Visual effects and rendering in the cloud was the topic of an ETC Cloud Innovation Conference panel at NAB 2016, moderated by Google Cloud Platform senior product manager Srikanth Belwadi. The scope of the issue was made clear by the fact that “The Good Dinosaur” required 110 million compute hours and 300 TB of active data space. Panelists from Thinkbox, Shotgun, Rodeo FX, Avere Systems, and ConductorIO discussed the challenges to producing VFX in the cloud — but also its inevitability.
Continue reading Cloud Conference: Challenges to Rendering VFX in the Cloud

At NAB 2016, Google president of global partnerships Daniel Alegre gave the closing keynote on how television is transforming. “If you search for the term ‘TV is dead’, you’ll find 338 million results,” said Alegre. The TV set and viewing of our childhood, he explained, is gone, as the TV evolves to incorporate a computer and the hours of video viewership continue to climb. “A newer better TV is rising from the ashes, better than ever,” said Alegre, who noted mobile video is predicted to be responsible for 80 percent of all Internet traffic by 2018. Continue reading Google’s Daniel Alegre on Perils and Promise of the New TV

At NAB 2016, RED Digital Cinema president Jarred Land gave the press an overview of progress the company has made with the 8K Vista Vision sensor for its Weapon Cinema camera. Land reports that “Guardians of the Galaxy 2” is shooting with sensors, which are not yet widely available. RED is also carving a new path of openness to third party manufacturers, including the announcement that its Weapon, Scarlet-W and RED Raven cameras can now shoot in Avid DNxHR and DNxHD recording formats via a free firmware update. Continue reading RED on 8K Production, Third Party Tools and Avid Integration

At NAB 2016, at the VR Pavilion in the North Hall, Assimilate introduced new tools for VR production, marking an ongoing maturation of the production workflow. The company’s big news was the introduction of user-friendly review and approval, which up until now has been a cumbersome and complex process. Also new from Assimilate for VR is real-time output to the Oculus Rift, support for mono and stereo footage, to output a secondary monitor in 360-degree mode, and some new VR grading tools. Continue reading Assimilate Introduces Client Approval Tool for VR Production

Sony DADC NMS (New Media Services) CTO and head of strategy Andy Shenkler keynoted ETC’s Cloud Innovation Conference at NAB 2016 in Las Vegas. Rather than talk pure technology about the cloud, Shenkler preferred a more unique angle: piracy. “The place I want to start is around competition in the OTT space specifically,” he said. “When we talk about OTT, the usual suspects are Hulu, Netflix, iTunes, Amazon, HBO GO, and so on. But we’re not really looking at the biggest competitor out there: piracy.” Continue reading Cloud Keynote: Sony Exec Recommends Learning from Piracy

At ETC’s Cloud Innovation Conference at NAB 2016, Variety editor David Cohen led a discussion with Avid chief executive/president Louis Hernandez Jr. “It’s been a remarkable journey,” Hernandez said. “With Avid Media Central, we wanted to connect people. We took our standalone applications and put them where they could be shared. Now you’re seeing a rapid expansion of the apps you can purchase: We have a record number of third party apps indexed on a common operating system. This is the direction that things are going.” Continue reading Avid Chief Talks Third Party Apps at ETC Cloud Conference

During the ETC Cloud Innovation Conference at NAB 2016, writer/director Abi Corbin discussed “The Suitcase,” a short film produced in the cloud, about a baggage handler who innocently steals a suitcase that contains terrorist plans. The film was a follow-up to “Luna,” a run-and-gun test on producing in the cloud. Daniel De La Rosa, director of film production technologies at Universal Pictures explained, “The goal was to test next-gen cloud-based workflows as well as the C4 framework which served as the glue.”
Continue reading ‘The Suitcase’: Unpacking Lessons in Cloud-Based Workflows

Deluxe began as a film laboratory in the early 1900s. The company has gone through numerous transitions, and today is focused not just on traditional post services, but on those rising to the surface, including virtual reality. Deluxe VR executive Malte Wagener says the company started paying serious attention to VR when Oculus started its Kickstarter campaign. In February 2015, the company first opened a VR unit with four employees. Last week, explained Wagener at NAB, Deluxe VR officially launched its full service offerings with a staff of 35 and growing.  Continue reading Deluxe Officially Opens Virtual Reality Creative Services Unit

At Sony’s NAB 2016 press conference, the company unveiled a new HDR monitor, portable memory recorder, and, most significantly, its new Ultra High Frame Rate 4K Sports and Live Entertainment camera. The new camera is a follow-up to the HDC-4300 4K live production and studio camera with HDR and high frame rate that was introduced at last year’s NAB and has since become a widely used solution for live sports and events. The new HDC-4800 is the “next leap” in Sony imagery, offering 4K recording at a whopping 480 fps. Continue reading Sony Introduces New 4K Camera for Live Sports Applications

Snell Advanced Media (SAM), which is the rebranded combination of Snell and Quantel, outlined solutions for its broadcast/cablecast customers to adopt IP networks, 4K, HDR, software virtualization, monitoring and news/sports solutions, as described by chief executive Tim Thorsteinson. 2016 is looking up, said Thorstseinson at NAB in Las Vegas, adding that, “2015 was the worst year in the market I’ve ever experienced in this industry.” The company is also a founding member of a consortium, AIMS, to standardize the implementation of IP networks. Continue reading Snell Advanced Media Stresses Interoperable IP Solutions, 4K

Autodesk and Google have partnered to offer Maya compute services on the Google Cloud Platform, which developed Google Cloud Platform ZYNC Render, an integrated cloud-based storage and rendering solution for the VFX industry. “We’ve been in discussions with Autodesk for quite some time,” said Google product manager Todd Prives. “It’s been a collaborative effort to bring Maya to Google.” With the ZYNC service for Autodesk Maya 2016 software, users will be able to render 3D scenes on the Google Cloud Platform. Continue reading Autodesk and Google Cloud Platform Bring Maya to the Cloud

When Ang Lee was asked about his opinion of VR, at the conclusion of a panel at the NAB Show focused on the technical aspects of making “Billy Lynn’s Long Halftime Walk,” he demurred that he was still very focused on making his way through the highly experimental process of creating a movie that combines 3D stereoscopy with 4K and 120 fps. The result, as seen in an 11-minute clip, is so immersive that some viewers compared it to VR. Lee didn’t dismiss VR, and believes it might eventually encompass theatrical experiences. Continue reading NAB: Immersive Films Present Possibilities, Face Challenges

Filmmaker Ang Lee gave a keynote talk at NAB 2016 with editor Tim Squyres and production system supervisor Ben Gervais about the path to creating his upcoming feature “Billy Lynn’s Long Halftime Walk,” which was shot in 3D, 4K, at 120 frames per second. An 11-minute clip from the film ran all afternoon, drawing long lines and buzz. No theater can currently show the movie the way it was shot, but Lee says his curiosity and passion for storytelling led him to explore these formats, which create a compelling immersive experience. Continue reading Ang Lee’s ‘Long Halftime Walk’ to 4K, 3D, 120 fps Filmmaking

At Avid’s third annual Avid Connect event, over 1,000 people gathered prior to the official opening of NAB 2016 to hear the company’s chief executive Louis Hernandez Jr. “We’re the most open, extensible company here,” claimed Hernandez. “We invite everyone to join the open movement. We can solve this connectivity problem once and for all.” Proof of this boast was the news that Avid and rival Adobe have collaborated to tightly integrate Adobe’s Premiere Pro editing toolset into Avid’s MediaCentral Platform. Continue reading Avid Debuts Integration with Adobe Premiere, NEXIS Storage

The first quarter of 2016 has brought some upbeat news to the movie industry, including the hits “Deadpool” and “Zootopia” which created a 12 percent uptick in box office compared to the same quarter last year. More long-term problems — stagnant attendance and the lure of Internet content — still threaten the bottom line. But what many exhibitors are really worried about is Screening Room, the brainchild of Napster co-founder Sean Parker, which offers first-run movies at home, at the same time they debut in theaters. Continue reading Many Exhibitors and Studios Remain Wary of Screening Room