Shake (software)
| Company type | Software |
|---|---|
| Industry | Visual effects, Digital compositing |
| Predecessor | Nothing Real |
| Founded | 1996 |
| Founder | Arnaud Hervas, Allen Edwards |
| Fate | Discontinued (July 30, 2009) |
| Successor | Features incorporated into Final Cut Studio and Motion |
| Headquarters | United States |
Area served | Worldwide |
Key people | Ron Brinkmann (product manager), Emmanuel Mogenet (R&D), Dan Candela (R&D), Louis Cetorelli (support), Peter Warner (designer/user) |
| Products | Image compositing software |
| Owner | Apple Inc. |
| Parent | Apple Inc. |
Shake was an image compositing software initially created by Nothing Real for Windows and subsequently acquired by Apple Inc.. It gained widespread adoption in the realms of visual effects and digital compositing for movies, television, and advertising. The program utilized a graphical node graph architecture, which allowed users to construct intricate image processing workflows by linking effect "nodes." This design enabled real-time adjustments to earlier stages of the process while simultaneously previewing the final composite. Comparable node-based systems are found in applications such as Blender, Blackmagic Fusion, and Nuke.
Shake 4 was released for both Mac OS X and Linux, after earlier discontinuation of support for Microsoft Windows and IRIX platforms.
Apple officially terminated Shake on July 30, 2009. Although no direct successor was introduced, several features were incorporated into products like Final Cut Studio and Motion, including the SmoothCam filter.
History
The company Nothing Real was established in 1996 by Arnaud Hervas and Allen Edwards, who launched Shake 1.0 in early 1997 as a command-line tool aimed at high-end visual effects studios.
In 1997, Emmanuel Mogenet joined the research and development team during the creation of Shake 2.0, which introduced a comprehensive graphical user interface. Later that year, the team expanded to include Dan Candela (R&D), Louis Cetorelli (support), and Peter Warner (designer/user). Ron Brinkmann took on the role of product manager in early 1998. This founding team consisted primarily of former employees from Sony Imageworks.
Shake 2.0 was first showcased as an alpha version at the 1998 NAB conference and presented as a beta at SIGGRAPH that same year. The full release arrived in early 1999 for Windows NT and IRIX, priced at $9,900 per license with render-only licenses available at $3,900. Shake rapidly became the preferred compositing software within the feature film industry.
In 2002, Apple acquired Nothing Real. Shortly thereafter, Shake 2.5 was launched with compatibility for Mac OS X. To encourage adoption on Mac platforms within studios, Apple set the Mac version’s price at $4,950 and offered users on other operating systems double licenses at no additional charge if they switched to Mac OS X. In 2003, Shake 3 debuted with the introduction of the Qmaster distributed rendering system, discontinued Windows support, and permitted unlimited network render clients without extra fees. The following year, Shake 3.5 was released with reduced pricing—$2,999 for Mac OS X users and $4,999 for Linux and IRIX customers.
Apple revealed Shake 4 in April 2005 featuring enhancements such as 3D multi-plane compositing capabilities, advanced keying tools including Keylight and Primatte, improved optical flow processing, integration with Final Cut Pro 5, as well as expanded scripting and SDK functionalities. Notably, Shake 4 dropped support for IRIX.
At NAB 2006, Apple announced Shake 4.1 as a Universal Binary version shipping in May (officially released June 20). The product was rebranded to align with Final Cut Studio, accompanied by a significant price reduction on Mac from $2,999 to $499 while Linux pricing remained constant. Concurrently, Apple declared it would cease Shake’s support; subscribers to maintenance plans were offered source code licensing for $50,000. Speculation arose about a potential successor under the codename Phenomenon.
The last update, Shake version 4.1.1 (2008), focused on compatibility improvements with newer Apple QuickTime codecs.
On July 30, 2009, Apple removed Shake from its website and online store. Despite being officially discontinued three years prior, it had continued selling at $499 until its removal. Currently, the Shake website redirects visitors to Apple’s Final Cut Pro X page.
Uses
Shake found application in prominent motion pictures including Peter Jackson's The Lord of the Rings, King Kong, the Harry Potter series, and Cloverfield. It was chosen by The Embassy to create a Citroën commercial featuring a dancing automobile, and by Broadway Video to digitally restore the Saturday Night Live: The Complete First Season DVD collection. Visual effects for Star Trek Remastered were produced by CBS Digital utilizing Shake.
Additional significant projects employing Shake include War of the Worlds (2005), Star Wars: Episode III – Revenge of the Sith, Fantastic Four, Mission: Impossible III, Poseidon, The Incredibles, Hulk, Doctor Who, The Dark Knight, and Pirates of the Caribbean: Dead Man's Chest. The software was also instrumental in restoring the classic film South Pacific.
Although Shake's primary role was in video post-production workflows, it frequently complemented Autodesk’s Flint, Flame, and Inferno platforms to enhance project efficiency. Its standout feature was exceptional support for ultra-high-resolution formats such as 2K, 4K, and IMAX, which are standard benchmarks in contemporary film production.