Conduit Effect System is a realtime video and graphics compositing tool that's...
|
Fast. Conduit renders in realtime even at HD resolutions. Thanks to the Conduit Effect System's unique optimization capabilities, you can combine dozens of full-quality effects such as keyers, blurs and tone curves while still editing live. |
Precise. Conduit always works in floating-point color (32 bits per channel), so you never have to worry about color artifacts like clipping or banding again. |
|
Powerful. Like high-end video effects systems, Conduit uses a node-based interface that shines for creating complex effects. Conduit's user interface is modern, ergonomic and respects the desktop environment. |
Universal. Conduit integrates as plugins into popular video and graphics apps like Final Cut Pro and After Effects, and it works in the free PixelConduit and Radi apps. Build an effect once, reuse anywhere. |
|
Affordable. Both the PixelConduit app and the Conduit Effect System plugins are free to download and use. |
Addictive. Get started immediately — download now for Mac. |
Conduit works where you work
Conduit is not a single software application but an entire family of products. The Conduit Suite gives you instant access to the whole family: you don't have to know beforehand in which applications you might want to use Conduit. You're covered with a single license — no headaches about moving between applications or even computer platforms.
Conduit Suite includes plugins for these host applications:
- Adobe After Effects
- Adobe Photoshop
- Apple Final Cut Pro
- Apple Final Cut Express
- Apple Motion
- Apple Aperture
- Acorn
Also included in the Suite is Conduit Live, a standalone application.
Why nodes?
Layer-based graphics applications such as Adobe After Effects and Photoshop are brilliant design tools. But when it comes to visual effects, the layer concept often falls short. Have you ever struggled trying to finetune a matte in After Effects using layers and "precomps"? Or built a cool color effect out of filters and layers, then found yourself wishing that you could somehow easily apply the same effect to a few dozen other clips without tedious copy/paste work?
Conduit's node-based compositing paradigm is the answer. Nodes are image manipulation building blocks that you can string together to create effects of any complexity you can imagine. Want to blur the matte created by a bluescreen key before applying it to a video clip? It's as easy as adding a Gaussian Blur node after the keyer node.
Node-based effect design is also great for creating a library of personalized effects and for collaboration. With Conduit it's easy for artists to reuse the effects and visual looks they create, because once an effect setup has been designed it can be applied to any number of shots or sent to another artist for modification.
Cross-application, cross-platform
A unique feature of Conduit is that it's completely application and platform neutral. Instead of forcing you to adapt your workflow to its peculiarities, Conduit becomes available directly inside the applications that you already use. To the host application, Conduit looks like a regular filter, so you can easily apply, copy and reapply it to layers or video tracks.
Of course all editions of Conduit will open and save in a single shared .conduit format, so you can move effect setups and visual looks between host applications knowing that they'll render the same everywhere.
This opens the door to completely new design workflows. Consider the example of a TV commercial that needs a unique stylized color look as well as overlay graphics (e.g. logos). A graphic designer could use Conduit in Photoshop to design both the visual style and the overlay graphics. She embeds the overlay images inside the .conduit file, so the entire look can be transferred as a single file over to a Final Cut Pro editing station where it is applied to the final edit. This completely frees the editor from the work of applying the graphics and effects — a single Conduit filter does it all.
Superior performance
Conduit accomplishes its realtime prowess by making full use of the graphics processor (GPU) in your computer. But it's not just realtime previews — Conduit also renders much faster than the competition.
Here's what the creators of PixelPerfect, a digital art podcast, say about Conduit:
"We used to do PixelPerfect in Shake — 8 hours of rendering in Shake then edit in FCP, then 40 minute export.
We now do it in Conduit/FCP — 1 hour export from FCP (20 minutes longer than the regular export). That means it's 20-25 times faster."
Switching to Conduit is saving them almost 8 hours every week just for this one production, without even taking account the time spent on intermediate preview renders. How much time are you wasting on rendering and moving between separate applications?
More info
See the complete feature list of Conduit Live: Conduit Suite - List of Features
Latest documentation and wiki: Resources
Free downloads
The Conduit plugins as well as the PixelConduit app are free! You can use them on Mac OS X 10.5 and higher.