HitFilm goes Pro for version 3

Version 3 of special effects software suite HitFilm is soon to be released, according to its authors, British company FXHome – and they’re calling it “HitFilm Pro”.

The new release has a revised, sleeker-looking user interface along with twenty new effects and is OpenFX compatible which means that other company’s effects should plug in to it, such as those from GenArts.

New features include background proxying so you can crack on with work while the software renders things in the background; mask tracking in HitFilm Mocha (actually, that’s very cool – see the video below); 3D particle textures; better 3D rendering; and “photoreal virtual shots” (see the video below the video below…); object removal; and a better 3D workspace.

This zoom out with perspective was, they say, actually created from a single still image projected onto several planes:-

Oddly, the company is offering this new release for free – yes, free – to anyone who bought their standalone HitFilm Effects which we reviewed last year and as such the standalone software no longer seems to be available.

This will come as a pleasant bonus for anyone who made that purchase – and a right kick in the teeth for those who forked out the dosh for the full HitFilm product instead, who have to pay an upgrade fee currently listed as $169 USD (which translates, even more irritatingly, to £139 GBP despite the US-UK exchange rate). The full price is $299 USD.

You can order the software now via our Amazon link at http://amzn.to/1wksxCD (for which we get a tiny commission, and thank you).

Get the full gen on FXHome’s blog, at http://hitfilm.com/blog/announcing-hitfilm-3-pro/