*** Digital Content Creation
MetaCreations ships Painter Classic
(March 4)
MetaCreations Corp. announced that Painter Classic, the newest
addition to the Painter family, is now shipping.
An extensive brush library gives users the ability to utilize a
variety of brush strokes for a custom look. Seamless tiling of
images and "image wrap" for Web page creation makes Painter
Classic a choice for developing images that can be repeated
perfectly over an entire Web page. A special library of choices
has been developed to make drawing and painting with a mouse
more flexible than ever before.
Painter Classic is available now the ESP of $99. MetaCreations
will offer an upgrade path from Painter Classic to Painter 5
for $199 for artists desiring more advanced features such as
multiple floating layers, dynamic plug-in floaters and
sophisticated color management. For more information about
Painter Classic, customers
may call toll free 800/846-0111.
www.metacreations.com
Avid Technology to Market CLARiiON Fibre Channel Disk Arrays
(March 9)
CLARiiON announced that it has signed a strategic OEM agreement
with Avid Technology. Under terms of the agreement, Avid
Technology will incorporate CLARiiON FC5000 fibre channel disk
arrays into its high-performance MediaShare F/C workgroup
storage solution.
The MediaShare F/C product line is the next generation of
Avid's MediaShare. Like its predecessor, MediaShare F/C allows
users to create and reconfigure local workgroup environment's
shared storage resources. The result is cost-effective
utilization of storage and increased user productivity. With
MediaShare F/C, multiple Avid editors can collaborate on
projects from separate workstations and work on separate parts
of the same project, concurrently, without switching
workstations or physically moving media. Any editor can
simultaneously access digitized material, including the highest
AVRs (Avid Video Resolutions).
The FC5000 Disk Array is the building block in the CLARiiON
FC5000 Series disk array family. It uses CLARiiON
Multidimensional Storage Architecture (MSA) to implement
application-configured storage pools that can be scaled
independently in five ways -- capacity, I/O performance, data
throughput, connectivity, and data availability. The FC5000 DAE
is fully upgradeable from JBOD (Just a Bunch Of Disks) to
highly available RAID subsystems and can be configured with
RAID protection using host-based software RAID, host-based
hardware RAID, or as a capacity expansion unit for the CLARiiON
FC5500 disk array featuring CLARiiON TriWay Storage Processors.
www.avid.com
www.clariion.com
www.dg.com
Avid Xpress Version 2.0 Digital Video System Now Shipping
(February 27)
Avid Technology, Inc. is now shipping its Avid Xpress Version
2.0 digital video system for the Macintosh platform. The Avid
Xpress system, formerly MCXpress for Macintosh, is designed for
independent video and multimedia producers as well as business
and education users who communicate with video. The new release
includes enhancements to graphics and titling, audio, effects,
overall editing and interoperation with third-party products.
Avid Xpress Version 2.0 is available in four new configurations
with prices beginning at $9,995.
Avid Xpress 2.0 features a real-time uncompressed titles and
graphics capability, real-time 2D keyframed titles and
graphics, rolling and crawling titles and real-time mix and
monitor of up to eight audio tracks. This release also includes
support for the Digidesign Audio Suite plug-in format, support
for 48kHz audio and the JL Cooper Fademaster external mixer. A
new plug-in format, AVX (Avid Visual eXtension) allows third-
party software developers to write effects for the Avid Xpress
system while support for Avid's Image Independence file
exchange enables users to import and export more than 20
standard graphics formats.
Avid Xpress Version 2.0 includes, on particular configurations,
standard features that were formerly available only at
additional cost. This change effectively lowers the cost of the
system.
Avid Xpress Version 2.0 is currently shipping and can be
ordered through Avid's reseller network. There are four new
configurations. MSRP is as follows: Avid Xpress is $9,995; Avid
Xpress with the Plus Bundle (adds built-in compositing,
numerous fast-rendered effects, fast-rendered titling, real-
time audio level adjustments) is $14,995; Avid Xpress with the
Deluxe Bundle (adds 8-track real-time audio mixing, numerous
real-time effects, uncompressed motion graphics and titling,
real-time transitions and color effects) is $22,495 and Avid
Xpress with the Elite Bundle (adds real-time picture-in-
picture, real-time 3D DVEs and unlimited keyframes) is $34,995.
www.avid.com
Avid Ships Version 7.0 For Media Composer And Film Composer
Systems and Introduces New Model
(February 27)
Avid Technology Inc. is now shipping Version 7.0 of its Media
Composer and Film Composer digital nonlinear editing/finishing
systems. Version 7.0 introduces Intraframe. Editing, into the
Media Composer line. Additionally, this release expands the
Media Composer product line in three major dimensions: effects,
CG and audio, and opens up the inner workings of the Media
Composer system with plug-in architectures for both picture and
sound. Avid also introduced a new model with the release of
Version 7.0, the Media Composer 9000, which combines vertical,
horizontal and Intraframe editing.
Version 7.0 merges technologies from Avid's effects and audio
development groups into the Media Composer application,
providing a range of new effects and audio features which
provide additional online finishing capabilities for television
post-production users. The new release also includes
significant enhancements to overall
ease-of-use.
Highlights include:
- New Effects Capabilities - Media Composer and Film Composer
systems offer a new Intraframe Editing option which provides
access to many of the creative and corrective finishing tools
editors require in an online session. Editors can use the new
paint and animatte tools as creative tools, with such features
as controlled blurs, traveling mosaics, spot color correction,
rotoscoping and image cloning. Intraframe Editing is useful for
film and offline editors by providing tools for effects
previsualization. Other new effects capabilities include real-
time uncompressed down-stream keying for titles and graphics,
enhanced color correction, real-time rolling/crawling titles
and real-time 3D effects.
- New Audio Features - Version 7.0 now supports the Digidesign
Audio Suite plug-in format, allowing users to work with
compatible Digidesign Audio Suite plug-ins within Media
Composer and Film Composer systems. Access to a wide range of
audio plug-ins increases the system's flexibility by enabling
users to stay within the Avid application to handle audio
through popular plug-ins. Media Composer and Film Composer
systems also include a new 8:8:8 audio interface, offering
digital input/output of eight channels balanced audio, or four
stereo pairs (AES/EBU). Other audio features include support
for digital mixers, real-time audio EQ with dynamic adjustment
and EQ templates.
- New Ease-of-Use Features - Version 7.0 brings new project
management/organization enhancements to Media Composer and Film
Composer systems. Among those are the ability to digitize from
the first frame of good timecode, a scrolling timeline, the
ability to digitize directly to the timeline at 30 fps and to
digitize greater than 2 GB file sizes. Avid has also introduced
a new effects window for easier implementation of detailed
finishing effects.
Version 7.0 also brings to film editors support for 35mm three-
perforation film format for film-based multicamera projects, an
enhanced cutlist and a new effects grid for effects alignment
which allows for precise in-the-frame translation based on
optical house standards.
Version 7.0 includes a new AVX (Avid Visual eXtension) plug-in
format and support for a wider range of file formats. The AVX
format allows third-party software developers to write effects
for Media Composer and Film Composer systems, offering full
access to Avid's multiple video tracks and nesting capabilities
for the tightest possible integration. AVX plug-ins have been
developed by Artel Software (Boris Effects), Ultimatte
Corporation (Ultimatte for Macintosh), and Integrated Computing
Engines (ICEfx). Avid's own Transjammer AVX is planned for
availability in early March. Additionally, Version 7.0 includes
support for a graphics standard which allows users to import
and export over 20 standard file formats including SGI, Windows
and Macintosh standards.
The new Media Composer 9000 system is the flagship of the Media
Composer product line. This system includes all Media Composer
8000 features as well as Intraframe Editing and 8:8:8 audio,
and includes all features from Version 6.5, such as Realtime
Multicamera Play, AVR 77, offline resolutions, true 24 fps film
editing with integrated cutlist generation, AvidNet peer-to-
peer networking, standard customizable real-time 3D effects and
a script-based editing interface.
With the release of Version 7.0, the Media Composer product
line now includes the following models: Media Composer Offline,
Media Station, Media Composer 1000, Media Composer 9000 and
Film Composer. While Avid's Media Composer 4000 and Media
Composer 8000 models will no longer be offered as new systems,
existing PCI-based models of these systems will be able to run
the new Media Composer 7.0 application with many of the
features and functionality introduced with the new release. The
Media Composer Version 7.0 product line is available directly
from Avid and through Avid's worldwide reseller network.
USMSRP pricing for the Media Composer 1000 model begins at
$56,300, and for the Media Composer 9000 model is $110,000.
From now through June 15, 1998, Media Composer 8000 owners can
upgrade to the Media Composer 9000 for $5,995, which includes
8:8:8 audio and Intraframe editing. A prerequesite for this
upgrade special is the Version 7.0 software upgrade. After that
date, the upgrade cost will increase to $7,500. Pricing for the
Media Composer Version 7.0 software ranges from $2,000 for
Media Composer Offline to $4,995 for
Media Composer 8000.
www.avid.com
Discreet Logic Announces Sale of FROST to Channel Seven
Melbourne
(March 19)
Discreet Logic Inc. announced that Channel Seven in Melbourne,
Australia, has become the first broadcaster in the Australian
and Asian region to install Discreet Logic FROST, a real-time
3-D broadcast graphics system.
Channel Seven Melbourne joins other FROST users such as the
U.S.-based CBS and ABC, SAT.1 in Germany and TV Azteca in
Mexico. CBS used FROST as the mainstay of its 1996 presidential
elections coverage, and SAT.1 uses FROST with the Virtual
Studio upgrade for two newscasts every day. All the above use
FROST in mainstream news and sports production.
www.discreet.com
Post Digital launches Roto line of products
(March 16)
Post Digital also launched its flagship Roto product line
including Roto at a suggested retail price of $995, Roto LE, an
OEM version that will be bundled with video-related hardware,
and Roto Player, a stand-alone real-time player available for
free electronic download from the Post Digital Web site.
www.postdigital.com
Discreet Logic INFERNO used Extensively Titanic
(February 25)
Discreet Logic Inc. announced that INFERNO, the company's
pinnacle visual-effects system, was used extensively on many of
the approximately 550 digital-effects shots used in the making
of James Cameron's “Titanic”.
Digital Domain, the Venice, Calif.-based digital studio, with
10 INFERNO and 20 FLINT systems, found the making of
“Titanic” to be a challenge unlike anything before encountered.
www.discreet.com
Non-Linear Frame Accurate MPEG-2 Editing Software and MCM Cut
Machine from VITEC
(March 18)
VITEC MULTIMEDIA Inc. has introduced non-linear frame accurate
MPEG-2 editing software and the MCM Cut Machine v 2.
MPEG-2 editing software is the software solution for cut and
paste editing or pre-editing of video clips and to clean up the
end points of existing clips without re-encoding. Applications
include: DVD, websites, MPEG-1 and the larger MPEG-2 files.
Also introduced is the MCM (MPEG-Cut Machine v 2) an all-in-one
package, perfect for corporate and educational interactive
Video CD 2.0 multimedia presentations. MCM has a complete set
of tools to record MPEG-1 and AVI digital video in real-time.
The MPEG-Cut Machine represents a single-board integrated
solution, combining MPEG real-time encoding, frame accurate
editing and authoring software for producing Video CD 2.0 and
CD-ROM directly from video tape or laser disc. The MPEG-Cut
Machine is priced at $1,295.
www.vitecmm.com
Wave Issue 9809 4/19/98 Article 3-01