Archive for Applications
Optical Flares is a must have plug in for the AE user.
Posted by: | Comments
Sometimes people do things at the exact right time. Like Magic Johnson taking a last second shot to win the title over the Celtics. Other times a person may have such a vibe for their marketplace they create a product that feeds a growing demand. Like Steve Jobs and the iPhone.
In this case its a combination of the two. Not only was it the right time but after seeing commercials, movies, and other media having amazing light flare effects, many clients and producers wanted that for their own media.
For years After Effects users have had a great tool, Knoll Light Factory, to use. It provided great flares and did the job we wanted. But... as great as it was there was much room to improve it. The bad news was it never improved in my opinion. Read More→
Mocha 2 faster and sexier than ever!
Posted by: | CommentsImagineer systems, I must say, really listens to their users. All my whining is about to vanish. Yes Mocha has always gotten the job done but never as sleek as it can now.
With NAB a few days away, the world will see this industry unique planer tracker is looking good and moving fast. After all this is THE tracker and rotoscoping application to go to in a jam.
Read More→
Review and collaborate on your own time with Fuze Movie
Posted by: | Comments
As we keep moving forward technologies come and go but one thing is certain: filmmakers need to collaborate. This is especially true in the post production process. I know this firsthand. On my last film I would send MOV file to my executive producer and call him up to go over the cut.
It was painstaking about this was we had to basically say go at the same time and try and be synced as we watched the cut of the film. He would say "stop, there should be more color here" and I would jot down his note (hopefully) at the same time code. Yes it worked but it was a bit of pain in the butt.
After scouring the web for new possibilities for collaboration and review I came across a new product that I've fallen in love with. Introducing Fuze Movie. So what is this innovative new product? Let's take a look. Read More→
Color correcting in Premiere Pro CS4 using Mojo!
Posted by: | CommentsOne part of the post process I have grown to embrace is colorizing my footage. There are so many tools out there for the filmmaker to use nowadays. This is a good thing! All distributors will love it when you show up with a movie looking like the latest blockbuster. The best part about it is there are awesome new tools such as Magic Bullet Mojo, priced at a mere $99, that will boost up your ordinary hd or sd video to look like one of Hollywood's top 10. Read More→
The Death of DOF Adapters
Posted by: | Comments
- Image by mickiky via Flickr
Shallow Depth of Field
For the filmmaker, HD camcorders gave us the freedom to shoot without the expense of film and development cost. The drawback was the inability to achieve shallow depth of field. With a fixed lens HD camcorder, everything is in focus down to the smallest detail. In the late 90s, filmmakers using HD video, were forced to use tricks such as lighting in layers with the subject lit the brightest. Without these creative but limited solutions, the audience can become distracted by a pretty extra in background or billboard that is part of the set. The result: your scene loses its impact due to lack of control over the image.
The advent of the DOF or 35mm adapter gave us the ability to achieve a shallow depth of field giving you more artistic control of the image. For those who don't know, the device works like a telecine using the macro focus of the camcorder to capture the image on a ground glass screen. The glass is spun using a miniature motor. The shear weight of these devices and their components can be in excess of 20 pounds. This paved the way for an entire industry of camera support systems to redistribute the weight of the device, the lens, the follow focus and the HD monitor, which is critical to ensure clear, sharp focus. Read More→
Solana Beach, CA, July 22, 2009 – CineForm®, Inc. (www.cineform.com), creators of high-fidelity compression-based workflow solutions for the post production marketplace, today announced it has teamed with Drastic Technologies (www.drastictech.com), a developer of digital disk recording and data infrastructure technology, to accelerate the migration of post production workflows away from expensive and cumbersome tape-based formats towards more efficient and cost-effective file-based recording and playback.
The result of this technology partnership, CineForm CineDDR, combines CineForm’s respected mastering-quality compression with Drastic Technologies’ expertise in professional DDR technology to provide a software-based alternative for professional acquisition and playout. Leveraging commonly-available PC or Mac hardware, CineDDR delivers an accelerated workflow by creating media files that are immediately usable in post production – a significant development over tape workflows whose recording formats are not widely supported in post-production.
CineForm demonstrated CineDDR for the first time in its booth at NAB 2009 in Las Vegas.
“HDCAM SR has proven to be a workhorse technology for film and television production and post work,” said David Taylor, CEO and co-founder of CineForm, Inc. “Our strategy with CineDDR is to offer cost savings and labor efficiency that exceeds tape workflows, while also offering higher visual fidelity and feature compatibility demanded by professional workflows. Partnering with Drastic was a perfect fit for CineDDR because it allowed CineForm to focus on compression features and performance while leveraging the rich deck control features and user interface expertise for which Drastic is known.”
“The result of our collaboration with CineForm represents a significant workflow enhancement for the post production market,” added James Brooks, Manager of Development, Drastic Technologies. “Combining our expertise in developing tapeless digital disk recording solutions with CineForm’s innovative compression workflow creates an entirely new opportunity for customers to adopt a streamlined capture/playback solution with the functionality of a professional production VTR and a familiar VTR-style front end for ease of operation and a minimal learning curve.”
CineForm CineDDR Key Features: Economics of Ownership
A unique and valuable attribute of CineDDR is its affordable integrated price point for video capture and playback. CineDDR is available to customers immediately as a software solution, as well as a manufacturer built, optimized turnkey system, which will be available for purchase on August 1, 2009.
As a software-based solution, customers can assemble a CineDDR recording/playout system by adding an Intel Core i7-based PC or Mac with RAID storage plus an AJA Xena (Windows) or Kona (Mac) card. The integration cost for dual-link recording and playout for a CineDDR system is less than $10,000, enabling an ownership model instead of a rental model because the integrated price point is approximately 1/10 the cost of purchasing a fully-featured HDCAM SR deck.
As a turnkey solution, customers can easily order and deploy a specifically-designed and optimized ‘bullet proof’ turnkey solution. Benefits include professional system design, performance and maintenance for customers with mission critical content.
Key features of CineDDR software and turnkey solutions include:
Record into or playback from CineForm’s 10-bit YUV or 12-bit RGB mastering format;
Timecode-based video capture and playback to/from HD-SDI and component sources;
9-pin serial control and VTR emulation supporting IN and OUT for integration into an automated environment;
Supports VITC, LTC and absolute time code sources;
Clip metadata maintenance and display;
Setup tools for up, down and cross conversion for output flexibility.
Pricing and Availability
CineDDR software will be offered in both single-link and dual-link versions, and also in versions that support both Windows and Mac OS X. The single-link version of CineDDR is priced at $2500. The dual-link version is priced at $4000. The Windows version of CineDDR is available for purchase and trial download from CineForm’s website. The Mac version of CineDDR will be available in the coming weeks. Turnkey solutions will be available August 1, 2009.
About Drastic Technologies®
Drastic Technologies Ltd, founded in 1991, is a major industry provider of products for digital media capture, control, conversion and delivery. These products are sold as software only applications or as part of a complete DDR solution built and certified by Drastic. Drastic's head office is located in Toronto, Ontario, Canada. Drastic Technologies Ltd has resellers and distributors operating in the USA, Canada, Europe, Australia, and Asia. www.drastictech.com
About CineForm
CineForm Inc. develops compression-based workflow solutions for the post production marketplace. Offering the industry’s highest fidelity compression technology, CineForm is trusted among Hollywood filmmakers, television producers, videographers and digital media artists who rely on high image quality, high performance and innovative compression-based workflow solutions with up to 4k spatial resolutions for their online content creation projects. Available on both Windows and Mac platforms, CineForm workflow solutions are optimized for direct-to-disk camera recording, high-resolution post production and long-term content archives. For more information, visit www.cineform.com.
FMC Review – Episode Encoder is a rock star!
Posted by: | CommentsAfter hearing all the great comments on Telestream's Episode Encoder, I decided to pick up a copy and used it on a recent job. Not only was it simple to use, but it is highly customizable! All the compression settings are good to go in default mode but if you love to fine tune and tinker you can until your hearts content. From filters like sharpening, RGB, and HSV to adding a watermark, the Episode Encoder has it all!
One of the great features for me was the ability to add a bumper or trailer on the fly! Clients and I will love using this! And the best part? Its a simple few clicks to get it done!
Professional videographers face continuous pressure to deliver high quality work under tight deadlines. To ease that burden and enable greater levels of creativity, NVIDIA today announced the availability of GPU-accelerated plug-in solutions for Adobe Creative Suite 4 (CS4) users, optimized to run on a wide range of NVIDIA®® Quadro®® graphics solutions. NVIDIA is offering exclusive discounts of up to 50 percent on plug-ins from Elemental Technologies, Boris FX, Red Giant Software and proDAD when purchased at NVIDIA.com.
Among the plug-ins being offered is the NVIDIA CUDA™ architecture-based Elemental Accelerator 2.0 for Windows from Elemental Technologies (MSRP $499 discounted to $249). By leveraging the CUDA parallel computing architecture, this new plug-in offloads H.264 video encoding to the Quadro GPU, enabling Adobe Premiere Pro CS4 users to experience a performance increase of up to 11X when compared to CPU-only video encoders. Now available on a range of Quadro GPUs, Elemental Accelerator 2.0 supports the creation of Blu-ray DVDs and web content using Flash. In addition, NVIDIA and Elemental Technologies are bringing accelerated H.264 video encoding capabilities to Mac Pro users for the first time with the new Elemental Accelerator 1.2 for Mac OS X running on the Quadro FX 4800 for Mac.
"The enhanced performance of Elemental Accelerator 2.0, combined with an expanded line-up of Quadro GPUs, delivers exceptional value and increased productivity to a wide range of video professionals," said Sam Blackman, CEO of Elemental Technologies. "The Quadro GPU's CUDA architecture has enabled the Elemental Accelerator to offer faster than real-time H.264 encoding speed for Blu-ray and web production, while delivering exceptional image quality with H.264/MPEG-4 AVC files."
In addition, customers using NVIDIA's latest Quadro GPUs are eligible for exclusive discounts on plug-in solutions from Red Giant Software, Boris FX and proDAD. Available on the NVIDIA web site, these plug-ins allow users to further harness the power of the Quadro GPU to experience dramatic time savings over conventional CPU-only solutions when creating compelling 3D visual and lighting effects.
"The ability to develop real-time motion graphics and effortlessly perform color correction are very important developments for Adobe CS4 users," said Sean Safreed, product director of Red Giant Software. "The work we have done with NVIDIA on our GPU-accelerated plug-ins enables a creative professional to tap into the power of the Quadro GPU in their system, and freely experiment with a wide range of visual effects and color control, thereby enhancing the creativity of their final production."
The full line of Quadro GPUs are optimized to enable GPU-acceleration across the entire family of Adobe CS4 applications including: Adobe Premiere Pro, After Effects, Flash and Photoshop. From importing files and editing multi-video streams, to previewing video content, video professionals can now optimize their work-flow and enhance the creative process.
"Quadro GPUs offer the best performance for Adobe CS4 professionals," said Jeff Brown, general manager, Professional Solutions Business Unit at NVIDIA. "Offering GPU-accelerated plug-ins to Adobe videographers and enabling them to choose the Quadro FX solution that best fits their budget illustrates our commitment to delivering performance and value to the Adobe user community."
Pricing and Availability
Quadro GPU-accelerated plug-ins from Elemental Technologies, Red Giant Software, Boris FX and proDAD are available for purchase today at www.nvidia.com/adobeplugins. Exclusive discount pricing is available for users of qualifying NVIDIA products including Quadro FX 1800, Quadro FX 3800, Quadro FX 4800, Quadro FX 5800, Quadro FX 2700M and Quadro FX 3700M. NVIDIA Quadro FX products are available through workstation OEMs, as well as through NVIDIA Channel partners PNY Technologies (US and EMEA), Leadtek (APAC) and Elsa (Japan). The Quadro FX 4800 for Mac is available through Apple.com, select Apple resellers and workstation integrators. For additional information on NVIDIA Quadro including pricing and availability, visit: www.nvidia.com/quadro.
 |
 Hewlett-Packard NVIDIA Quadro FX 1800 768 MB  US $221.01
|
 IBM NVIDIA QUADRO FX3400 PCI-E PCI 90P1175 256MB US $45.00
|
 LOT 5 nVidia Quadro NVS 280 PCI DMS-59 64MB Video Card US $51.00
|
 Dell nVidia Quadro FX3000 256MB FX 3000 AGP Video Card US $59.00
|
 NVIDIA Quadro FX 1800 786MB US $350.00
|
 NVIDIA QUADRO NVS 420 PCIE 256MB 4PORT DVI-D with VHDCI US $299.99
|
 PNY Technologies NVIDIA Quadro FX 5600 1.5 GB VCQFX5... US $1,000.00
|
 PNY Technologies NVIDIA Quadro FX 5800 with SDI Output US $5,400.00
|
On Location CS4: A Must Have For The Production Toolbox!
Posted by: | Comments
Prior to its release of CS4, Adobe invited a few industry professionals to come up to its headquarters in San Jose California to take a look at what was under the hood of the new release. Fortunately I was one of those invited. From the buzz I've been hearing I was really excited to see what they had going on.
Since that time I've shown my excitement for upgrades on products such as Premiere Pro with its new speech to text feature, and Photoshop with its ability to work in 3-D. My biggest excitement however was the fact that Adobe brought one of my favorite programs On Location to the Intel Mac platform.
_20090531150921.gif)
Hot Deals on Ebay!
|
|
Adobe™ Creative Suite CS5 Production Premium Windows™ US $939.13 |
|
|
Adobe CS5 Production Premium US $100.00 |
|
|
ADOBE CS5 PRODUCTION PREMIUM WINDOWS CREATIVE SUITE 5 US $1,399.00 |
