Red Giant Software, makers of John Knoll’s popular Knoll Light Factory plug-in for After Effects, began shipping version 2.5 in mid-July. Just click on "Do GPU" in this version of the ILM Visual Effects Supervisor’s classic and you’ll get to play with your flares in near real time. In some cases, that could be up to 10 times faster than in previous versions, which relied on your CPU to render. With added support for Adobe Premiere Pro 2.0 and Avid’s AVX format, Knoll Light Factory 2.5 includes 25 new flares waiting for your special touch. The value-priced Editors edition means you can even flare up your effects without even opening After Effects. $395 (full); $199 (Editors).