VFX Suite

VFX Supercomp 1.5

A toolkit for realistic VFX composites in After Effects

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VFX Supercomp - Lightwrap Plugin
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Integrated VFX Compositing

Creating complex, seamless composites in After Effects can be a difficult, time-consuming task. With Supercomp, light and atmospheric effects interact with all of your layers and the elements of a scene in a far more natural way than can be modeled with a simple stack of 2D layers. Supercomp enhances the After Effects 2D compositing engine with its own, powerful environment and set of tools, and far less pre-composing than ever before.

Powerful Effects, Fast

Work with 17 GPU-accelerated context-aware tools, such as Light Wrap, Volumetric Fog, Optical Glow, and more. Supercomp’s effects are easily applied, with less time needed to get realistic professional composites. Supercomp’s adjustable presets speed up the compositing process by displaying live previews of how they'll affect your finished composite.

play buttonVFX Supercomp Solar Flares

Pro Tricks and Techniques

Good compositing requires knowing how to make things look right. With Supercomp, you’ll benefit from decades of our team’s extensive feature film and broadcast experience. Supercomp comes with built-in visual effects tricks and techniques that deliver beautiful, convincing results. Light wraps know they should wrap around every layer — not just one. Heat Blur applied to a fire element gives a realistic blurring and distortion of all layers behind it, without requiring additional effects.

VFX Supercomp - Professional Compositing Software
VFX Supercomp

Entirely New/Completely Familiar

Supercomp is a companion that works seamlessly with and within After Effects, so you can continue to use the effects and workflows you already know. Use Supercomp for the finishing touches — or choose to base your entire workflow around it. No matter how you use it in your work, you’ll never have to leave the comfort of the familiar After Effects timeline to get it done.

Features

Supercomp has been designed to include lots of features to make compositing in After Effects a breeze.

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VFX Optical Glow - Glow Plugin

The Supercomp Panel

Supercomp’s dockable UI makes it easy to do complex compositing through clear visual feedback. Supercomp's layers are easy to read at a glance, with intuitive icons for each effect. Quickly access the complete set of effects through a convenient radial menu for fast application and results.

Preview Fine Detail

Often, effects like Light Wrap are almost too subtle to see, especially with so many other effects applied to a layer. With the Supercomp Panel, you can view your full composite, or you can drill all the way down to a single selected effect, making it possible to see and alter small details for better results. Supercomp gives you a visual preview that delivers contextual feedback at every level. (Sketchfab 3D Model Artist: Cécile Amstad)

VFX Optical Glow - Controls

Context-Aware Effects

Unlike standard After Effects layers and effects, in Supercomp, all layers and effects applied are aware of changes to the other layers in your composite. Adjustments will ripple throughout your composite, altering any pixels that should be affected by those changes. Swap out a background, or change the order of your layers, and all light wraps, diffusions, haze, etc., will automatically change with it — no need to hunt through multiple After Effects comps, layers, and effects.

VFX Supercomp - Layer Types

Supercomp Layers

Supercomp supports three different layer types: Normal, Additive, and Displacement. Each layer type has its own set of effects and presets. You can also specify the gamma (log, video, and more) of your layer, which makes it easy to combine elements from different sources and cameras.

VFX Supercomp - Presets

Presets

Setting up a complex composite is now as simple as a single click. With Layer Presets, you can apply multiple Supercomp effects at once to get a starting point or even an instant final result. Audition presets with the visual preview, then apply. Tweak a setting or two to taste, and, if you like, save and share your own presets.

VFX Supercomp - Animation

Animation

Most controls in Supercomp can be animated. Just right-click on a parameter and select Add Keyframe. The control then appears in the After Effects timeline, where you can keyframe it, or even add expressions.

32-bit Floating Point HDR

No matter what the bit-depth of your After Effects project, Supercomp always works in 32-bit float, with proper gamma management. That means that your composites will look realistic and seamless, without any clipped highlights or color artifacts.

VFX Supercomp - GPU 1.5

GPU Acceleration

All 17 of the effects in Supercomp are GPU-Accelerated, giving you fast feedback and renders.

VFX Supercomp -Easy Handoff and Pickup

Easy Pickup and Handoff

No more having to remember what you did when opening an older project, or trying to figure out what someone else did when you inherit a project. Supercomp’s clear visual feedback makes it simple to understand a project’s makeup so you can jump right in and tweak.

VFX Supercomp - Color Correction 1.5

Color Correction

Often a difference in the color of layers is what stands between you and a good composite. Supercomp offers a powerful Color Correction effect designed specifically for VFX compositing. Once you set your black level, no subsequent adjustments will alter the black values of the layer.

play buttonSupercomp - Color Match

Color Match (NEW)

Based on the #1 request from customers, you can now click the ‘Match Background’ button, and Supercomp will instantly match the black and white points of the layers behind it. Like other Supercomp tools, Color Match is context aware, so that different areas of your background will affect your layer differently. An additional White Point Weight slider gives you even more control over the color match.

Supercomp - Color Space

Color Space (NEW)

Supercomp 1.5 introduces new professional color handling options. 28 new color spaces have been added, supporting popular cameras such as the Arri Alexa, Blackmagic Pocket Cinema, Canon, RED, and more.

VFX Supercomp - Optical Glow 1.5

Optical Glow (NEW)

Supercomp’s Optical Glow tool creates a photorealistic glow that uses an inverse-square falloff. This creates a natural-looking glow that adapts realistically to changes in brightness and color, and blends beautifully into the background. This context-aware effect automatically wraps around all foreground layers in a way that would be daunting to set up in After Effects. Even layers and effects that blur or displace the glowing layer are honored. New in Supercomp 1.5 are Radiate options for creating light rays, the ability to separately scale the RGB channels of the glow, and the ability to separately scale the effect on the X and Y axes.

play buttonVFX Supercomp - Layer Glow 1.5

Layer Glow (NEW)

Layer Glow works exactly like Optical Glow, but without the foreground wrapping. This is effective for layers that create an atmospheric glow that should realistically be occluded by foreground elements. New in Supercomp 1.5 are Radiate options for creating light rays, the ability to separately scale the RGB channels of the glow, and the ability to separately scale the effect on the X and Y axes. (3D Model by Norberto Aguilera)

VFX Supercomp - Light Wrap

Light Wrap

Light wraps are critical for allowing background light to spill over onto your foreground elements. In Supercomp, you can pick from two different Light Wrap models: Diffusion and Encroachment. Diffusion models the kind of light spill that happens in-camera, from imperfections in the lens, or intentional on-camera filtration. The Encroachment method adapts the light spill to the layer’s level of detail, for an organic, realistic effect. Supercomp’s Light Wrap is subtle, highly customizable, and works in an optically-correct color space, so you never get that “overdone” light wrap look.

play button

Reverse Light Wrap

Often missed in compositing, If the background light and color can spill light onto the foreground, then the reverse must also be true. Reverse Light Wrap spreads subtle color and light from the foreground onto the surrounding background layers. (Sketchfab 3D Model Artist: Mark2580)

VFX Supercomp - Haze

Haze

Blend your foreground layer into the atmospheric perspective of the background with a heavily diffused background color. The Haze effect includes an optional shadow control to simulate the foreground layer blocking the background light that’s illuminating the haze. This shadow can be repositioned to match the light direction of the background footage, and especially helps the realism of backlit scenes.

VFX Supercomp - Blur Behind

Blur Behind

Add realism to smoke and dust elements, or lend a backlit look to snow or rain elements. The Blur Behind effect blurs the background according to the opacity of the foreground layer. The result is most noticeable in semi-transparent areas of the foreground and also works well on fully-opaque layers that have soft edges, such as hair or fur.

Edge Erode

Supercomp’s Edge Erode effect adds smooth transparency to the edges of your foreground layer. Use it to shave a harsh edge off an almost-perfect key, or add additional transparency to a soft-edged element like smoke or dust.

VFX Supercomp - Volume Fog

Volume Fog

This is the ultimate tool for setting a layer into an atmospheric shot. If your element is backlit in an atmospheric scene, Volume Fog adds “god rays” of background light spilling over the foreground. The rays can also be diffused so that the lighting takes on a more subtle, natural backlit look.

VFX Supercomp - Edge Blend

Edge Blend

The Edge Blend effect finds the sharp edges of your foreground layer and blurs it together with the background.

Diffusion

If the element you’re trying to composite into a shot just looks too sharp and crisp compared to the organic background plate, Diffusion is the effect you want. Diffusion functions as a more extreme version of Light Wrap and Reverse Light Wrap in one effect.

VFX Supercomp - Diffusion

Heat Blur

It can be a tricky thing, compositing red-orange fire over a deep blue sky. Supercomp’s Heat Blur tool allows you to blur and displace the layers below using a custom luminance extraction from the foreground. The result is realistic muzzle flashes, flames, sparks — anything hot. The displacement has all the features of the VFX Suite’s standalone Chromatic Displacement effect, and also includes controls to texturize the blur, or to add visual complexity to simple elements.

Displacement Layers

Displacement layers use the same engine as the standalone Chromatic Displacement effect, integrated into the Supercomp engine. This means you can create beautiful, light-diffracting displacement effects, and they will be perfectly integrated into the rest of your composite.

VFX Supercomp - Core Matte

Core Matte

Additive Layers have no alpha channel but that doesn’t mean they should be uniformly transparent. Often what makes an additive layer pop is a soft “core matte” derived from the luminance of the foreground. The core matte tool allows you to create punchy, saturated elements that still have naturally transparent edges.

VFX Supercomp - Grain

Grain, Managed

Film grain is a critical element in bringing together your final composite. Supercomp’s got you covered. Every Supercomp composite has master settings for grain, and each layer has its own grain controls. Every effect you add is automatically grain-managed, so your composites are always seamlessly integrated with your background footage.

play buttonSupercomp - Color Match

Color Match (NEW)

Based on the #1 request from customers, you can now click the ‘Match Background’ button, and Supercomp will instantly match the black and white points of the layers behind it. Like other Supercomp tools, Color Match is context aware, so that different areas of your background will affect your layer differently. An additional White Point Weight slider gives you even more control over the color match.

Supercomp - Color Space

Color Space (NEW)

Supercomp 1.5 introduces new professional color handling options. 28 new color spaces have been added, supporting popular cameras such as the Arri Alexa, Blackmagic Pocket Cinema, Canon, RED, and more.

VFX Supercomp - Optical Glow 1.5

Optical Glow (NEW)

Supercomp’s Optical Glow tool creates a photorealistic glow that uses an inverse-square falloff. This creates a natural-looking glow that adapts realistically to changes in brightness and color, and blends beautifully into the background. This context-aware effect automatically wraps around all foreground layers in a way that would be daunting to set up in After Effects. Even layers and effects that blur or displace the glowing layer are honored. New in Supercomp 1.5 are Radiate options for creating light rays, the ability to separately scale the RGB channels of the glow, and the ability to separately scale the effect on the X and Y axes.

play buttonVFX Supercomp - Layer Glow 1.5

Layer Glow (NEW)

Layer Glow works exactly like Optical Glow, but without the foreground wrapping. This is effective for layers that create an atmospheric glow that should realistically be occluded by foreground elements. New in Supercomp 1.5 are Radiate options for creating light rays, the ability to separately scale the RGB channels of the glow, and the ability to separately scale the effect on the X and Y axes. (3D Model by Norberto Aguilera)

Compatibility

Host Applications

Adobe After Effects CC 2018 and later

Installers

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Operating Systems
Apple Macintosh
  • Mac OS X 10.13 and later *
  • 4 GB of RAM
  • 800 MB of Hard Drive space
  • *M1 machines may work via Rosetta, but are not currently natively supported.
PC/Windows
  • Windows 10 and later
  • 4 GB of RAM
  • 800 MB of Hard Drive space
Additional Requirements

The minimum GPU required is an Intel HD 5000 integrated graphics chip. Of course, newer and faster discrete GPU components from AMD and Nvidia will yield faster performance.

- For Nvidia, we recommend 9xx series graphics cards or newer; mobile GPUs; or the professional series Quadro cards.

- For AMD, we recommend 200 series graphics cards or newer; mobile GPUs; or the professional series FireGL cards.

VRAM size requirements: For HD resolution output, we recommend that your GPU have at least 2 GB of memory. If you are planning on doing high-resolution project in 4K or more, we recommend a GPU with at least 4 GB of memory.

Any CPU from Intel or AMD is supported.

Resources

Get up to speed with the following resources.

VFX Supercomp Tutorials

Tutorials

Watch our getting started videos to get up to speed with VFX Supercomp or browse our other tutorials.

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VFX Supercomp User Guide

User Guide

This user guide has been designed to help you get comfortable with all of the tools and features of VFX Supercomp.

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VFX Supercomp Support

Support

Browse our FAQ section for VFX Supercomp to find quick answers to the most common questions.

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Pricing

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MAXON ONE

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The annual subscription price is fully inclusive of all upgrades, support, maintenance, server software and render nodes. There are no hidden fees. Our volume program is available to customers ordering 3 or more licenses of volume products.

*Pricing inclusive of the highest potential VAT rate. Actual VAT and pricing will appear in your cart.
**Redshift currently only supports CUDA-compatible NVidia GPUs on Windows. Support for Metal on MacOS is currently in development.
***Includes five (5) Team Render nodes for C4D. Redshift subscription for C4D does not include Team Render nodes.

****Integration plugins include support for Maya, 3ds Max, Softimage, Cinema 4D, Houdini, Katana and any future plugins.
*****Maintenance includes technical support and all updates. After one year, you must extend your maintenance agreement for another year for $250 for Node-Locked and $300 for Floating to continue receiving updates and support.

Maxon One

$ 199 /yr*
per license

  • Cinema 4D 3D modeling, animation, and simulation software
  • Redshift for C4D** GPU-accelerated biased renderer
  • Red Giant Complete Get all our filmmaking and animation plugins
  • Cineversity Our online library of tutorials and resources
CONTACT

Maxon One includes Cinema 4D, Redshift for C4D and Red Giant Complete. The annual subscription price is fully inclusive of all upgrades, support, maintenance, server software and render nodes. There are no hidden fees. Our volume program is available to customers ordering 3 or more licenses of Maxon One (Volume).

Maxon One

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Get Cinema 4D, Redshift for C4D, and Red Giant Complete for one low cost if you are a student or faculty member of a university, college or high school. Proof of enrollment or employment is required.

Six-month, renewable Maxon One licenses for qualified students and faculty are administered through our partner Kivuto. That’s all of Maxon’s great products in one all-encompassing bundle for a very small processing fee. Pricing will vary slightly per region.

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* Prices vary by region: $2.99 USD, 2.75 Eur, 2.50 GBP, 4.25 CAD. Student and teacher subscriptions are valid for 6 months. If you are a university or school looking to buy our software for labs or classrooms, please visit our Volume Program page to learn more about our flexible volume licensing deals.