Boris FX has released Continuum 2027, the latest version of its Emmy Award-winning plug-in collection. New features include an all-in-one titling tool and smarter AI masking. Performance gets a boost too.
BCC Text
BCC Text is a new vector-based 2D titling system with a simple custom interface. You can position, scale, rotate, skew and pivot type in true 3D space. Tools animate characters on their own, and type-on effects reveal letters, words or whole lines. Built-in generators handle counters, timecode, dates, countdowns and randomized text. Backdrops get fills, gradients, borders, bevels and shadows. Fonts can be OpenType or TrueType, including multi-byte scripts such as Japanese Kanji, Hiragana and Katakana.
BCC+ Noise Map Studio
BCC+ Noise Map Studio is a 3D procedural noise generator. It stacks multiple noise layers into one composite for rich, evolving textures. Use them as animated backgrounds or organic mattes. They also work as custom maps that drive other effects. The textures animate and tile automatically, so you get a seamless look without keyframing.
Waves and distortions
Five new effects and three matching transitions let you bend, twist and smear your footage.
BCC+ Time Displacement displaces pixels through time instead of space. This means that you can blend the current frame with moments sampled from other points in the clip, or even another layer. You also get hundreds of ready-to-use displacement maps. In addition, there is a Map Glitch option to create fractured, unpredictable looks.
BCC+ Curl creates fluid, organic swirling distortions with built-in randomization. It also features an integrated Beat Reactor so you can sync the amplitude, scale, and flow speed of the effect to a piece of music.
BCC+ Waves, Bulge, and Vector Blur create traveling waves which flow along a vector field. You can also modify the effects with lighting controls, lens-style bulges and pinches, and directional streaks.
Three matching transitions round out the set: BCC+ Curl Dissolve, BCC+ Vector Blur Dissolve and BCC+ Waves Dissolve.
Particle Illusion
Particle Illusion, the high-end 3D particle generator, gets several updates. It’s available in Continuum or as a standalone app. Depth of field looks more natural and convincing. Tilt-Shift & Vignette Blur lets you build selective-focus looks, from subtle lens effects to dramatic miniature imagery. New image caching, a quicker Draft mode and an optimized High Quality mode make real-time playback smoother. You can also import STL models and connect particles with more options.
Smarter masking
Continuum’s AI-assisted masking tools get updated models for better masks and faster workflows. The new Face ML Contour Model follows each face’s full shape, ears included. That means fewer manual fixes. Matte Refine 2.1 analyzes edges better and preserves fine detail like hair for cleaner separation. Witness Protection ML now creates precisely fitted face masks instead of simple ovals. Mocha face detection isolates individual faces in group scenes. Mask ML Hover Preview shows the mask Mocha will generate before you commit.
Drive Effect mode
Pixel Chooser now has a Drive Effect mode. You can use this to control the intensity of a masked effect, rather than just where a mask appears. As a result, you can increase an effect’s intensity smoothly and blend them naturally into shots, with no hard edges or visible masking. Drive Effect is available in 18 filters, including BCC+ Lens Blur, BCC+ Face ML, BCC+ Motion Blur ML, and BCC+ Depth of Field. In addition, you can pair it with AI-generated mattes from Face ML or Depth Map ML.
Continuum 2027 adds more than 450 curated presets across 13 effects. Premiere Pro users get up to 2X faster preview and rendering. SVG and EPS import is new, and Vegas Pro integration goes deeper. BCC+ Mocha can also bring in an alternate background for tracking, so you can position and track foreground elements like screen inserts.
What we think
Boris Continuum packs a huge effects library into the editor you already use, so you don’t bounce between apps. BCC Text is the standout. Quick titles for interviews, lower thirds and social clips take far less time. The smarter AI masking also delivers better results from the start, which means less time cleaning up mattes. It’s a lot of new tech for the money, even at the higher price. If you earn your living editing video, it pays for itself fast.
Pricing and availability
Continuum is available as a subscription or a perpetual license. Annual subscriptions start at $325, or you can pay from $48 per month. Perpetual licenses start at $1,095. It works with host apps including Adobe After Effects, Premiere Pro, DaVinci Resolve and Nuke on Windows 10 or later and macOS 12 or later.
