Shake?

Blaine

Blaine

Mr. Hollywood
Anybody out there using Shake? I'm a Mac user and was wondering how it compares with AE. Is it worth 3x the price? I know I can do the simple stuff with Motion but for something more complicated I'll need AE or Shake.
 
well.. Shake did win an oscar like 7 years in a row didnt it?

and according to the footage/screenshots and such that i've seen on shake, it really seems to be the equivalent to Fusion 5 (windows), if not maybe even better.

I really can't say since i've not tried it out, however you can download a 30 day trial of Apple Shake 4 from their site apparently, so you should give it a try. As a matter of fact i think im gonna head right over there and download the trial :D

if you decide to go for it, CMiVFX ( www.cmivfx.com ) and Gnomon ( www.thegnomonworkshop.com ) have some pretty good dvd's you can buy, the bundle's where you get all the dvd's go for like $300-350
 
Last edited:
Shake is more like 10x the price of AFX, but you can find it if you look hard enough. All I'm going to say.

The Shake 4 and Fusion 5 are very similar now that they both have multi-plane compositing. I'd say the most apparent difference in the AFX and Shake/Fusion is the optical work flow.

Shake uses nodes and has a lot of options for scripting. For effect intensive composites with 20 CC levels and 50 masks AFX gets unmanagable.

I'd say if you are doing 2D or 2.5D motion graphics with less than 20 layers AFX is fine. But as soon as you start integrating 3D track data or 3D composites (with lots of render passes) your going to start needing Shake.

Combustion 4 also has some major improvements, its the baby sister of Flame.
 
Shake shook things up just right for me and I'll be investing in it pretty soon once the whole Intel Switch gets fully under way.
 
I would go with AE. It is much cheaper, and if you don't know the difference between the two programs, then maybe an investment in something like Shake isn't right for you. After Effects has more power than most people would ever need. The node-based system in Shake is really sweet, but with a little practice you can be just as productive in the After Effects user interface. Also, if you find that you want to eventually transfer to Shake, all is not lost. They share MANY of the same functions, but they just go about doing them differently. If you understand how compositing software works, then you should have no problem using ANY compositing software once you learn it's ins and outs. Everything is based on the same basic principles. So I say get the MUCH cheaper AE now. And if you feel you want to upgrade to Shake one day, then do so. But I bet you will find all that you need right there in AE. (If they were close in price I would say Shake...but they aren't).

Mike McLin
 
I just started playing with Shake v4. Can anyone suggest some good resources on learning Shake. Books, online tutorials, training videos? I tried just fiddling around with it but that was pointless to say the least. Also, does anyone know the most up-to-date version of Shake? Thanks.
 
PainTed said:
I just started playing with Shake v4. Can anyone suggest some good resources on learning Shake. Books, online tutorials, training videos? I tried just fiddling around with it but that was pointless to say the least. Also, does anyone know the most up-to-date version of Shake? Thanks.
Click to expand...
If I had Shake and wanted to learn it, this is the book I'd get:

http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/03...102-3209647-8368916?s=books&v=glance&n=283155

I have used Apple training books for FCP and Motion and they are great. They come with a DVD that contains the material for the lessons in the books.
 
Shake is a compositing package.. its built for the myriad of details specific to
high-end color fidelity issues, working with huge images and massively complex
composites. Its decidedly lacking in what would be considered effects 'creation'
tools such as 2d particle systems, effects plugins, motion graphics tools
and things along those lines.

You'd probably be MUCH happier with After Effects or Combustion... both are
well rounded packages and more 'swiss army knife' to shake's suite of
specialized 'surgical tools'.
 
Any book by Marco Paolini is really good. I'm pretty sure he is one of the original writers of the program, so he knows his stuff!

I use both Shake and AE, they have their strengths and weaknesses. Shake is fairly hard to learn, and it's a pretty big departure from a timeline, layer based program. Once you wrap your head around the program though you have tons of power available to you, and it's very customizable. Shake makes you do everything, and nothing is hidden from you. After Effects differs because it will do things behind the scenes that Shake does not. Like premultiplacation, AE handles it in a more nonchalant manner, whereas Shake you have know when to apply the nodes for premult.

I personally use After Effects for most of my compositing work, just because I know it better and it's faster, but as I explore Shake more and more I can see how it will really benefit my workflow. Shake is great in the way it handles color, and rotoscoping in it is a lot easier. Try 'em both and see which you like better, but ultimately, AE is a more robust tool that will serve you a lot better in the long run for many different purposes.
 
Shake has way more power than I need right now, but I thought it wouldn't hurt to learn it over time just on the side. Is it safe to say that Motion2 < AE/Combustion < Shake? Combustion just feels better to me than AE so I might focus more on that. Anyone feel differently about AE versus Combustion?
 
What a difference time makes... I was trying to decide if the investment ($3000) for Shake made any sense. Am I glad I waited and got it for $499.
 
Greggl said:
Shake is a compositing package.. its built for the myriad of details specific to
high-end color fidelity issues, working with huge images and massively complex
composites. Its decidedly lacking in what would be considered effects 'creation'
tools such as 2d particle systems, effects plugins, motion graphics tools
and things along those lines.

You'd probably be MUCH happier with After Effects or Combustion... both are
well rounded packages and more 'swiss army knife' to shake's suite of
specialized 'surgical tools'.
Click to expand...

Well said. If you do go with Shake, check out the Gnomon Workshop DVD series. I have some of them and found them necessary to become acquainted with Shake's layout and workflow.

http://www.thegnomonworkshop.com/index.html
 
:) Right now, I'm about 2/3 of the way through Shake 4 of the Apple Pro Training Series. It has helped make sense of everything so far and I'm actually learning something. I've worked through it pretty quickly and intend to go back through it again, once I'm finished. I'm doing the Keying lesson right now.
 
I just got shake after the price drop to. To be honest, the Apple Pro Training series on the book was decent, but covered a lot of the same ground as the excellent tutorial included with the program.

I don't know what it is, but I just "clicked" with shake a lot easier than with premier. The whole node based workflow makes a ton of sense to me...
 
CaptainMench said:
I expect you all to start to head over to the Apple site and begin racking up the points...

http://discussions.apple.com/forum.jspa?forumID=1179

Help some folks out!!

CaptM
Click to expand...
Thanks for the link Capt. I'm sure I'll be frequenting it. btw, I just finished the Shake 4 book in the Apple Pro Training Series. I'll need to go through it again, but it did a great job of introducing me to the interface and node system. I loved your SmoothCam tutorial and the lessons showed me the Stabilize node, another great node for smoothing out handheld shots! If I hadn't gotten so side tracked today, I was going to work through your Morph tutorial...well, I guess that gives me something to do this weekend (as if I needed any more to do :Drogar-BigGrin(DBG) )
 
Blaine... Lots of ways to skin a cat in Shake as I'm sure you're finding out. Like Keying!!! CRAP there are a million ways to do that. And you'll find that even thought Shake-masters will tell you it's all about if it works or doesn't... if they see one of your scripts, be prepared for "WHAT are you doing??? You NEVER add a shape mask to a KEY node..." or some such stuff...

SO -- in the spirit of that, I'll give up a script -- you asked for it in another forum, but folks might like to try it here too. Nothing much... tried once to make use of the text node and tried to create a title.

http://homepage.mac.com/captmench/logo.shk.zip

Basically, I created some PAINT strokes and interpolated them from frame 1 to the end over a gradient background.

Then layered to make the effect.

CaptM
 
You must log in or register to reply here.
Back
Top