AMSTERDAM — Autodesk (www.autodesk.com) is offering a free, 30-day trial of its Smoke 2012 for Mac OS X, and that includes installation and configuration assistance. Smoke on Mac provides tools for editing, color correction and 3D effects.

Autodesk positions Smoke on Mac as a single application for finishing, with a 64-bit core and GPU-accelerated performance. Its track-based nonlinear editor has customizable hot keys to speed up workflows, as well as a template for Final Cut Pro 7 users who are switching over to the system. Smoke on Mac offers a master keyer and 3D compositing tools, along with primary and secondary color correction tools. In addition, it offers native support for Red and Arri Raw formats, and can also create low-res proxies if desired.

The Autodesk Subscription Advantage Pack (available for download later this month) provides new tools for creating original looks, better control over lighting and motion blur. The Matchbox fragment shader lets users access, design, and add custom-built GPU enhanced fragment shaders. Stereoscopic 3D viewing modes help in visually scanning for differences between left and right eyes. And format support has been extended to include Apple ProRes QuickTime files and MXF OP-1a export, HDRx support, AVCHD codec import, and Avid DNxHD format in a QuickTime wrapper.