You can download and use a fully functional copy of Sapphire Plug-ins. A protective watermark will be applied to the outputs unless you have a license.

Last updated: September 8, 2008.

To Download and install:

1. Make sure you have one or more of the following Autodesk products on SGI Irix:
   

   Flint or Flame	6.1 or greater
   Smoke or Fire	3.0 or greater
   Inferno	3.1 or greater

2. For Flint/Flame 9.5, Smoke/Fire 7.0, or Inferno 6.5 or greater
   Download Sapphire Plug-ins 4.06 for 64bit Autodesk systems. (8 Mb)
   For previous Autodesk versions:
   Download Sapphire Plug-ins 4.06 for 32bit Autodesk systems. (7 Mb)
   

   Note: if you are running both 32bit and 64bit systems on the same machine, just install both of the above versions. They can coexist.

   For Sapphire version 3, go to the v3 download page instead.

   On an SGI, the links above will automatically start the 'inst' software installation tool.
   If your SGI is not connected to the web, you can download via another machine:

   a) Download the correct file above to your local disk.
   b) Use Fetch with raw data mode, or FTP with binary mode to copy the file over to your SGI workstation. Save it as  /tmp/sapphire.tardist
   c) Then type the following command to a shell on your SGI:
   tardist /tmp/sapphire.tardist

3. If you agree to the license agreement, press Dismiss, then Start to install the software, and finally Exit and OK.

To test out a Spark, go to the Effects menu, and click on any Spark button while holding down the 'Alt' key. You should find the plug-ins in /usr/discreet/sparks/sapphire_4. Select a Spark and the name should now appear on the button. Click again on the button to initialize the Spark. Select the source and destination reels and the Spark interface window should be displayed.

For on-line help after you install the software, click on the the Help button on the "Crop/Help" parameter page while using any plug-in, or point your web browser at file://usr/discreet/sparks/sapphire_4/docs/intro.html.

Installation notes:

• Sapphire v3 and v4 can both be on your system at the same time, and you can continue using v3 as usual even after installing v4. However, please be aware that the names of the sparks are the same in both versions, which can lead to some confusion, and sometimes the older version may continue to be used unintentionally.

• Setup files saved with Sapphire v3 will not load into v4, but we have provided an update_setups utility to automatically convert setup files from v3 to v4. For more information check the on-line doc after you install the software.

• Our installation uses the standard SGI 'inst' tool. Sapphire Plug-ins are always installed in the /usr/discreet/sparks/sapphire_4 directory.

• If you are upgrading from version 4.0x to 4.06 you do NOT need a new license, your existing license will just continue to work. The spark files in /usr/discreet/sparks/sapphire_4 will simply be overwritten, so setups saved with 4.0x will continue to function as before.

What's new in version 4.06 on IRIX:

1. An issue with Sapphire LUTs being incorrectly shared between sparks is resolved.
2. A problem with very tall Lens Flares on 4-cpu machines is fixed.
3. An issue with Texture Flux at high frequencies is fixed.
4. Tile Scramble has a new Crop Input parameter.
5. A problem with cropped Distort effects is resolved.

1. The Use Gamma and LUT options no longer affect Mask and Matte input clips by default, and a new parameter on the Crop/Help page allows selecting which inputs should use linear color space instead.
2. In 4.051 a "button already used" error in WarpsMask and others is resolved.

1. An issue with the update_setups script modifying non-Sapphire files is fixed.
2. GlintRainbow has a new Shift Out parameter.
3. Distort is improved for small animated Blur Lens values.
4. An issue with DissolveGlow and bright images is fixed.
5. Problems with WarpCornerPinMask are fixed.

1. Several issues with LensFlareAutotrackMask are fixed.
2. WarpCornerPin images are improved when the corners are crossed.

1. An issue is fixed with ZBlur, ZDefocus, ZGlow, and ZConvolve when used at 2K or larger resolution.
2. The param layout for Mosaic is improved.
3. EdgeBlur subpixel mode is improved.
4. An issue with Layer when used with large Blur and Scale Lights values is fixed.
5. A problem with BlurDirectional and large shift amounts is fixed.
6. An issue with ZConvolve and small dark kernels is fixed.
7. CornerPin has improved wrapping behavior, and other fixes.
8. Problems with custom sparks on IRIX are fixed.
9. Misc. other fixes.