LUMINEX Network Intelligence, a Belgium-based developer of lighting control, pro audio and video data distribution equipment for the entertainment industry, makes its first appearance at InfoComm showing its new range of Gigabit Ethernet switches with updated web-based user interface. The GigaCore line will be exhibited in LUMINEX booth #561 at InfoComm13, June 8-14 at the Orange County Convention Center in Orlando.

A young, ambitious company that has already made a name for itself in Europe, LUMINEX has designed the GigaCore line to handle the most demanding sound , video and lighting installations. This next-generation family of Ethernet switches has three models – GigaCore 12, GigaCore 14R and GigaCore 16Xt. They meet and support all industry protocols and offer a user-friendly experience with an industry-specific outlook and optimized defaults. The products come with a built-in redundancy system providing a reliable and easy-to-set-up backbone for users’ networks.

The GigaCore line will showcase its updated web-based user interface at InfoComm. It enables users to easily assign the network ports to different groups or segments on the network (protocol isolation), automatically detect links between GigaCore units and provide network switch status.

The GigaCore Ethernet switches are optimized with a very fast recovery time for any link failures delivering seamless operation for sound, video and lighting protocols running over these links. The products currently support audio over Ethernet protocols such as Dante, Ethersound and Q-Lan with a low jitter, and lighting over Ethernet protocols such as Art-Net, ETCNet2, MA-Net and Streaming ACN (sACN).

Since their introduction last year, the GigaCore line has been used in many applications and has been recommended as a third-party solution by leading industry manufacturers.

The GigaCore range offers common features on the three models, such as 12 Gigabit ports on shielded Neutrik Ethercon ports, making it a rugged, environmentally-friendly range. All devices feature wire-speed layer 2 switching, port status, three LEDs per port (PoE, RLinkX, Link/Speed) and four status LEDs (OK, PoE, RLinkX, Power).
All models come with a built-in redundancy system enabled on all ports, called RLinkX, providing a reliable and easy to set up backbone for the user’s network.
The range also offers the group function, a unique Luminex solution, providing a true user-friendly way to create subnets within your network.
A PoE supply unit, allowing for the feed of PoE compliant devices from the front ports, is available as an option.

GigaCore 12 embeds all the common features of the range.

GigaCore 14R adds two SFP cages for fiber connections. By using fiber transceivers, users can break the limits of 100m given by copper links, and makes its links interference free. it also boasts redundant fans. It adds a backup PSU and a backup PoE supply to the list of available options.

GigaCore 16Xt extends the functionality of GigaCore 14R with four SFP cages, which allow users to create complex network topologies over the fiber link, such as mesh or ring. Its feature set includes a front-end display for basic configuration, avoiding the usage of a computer to set your network, and reducing your setup time. A backup PSU and a backup PoE supply are also optional.

About LUMINEX

LUMINEX Network Intelligence was formed by Bart Swinnen and Jan Renckens as a branch of parent company LUMINEX Lighting Control Equipment nv, which has an extensive technical background in the lighting industry. LUMINEX Network Intelligence launched its successful Ethernet-DMX8 node in 2004 when it ran 32 DMX lines at the Paralympics in Athens. Their complete DMX and Ethernet solutions range debuted at Siel 2005 in Paris. The GigaCore switch family opened the doors to the digital pro audio and AV markets for the new company and broadened their commitment beyond their traditional customer base.

When MJZ Director Rupert Sanders and Grey New York needed high-end VFX to bring a World War II epic, a medieval fantasy battle, and a bit of science fiction together in a new spot for DIRECTV, they turned to the team at MPC. The spot is a showcase of MPC’s impressive skillset and resources. The LA office led a team that included artists across MPC’s global family of studios, taking the project from rough concept design to photo-real rendering to flawless compositing.

“This was one of those projects that only comes along once in a while,” noted MPC LA Managing Director Andrew Bell. “To help create three disparate and fantastic environments with such an incredible director and agency is a VFX team’s dream come true.”

Acclaimed production designer Dominic Watkins (National Treasure: Book of Secrets, The Bourne Supremacy) and his art department helped MJZ transform a quiet canyon two hours north of Los Angeles into the otherworldly scenes. Working with MJZ’s footage of a battle scene populated with 50 extras in authentic military garb, Jeeps, a burnt-out half-track, derelict troop carriers, and a Sherman tank, MPC joined forces with the physical special effects experts at Full Scale Effects to help provide in-camera explosions and balloon lights to illuminate the vast canyon. MPC enhanced these elements in VFX as well as adding the parachute flare in CG.

They also collaborated to create the computer-generated dragon and a spectacular live-action fireball of dragon’s breath. Watkins worked closely with Sanders to recreate the backdrop with several imaginative twists, including a matte painting, a gnarled tree reaching toward the moon from a built-up hill, and a valley rippling with trees, scorched earth, and the skeletons of fallen combatants. The spot’s samurai warrior was shot onsite with a high-speed Phantom camera and lit by glimmering heatwaves to match the CGI dragon.

“One of our greatest challenges in this sequence was to have the dragon’s fireball interact with, but not touch, the warrior and his stallion,” said Mike Wynd MPC LA’s VFX Supervisor. “We solved this problem by digitally rearranging the scene to provide more distance between the two opponents with some of the live-action trees moved and foreground scrub added.”

To create the UFO scene, a small second-unit MJZ team shot the car traveling down a darkened country road. MPC then added the computer-generated spaceship and digitally added light to the ground, the car, its shadows, and the surrounding scenery. The studio also added additional atmosphere and jolted the power poles and cables with an alien-induced shake.

MJZ shot the plates of the back-seat observer with a green screen outside the windows and MPC composited the outside environments in afterward. MPC sealed the effort with interactive lighting in both the live-action and digitally enhanced segments.

Credits:

Client: DIRECTV
Spot: “Road Trip”
Air Date: May 2013

Agency: Grey New York
President/CCO: Tor Myhren
Executive Creative Director: Todd Tilford
Executive Creative Director: Perry Fair
SVP Creative Director/AD: Denise O’Bleness
Executive Producer: Andrew Chinich
Associate Producer: Lindsay Myers
VP Account Director: Tamar Arslanian
VP Account Director: Beth Culley

Production Company: MJZ
Director: Rupert Sanders
DOP: Greig Fraser
Producer: Laurie Boccaccio

Editorial Company: Work/Spotwelders
Editor: Neil Smith

VFX: MPC LA
Managing Director: Andrew Bell
VFX Supervisors: Franck Lambertz, Mike Wynd
VFX Team: Ben Persons, Brendan Smith, Sharon Marcussen, Brinton Jaecks, Ryan Knowles, Mike Wynd, Ross Denner, Daniel Marsh, Fred Durand, Ian Wilson, Danny Wynne, John Cherniack

Telecine Company: MPC LA
Colorist: Mark Gethin

About MPC:

MPC is a creative studio.

We craft spectacular visual experiences in any space, on any screen.

We have been one of the global leaders in VFX for over 25 years, with industry-leading facilities in London, Vancouver, Los Angeles, New York and Bangalore.

Renowned for adding visual wonder and creative expertise to the advertising, film and entertainment industries, some of our most famous projects include blockbuster movies such as the “Harry Potter” franchise, “Pirates of the Caribbean: On Stranger Tides,” “Prometheus” and “Life of Pi,” and famous advertising campaigns for brands such as Evian, Cadbury, Sony, Coca Cola and John Lewis.

Our broad range of skill-sets provide a multitude of creative solutions, including concept design, pre-viz, shoot supervision, 2D compositing, 3D/CG effects, animation, motion design, software development, digital and experiential production, colour grading for advertising and any combination of these services.

MPC is the sum of the parts: creative partners and a range of creative solutions harnessed through a dedication to collaboration. It all comes together in our enthusiastic and talented people, working every day to be a part of creating some of the best and most inspirational work in the industry.

MPC is a Technicolor company.

Visit MPC
View Media

New XenData archive server manages LTO tape libraries and delivers high performance by using SSDs for write and read caching

Walnut Creek, CA, May 21, 2013 – XenData, the leading provider of LTO archive solutions to the media and entertainment industry, today announces the launch of its new high performance SX-524 Archive Server for archiving video assets to high capacity LTO robotic tape libraries.

The SX-524 uses up to 2.4 TB of high endurance SSD for caching files that will be written to and restored from LTO. It includes two 10 GigE network ports and supports LTO libraries with capacities up to 25 PB, and provides high sustainable archive rates of up to 20 TB per day written to LTO-6 cartridges.

The SX-524 is the latest and fastest model in XenData’s SX-520 Series of archive servers. Each model is a 2U rack mount unit that manages one or more LTO data tape libraries, providing a NAS (network attached storage) architecture.

The SX-524 Archive Server runs XenData6 Server software, which provides a rich set of functionality including:

• Standard File/Folder Interface – The digital archive accepts all file types.

• Manages Near-line LTO & Offline LTO – The administrator defines policies that can be tailored for different file types and folders.

• Windows and Mac Client Compatibility – Windows and Mac OS X clients are natively supported without the need for loading any client software.

• Standard Network Protocols -The solution is optimized for CIFS/SMB and FTP file transfers.

• Self-Describing Data Tapes – LTO cartridges are written in either LTFS or TAR format and each cartridge contains all the file system metadata necessary to recover all the files stored on it.

• LTO Cartridge Replication – The software automatically generates replica LTO cartridges that may be exported from the library for off-site retention. Furthermore, the cartridges may be rapidly imported into a replica DR system.

• Partial Read of Large Files – XenData6 Server software supports partial reading of large files based on byte offset.

• Repack of LTO Cartridges – This copies only current files excluding deleted files and old versions of files, to new LTO cartridges. Benefits include recovery of capacity from rewritable cartridges and the ability to easily migrate to future generations of LTO.

• Transfer of Content between Systems – Export and import functions allow content to be easily transferred from one location to another.

The SX-524 archive server offers broad compatibility with third party products used within the media and entertainment industry including most media asset management systems.

“The new SX-524 Archive Servers are ideal for creating large archives built on industry standards. They offer a standard file-folder interface and write to LTO using either the LTFS interchange standard or open standard TAR,” said Mark Broadbent, XenData CTO. “The use of standards makes it easy to change vendors when you are ready to upgrade your archive and prevents being held hostage to a supplier that uses a proprietary approach.”

The SX-524 supports a wide range of enterprise LTO tape libraries, including from HP, IBM, Oracle/Storagetek, Overland Storage, Qualstar, Quantum and Spectra Logic.

The SX-524 Archive Server is available immediately.

About XenData
XenData is a leading provider of digital video archiving solutions tailored specifically to serve the media and entertainment industry – with typical customers being TV stations, global broadcasters, media service providers, video production and post-production organizations. XenData’s solutions range from cost-effective LTO workstation archives to multiple petabyte server systems. XenData archive servers have a network attached storage (NAS) architecture and are compatible with a broad range of third party media applications. They can be accessed via a standard file-folder structure or by using an API, providing the high-performance and functionality required to meet today and tomorrow’s demanding digital video applications. With over 500 digital video archive servers managing robotic LTO libraries installed in over 50 countries worldwide, XenData is trusted by some of the largest media companies. For more information visit: www.xendata.com.

###

For more information:
Jaime Tero/Angie Fife
onechocolate communications for XenData
T: 1.415.989.9803
E: xendata@onechocolatecomms.com

jumP plans on spreading the word farther than ever with the addition of west coast sales rep John Buckley to its LA team. Buckley, who also reps for Asche & Spencer and Believe, has worked with numerous editorial companies over the course of his nearly two decades in the business, including Cut+Run, Plum, Sandwick and CrewCuts. An all-around industry hand who understands the many sides of production, Buckley has collaborated in one fashion or another with a number of respected directors, including Mark Pellington, Michel Gondry, Francis Lawrence, Tony Kaye and Anouk Besson.

“John has the experience, the connections and the insight to help jumP grow,” states EP Betsy Beale. “With our talent focused on creating and John selling their work to his broad network, we feel very confident about our future.” jumP is represented in the East Coast and Midwest by TRUST’s Carson Hood.

about jumP:

Bicoastal jumP is an award-winning creative editorial boutique focusing on commercials, features, short films, music videos, and emerging media content. The firm works with a wide-range of top-tier brands, directors, and agencies continually delivering powerful and efficient results for each of its clients. The company roster includes Partner/Editors: Luis Moreno and Michael Saia, Editors: Lin Polito, Troy Mercury, Richard Mettler, Patrick Griffin, David Trachtenberg, Richard Cooperman, Wendy Rosen, Jonathan Edwards, EPs Betsy Beale and Alexandra Leal, and Partner/Managing Director Dee Tagert.

Visit jumP
View Media

Professional Game Parametric Texturing Tools Drastically Reduce Texture Size For Faster Download Times and More Customizable Assets

MARINA DEL REY, CA, USA – May 21, 2013 – Today Allegorithmic, creators of the gaming industry’s most popular texturing solution, announces a customized version of their Substance™ engine specifically designed for Xbox One, the all-in-one games and entertainment system from Microsoft, game development. With runtime generation of parametric textures at their command, game artists will now be able to work with even more creative flexibility on in-game assets. And due to Substance’s ability to reduce texture sizes by 95%, everyone – from players to developers – can now access their games faster and enjoy quicker downloads, all without losing AAA visuals.

Add in the speed of working with smart textures, and any artist can rapidly create multiple variations of assets on the spot. Besides providing a greater variety of character and object types for players – an unspoken rule for next-gen games – this process will also allow developers to insert customization technology into the gameplay. For instance, weapons, space cruisers, team uniforms and armor can all be tailored to a user’s personal preferences.

“Substance helps you create next-gen ready textures without sacrificing quality or productivity,” said Dr. Sébastien Deguy, founder and CEO of Allegorithmic. “You want millions, or billions of them? Same story, same small download size.”

Substance’s new compatibility with Xbox One extends the reach of a technology that is already integrated into 3D development tools like Autodesk 3ds Max and Maya, and industry-standard game engines like Unity 3D, Unreal Engine 3, and UDK. Noteworthy Substance proponents include: Microsoft Game Studios®, Electronic Arts, Activision, Ubisoft, Square-Enix, 2K Games and Namco-Bandai.

Availability

A trial Substance SDK for Xbox One is now available. Please contact Allegorithmic here for more information.

About Allegorithmic

Founded in 2003 and headquartered in Clermont-Ferrand, France, Allegorithmic is a leader in the 3D content production industries with clients including Autodesk, NVIDIA, Intel, Qualcomm, Electronic Arts, 2K Games, Microsoft Game Studios or Tencent. The company specializes in creating advanced texturing software and middleware tools that are designed to simplify the process of creating and distributing high-quality games for next-generation content developers. The company’s flagship product range is Substance. For more information on Allegorithmic and its products, please visit www.allegorithmic.com.

Who babysits the babysitter? In a new video promoting the American Red Cross’ Babysitting Basics online course, Tool Director Erich Joiner takes viewers through a tour of worst-case scenarios for childcare amateurs and parents alike.

Credits:

Client: American Red Cross
Spot Title: “The Babysitter You Don’t Want to Be”
Air Date: May 2013

Agency: BBDO, Atlanta
EVP, Management Director & Chief Marketing Officer: Rob Cherof
SVP, Executive Creative Director: Cabot Norton
Account Supervisor: Erica Schmidt
Senior Account Executive: David Welday
Broadcast Producer: Todd Johnson
Art Director: Christy Schneider
Senior Copywriter: Scott Biear
Broadcast Business Manager: Ashley Cummins

Production Company: Tool
Director: Erich Joiner
EPs: Brian Latt, Dustin Callif, Oliver Fuselier

Editorial: Beast Atlanta
Executive Producer: Molly Baroco
Editor: Kyle Kramb
Assistant Editor: Brandon Danowski

About Tool:

Bicoastal Tool is an award-winning production company, representing top live-action directors and interactive directors for advertising projects. From funny… visually engaging… and/or interactive, Tool’s diverse roster of unique talent creates unforgettable commercial and digital content across all platforms.

Visit Tool
View Media

Burbank, CA… Royer Labs, a leading manufacturer of high quality ribbon microphones, is pleased to announce the availability of the 15th Anniversary R-121 Limited Edition Ribbon Microphone. Drawing upon the strengths that have catapulted the company’s original R-121 Studio Ribbon Microphone into one of the most sought after ribbon microphones available, the 15th Anniversary R-121 Limited Edition Ribbon Microphone celebrates Royer Labs’ fifteen years as a leading manufacturer of ribbon microphones.

Royer Labs was founded in May 1998 and the R-121 Studio Ribbon Microphone was the company’s first product. Of particular note, the first one hundred or so R-121 microphones shipped with a black version of the Royer Labs logo before changing to the green logo that has been a fixture on all R-121’s since that time. The 15th Anniversary R-121 Limited Edition Ribbon Microphone celebrates its unique status in the company’s history by donning the original black logo. more…

EMERYVILLE, CALIF. – Advanced Systems Group (ASG), a leading West Coast video and film integration firm, today announced that Mark Lever has joined the company’s sales team. Based in Los Angeles, he has been managing sales and business development efforts in Southern California since last winter.

An active musician, Lever has spent more than 30 years in the AV equipment and integration market. He specializes in storage systems, archiving, asset management, broadcast application technologies for television and radio, and server-based DI products for the film industry.

“Mark is an excellent representative for ASG in Los Angeles,” said Dave Van Hoy, president, Advanced Systems Group. “Not only is he a great source of knowledge for our customers, but he also serves as a liaison with L.A.-based manufacturers. His efforts are improving our sales as well as our business relationships in the market.”

Contact Lever at (310) 422-6526 or via e-mail at ml@asgllc.com.

About ASG:

Advanced Systems Group LLC of Emeryville, Calif., with offices in the Bay Area and Southern California, has provided engineering, systems, integration, support and training to the broadcast, film, creative, and corporate video markets since 1997. With unmatched experience in Apple-based newsroom systems, shared storage, archiving, editing, finishing, and VFX systems, ASG has become one of largest installers of post production and shared storage systems on the West Coast. The ASG team is highly focused on customer success, and has installed and supported more than 185 SANs, production, and post production systems over the last six years. For more information, visit www.asgllc.com or call 510-654-8300.

High Resolution Systems is now shipping UDC Pro ECS-Raptor, a UDC Pro Embedded Control Server designed for permanent AV installs. Raptor will be showcased in High Resolution Systems’ booth at InfoComm13, June 8-14 at the Orange County Convention Center in Orlando booth # 4089.

Raptor teams up with the company’s popular UDC software to offer a cost-effective, stable hardware/software solution for long-term installations in a wide range of environments. A custom Linux embedded server, Raptor significantly lowers costs to users over full-blown Windows servers and comes with a free version of UDC software so customers can build their workflow configuration with UDC software, load it onto Raptor, test and run their UDC configuration.

“We expect most customers will pay for an upgrade to UDC Pro software, which allows them to send all their commands from UDC software to their Windows computer before loading onto Raptor,” notes Drew Taylor at HRS Control.

Raptor supports the same user interfaces as UDC software: iPad touch control with the HRS Control Pro iOS app available in Apple’s App Store; the HRS Control Pro app for any Windows tablet; in-wall mount touchscreen and button solutions; Android tablets; and web servers. Any device with a browser can act as a controller.

Raptor comes with an Ethernet connection to the device network plus two USB ports for accessories and button control panels. It occupies 1RU in height and one-half of a rack in width and ships with an optional rack shelf for space-saving rack mounting.

Raptor’s first installation saw one system dedicated to an executive briefing room, which needed extensive device control, and a second unit filling the needs of the rest of the facility. “Even with two Raptors, this was still a very cost-effective solution for the integrator,” Taylor reports.

About High Resolution Systems
High Resolution Systems, a member of the Society of Broadcast Engineers is a company with a strong systems engineering and applications background. Its founders have decades of experience in the audiovisual rental and staging industry, broadcast applications, A/V installations and system design. This combined experience allows them to provide the highest possible quality solutions to its customers in the most efficient manner. For more information, visit www.hrscontrol.com.

A Complete Media Prep and Delivery Application for Filmmakers; 

BulletProof Bridges the Gap Between the Camera and the Editor 

Portland, OR (May 21, 2013) – Red Giant today announced that BulletProof is now available as a free public beta and can be downloaded by visiting www.redgiant.com. BulletProof is a complete media prep and delivery solution for footage that simplifies the tedious tasks facing filmmakers every day on set. Bridging the gap between camera and editor, BulletProof combines all backup, organization, color and delivery tasks while handling footage from multiple cameras and media cards. Whether shooting with a Canon DSLR, Nikon DSLR or GoPro sports cam, filmmakers, videographers and data wranglers can now quickly and easily transform their capture into edit-ready footage.

During the public beta program, Red Giant will continue aggressive product development, adding features, new camera support and gathering customer feedback to further enhance the application.

To demonstrate the impact of BulletProof on a film set, award-winning director, Seth Worley released his newest short film, Spy Vs. Guy, as well as a behind-the-scenes video that highlights the BulletProof workflow. Spy Vs. Guy and the making-of films can be seen here: http://www.redgiant.com/news/featured/films/.

Philip Bloom, a world-renown director, DP and digital cinematographer, has been evaluating BulletProof as part of his workflow. “Post work is the biggest pain in my arse! I love to edit, it’s creative, but the rest I despise – the ingest, transcoding, syncing, logging. Nothing out of my work I loathe the most,” said Philip Bloom. “ If an application came along that could lessen the pain, I would be a happy man. Guess what, it has! BulletProof could well be exactly what I needed. After some initial use, the time it can save me is becoming clear. It’s also going to get better and better. In today’s modern times, time is money. And while I may have run out of time, Bulletproof can stop me from running out of money!”

“Since the release of the DSLR camera and the rise of file-based video capture, the need for a better media prep solution has become obvious – as our team has discovered from our own film projects. Tapping into what we’ve learned over the last decade of building tools for filmmakers, like Magic Bullet, we designed and built BulletProof, which we believe is the most affordable, complete solution that bridges the gap between the camera and the editor,” said Andrew Little, president and co-founder of Red Giant. “And the feedback since the announcement is telling; the feature set is really resonating with filmmaker needs. Moving forward, we are collecting customer feedback and aggressively adding the features, camera support and workflow capabilities they’re looking for to further enhance the product.”

The BulletProof Workflow

The BulletProof workflow is presented in a series of five views, arranged in a left-to-right flow that mirrors what filmmakers do on set every day.

• Import: Offloading clips from media cards and drives is quick and safe in Import. BulletProof doesn’t alter data while copying and backing up, so the integrity of your footage is always maintained.

• Organize: Set up shots before they reach the editing platform. In Organize, you can see thumbnails of the entire story, and check if the clips match the creative vision. Filmmakers organize their footage in a way that makes sense to them, using folders playlists, and metadata like keywords and star ratings.

• Review: Review gives filmmakers the power to check quality and story. Examine and scrub individual clips, and set In/Out points and markers as you narrow down the shots. Review mode ensures footage from different cameras will ultimately match. Filmmakers can set up a rough cut and get a feel for the edit—before sending it to the editor.

• Refine: Jumpstart the color grade with a first pass of color. Refine provides professional color tools like Colorista color wheels and LUTs that let you unify and fix colors on the spot to avoid reshoots later. All color and metadata are applied non-destructively, so original clips are always safe and untouched.

• Export: The Export view is designed for fast delivery of masters, proxies and dailies, without the usual tedium of transcoding. Options like Burn In, Frame Rate and Resolution make it simple to export in a single time-saving pass.

A list of camera and codec/format support for BulletProof v1.0 is available here www.redgiant.com. Additional camera support will be added as free updates for BulletProof customers, and will be announced as they are released.

Pricing and Availability

The final v1.0 of BulletProof will be available this summer and will be priced at $199.00 USD.

BulletProof v1.0 will be available for Mac OS first. A Windows version is in development and will follow the Mac OS release.

To download the free beta, or for more information on BulletProof please visit www.redgiant.com/bulletproof.

The Red Pledge

Red Pledge is Red Giant’s commitment to customer happiness, with no purchasing hassles. Learn about the Red Pledge guarantee at www.redgiantsoftware.com/redpledge/.

About Red Giant 

At Red Giant, we make tools, films, and training to enrich the community of filmmakers. Through making our own award-winning films, we create new tools to fill our needs. Then we make those tools available for everyone else. Red Giant develops tools that make the filmmaking process faster, more secure, more accurate and just more fun. We help filmmakers create the perfect look that matches their story. For more than 10 years, we have built software for motion design, photography, visual effects and color correction that is used for everything from major motion pictures to worldwide television programming to web production.  To learn more, and to join the Red Giant community, please visit us at www.redgiant.com. You can also join us on Facebook (RedGiantSoftware), follow us on Twitter (@RedGiantNews), watch our films (www.redgiant.com/films) and get free content at Redgiantpeople.com.