Archive for August 5th, 2008

The Pixel Farm, a leading developer of innovative Film and Television digital post-production tools, pushes matchmove technology on again, offering a new dimension in Tracking: PFTrack 5.0.

Just 12 months after the groundbreaking release of version 4.0, PFTrack 5.0 reasserts itself as the most advanced camera tracking and motion analysis solution available. Already considered an industry standard, PFTrack now reaches new heights of functionality, operability and ease of use, with exclusive new features including: true stereoscopic tracking with the ability to export anaglyphs, a totally new camera solver providing greater accuracy and improved Z calibration, reference frame support, more robust Z-Depth Extraction, pattern-based User Feature tracking and many UI and workflow improvements. more

COLLADA expands into new markets and widens adoption among leading content-creation software packages; Support for COLLADA 1.4 continues in parallel with COLLADA 1.5 development

5th August, 2008 – Beaverton, ORThe Khronos™ Group is pleased to announce that it has released the new COLLADA™ 1.5.0 specification, which includes significant new functionality to further broaden the applicability of this leading standard for 3D digital asset exchange. The expanded functionality includes B-reps (boundary representations) and kinematics for CAD, automation, and interactive entertainment applications, and georeferencing of geospatial assets for GIS and mapping software. Following the lead of early adopters like SOFTIMAGE®|XSI®, Google SketchUp, and NVIDIA FX Composer 2, many authoring packages have now added support for importing and exporting COLLADA assets, including Autodesk® 3ds Max® and Maya®, Crytek CryENGINE® 2, AMD RenderMonkey™, Adobe® Photoshop® CS3 Extended, Harris Inscriber® G7™, and virtual world applications including Vivaty and SceneCaster. Khronos has also released the COLLADA 1.4.1 2nd Edition specification and is planning a Conformance suite for COLLADA 1.4 for release in 2008. The new COLLADA specifications are publicly available at www.khronos.org/collada. more

New Particle Effects, Audio and Modeling Capabilities Increase Realism and Enhance Creative Projects

The first extension release for Autodesk 3ds Max 2009 and Autodesk 3ds Max Design 2009 software is now available to Autodesk Subscription customers. The Creativity Extension includes new particle effects capabilities, designed to help artists increase the realism of their work. The extension will also allow artists, designers, and visualization specialists incorporate audio and sound effects into their animated scenes, and quickly optimize highly detailed 3D models from digital sculpting applications, such as Autodesk Mudbox software. more

SANTA MONICA, CALIF.—Riot Santa Monica handled Digital Intermediate (DI) color grading and other final post services for The X-Files: I Want to Believe, the new film from Fox and Director Chris Carter. Tony Smith was DI Colorist on the project, reprising the role he fulfilled for The X-Files television series during its long run. more

HOLLYWOOD—Encore Hollywood’s Arnold Ramm recently performed final color correction for Rockin’ with da Goat, a new music video from L.L. Cool J. Directed by Antiparticle’s Taj, the video shows the veteran rapper and body building enthusiast sparring and lifting weights in an underground gym with the imagery rendered in a raw black & white that recalls the classic boxing film, Raging Bull. more

Hollywood, CA, Aug. 5, 2008 – Art Machine, a Trailer Park company and a multi-award winning design firm specializing in print campaigns for the entertainment industry, recently conceived and produced, for client A&E Network, a unique series of national bus shelter advertising pieces, along with a massive billboard on Hollywood’s Sunset Blvd. The advertising was used to promote the fourth season launch of A&E Network’s hit series “Criss Angel Mindfreak,� which now airs every Tuesday night at 10 PM. more

Cine-tal Systems (www.cine-tal.com), a leading manufacturer of image processing, display and collaboration solutions used in digital cinema and video production, has completed its acquisition of the cineSpace color management technology and product line from Rising Sun Research (RSR). more

Nashville, TN, August 5, 2008 — Avastor, a leading manufacturer of ultimate storage solutions for audio/video professionals, recently showed its support for the audio industry by donating its HDX800 and SDX1000 hard drives for a prize draw at the Audio Masters Golf Tournament, coordinated by the Nashville Chapter of AES. more

Providing network-level mobile production services for professional football, baseball, basketball, golf and hockey, as well as major sporting events such as the Super Bowl, demands mission-critical television coverage. This is why mobile production services provider Corplex recently purchased a selection of HD lenses from the Broadcast and Communications division of Canon U.S.A., Inc. Among the equipment purchased were two DIGISUPER100xs and five DIGISUPER 86xs long-zoom HD field lenses, all with Canon’s proprietary Optical Shift Image Stabilizer (“Shift-IS�) technology for rock-solid HD images, even at telephoto distances. Also chosen were several orders of two Canon HD portable lens models for EFP-style coverage on the playing field: the HJ11ex4.7B IRSE wide-angle zoom and the HJ22ex7.6B IRSE long-focal-length zoom. more

August 5, 2008 – Hong Kong: Digital Rapids has been chosen by China Central Television’s CCTV.com to provide encoding, streaming and management systems to power live streaming of the 2008 Olympic Games to Internet audiences in China. The announcement was made today by Digital Rapids and CCTV.com. more