Twixtor or Shake?
 

I really like the way Twixtor handles slo-mo and retiming video, but doesn't Shake also do this very well??

I mean for Twistor pro at over $500, why would I not buy Shake for $499 and have the retiming and 3D composting? I don't understand why Twistor is so dang expensive... maybe I'm missing something??

Someone please enlighten me

I've used and have Twixtor (nonpro) and have really liked the results. I can't say i've really felt like its missing something or needed to upgrade to Pro. For me twixtor made sense over Shake (bought before the price drop however) as I can use the plug in with Final Cut Pro and Combustion which i both use quite a bit. For me it was a really convenience to have it in my NLE but shake FCP integration looks to be smooth. You certainly will be getting a Lot more bang for your buck if you go with Shake since it does have optical flow time remapping (just remember its 'end of lifed', who knows how/when apple with handle the replacement)and a slew of other tools/uses. Shake should have a fairly steeper learning curve too, if you dont mind spending the time to learn it.

I used twixtor 'lite' a lot throughout this project if you want to see a sample.

http://www.myspace.com/eisley

http://youtube.com/watch?v=mk39fxEVMcA

(if you can find the myspace version in that mess of a page, its a lot better quality than the youtube one. Sorry, if i still owned the video i'd put a better version up ;) )