open a project.* Quit After Effects (Prefs are only saved to disk when you Quit) and change the line back to: " All Effects" = "0"

I have *not* attempted to "cure" errant plugs by this method while running through plugs on my system. Reason being that this is a "workaround" and this may not exist in future versions of AE. In fact, plugs which need this workaround are NOT fully AE 6 compliant and IMHO Developers should fix them so that they *are* fully compliant and do not give any problems for their users. I believe that the fixes are no big deal and Developers should be able to do this very quickly.

Another common error is a "Global outflags" mismatch error. This occurs the first time you apply the plug per session. After that it seems to function normally, so the problem is more of an irritation than a threat. This is also something which can be easily fixed and I would expect Developers to issue patches to cure this soon.

The Test:

...isn't actually much of a test. I've run through plugs on my system (many of these are the latest demos BTW, so the reliability of the test will be conditioned both by the fact that there is additional code in them to make them a demo and also by whether Developers have put their latest version code into the demo) and have performed a few simple operations with them to see if there are any obvious defects. This is NOT the same as using the plugs extensively within a project, when more faults will probably come to light.

In other words, just because plug-in sets are listed as "No problems found* does NOT mean that there are no problems. It just means that there was nothing obvious seen during my rather rudimentary tests.

Likewise, just because I've listed problems doesn't necessarily mean that these problems exist with full version plug-in sets on your system.

SO, this list is very much a "first draft". If any Developer or User has found issues with plugs/sets listed as "No problems found" here, or if anyone believes that any of the plugs listed as non-compliant do in fact work correctly or if there's a later version than the one listed which works correctly, please let me know and I'll try to incorporate those comments.

Note that plugs listed as plugs written to the Effects API only. AEGP plugs are not currently included. There are also a few plug sets I couldn't test since there's no demos available. If anyone has input on these, please share!



Summary List:

* No problems found *
Alien Skin Software Eye Candy for AE 3.2
Boris Continuum Complete 2.0
Boris Title Toolkit 1.0
Bresnev Shu Expression Effects (version?)
Buena Software Inc. Effect Essentials 1.5
Buena Software Inc. Dissolve Factory 1.0
Conoa Conoa 3D 1.7
Conoa Conoa Easy Shapes 1.3
Conoa Conoa EasyTinter 1.3
DigiEffects DE Aurorix 2.7
DigiEffects DE Berserk 1.7
DigiEffects DE Cinelook 1.5.1
DigiEffects DE Cinemotion
Digital Anarchy Anarchy Toolbox 1.0
Digital Anarchy Aurora, Sky 1.0
Digital Anarchy Geomancy 1.1.2
Digital Anarchy Psunami 1.0
Digital Anarchy Text Anarchy 2.0
Digital Film Tools DFT 55MM 2.0
Digital Film Tools DFT Composite Suite 3.0
Digital Film Tools DFT Digital Film Lab 1.0
Digital Film Tools DFT Fast Blur 3.0
Digital Film Tools DFT zMatte 1.0
dvGarage dvMatte 2.0
FAN Grader 1.5
FAN Supressor 1.5
FAN XMult (Free) 1.0
Fnord Software Power Picker 1.0
Fnord Software Übercolor 1.0
Forge Freeform AE 1.0
META/DMA ScopoGigio 1.0.2
Panopticum Anima Text 2.0
Panopticum Figure 1.0
Panopticum Fire 3.0
Panopticum Grid 1.0
Phillip-Spoeth Sinedot/Sinedot II/Retrodots/Shear
Profound Effects Swim 1.0.0
Profound Effects Useful Things 1.5
RE:Vision Effects FieldsKit 1.1
RE:Vision Effects RE:Fill 1.0.1
RE:Vision Effects RE:Flex 2.0
RE:Vision Effects ReelSmart Motion Blur 2.0
RE:Vision Effects Shade/Shape 1.2.1
RE:Vision Effects Twixtor 2.0.2
RE:Vision Effects SmoothKit 2.0
RE:Vision Effects Video Gogh 2.6
Realviz Retimer 1.1
Sakurai Optical Lab Final Focus 1.0
Stagetools Moving Picture 4.0
Synthetic Aperture Color Finesse 1.0.7
The Foundry Tinderbox 1 1.3V1
The Foundry Tinderbox 2 1.2V1
The Foundry Tinderbox 3 1.0V1
Ultimatte AdvantEdge 1.5.7
Walker Effects Walker Effects 1.1


* No problems found (see comments in Set-by-set list) *
Frischluft fLAIR 1.0.2
Frischluft Freeware 1.0.1
Pete Warden's Plugins Freeware 1.4
Red Giant Software Composite Wizard 1.1
Red Giant Software Orphanage Magic Bullet 1.1
Red Giant Software Primatte 1.5.1
Trapcode 3D Stroke 2.0.2
Trapcode Shine 1.0.5
Trapcode Sound Keys 1.1.1
Trapcode Starglow 1.0.2
Zaxwerks Invigorator 3.0.5 Classic
Zaxwerks Invigorator 3.0.5 Pro


* Usable but have "global flags" dialogue error *
Frischluft LensCare 1.1
Visual Infinity Grain Surgery 2.0


* Some plugs unusable, flawed or broke (patch coming) *
Red Giant Software Knoll Light Factory 2.0


* Some plugs unusable, flawed or broke (no patch) *
DigiEffects DE Delirium 1.5
Digital Anarchy ColorTheory 1.5
Flam3.com AE Flame 1.1
Panopticum Tools 1.1
Sappire Innovations Sapphire Effects Vol 1.1
Sebastian Mecklenburg Freeware 1.0
Virtix Effects for AE and FCP 1.0


* Unusable through shear distortion (no patch) *
Belle Nuit Montage Mimikri 1.0.4
BigFX FilmFX 2.5 for Mac
Harald Heim/Panopticum Plugin Galaxy AE 1.0
Panopticum Lens Pro 3.5 Bundle


* Not supported for AE 5.5 or 6.0 *
Boris Boris FX 6.1
Boris Boris Graffiti 2
Boris Boris RED 2.5


* Crashes with Abnormal Condition (all plugs) *
KaZuhiro FuRuhata HeboHebo (version?)
Media 100 Inc. Final Effects Complete
Panopticum Engraver 1.0
Sakurai Optical Lab Iris Filter 4


* Crashes with Abnormal Condition (some plugs) *
Panopticum Rich Typing 1.3


* Not tested *
Digital Anarchy Gradient! (version?)
Panopticum Array 1.6
Red Giant Software Image Lounge 1.1



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Set by Set List:

Alien Skin Software Eye Candy for AE 3.2
- no problems found

Belle Nuit Montage Mimikri 1.0.4 (demo)
- suffers from shear distortion. Did not crash AE 6.0, but might if I'd used it longer. No announcement on Belle Nuit site about 6.0 compliant update.

BigFX FilmFX 2.5 for Mac (demo)
- suffers from shear distortion. Did not crash AE 6.0, but BigFX2.0 is one of the plugs written in the AE 6.0 Prefs to be treated with the slow handle workaround. No announcement on Belle Nuit site about 6.0 compliant update.

Boris Continuum Complete 2.0
- no problems found in OS-X, although note that the Windows versions suffers from the "global outflags" warning. Works OK once effect is applied.

Boris RED 2.5
Boris Boris FX 6.1 (demo)
Boris Boris Graffiti 2 (demo)
Boris Boris RED 2.5
- not supported under AE 5.5 or AE 6.0

Boris Title Toolkit 1.0 (demo)
- no problems found

Bresnev Shu Expression Effects (version?) (demo)
- no problems found

Buena Software Inc. Dissolve Factory 1.0 (demo)
- no problems found

Buena Software Inc. Effect Essentials 1.5
- no problems found

Conoa Conoa 3D 1.7 (demo)
Conoa Conoa Easy Shapes 1.3 (demo)
Conoa Conoa EasyTinter 1.3 (demo)
- no problems found

DigiEffects DE Aurorix 2.7 (demo)
DigiEffects DE Berserk 1.7
DigiEffects DE Cinelook 1.5.1 (demo)
DigiEffects DE Cinemotion (demo)
- no problems found. Note that DE do not support Aurorix and Berserk under FCP 3.0.4 (and presumably FCP 4.0.2)

DigiEffects DE Delirium 1.5
- I've seen concerns in various places that this is not fully AE 6.0 (or FCP 3.0.4 / 4) compliant. I found the following, but if there's so many which have issues after simple testing, it's likely that more problems would be found with more rigorous testing:

DE Channel Delay seems not to work properly
DE Flow Motion seems to be broke. Has distortion at some settings but not at others
DE Glower has shear distortion
DE HLS Displace gives abnormal condition crash (can save)
DE Lens Flares - broke. Alpha does not seem to ramp off grads (not an AE 6.0 error I think - this has been around for a while. I've seen no announcement re fixing Delirium for AE 6.0 and FCP 4.0 on their site of on the Cow (last time I checked) despite questions from users.

Digital Anarchy Anarchy Toolbox 1.0 (demo)
Digital Anarchy Aurora, Sky 1.0 (demo)
Digital Anarchy Geomancy 1.1.2
Digital Anarchy Psunami 1.0
Digital Anarchy Text Anarchy 2.0 (part demo)
- no problems found

Digital Anarchy ColorTheory 1.5 (demo)
- view in options box preview suffers from diagonal shear problem.

Digital Anarchy Gradient! (version?) (demo)
The demo seems only to have a Classic installer for some reason. Not tested.

Digital Film Tools DFT 55MM 2.0 (demo)
Digital Film Tools DFT Composite Suite 3.0 (demo)
Digital Film Tools DFT Digital Film Lab 1.0 (demo)
Digital Film Tools DFT Fast Blur 3.0 (demo)
Digital Film Tools DFT zMatte 1.0 (demo)
- no problems found

dvGarage dvMatte 2.0 (demo)
- no problems found

FAN Grader 1.5 (demo)
FAN Supressor 1.5 (demo)
FAN XMult (Free) 1.0
- no problems found

Flam3.com AE Flame 1.1
- the "Xform 0 Swirl param broke (jumps 0-100)

Fnord Software Power Picker 1.0 (demo)
- no problems found

Fnord Software Übercolor 1.0 (demo)
- no problems found

Forge Freeform AE 1.0 (demo)
- no problems found

Frischluft LensCare 1.1 (demo)
- suffers from "global outflag" warnings, but otherwise seems to work. Frischluft is working on a patch.

Frischluft fLAIR 1.0.2 (demo)
Frischluft Freeware 1.0.1 (demo)
- earlier version had "global outflag" problem, but this has been fixed in the above versions. Now, no problems found.

Harald Heim/Panopticum Plugin Galaxy AE 1.0 (demo)
- all but 3 plugs (Breakfast, Pop Art and Synthesizer) suffer from shear distortion error. Did not give abnormal condition, but may if run longer.

KaZuhiro FuRuhata HeboHebo (version?)
- only tested 4Color and Color, but the first gave shear distortion leading to abnormal condition crash, while Color gave an immediate abnormal condition, with the Save dialogue locked up so that the project was lost.


Media 100 Inc. Final Effects Complete
- gives immediate "abnormal condition" crash for all filters. Rumour has it that it is less the FCP code than the stupid licensing code. If so, then "we told you so....". The only consolation is that Media-100 suffers the inconvenience as well users. Reputedly these plugs also don't work in FCP-4. Not bad going!
- The problem has been noted by M100 and will probably be fixed. Scott Donahue posted the following to the AE list on 18th. Sept:

We are looking into this problem right now and determining what we need to do to make Final Effects Complete compatible with After Effects 6. We apologize for any inconvenience. Customers should continue to monitor the Media 100 website and the Customer Advocate Q & A web page for the latest information on Final Effects Complete for OS X: http://www.media100.com/advocate.asp?PR=DS

We are getting close to resolving a number of issues. I hope to have some new information for you in the near future. I want to let you know that things are moving forward and your concerns are being addressed.


META/DMA ScopoGigio 1.0.2 (demo)
- no problems found

Panopticum Anima Text 2.0
Panopticum Figure 1.0 (demo)
Panopticum Fire 3.0 (demo)
Panopticum Grid 1.0 (demo)
- no problems found

Panopticum Array 1.6 (demo)
- not tested. Demo had expired and I couldn't get it to reset! Anyone use this and can give an assessment?

Panopticum Engraver 1.0 (demo)
- shear distortion. Led to abnormal condition crash

Panopticum Lens Pro 3.5 Bundle (demo)
- all 3 plugs have shear distortion problem. Did not crash AE but might if run longer

Panopticum Rich Typing 1.3
- PAN Digitalizer = no problems found
- PAN Rich Typing = no problems found
- PAN Morphing = abnormal condition crash

Panopticum Tools 1.1
- PAN Camera Noise has shear distortion
- PAN Compare Mask has shear distortion
- PAN Echo has shear distortion
- PAN Emboss has shear distortion
- PAN Photo Exposition has shear distortion
- PAN Region has shear distortion
- PAN Specle Tool has shear distortion
- PAN Strip has shear distortion

Pete Warden's Plugins Freeware 1.4
- Directional Blur suffers from severe artifacts at certain settings. This is probably not an AE 6.0 issue.

Phillip-Spoeth Sinedot/Sinedot II/Retrodots/Shear
1.1/1.2
- no problems found

Profound Effects Swim 1.0.0 (demo)
Profound Effects Useful Things 1.5
- no problems found

RE:Vision Effects FieldsKit 1.1
RE:Vision Effects RE:Fill 1.0.1 (demo)
RE:Vision Effects RE:Flex 2.0
RE:Vision Effects ReelSmart Motion Blur 2.0 (demo)
RE:Vision Effects Shade/Shape 1.2.1 (demo)
RE:Vision Effects Twixtor 2.0.2 (demo)
RE:Vision Effects SmoothKit 2.0 (demo)
RE:Vision Effects Video Gogh 2.6
- no problems found

Realviz Retimer 1.1 (demo)
- no problems found

Red Giant Software Composite Wizard 1.2
- no problems found, which is slightly surprising since Spill Killer Pro is one of those listed in AE's default prefs for the slow handle workaround. Red Giant seem to think there's no problem too since there is to be no update issued, even to fix Spill Killer Pro.

Red Giant Software Image Lounge 1.2 (demo)
- not tested. My ISFX plugs are OS-9 only and there appears to be no OS-X demo. Red Giant seem to think there's no problem since there is to be no update issued.

Red Giant Software Knoll Light Factory 2.0
- I only found a possible problem with Aperture Reflection, which may be broke. However, Red Giant list that version 2.01 will be released late Sept for AE 6.0 compatibility reasons. I'm not sure what their fixing. Maybe Red Giant can tell us?

Red Giant Software Orphanage Magic Bullet 1.5 (demo)
- I had an endless beachball on Broadcast Spec 1.1, but the others seemed all right. Magic Bullet 1.5 is now downloadable as a free upgrade on the RedGiantSoftware site. Presumably this fixes all issues with AE 6.0 compatibility. I can't test it since the demo is still 1.1. Anyone tried it?
- interesting that 4 out of 5 of the Magic Bullet matchnames start with the ADBE (Adobe) code. Is there something they're not telling us??

Red Giant Software Primatte 1.5.1 (demo)
- Primatte 1.5 caused an abnormal condition crash. Red Giant now have version 1.5.1 available for download which is designed to fix AE 6.0 compatbility issues.

Sakurai Optical Lab Final Focus 1.0 (demo)
- no problems found

Sakurai Optical Lab Iris Filter 4 (demo)
- causes shear distortion followed by an abnormal condition crash, with the Save dialogue locking up so that the project cannot be saved. Project loss.

Sappire Innovations Sapphire Effects Vol 1.1 (demo)
- may not be an AE 6.0 error, but many filters have odd behaviour in 16-bit mode. Typically this is due to sliders setting to actual values of zero, even though the default values are still shown in the numerical readout. I saw this in Limits, Oplines, Poster and Solar, but it may also happen on others.
- Many plugs also have the annoying "global outflags" error on first application. I see no announcment on the graphicxtras site about 6.0 compatibilty patches as yet.

Sebastian Mecklenburg Freeware 1.0
- Raybeam Percent Finished slider seems to be broke
- Talker/Talker Extended don't show current image

Stagetools Moving Picture 4.0 (demo)
- no problems found

Synthetic Aperture Color Finesse 1.0.7
- no problems found

The Foundry Tinderbox 1 1.3V1
The Foundry Tinderbox 2 1.2V1
The Foundry Tinderbox 3 1.0V1
- no problems found

Trapcode 3D Stroke 2.0.2
Trapcode Shine 1.0.5
Trapcode Sound Keys 1.1.1 (demo)
Trapcode Starglow 1.0.2 (demo)
- no problems found, but note that earlier versions might give problems under AE 6.0. Make sure that you download the latest versions from the Trapcode site.

Ultimatte AdvantEdge 1.5.7 (demo)
- no problems found

Virtix Effects for AE and FCP 1.0 (demo)
- all but a few filters (e.g. Rain, Snow and Laser Point-to-point) have a problem when used with masks. If used with a mask the other filters will scale up! This is probably not a 6.0 issue, although I haven't tested it under 5.5. I would guess that this set is more aimed at FCP than AE anyway.

Other filters have additional errors which are also probably not restricted to AE 6.0.
- Virtix Blur Edges = Something odd here. Blur seems semi inverted on slider (?)
- Virtix Bubbles = Bubble distortion seems to generate too high freqs and break antialiasing at certain settings. Had severe image distortion when adjusting Minimum Distance once.
- Virtix Heat = Seems not to distort much and is quite regular
- Virtix Lightning = broke?
- Virtix Sparkle By Color = Truncates layer inside mask
- VirtixTopograph = Inadequate antialiasing
- VirtixTunnel = Processed image is narrowed and does not match blended image

Visual Infinity Grain Surgery 2.0 (demo)
- Add Grain plug-in gives "global outflag" warning dialogue, after which it seems to perform OK. Odd since the other 2 plugs don't give the error.

Walker Effects Walker Effects 1.1
- no problems found

Zaxwerks Invigorator 3.0.5 Classic
Zaxwerks Invigorator 3.0.5 Pro
- no problems found, but note that earlier versions might give problems under AE 6.0. Make sure that you download the latest versions from the Zaxwerks site.