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Equilibrium with its DeBabelizer product has been a mainstay resource for graphics and editing postproduction pros for over a decade. In sum, DeBabelizer has been the tool of choice for editing groups and batches of images, animation, video, or even film clips. To use Equilibrium's own words, DeBabelizer is and has been "an automated graphics processor." While Debabelizer was never meant to be a standalone photo-editor, video editor, or illustration tool, it was meant to work hand-in-glove with all those applications. This tool was designed to manipulate image sequences of nearly all types for doing things like scripting and batch processing time-consuming and repetitive tasks. As a matter of fact, the introduction of DeBabelizer as a commercial product into the graphics profession was a unique event and one that has stood the test of time. Before DeBabelizer came along, tasks such as converting batches of many images from one file format to others and editing strings of images from one color space to others had to be scripted by technical directors on workstation platforms. Even early versions of DeBabelizer were a boon to those of us who didn't want to learn computer languages in order to perform repetitive actions to graphics files and film or video clips.
The currently reviewed version of DeBabelizer 5.0 (which should be shipping by press time) is the prevailing successor to Equilibrium's original concept. That is, of putting scripting power into the hands of artists who never intended or wanted to become programmers or systems administrators. This 5.0 version is a massively improved package for all of the same types of duties and tasks that the original DeBabelizer could do and much more. Let's take a look.
Feature Sets and Interface
The physical look of DeBabelizer is simple enough with an overhead task bar and associated perpendicular tool bar to its right. Here in plain sight is most of the power and functionality of this extensive graphics automation tool for handling the three major thrusts of its use in: 1) image processing, 2) graphics optimization, and 3) file conversion. The core nuts and bolts functionality of Equilibrium's design is clear-cut. Within DeBabelizer, each and any process an artist makes to an image or series of images is recorded and may...