SCRATCH 3D Workflow Helps "Les Krostons" Become Masters of the Universe Les Krostons" want to take over the world and their impish intentions were recently revealed in a five-minute VFX-laden 3D stereo teaser, directed by Frederick Du Chau through Le Studio d'Imagination, and screened at the 2010 Cannes Film Festival. Duran Duboi in Paris harnessed the powers of ASSIMILATE's SCRATCH(r) Digital Finishing Solution in a streamlined file-based 3D stereo workflow, from set to post production, to DCP deliverables. ...Read More »

Digital Cinema and Data Workflows in China: An Interview with Wu Chiao, Director and Cinematographer Well known director and cinematographer Wu Chiao is at the forefront of digital cinema in China. He has been immersed in the filmmaking process since his first day as a student of cinematography at the Beijing Film Academy. He has been the director and/or cinematographer (DP) of numerous films, setting a standard of excellence within China. George Lucas` "Star Wars II" -- the first motion picture to be shot using an HD camera -- planted the seed with Wu Chiao that quality movies... ...Read More »

Digital Magic Hong Kong Sets Up SCRATCH 3D and RED Workflows from ASSIMILATE Digital Magic Hong Kong, a leader in state-of-the-art post-production in Asia, has now established an ASSIMILATE SCRATCH digital intermediate (DI) workflow to specifically handle the conform, color grading, and finishing of RED digital camera?s native R3D files, as well as 3D features shot with RED Digital Cinema?s cameras. Because SCRATCH is resolution independent, it will also be used as a component of their 3D pipeline... ...Read More »

ASSIMILATE Expands Reach in Asia; Launches ASSIMILATE China With the rapid rise of 2D and 3D digital cinematography in China, ASSIMILATE announced today the expansion of its global sales and support organizations with the launch of ASSIMILATE China, and the opening of a main office in Beijing, China, effective immediately. ASSIMILATE Inc, with headquarters in Santa Clara, CA, has sales, service and technology teams located around the world. ...Read More »

RED/SCRATCH Workflow Puts Hong Place Vision at Forefront of Digital Cinema in China Riding high on the wave of digital cinema, Hong Place Vision is the biggest rental company of RED Digital Cinema cameras in Beijing, and has built a post-production studio to meet the demand for the rapidly rising number of digital film and TV productions in China. At the hub of their data workflow and DI tool suite is ASSIMILATE's SCRATCH® Digital Finishing Solution. ...Read More »

ASSIMILATE to Feature SCRATCH v5.2 Digital Post Workflows for Finishing 3D, RED, ARRI Alexa, and Other Formats at IBC 2010 SCRATCH v5.2 demos will include state-of-the-art tools for color grading, finishing, compositing, and 3D-specific features, such as convergence, scaling, and versioning. Other 3D demos will include ASSIMILATE's exclusive offering -- 3ality 3Play Pro S -- a professional quality stereo monitoring system, and developed in partnership with Telairity, the first 3D Post Remote-Review Network for simultaneous, real-time review by post houses and clients, anywhere in the world. ...Read More »

Colorista II By Kevin McAuliffe When it comes to a program like After Effects, competing with Color Finesse 3 (that comes with AE CS5) can be tricky, but if there is one company out there determined to do it, it's Red Giant Software and their flagship color correction application Colorista. ...Read More »

Avid's Media Composer 5 Part 3 - Matrox's MXO2 mini By Kevin McAuliffe When AVID stated that they supported the MXO2 mini to monitor external video, I was pretty surprised, as this is a big change of direction for AVID as they normally only support their own hardware for video monitoring. I wanted to give the MXO2 mini a fair shake, as for the $449 price tag I really wanted (and hoped) it to work for the user bases sake. Let's see how it fared. ...Read More »

ASSIMILATE Helps Divizion Create a Film Factory in Poland In less than a year since opening, Divizion has completed the DI on seven features, including "Cookie" (Ciacho), one of Poland's biggest-budget productions, directed by Patryk Vega. Next up is the big-budget, 3D stereo horror-flick "Charnobyl 2012", from the same director. Providing in-house production resources; a clutch of RED ONE(tm) cameras, with RED Epic Stage 2 plus CG coming soon; editing; and ASSIMILATE's SCRATCH(r) Digital Finishing Solution for the VFX and digital intermediates (DI). ...Read More »

Media Composer 5 Feature Showcase By Kevin McAuliffe We AVid users have had a BIG problem, and that was working with footage that was not OMF or (now) MXF. Any footage that wasn't captured via the digitize tool needed to be imported and converted to either OMF or MXF, and in many cases, the process was excruciatingly long if files weren't rendered with the Avid Codec. Thankfully, with Media Composer 5, that is no longer the case. ...Read More »