1. Support for third-party After Effects plug-ins
2. Audio Import and Playback
3. Natural Filters
4. Motion Blur
5. Interface improvements
6. Light Filters
7. 3D Image Shatter
8. Compositing Apply Modes
9. Displacement Mapping
10. Expanded Keyframe Library
11. Heart Generator

1. Support for third-party After Effects plug-ins
Once installed, compatible Adobe After Effects plug-ins appear in the Boris FX filters menu, where they can be applied as easily as any other Boris filter. Supported filters include Media 100 Final Effects Complete, DigiEffects Cinelook, and many others that have never previously been available inside nonlinear editing applications.

2. Audio Import and Playback
Unlimited numbers of both synch and scratch audio tracks are supported. Scrub audio to coordinate effects with music, view waveforms, even animate volume and pan from within FX 6. There's also an option to play back audio during Preview to RAM.

3. Natural Filters
Self-animating snow, rain, cloud, star, spark, fire, and comet generators offer versatile controls over production, animation, gravity, and attraction and collision with other layers - including alpha channels. Natural Filters can act as a filter on a track or generate backgrounds.

4. Motion Blur
Boris FX 6 provides motion blur to simulate the way that film handles image capture of moving objects. The default setting of 180 refers to the rotation of the camera's shutter across a frame, in this case, 180 degrees, or open for half a frame. Higher settings mean more blur, lower settings mean less blur. This feature is useful to give moving layers a less "computer-y" feel.

Adaptive Motion Blur is unique to Boris FX: it takes fewer samples when images are moving more slowly, thus reducing rendering times without sacrificing the blur's quality.

5. Interface improvements
New buttons on the Timeline allow new media tracks (video, stills, gradients, color), shapes (including 3D Plane, 3D Sphere, Cube Cylinder and Page Turn) to be applied with a single click. They allow favorite filters (as defined by users in the Preferences) to be applied with one click as well.

New Buttons on the Controls window allow one-click application of drop shadows (using the last applied shadow as a starting point), toggle to wireframe view, and the direct selection of the Face track of layers in the timeline. By toggling the selection of a layer's Face, users can make significant adjustments to any track's media: editing gradients, selecting still image files, setting colors and so on. A color/grayscale ramp is also provided to speed color selection.

6. Light Filters
Boris FX Light filters produce true 3D modeled spotlights that shine on your image. Spotlight allows you to position and aim the light by setting the position and elevation of the synthetic light source in relation to the image plane.

These spotlight filters also allow additional layers to function as mattes and gels for the light sources. A gel projects an image along the same plane that the light is projected over. It is therefore subject to the same kinds of distortions that the light is, such as elongation as the light is projected off axis. Mattes are revealed in the light without distortion.

Edge Lighting lends a 3D look to flat video and still images by applying highlights and shadows to edges in the image. Light Sweep creates a linear beam of light which sweeps over the image. Alpha Spotlight only projects into the image's alpha channel.

7. 3D Image Shatter
3D Image Shatter breaks up the source image and disperses the fragments, and allows you to adjust all aspects of the particles' movement and appearance. In addition, it contains a set of rotation parameters that enable you to move and rotate the fragments in 3D space. The filter auto-animates to easily create explosion effects, but can be manually animated for more precise control.

In addition to a variety of customizable preset shapes (such as stars, hearts, and diamonds), users can assign custom shapes to particles using any still or animated file with an alpha channel.

8. Compositing Apply Modes
Blend layers with precision based on their light and color properties. Boris FX 6 offers a number of unique ways to do this. Among these is the animation of compositing modes in a single layer through the "Apply Mix From" setting. Not only does this approach offer more options than traditional approaches, it offers reduced rendering times by not requiring copies of additional layers to provide the transition between composite modes.

Boris FX 6 features 27 modes in all, including 6 new ones: Boost Expo 1 and 2, Boost EQ + and -, Boost Bias, and 50-50 Mix. The Compositing tab also offers several additional controls, such as brightness, contrast, and mix back with original to provide unparalleled flexibility.

Looking at the complete range of features here, the conclusion is inevitable: no compositing application offers more control over the actual task of compositing than Boris FX.

9. Displacement Mapping
Displace an image based on specific properties (for example, luminance) of a user-definable map image. Boris FX 6 displacement mapping allows you to create sophisticated organic effects. Displacements are a very powerful compositing feature not found in any other product in this price range.

10. Expanded Keyframe Library
New, easy-to-use preset effects feature brand new Boris FX 6 filters, including natural filters, lights, and displacement maps. The Library effects feature these filters used in the typical manner, applied to a single layer of video, but also as transitions between layers, and in combination with other filters.

11. Heart Generator
Quickly build hearts to use as graphic elements, as masks, and to incorporate into effects. Animate shape, color, scale and other parameters. Composite on a layer, or build hearts on layers of their own.