nattress film vs. magic bullet ????

ok, need some objective opinions from users of both.

nattress film effects is $100
magic bullet suite is $800

can anyone shed some light on what (or if) justifies MB being 7x the price of nattresses product? are there things that it does that film effects doesnt????

im already buying nattresses product, so its not an either or. im just trying to see if i really NEED magic bullet since its on sale for HALF OFF today ONLY at toolfarm...

I have a fairly extensive review on my site: www.lfhd.net

But I am testing the MB Editors 2 vs Nattress. The suite does more...but nothing that Nattress doesn't. Basically they both provide film looks and color correction tools and presets. Some look better on Nattress, and render faster, others look better with MB, and render faster there.

Magic Bullet takes advantage of your Graphics card to speed up rendering.

ANWAY...here is the link:

[homepage.mac.com]

Look for the topics on Magic Bullet. I have several

There's a key reason why Nattress is cheaper. I couldn't afford or justify the price of MB, so I created my own suite of software to do what it does and MORE.

You've also got to figure into the "value" equation all those free updates Nattress users have recieved, and all that wonderful tech support. Figure that and it's incredible value. I only write software I'd myself buy and at a price I'd buy it at - and I'm a tough "customer" to please.

Graeme



[www.nattress.com] - Plugins for FCP-X

'Yeah...no beating the tech support. And the pricing is just right. And free upgrades...everything you could want, Graeme delivers.

oh yeah, there is no question that graemes product is one of the best values in the industry (for dozens of reasons), and im buying a copy this afternoon.

i was just curious as to whether there was some significant component that would justify $800 for MB. if there is any really important thing that MB does that i may someday need, id hate to pass up the half price sale going on today...

ive been thinking about buying either and or both...but i was just thinking about it...look how quick i can get a response from Graeme if I need help!

hey shane, im looking at your site and this page:
[homepage.mac.com]

the two video links provide errors. are those the clips you mentioned elsewhere that you pulled down?

yeah, and thats what ive found. i enjoy nattress more, but there are things that MB does that i like as well. the only urgency is that TODAY ONLY 50% sale at toolfarm for MB.

Ryan - very quick.

Graeme



[www.nattress.com] - Plugins for FCP-X

well one other plus for nattress is that his version works in FCP
the version Toolfarm is selling is only for AFX



David at Movies Rock in Toronto
[www.tofcpug.com]

Two things:

What makes MB cost $800? For one, they employ a lot of people and have corporate offices. Graeme works from his house. Two, I have noticed that often the end result is slightly better than Graeme's. Less pixelization on images that I only noticed with some presets used on DVCPRO HD footage, which is tought to add filters to as it is highly compressed. But again, they had an army of coders, and Graeme is one guy. And most of the time I get the same results using both. If I had the choice to buy, I'd buy Nattress. I did buy his Standards Converter, which was well woth it.

For the record I received Nattress Film Effects and Magic Bullet Editors 2 (not the suite) free for the comparisions I did and the results I posted, and often refer people to.

Secondly, as for the footage being offline, I will have to look into that. I did some initial tests that I had to take offline, as they were from a show I was working on and I didn't have the right to post images. I did get custome footage from a DP later, and I posted that. Lemme see if I can find links to those and get back to you.

yeah david, im with you! and that alone justifies buying film effects.

im still not hearing anyone mentioning anything of major value that MB does that film effects doesnt.

there has to be SOMETHING??? or maybe its just the "perception of value" due to the AE connection???

Shane, with regards to the bleach bypass, my filter did uncover artifacts in the footage that the MB filter did not, but that was because my filter desaturated the image much more than the MB preset you used. It was the desturation that uncovered the nasties. You, of course, don't have to desaturate that much, but again, you were comparing untweaked preset to untweaked preset.

Graeme



[www.nattress.com] - Plugins for FCP-X

thanx shane : ) id really like to see the clips side by side...

i was looking on the red giant site and they had some side by side still comparisons of MB to digieffects cinelook (which ive never really cared for anyway) and the stills were a world apart. MB KILLED cinelook, hands down.

Ok...I noticed that I don't have any of those tests around anymore. So I am re-rending them out, and doing a couple more. I will post those in about an hour.

Comparing the Bleach Bypass filters (untweaked presets) because they are something both have in common, shots using MB CURAHEE and Nattress' SKY as they have a similar look, and then the Day 4 Nite filters.

Again, MB Editors ONLY has color correction presets, where Nattress' will do the 24P film look as well...often the color correction AND 24p processing in one filter.

Render times for the Bleach bypass are in Nattresses favor, where the Curahee vs Sky are firmly in MBs corner, happening 2x faster. Day for night is about equal, only 30 sec faster in MBs corner. Again, Magic Bullet render times also depend on the graphics card, so low end cards take longer, while high end cards are faster.

Check back in an hour

I did personally demo nattress film effects and (no offense)... I like doing my CC work in AE so I liked the MB Suite much better. I think the results were much cleaner & authentic.

So...in case anyone's interested...Toolfarm.com is having an amazing "One Day Sale" on Magic Bullet Suite v.2 TODAY - MARCH 1st ONLY until 11:59 P.S.T. - 50% 0ff = $397.50 ($800 original price).

[www.toolfarm.com]

The AE 7 compatability update will be released FREE for Suite v.2 buyers. ALSO...Suite v.2 owners can get the FCP version (Editor's) for just $199!! Just thought you would like to know. Yesterday's "One Day Sale" I picked up The Foundry's Tinderbundle for 50% off = $635 ($1200 original price). They are doing these sales until March 10th.

I got mine

- Joey

PS: for Dave Slater - that's incorrect, Sir. Toolfarm sells BOTH Magic Bullet Suite (AE) & Magic Bullet Editor's (FCP)



Post Edited (03-01-06 13:25)

When life gives you dilemmas...make dilemmanade.

Sorry Joe:

"Supports Adobe After Effects 5.5 or later."

No mention of FCP at all on that page.

grafixjoe wrote:

> PS: for Dave Slater - that's incorrect, Sir. Toolfarm sells
> BOTH Magic Bullet Suite (AE) & Magic Bullet Editor's (FCP)

Oh I realize there is a for MB for editors which is MSRP for $395, 4X nattress, (Toolfarm price is ($375) however the product that was asked about was the suite version (which is the one on sale). It is also the closest comparison to Nattress film effects as the Editor's edition doesn't do 24P conversion.



David at Movies Rock in Toronto
[www.tofcpug.com]

Here you go Wayne:

[homepage.mac.com]

wow! thanks shane. that helps!

looks like just another case of "horses for courses" they each seem to do some things better than the other does...

i think i'll just stick to nattress until i see a definited NEED for the magic bullet suite. ive been able to generate some pretty cool looks playing with graemes over the last two days.

even at half price, MB just doesnt fit into my current workflow as well as nattress' does... maybe i'll just roll MB into the cost of a project one day should the need arise.

Shane,

I think you're a bit confused. The page I linked to was for the Suite - not the FCP version. I did say that Toolfarm sells the FCP "Editor's" version. I also said that owners of the Suite can get the FCP version for $199 (ya have to read da posts, man!)

Oh...who cares anyway. Everyone's happy with Nattress for FCP and I thought I would save somebody who wanted AE Plug-ins a ton of $$$. You won't see it for that price again anytime soon. Oh well.

Good luck & God bless.

- Joey



Post Edited (03-01-06 21:17)

When life gives you dilemmas...make dilemmanade.

hey joe, thanks for your initial tip about the sale at toolfarm. that is what got me thinking about the two products in the first place.

the half price on MB suite is a SWEET deal. and as youve read, i like some of the things it does quite a bit. im just deciding to pass on it now for two reasons:

1. i dont really NEED it right now, and when i do indeed NEED it, i can likely roll it into that projects costs. where if i bought it now it would just be $400 out of my pocket. (not that one is any more or less tax deductable. just that it would be more transparent to roll it into a project)

2. my workflow right now is more suited to adding the film effect in FCP as opposed to AE

2b. just as a side note, the watermark in the MB suite is freakin obnoxious! its so damned big i cant effectively see my test footage - what happened to the classic big red X????

as always, thanks for your input! - wG

Well...I got it. I couldn't pass it up. I actually saw a few job ads for Designers with Magic Bullet experience, if you can believe that.

I will post some before & after clips in the near future

- Joey



When life gives you dilemmas...make dilemmanade.

Well, guys you sold me on Nattress. I'm going to order one soon. I'm still in production on my HDV feature. I want to give it the film look :-) This will be my first foray into the digital film look arena. If $100 bucks will generate the film look, what have I got to lose? BTW what does it do? Is there an article somewhere? How do you buy it?

It is available in the LAFCPUG store as well as www.nattress.com

Descriptions of what it does are available on his site as well.

i finally bought my nattress suite a couple weeks ago and all i can say is wow!
there is so much there and unlike most plug-ins, the vast majority of it is extraordinarilly usefull!

here is a little clip of the effects in action. its the intro of a quasi-docu about the foster care program. we needed to create a somber mood - ta-dah!:
[understandinc.com]

the included documentation helps a LOT!

nice work graeme!

Thanks Wayne!

Graeme



[www.nattress.com] - Plugins for FCP-X