Final Cut User

  Matthew Bennett(Matthew’s site) posted some amazing tests with a DVX and Andromeda kit to achieve 1000fps.Check the vid here. 1000fps Andromeda Hack.Matthew is a editor/motion graphics designer in Toronto who has been shooting tests with the DVX Andromeda mod ,  EX1 and RED One . The test looks super smooth and man makes you want to get working with some cameras like this. Some still shots and clips are also at  REDUSER that Matthew has posted.Original post on Reel stream forumsforum link, by the way  anybody know what happened to them. (reelstream)?    Edit: Seems Matthew had fun with AE and some slow acting so it is actually not a hack at all and was faked . Ah Matt is looks good anyway . You got me .Per Matt fourm post.

My first post was a fraud… that clip was faked with slow acting, AE’s timewarp filter, compositing and particles in AE. 

The idea popped into my head to post it with that story, and I couldn’t resist. 

The phantom hd camera has been my wet dream lately, so I thought I’d just try and do a simulation with the andro. I guess it sounded plausible, though, no? 

Anyway, to get a ‘1000fps’ faked effect, you can use these shots as a reference. Like say for the cereal shot, I shot myself with the open boxes, and moved very slowly, shooting at 23.98. I rendered that in sculptor, took it into AE 8.0, and applied the timewarp filter to slow it down to 25 percent. Timewarp draws new interpolation frames, to further smooth out my already slow-mo acting. Then, I used trapcode’s particular to create a stream of ‘cereal’ particles, and composited that into the shot, using masks and duplicate layers to hide the birthplace of the particular stream. Voila, simulated 1000fps. 

I have been waiting a few months for this to come out while keeping tabs on the development stages of this customizable playback software.Tweak Software is releasing RV, the company’s first commercially available software package, announced Seth Rosenthal, founder and president. RV is a highly customizable cross-platform image and sequence viewer that is capable of playing back uncompressed film resolution clips. Free downloadable trial versions of the software are available upon request at Tweaksoftware.com

RV is a real-time, film resolution, high-dynamic-range image and sequence viewer for Windows, Mac OS X and Linux. The application can play back uncompressed film resolution sequences, and includes native support for stereo 3D. RV combines a flexible architecture and a hardware accelerated compositing pipeline with a lean, polished design tailored to professional digital artists.

Key Features of RV:

• Real-time playback for desktop, dailies and projection
• Customizable, extensible architecture
• Real-time hardware color correction
• High dynamic range, floating point image pipeline
• Advanced color management with support for OpenExr style linear-light scene-referred workflow
• Native stereoscopic 3D support
• RVIO—a stand alone batch image-processing tool to convert, conform, slate, color correct and composite image sequences
• Comparison, tiling, compositing and playback of any number of sources
• Multi-channel audio with real-time floating point re-sampling
• Open source session file format (with Python/C++ tools)

RV is the first application to be commercially released from Tweak Software. It was developed by artists, for artists, to handle the company’s own high-end VFX projects. Founders Jim Hourihan and Seth Rosenthal spun off Tweak Software from Tweak Films in 2007. Tweak Films earned a VES Award for work on the memorable New York tidal wave sequence in The Day After Tomorrow and a Hong Kong Film award for VFX on Hero. The company established a reputation for tackling R&D intensive projects and has developed several proprietary VFX tools since it was founded in 2001.“High-end shops typically rely on home-grown playback tools that are hard to replace because they are deeply entwined in artist workflows,” explained Rosenthal.

“RV is very customizable and that makes it the first effective replacement for those proprietary viewers. But more importantly, if your work is all about images, you should have a great image viewer. Jim has a long history of creating refined tools for artists, and he designed RV from the ground up to be the kind of tool we wanted to use ourselves. RV has spread quite quickly in its pre-release form just through word of mouth, and based on feedback from our early adopters, we are taking the right approach.”RV is coming to market in a release version 3.4, having undergone multiple generations of development for internal use at Tweak Films. To date, RV has benefited Tweak’s projects as well as projects for a select group of major effects facilities, including WETA Digital, which adopted a pre-release version in 2006. RV is currently available directly through Tweak Software Tweaksoftware.com at the price of $299 per node locked license and $369 per floating license. 

 Media Temple which happens to be my hosting of choice for all my sites has gone and done something really cool and set up a beta(private) you can sign up for .(You have to have Mac Sever experience and 10.5 server knowledge). Since TUAW has the skinny on it no need to copy and paste so I will put the links up for Media Temple and Tuaw story. If you are looking at hosting your own server or just some services then check this out very cool things being done with Apple software and dev teams at Media Temple. Media Temple Beta Overview  TUAW Story 

I’ve been all over the place, going from feature to feature lately, but I have a pile of reviews on my desk that I’ll be filtering in over the next week or two.  

Including
The New LaCie 4x external Blu-ray Burner
Zacuto Z Riser
Redrock Micro X 
Redrock Support System 
Redrock Mattebox (in the near future)
MOTU V4HD (in the near future) 

AMD Pushes Mac® Based Visual Computing Beyond HDATI Radeon™ HD 3870 for Mac® & PC Edition offers amazing graphics processing for work and play

SUNNYVALE, Calif. — June 12, 2008 –AMD (NYSE: AMD) today announced the new ATI Radeon™ HD 3870 for Mac® & PC Edition, delivering the power to go beyond high-definition visual computing for work and play¹. Optimized exclusively for Apple Mac® Pro systems, the ATI Radeon HD 3870 Mac & PC edition can help drive productivity with built-in 256-bit 512MB GDDR4 frame buffer memory and 320 stream processors to deliver maximum performance for graphics-intensive applications such as 3D modeling, animation and games. Users also can expand visual workspace using twin dual-link DVI ports to connect two 30” Apple Cinema HD displays®.“AMD is introducing the ATI Radeon HD 3870 Mac & PC Edition to enhance the Mac experience to maximum levels of 3D gaming and HD performance,” said Matt Skynner, vice president of marketing, Graphics Products Group, AMD. “Mac users demand the best when it comes to HD graphics performance, and the ATI Radeon 3870 Mac & PC Edition is designed to meet and exceed that need by delivering The Ultimate Visual Experience™ to our customers’ displays.

”Delivers More Power for Professional ApplicationsSuperior performance and visual quality make the ATI Radeon HD 3870 Mac & PC Edition ideal for creative and professional applications on Apple Mac Pro systems, including Aperture™, Motion and Final Cut Studio®. Users can take advantage of the latest graphics features and drive productivity at an extraordinary price.

Advance to the Next Generation of HD GamingATI Radeon HD 3870 Mac & PC Edition takes HD gaming to a whole new level by delivering a superior immersive gaming environment while enhancing overall image quality. The Unified Shader Architecture provides the ultimate in realistic game play experience. With PCI Express® 2.0 support, users are now ready for games that demand blisteringly fast throughput. Ultimately, with ATI Radeon HD 3870 Mac & PC Edition, Mac users can enjoy a more complete next-generation gaming experience.

Experience Break-through Efficiency ATI Radeon HD 3800 Series graphics processors have break-through efficiency, with up to twice the processing performance-per-watt compared to previous generations of high-end AMD graphics processors². AMD also has added its patented ATI PowerPlay™ technology to the ATI Radeon HD 3800 series to provide increased control over the graphics processor in multiple power states. With PowerPlay technology, users benefit from dynamic adjustment of clocks and voltages depending on their usage scenario, which allows for a cool and quiet user experience.With a manufacturer’s suggested retail price (MSRP) of USD $219, the ATI Radeon HD 3870 Mac & PC Edition is scheduled to be available late June at leading Mac retailers world-wide.

About AMD Advanced Micro Devices (NYSE: AMD) is a leading global provider of innovative processing solutions in the computing, graphics and consumer electronics markets. AMD is dedicated to driving open innovation, choice and industry growth by delivering superior customer-centric solutions that empower consumers and businesses worldwide. For more information, visit http://www.amd.com.¹HD monitor required for full HD enjoyment²2x processing performance-per-watt results based on AMD internal testing comparing ATI Radeon™ HD 3870 to ATI Radeon™ HD 2900 XT

Advanced Micro Devices, Inc. AMD, the AMD Arrow logo, ATI . the ATI logo, PowerPlay, Radeon, The Ultimate Visual Experience, and combinations thereof, are trademarks of Advanced Micro Devices, Inc. Mac is a trademark of Apple Inc. Other names are for informational purposes only and may be trademarks of their respective owners. The inclusion of third party trademarks in this release does not imply an endorsement by the trademark owners.

I have been a ATI fan for a while with them being able to support more bit depths then Nvidia has in the past and just having more luck with Motion and Color liking the ATI support. Alot of people feel (and I am one of them ) that Apple always skims on the selections for serious graphics card choices for power users(games and post production/3d). With the new technology Apple is adopting from Nvidia it will hopefully get more interesting next year. Hey Apple and Nvidia I am still waiting for SDI cards available for Mac…. 

Apple has a new Xsan 2.1 update and as always the case make sure you are not in the middle of a production or serious work when updating especially in a San environment unless you absolutely need a fix brought by the update.  Kbase article on Xsan 2.1 update Download Link Xsan 2.1 

About Xsan Filesystem Update 2.1The 2.1 update is recommended for all systems running Xsan 2. This update includes general file system fixes, as well as specific fixes for:- metadata controller reliability- using and validating file system Access Control Lists- upgrading from Xsan 1.4

Important: Read before installing

• Xsan 2.0 and Mac OS X 10.5 or Mac OS X Server 10.5, or later, is required in order to install Xsan 2.1. Mac OS X 10.5.3 or Mac OS X Server 10.5.3 or later is recommended for this update.
• If you are setting up a new Xsan deployment, please see this article for the proper installation order.
• Be sure that all Metadata Controllers (MDCs) are updated before you make any configuration changes.
• Before installing, please review the Xsan 2 Migration Guide.
• During installation, do not change any Xsan settings, whether using Xsan Admin or a command-line tool.

So with WWDC going on this week and public NDA viewings of  10.6 beta Snow Leopard a few things have sparked my interest that directly relates to media creation and distribution on the Mac platform.(Sorry for the copy and paste tags it is very late…)

Since 2001, Mac OS X has delivered more than a thousand innovative new features. With Snow Leopard, the next major version of the world’s most advanced operating system, Mac OS X changes more than its spots, it changes focus. Taking a break from adding new features, Snow Leopard — scheduled to ship in about a year — builds on Leopard’s enormous innovations by delivering a new generation of core software technologies that will streamline Mac OS X, enhance its performance, and set new standards for quality. Snow Leopard dramatically reduces the footprint of Mac OS X, making it even more efficient for users, and giving them back valuable hard drive space for their music and photos.This looks like Apple is really concentrating on making the next OS update really solid as opposed to just throwing alot of bells and whistles on top of things that should have been fixed back in early 10.X days. 

64-bit-To accommodate the enormous amounts of memory being added to advanced hardware, Snow Leopard extends the 64-bit technology in Mac OS X to support breakthrough amounts of RAM — up to a theoretical 16TB, or 500 times more than what is possible today. More RAM makes applications run faster, because more of their data can be kept in the very fast physical RAM instead of on the much slower hard disk.Some of us thought we would see 64 bit across the board in 10.5 but alot of applications cannot even utilize this technology yet. Just think of FCP, Motion or Soundtrack Pro being able to really access gobs of RAM for added real time playback , imagine the amount of particle systems and replicators you could group.

Media and Internet-Using media technology pioneered in OS X iPhone, Snow Leopard introduces QuickTime X, a streamlined, next-generation platform that advances modern media and Internet standards. QuickTime X features optimized support for modern codecs and more efficient media playback, making it ideal for any application that needs to play media content.Because Snow Leopard delivers the fastest implementation of JavaScript to date, web applications are more responsive. Safari runs JavaScript up to 53 percent faster with Snow Leopard.So what is Quicktime X and what does this mean for editors,visual effects artist’s ,cinematographer’s and content creators alike ? Could this be the real Quicktime Pro we have been asking for ? I hope we don’t have the same issues that have plagued Quicktime in the past. (please no more Gamma issues in QT X)

Multicore-“Grand Central,” a new set of technologies built into Snow Leopard, brings unrivaled support for multicore systems to Mac OS X. More cores, not faster clock speeds, drive performance increases in today’s processors. Grand Central takes full advantage by making all of Mac OS X multicore aware and optimizing it for allocating tasks across multiple cores and processors. Grand Central also makes it much easier for developers to create programs that squeeze every last drop of power from multicore systems.Multicore support has been getting better alot of applications can now take near full advantage of the processors in alot of today’s machines . A 8 core Mac Pro today would have been a super computer just a few short years back in essence it is its own render farm or server(hence dual gig E ports )

OpenCL-Another powerful Snow Leopard technology, OpenCL (Open Compute Library), makes it possible for developers to efficiently tap the vast gigaflops of computing power currently locked up in the graphics processing unit (GPU). With GPUs approaching processing speeds of a trillion operations per second, they’re capable of considerably more than just drawing pictures. OpenCL takes that power and redirects it for general-purpose computing.

Open CL seems to be the Nvidia CUDA technology  which Apple has been testing since the SDK Mac version came out . This technology is based more off of parallel processing instead of the multi core processing currently used in 10.5 Leopard . All of these little tid bits Apple has made public are exciting to see as they develop and makes me wish I was at WWDC to check out the tech talks and demos. As time goes on and more info comes out this has me thinking alot of what the next version of FCP Studio may have in store and with all the new technology will we one day see a Shake predecessor that has been rumored for a while now ? Who knows but Apple does sure like to keep us on our toes.Here are some links to get you up to speed.

 Snow Leopard @ Apple

 Parallel Processing @ Wikipedia

 Cuda Zone @ Nvidia

Yay for stability …. which seems to be the base of 10.6 here is the press release and direct link.Looks like we may see the new cat at MacWorld 09 if everything is on time. Speeding up the OS and fixing bugs is great now if they would do the same thing to FCP Studio Apps we would have nothing to complain about ……

SAN FRANCISCO—June 9, 2008—Apple® today previewed Mac OS® X Snow Leopard, which builds on the incredible success of OS X Leopard and is the next major version of the world’s most advanced operating system. Rather than focusing primarily on new features, Snow Leopard will enhance the performance of OS X, set a new standard for quality and lay the foundation for future OS X innovation. Snow Leopard is optimized for multi-core processors, taps into the vast computing power of graphic processing units (GPUs), enables breakthrough amounts of RAM and features a new, modern media platform with QuickTime® X. Snow Leopard includes out-of-the-box support for Microsoft Exchange 2007 and is scheduled to ship in about a year.

“We have delivered more than a thousand new features to OS X in just seven years and Snow Leopard lays the foundation for thousands more,” said Bertrand Serlet, Apple’s senior vice president of Software Engineering. “In our continued effort to deliver the best user experience, we hit the pause button on new features to focus on perfecting the world’s most advanced operating system.”

Snow Leopard delivers unrivaled support for multi-core processors with a new technology code-named “Grand Central,” making it easy for developers to create programs that take full advantage of the power of multi-core Macs. Snow Leopard further extends support for modern hardware with Open Computing Language (OpenCL), which lets any application tap into the vast gigaflops of GPU computing power previously available only to graphics applications. OpenCL is based on the C programming language and has been proposed as an open standard. Furthering OS X’s lead in 64-bit technology, Snow Leopard raises the software limit on system memory up to a theoretical 16TB of RAM.

Using media technology pioneered in OS X iPhone™, Snow Leopard introduces QuickTime X, which optimizes support for modern audio and video formats resulting in extremely efficient media playback. Snow Leopard also includes Safari® with the fastest implementation of JavaScript ever, increasing performance by 53 percent, making Web 2.0 applications feel more responsive.*

For the first time, OS X includes native support for Microsoft Exchange 2007 in OS X applications Mail, iCal® and Address Book, making it even easier to integrate Macs into organizations of any size.

*Performance will vary based on system configuration, network connection and other factors. Benchmark based on the SunSpider JavaScript Performance test on an iMac® 2.8 GHz Intel Core 2 Duo system running Mac OS X Snow Leopard, with 2GB of RAM.  Press Release

Quick note Adobe has added more to their great beta offerings this time with Soundbooth,Dreamweaver and Fireworks. I am a big Soundtrack Pro guy but my buddy Dennis Radeke has been getting me to check out Soundbooth more and I do like some of the feature set in it.Some of the new Soundbooth in the CS4 beta

“The Soundbooth beta showcases a host of new features for creative professionals to complete their audio production tasks more efficiently, including the new multiple track support which allows users to edit multiple audio clips on a number of tracks, and the new ability for users to match volume levels across audio files. Also included is the capability to preview MP3 compression settings before saving them and a new speech recognition technology that lets users create transcripts of dialogue tracks quickly and search them for words and phrases within a timeline.”

Looks good and man just think if Apple had a open beta like this how much better user information they would get.It is good to see Adobe so hungry on the development side of things it will only advance the application offerings and stability of the applications when they actually do launch.Here are some the links. 

 Adobe Press Relase on beta’s. Adobe Labs Download

Dennis Radeke’s Adobe blog    John Nack’s Adobe blog.

There are a bunch of companies out there making some wonky things as far as storage for media goes but I came across a site that has some interesting stuff. Geekstuff4u.com does have its share of nick-knack usb trinkets and other toys but this device which allows you to basically roll your own SSD mini RAID in a RAID 0 or 5 has some interesting possibilities. DIY SSD SATA RAID lets you take CF cards and RAID them together to make a fast little CF RAID system . One thing is ya sound great about time we can if only we could do this and make our own P2 or SxS cheaper I am all for it. Alas the companies that be have there schemes of how they RAID there cards on hardware and software side of things so its not that simple. Pictured below it shows the device working with off the shelf CF cards from SanDisk but claims it will work with any CF card and transfer speeds vary. I wish there were a little more information on how the RAID is configured with this device and what control you have over the RAID scheme but this does give me some ideas  (to bad it seems only SATA 1.0 interface right now) .