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Artbeats Software is no stranger to the CD-ROM stock video market. The companyhas been making discs for years. The company's latest offerings fall into the "I didn't know I needed that until I needed it" niche. Instead of obvious imagery, these discs' effects are more subtle. However, once you work with these CDs, you'll be amazed at how nicely they integrate into your productions.
All of the movies in each collection use QuickTime as the native format, rendered at 720x486 (for all D1 fans) using the Apple Photo JPEG CODEC. Material for all three discs was shot in 35mm film and then transferred to D1 video using the Spirit DataCine, so image purity is topnotch. Many of the images also have mattes, which is a boon for compositing. In some cases, such as bubbles rising, you could just use the matte on a solid image to add a bit of "air" to the image.
To make things more manageable, each collection comes with two versions: a full-resolution clip and a smaller, thumbnail movie. Another nice touch is how the images are packaged. Artbeats puts its collections together in three-ring binders - complete with CD sleeves...