Editing | How To's

Magic Bullet Suite: Taking it to Eleven

1 Oct , 2011  

Written by Peter Bohush | Posted by:

The suite gets sweeter. Peter Bohush returns to the Magic Bullet Suite to give you the 411 on Version 11.

I reviewed Red Giant Software’s color grading bundle Magic Bullet Suite 10 this time last year. Red Giant has released an update to the suite, Version 11, with more tools, color grades, improved interfaces and a new online community to share color grades and styles with other users.
What makes Magic Bullet Suite 11 better than Version 10? Well as Spinal Tap‘s Nigel Tufnel said so eloquently, ‘Well it’s one louder, isn’t it? It’s not ten.’

In truth, Magic Bullet Suite 11 delivers more than just one more number on the dial. On the image enhancement side, 11 adds the new app Cosmo, a quick skin beautifier, along with Looks 2, an update to the amazing Magic Bullet Looks for quick and powerful color grading of video footage.
In addition, 11 includes Magic Bullet Grinder 1.5 to quickly convert Canon DSLR footage into edit friendly ProRes and other formats. Carried over from Magic Bullet Suite 10 are Colorista II, Mojo (updated to 1.2), Instant HD to quickly uprez SD video, and Magic Bullet Frames to deinterlace video into progressive footage.

All the apps in the suite are also available for purchase separately.

Grinder 1.5

Grinder 1.5 converts DSLR video into ProRes to import into Final Cut Pro 7. Now if you simply drag the .MOV file from the Canon camera folder into Final Cut, it will work but it will likely be very jerky because the Canon video is encoded as H.264, which is highly compressed. It’s better to convert, or transcode, these files into Apple ProRes 422 or 444, which Final Cut handles better. ProRes also adds bit depth to the video, which is essential for adding color grades or special effects.

Final Cut Pro has its own transcoder, of course, called Log and Transfer, under the File menu. It does a great job. However, because Final Cut Pro 7 is a 32-bit application, the transcoder can only convert one file at a time using only a portion of your system RAM and CPU processing power.

Grinder, on the other hand, is a 64-bit application that can simultaneously convert as many files as you have core processors. I have an 8-core Mac Pro, so I can use Grinder to convert eight files simultaneously instead of one at a time inside Final Cut.

The process is simple. Drag the files you want to convert onto Grinder. Then choose the output format from the drop down menu. There aren’t too many choices, but the ones you want are here without all the needless extras in Final Cut. In many cases the ProRes standard will be a great choice.

Click the Start button and Grinder will ask you where you want the files saved. Pick a location, hit return or enter and Grinder gets to work, grinding away at the conversions. You’ll find the completed files in the folder you chose, with the output format added to the end of the filename. Your original files have not been changed in any way. Drag the new files into Final Cut and you’re good to go. Time saved.

Grinder can also create small proxy files of your footage that you can work with, say on a laptop, and then relink them to the originals when you’ve finished your project.

Magic Bullet Looks 2 & Cosmo

Magic Bullet Looks 2 is a must-have tool for video editors. It’s simply the easiest, most powerful way to color grade and add styles, color and lighting effects to your shots.

For a more detailed look at Magic Bullet, check out my previous review at:
http://youtu.be/kfw2RBlIyGQ

Version two gets a slight interface-lift, moving a few things around. It ships with roughly a hundred preset looks, which are now categorized under nine headings. You can also create your own custom looks, and import looks created by other users and posted on the Red Giant People online community.

Many of the presets in version one have been tweaked and improved. A new category called People has some cool presets that are new to Looks 2. The Skin Smoother makes use of one of the new Cosmo applications to smooth and enhance skin tones.

Cosmo can be accessed as its own filter from the Effects menu in Final Cut Pro, Premiere and After Effects. It is also a module within the Looks 2 controls, where you can use it in conjunction with other modules.

In the accompanying video, the actress’ face shows some shine and unevenness from the harsh lighting. Applying Cosmo or the Skin Smoother preset in Looks 2 smoothes out her skin and softens the reflections without distorting the rest of the image. Check the box to see the area of the image that the filter will affect, and adjust the slider if necessary to match the skin color.
This sure beats the old film method of shooting through a Vaseline-covered filter or putting a silk stocking over the lens.

Within the other categories, Looks 2 has updated some of the presets and included new ones, such as indie film and zombie movie, as pre-configured styles.

A great new feature in Looks 2 is the ability to adjust the aspect ratio of the circular lighting effects. You’re no longer limited to working with pure circles, because you can now adjust the height and width of the shapes independently to create ovals of any size. This is very useful for small spot exposure adjustments.

Looks 2 can sometimes yield the perfect look by simply applying one of the presets. But it’s more likely that you’ll use a preset as a starting point, because you’ll need to tweak the parameters to make the look work for you footage. That’s what Looks 2 is all about. And when you get the look right, you can double-click on the preset’s name and rename this look. It will be in the Custom folder, ready for you to apply it to other footage with the same single click as all the others.

Simplified Serials

Red Giant Software has also upgraded the licensing process for their products. Prior to Version 11, users had to enter separate serial numbers for every one of the separate applications that made up the suite. It’s now a single serial number, entered once, and all the apps are registered and authorized.

For more information, tutorials and examples, visit RedGiantSoftware.com. They have special pricing for upgrading from previous versions.

Related Media: Magic Bullet Suite 11: review and tutorial

Related Article: The Magic Bullet for Giving a Blockbuster Look to Your Film


For more information, tutorials and examples, visit RedGiantSoftware.com. They have special pricing for upgrading from previous versions.

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