Pixie Dust

[Andrew Shanks]

Hi,
I think you mean “Pixeldust”, it was a product in development by 2d3 (the guys who make Boujou), it has been shelved indefinitely. Here is a link to the status:

https://na4.salesforce.com/sol/public/searchdetail.jsp?ps=1&retURL=%2Fsol%2Fpublic%2Fsolutionbrowser.jsp%3Fsearch%3Dpixeldust%26orgId%3D00D300000001N5U%26t%3D4%26cid%3D000000000000000&orgId=00D300000001N5U&id=501300000005vKh

and here is what that statement says in case the link doesn’t work:

“Unfortunately Pixeldust is not under active development at this time. Although the underlying technology is excellent, it has proved very difficult to see how this technology can be incorporated into common compositing packages such as After Effects, Shake, etc. This difficulty is due to the fact that Pixeldust needs to have random access to all frames in a sequence. All compositing packages that we have looked at do not support this functionality in any efficient way.

We will continue to review the position and may restart the project if a solution becomes apparent.”

May I suggest you look at Mokey, it does the same thing as a stand alone application:

https://www.mokey.com/

Goodluck,

andrew

🙂

[Elad Menashe]

Thanks Andrew.
I should have posted this thread sooner, would have saved me hours on Google 🙂

[Majorasshole]

mokey and monet are incredible
makes AEs trackers look so amateur

[Chris Smith]

[Arson XL] “mokey and monet are incredible
makes AEs trackers look so amateur”

Anything makes AE’s tracker look amateur. Even trackers of yore like Commotions.

Chris Smith
https://www.sugarfilmproduction.com

[Majorasshole]

https://www.mokey.com/products/monet/

all the movie files here are great examples of easy to tough examples

[Bob Bonniol]

Arson, have you ever used Mokey, Motor, or Monet ?

It is not a simple app. It is NOT an app that I would ever recommend to someone who hasn’t roto’d before. It’s extraordinary cost aside, the complexities of actually using Mokey/Motor/Monet are not inconsiderable. It is very powerful software, and like alot of very powerful software it’s learning curve to use it correctly can be steep, and it can be a finicky beast. We have used Mokey extensively on high profile projects. I can personally recommend it, and I think those guys at Imagineer System are very attentive, helpful, and ready to assist, but it is not easy. It is not necessarily fast. Roto takes patience, and pass after pass to get perfect no matter what the application.

So if you have an extra $8k to $15k by all means check it out. You may also want to look into the very flexible roto-splines and tracking available in Shake, as well as checking out the very powerful Silouette Roto (which is also quite cheap comparatively).

Roto is one of those things that when you get involved with it, and begin to calculate your hours in, you find you might very well have saved money by hiring a company that does it all the time.

My .02

Best,
Bob Bonniol

MODE Studios
http://www.modestudios.com
Contributing Editor, Entertainment Design Magazine
Art of the Edit Forum Leader
Live & Stage Event Forum Leader
HD Forum Leader