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Shake comes with an unusual pedigree. The package was created at Nothing Real, which was acquired by Apple in 2002. Nothing Real had compositing products that ranged in price from $10,000 to nearly $150,000 and were intended for use on high-end film work. Apple retained Shake after the Nothing Real acquisition and has steadily improved the software over the years with a battery of new features and technology garnered from yet more technology acquisitions. Some features came from Kodak's elite 10-bit Cineon program and the equally sophisticated Silicon Grail Rayz product. Kodak and Silicon Grail technology were important additions to Shake's native toolkits as both had mature film graining with film management tools that were developed over the previous decade.
Shake has been at the epicenter of every Academy Award-winning visual effects film for the last seven years. The fact that Shake can do its work at user-selectable bit depths (8-, 16- or up to 32-bit floating point) with artist- or art director-defined custom LUTS (color look up tables) has to be part of the reason for the Shake success story, but it's far from the whole account. The practical reason why Shake has become the composite package of choice at the high end is the focal point of this review.
Shake Interface and Features
Composite animators opening Shake for the first time are treated to a deceptively simple user interface (Ul). Shake 3.5's layout is straightforward for its deep feature sets and pipeline-driven focus.
One reason for the Shake edge becomes apparent right off the bat. A clean default Ul is a major achievement in any package, but it's a standout in a tool of Shake's power....