This is a lil something i call My Directors Wishlist, The Software Edition. This is what software i would buy if a bunch of money were to drop in my lap suddenly. I also explain why and how the program has proven itself.

Apple Final Cut Pro & ProRes 4.2.2 ( Studio ): $999

What: A professional non-linear editing software application. Final Cut Studio contains six main applications and several smaller applications used in editing video. The major applications it includes are: Final Cut Pro 6 – “real-time editing for DV, SD, HD and film”. Motion 3 – “real-time motion graphics design”. Soundtrack Pro 2 – “advanced audio editing and sound design”. DVD Studio Pro 4 – encoding, authoring and burning. Color – a new color grading application adapted from Silicon Color’s FinalTouch. Compressor 3 – a video encoding tool for outputting projects in different formats. Additional applications included are: LiveType 2 – a text animation program. Cinema Tools 3 – tools specific to film processing. Qmaster 2 – a distributed processing tool. In 2007, Apple unveiled ProRes 422, a high-definition lossy video compression format matching many of the features of DNxHD. ProRes lacks a low bandwidth offline resolution like DNxHD 36. Unlike DNxHD, ProRes 422 provides full functionality at advanced resolutions (2K and 4K cinema) and SD.
ProRes vs DNxHD

Used By: The Coen Brothers

Used In: The Rules of Attraction (2002), Full Frontal (2002), The Ring (2002), Cold Mountain (2003) (Academy Award nominee for Best Editing – Walter Murch), Intolerable Cruelty (2003), Open Water (film) (2003), Napoleon Dynamite (2004), The Ladykillers (2004), Sky Captain and the World of Tomorrow (2004), Super Size Me (2004), Corpse Bride (2005), Dreamer: Inspired by a True Story (2005), Happy Endings (2005), Ellie Parker (2005), Jarhead (2005), Little Manhattan (2005), Me and You and Everyone We Know (2005), The Ring Two (2005), Black Snake Moan (2006), Letters from Iwo Jima (2006), Happy Feet (2006), Zodiac (2007), The Simpsons Movie (2007), No Country for Old Men (2007) (Academy Award nominee for Best Editing – Roderick Jaynes), Reign Over Me (2007), Youth Without Youth (2007), Balls of Fury (2007), Burn After Reading (2008), The X-Files: I Want to Believe (2008), The Curious Case of Benjamin Button (2008), Where the Wild Things Are (2009)

Honorable Mentions to Final Cut Pro:
Avid & DNxHD 36 – Avid DNxHD is a lossy high-definition video post-production codec engineered for multi-generation compositing with reduced storage and bandwidth requirements. It was developed by Avid Technology, Inc. Used in: Quantum of Solace, Iron Man, The Bourne Ultimatum, Valkyrie, Beowulf, I Am Legend, Charlie Bartlett, The Sensation of Sight, Milk, Sex and The City, Get Smart, The Dark Knight, The Incredible Hulk, Changeling, King Kong, Dreamgirls, Da Vinci Code, Charlotte’s Web, United 93, Spider-Man 3, The Nanny Diaries, Gone, Baby, Gone, It’s Always Sunny in Philadelphia (TV Show), Fring (TV Show), Heroes (TV Show), Grey’s Anatomy (TV Show), Leverage (TV Show), Avatar.

Autodesk Smoke – Used in: Stranger Than Fiction, Night at the Museum, D-War, Balls of Fury, El Cantante, The Fountain, The Curse of the Golden Flower, Déjà Vu, Apocalypto, Blood Diamond, Unaccompanied Minors, Rocky Balboa, Babel, The Black Dahlia, For Your Consideration, The Covenant, title sequence for Casino Royale, 2006 Charlotte’s Web, Las Vegas(TV SHow)

Honorable Mentions to Color:

Autodesk Lustre – Color-grading and color management software. Similar to Apple’s Color. Used in: The Last Samurai, King King, The War of The Worlds, Charlie and the Chocolate Factory, Cinderella Man, Bewitched and more:DEMO REEL.

Alternative to Motion: Adobe After Effects: $999

What: A digital motion graphics and composting software. Its main purpose is for film and video post-production.

Autodesk Maya 2011: $3,495

What: is a high-end 3D computer graphics and 3D modeling software package

Used By: Industrial Light and Magic (ILM), DreamWorks Animation SKG, Sony Pictures Imageworks

Used In: Iron Man, Jurassic Park, The Abyss, Transformers, Terminator 2: Judgement Day, Madagascar: Escape 2 Africa, City of Ember, Surf’s Up, War of the Worlds, Chronicles of Narnia: the Lion, the Witch, and the Wardrobe, Beowulf, Changeling, The Golden Compass, Twilight, Shrek 1,2 & 3, Fallout 3, Far Cry 2, Rock Band 2, Silent Hill, Night at the Museum

Honorable Mentions:
Autodesk 3DS Max – 3ds Max is the third most widely-used off the shelf 3D animation program by content creation professionals according to the Roncarelli report. It has strong modeling capabilities, a flexible plugin architecture and a long heritage on the Microsoft Windows platform. It is mostly used by video game developers, TV commercial studios and architectural visualization studios. It is also used for movie effects and movie pre-visualization. Used In: Lost, Blade: Trinity and more. And some games.

Cinema4D

What: is a high-end 3D computer graphics and 3D modeling software package

Used By: Industrial Light and Magic (ILM), DreamWorks Animation SKG, Sony Pictures Imageworks

Used In: Iron Man, Jurassic Park, The Abyss, Transformers, Terminator 2: Judgement Day, Madagascar: Escape 2 Africa, City of Ember, Surf’s Up, War of the Worlds, Chronicles of Narnia: the Lion, the Witch, and the Wardrobe, Beowulf, Changeling, The Golden Compass, Twilight, Shrek 1,2 & 3, Fallout 3, Far Cry 2, Rock Band 2, Silent Hill, Night at the Museum

Honorable Mentions:
Autodesk 3DS Max – 3ds Max is the third most widely-used off the shelf 3D animation program by content creation professionals according to the Roncarelli report. It has strong modeling capabilities, a flexible plugin architecture and a long heritage on the Microsoft Windows platform. It is mostly used by video game developers, TV commercial studios and architectural visualization studios. It is also used for movie effects and movie pre-visualization. Used In: Lost, Blade: Trinity and more. And some games.

Realflow

What: A Fluids & dynamics simulation tool that won a Academy Technical Achievement Award in 2007.

Why?: It realistically simulates water why not. Watch This

Used By: Uh Everyone. Whats that, you want a list? Fine:

Used In: Uh Everything. Whats that, you want a list? Fine:

Honorable Mentions:
None. Thats right none except for Houdini which does a whole lot more than water simulations so its not worthy of just a mention

SideOn Vue

What: is a high-end 3D computer graphics and 3D modeling software package

Used By: Industrial Light and Magic (ILM), DreamWorks Animation SKG, Sony Pictures Imageworks

Used In: Iron Man, Jurassic Park, The Abyss, Transformers, Terminator 2: Judgement Day, Madagascar: Escape 2 Africa, City of Ember, Surf’s Up, War of the Worlds, Chronicles of Narnia: the Lion, the Witch, and the Wardrobe, Beowulf, Changeling, The Golden Compass, Twilight, Shrek 1,2 & 3, Fallout 3, Far Cry 2, Rock Band 2, Silent Hill, Night at the Museum

Honorable Mentions:
Autodesk 3DS Max – 3ds Max is the third most widely-used off the shelf 3D animation program by content creation professionals according to the Roncarelli report. It has strong modeling capabilities, a flexible plugin architecture and a long heritage on the Microsoft Windows platform. It is mostly used by video game developers, TV commercial studios and architectural visualization studios. It is also used for movie effects and movie pre-visualization. Used In: Lost, Blade: Trinity and more. And some games.

Octane Render

What: CUDA GPU-based rendering

Why?: Well cuz you pretty much will never need to render again(on a PC) if you have a fast enough GPU like say dual GTX480s: Watch This

Used By: Still in Beta

Used In: Still in Beta

Honorable Mentions:
Holomatix Rendition – a raytracing renderer, designed to make life easier for 3D artists. It is compatible with mental ray scenes and shaders, for 3D scenes developed in Maya, 3ds Max and XSI. Rendition dynamically refines the rendered image, providing a lot of useful, immediate feedback, and converging to a final, production quality rendered image.

SideFX Houdini Master – $7,995

What: is a high-end 3D computer graphics and 3D modeling software package. Kinda of like if Maya, Cinema4D, Vue, and Realflow were all genetically enhanced into one product, Houdini.

Used By: Framestore, Rhytm & Hues, CIS Vancouver, Sony Pictures Imageworks, Asylum VFX,

Used In: Avatar, Wolfman, Invictus, Cloudy With a Chance of Meatballs, G.I. Joe: The Rise of Cobra, Terminator Salvation, Iron Man 2, The Mummy 3, Hot Tub Time Machine, Transformers 2, The Imaginarium of Dr. Parnassus,

Honorable Mentions:
Autodesk 3DS Max – 3ds Max is the third most widely-used off the shelf 3D animation program by content creation professionals according to the Roncarelli report. It has strong modeling capabilities, a flexible plugin architecture and a long heritage on the Microsoft Windows platform. It is mostly used by video game developers, TV commercial studios and architectural visualization studios. It is also used for movie effects and movie pre-visualization. Used In: Lost, Blade: Trinity and more. And some games.

2d3 Boujou & Moujou(Maya Plugin) ( Emmy award winner in 2002): $10,000

What: A Matchmoving / Camera Tracking software.

Honorable Mentions:

Pixel Farm PFTrack, PFMatch, PFHoe: PFTrack – A comparable Matchmoving / Camera Tracking software to Boujou if not better. $4692.63(£3000). PFMatch – Basically the same as PFtrack but as a plugin inside Fusion or Shake costs a 1/6th of the price of PFTrack. $702.33(£449). PFHoe – Cost effective match mover based on PFTrack algorithms, for the hobbyist matchmaker. Cost about $76.65(£49). Used In: Cloverfeild, Planet Terror’ – Grindhouse Feature Film, The Reaping – Feature Film, 28 Weeks Later – Feature Film, Balls of Fury – Feature Film, The Exorcism of Emily Rose – Feature Film, Cold Mountain- Feature Film, Underdog – Feature Film.

Andersson Technologies SynthEyes $599 – Used In: Avatar,  Australia, Bedtime Stories, The Curious Case of Benjamin Button, The Day the Earth Stood Still, Defiance, Doubt, My Bloody Valentine 3-D, The Spirit.
Voodoo (freeware)
Scenespector VooCAT
Icarus – University of Manchester research project, now discontinued but still popular
Maya Live
REALVIZ MatchMover – Autodesk bought and buried
Science.D.Visions 3DEqualizer – which won an Academy Award for Technical Achievement

Imagineer Systems Mocha for After Effects: $199.00

What: A stand alone 2D tracking and roto tool aka a Planar tracker. Used best for Rotoscoping.

Gen Arts Sapphire Plug-ins: $1699

What: The industry standard for high-end visual effects creation.

Used In: Iron Man, Indiana Jones and the Kingdom of the Crystal Skull, The Hulk, Spider-Man 1, 2 and 3, The Chronicles of Narnia, The Lord of the Rings trilogy, Star Wars – Episode I, II and III, Sin City, The Matrix trilogy, X-Men 1, 2 and 3, Titanic, Lost(TV Show), CSI(TV Show).
Demo reel 2007 or 2005

Red Giant Software Library: $3,500

What: A Bunch of plugins for After Effects and Final Cut Pro. Includes:
Magic Bullet Looks
Psunami
PlaneSpace
Magic Bullet Instant HD Advanced
Trapcode 3D Stroke
Trapcode Form
Trapcode Horizon
Trapcode Lux
Trapcode Particular
Trapcode Shine

Used By:
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Used In:
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SmartSound Sonicfire Pro 5 Scoring Edition: $99.95

SmartSound Sonicfire Pro 5 for Final Cut Pro Plugin: $249

What: SmartSound Sonicfire Pro 5 Scoring Edition is a comprehensive music solution offering all media creators innovative features such as Mood Mapping and Timing Control which work with the world’s largest collection of customizable music. Now integrated with Final Cut Pro, in SmartSound Sonicfire Pro 5 for Final Cut Pro Plugin when you set markers and in/out points in your Final Cut Pro project, Sonicfire Pro 5 automatically reads their location. Select the beginning marker and the ending marker in Sonicfire Pro and it will calculate the exact amount of music needed.

ClipWrap: $49.95

https://www.clipwrap.com/index.php

What: ClipWrap rewraps the video samples from your existing m2t files without re-encoding them. This means blazingly fast convert speeds and no image degradation. ClipWrap speaks m2t so you don’t have to. It automatically parses the file’s format and chooses the proper output format, so there’s no hassle trying to determine the proper settings (frame rate, image size, gamma levels, etc). Timecode is recreated in the new QuickTime movie, so you can recapture from tape later if necessary. Now you’re not limited to specific HDV cameras, you can rest assured your m2t files will be compatible with FCP when it comes time to edit. If your direct to disk recorder splits files every 4GB, ClipWrap automatically detects these spanned clips and will recombine them into a single seamless QuickTime movie.

2.66GHz Intel Core i7 Dual Core 17″ UNIBody Macbook Pro:

$4249
Why: Apple’s new UNIbody Laptop is the sturdiest, thinnest, most portable laptop at 17″ ever created……unfortunately the tech isn’t as inpressive, but the Honorable Mention is.

Specs:
• 2.66GHz Intel Core i7 Dual Core
• 8GB(8GB Max) 1066MHz DDR3 SDRAM – 2x4GB
• 512GB SSD
• SuperDrive 8x (DVD±R DL/DVD±RW/CD-RW) (which will be replaced with a Seagate 500GB Serial ATA Drive @ 7200 rpm)
• 17-inch LED Back-Lit Antiglare Widescreen @ 1920 by 1200 (native)
• NVIDIA GeForce GT 330M graphics processor with 512MB of GDDR3
• Backlit Keyboard (English) / User’s Guide
• Moshi Mini DisplayPort to HDMI Adapter

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Honorable Mention:
Dell Precision M6500 Covet – Read This Now $4199
This would probably be more of a portable stay in one place computer. It is so fast for a portable computer it will make your head spin……if the weight and size doesn’t. But for Visual Effects and editing this is a Monster of a computer.

• Intel Core i7 Extreme Edition Quad Core (1.60GHz, 6M L2 Cache,1067MHZ) Quad Core
• 8GB(16GB Max) 1600MHz DDR3 SDRAM – 4x2GB
• 2x 500GB Serial ATA Drive @ 7200 rpm with support for one or two hard drives with optional RAID0 or RAID1 configuration and a Free Fall Sensor.
• 17″ WUXGA RGB LED Edge To Edge Back-Lit Display (1920×1200) Resolution
• NVIDIA Quadro FX 3800M Graphics with 1GB dedicated memory
• 1394 Powered 6-pin, USB 2.0 (x4), VGA, Display Port, RJ-45, Audio, eSATA
• 8-in-1 card reader; ExpressCard 54; PC Card
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Cintiq 21UX:

$1999
What: LCD Tablet Display

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Specs:
• 21.3″ (17″ x 12.75″)

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Canon EOS 5D Mark II w/ Canon EF 24-105mm f/4L IS USM Lens:

$3499
What: Digital SLR with 1080p recording mode.

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Specs:
• 21.1-Mp ‘Full-Frame’ (24x36mm) Sensor
• 1080p Movie Mode & Live View Mode
• 3.0″ 920,000-Pixel LCD • ISO 50-25600
• 3.9 fps Burst Mode

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PMW-EX3 XDCAM:

$8324
What: Professional video camcorder with interchangeable lenses.

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Specs:
• Interchangeable Lens Mount
• 3x 1/2″ Exmor CMOS Sensors
• 1080p • 24p
• HD-SDI Interface

Macvideo Overview

Edirol / Roland F-1 Field Recorder:

• $2995:
What: A device for capturing audio with HDV or DV directly to a hard drive in the field. With two additional audio inputs, no file size limitation, removable hard drive and multiple power options.

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Specs:
• 120GB @ 10 Hours Maximum Recording
• 250GB @ 20 Hours Maximum Recording
•HDV (.m2t), DV (.dv)

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