ARRI announced today that it has entered into a Letter of Intent to develop and sell an innovative new Texture Control software tool for digital intermediate (DI) and mastering facilities. Powered by Pixel Strings™, a high performance GPU-based motion estimation engine developed by Cinnafilm, Inc., this dynamic toolset adds interactive control of grain and noise levels to the creative palette. The software is designed to run on a dedicated workstation with Fibre Channel or Gbit Ethernet connections to a DI facility’s Storage Area Network (SAN), dramatically extending the capabilities of the DI suite.
This innovative software product, brings interactive manipulation of image texture to the DI process, with remarkable motion-compensated grain and noise reduction technology. With the tool, the cinematographer can now control image texture, mixing and matching the grain of film and digital media in an integrated and fully visualized DI environment
It leverages Cinnafilm’s patent pending Pixel Strings™ technology with a high speed GPU implementation. For an industry heavyweight like ARRI, Cinnafilm is a groundbreaking pioneer merging the latest technology with artistic applications for the filmmaker. ARRI is working with Cinnafilm on a software development and licensing agreement.
“ARRI is excited about the opportunity to bring these powerful, interactive tools to the DI suite,” said Glenn Kennel, Chief Technology Officer for ARRI, Inc. “This adds a new dimension to the colorist’s toolset.”
“As an entrepreneur, I am excited to introduce this product after nearly six years of very hard work. As an engineer and independent filmmaker, I couldn’t dream of a better, more established partner than ARRI to bring this technology into the postproduction market,” said Lance Maurer, CEO and founder of Cinnafilm, Inc.
This technology was originally developed by Cinnafilm and Digital Film Central, a leading Digital Intermediate facility in Vancouver, CA. As a film mastering facility, DFC had developed a host of image processing applications over the years. This led to the development of powerful ways to remove grain from film images, while retaining detail. Their initial success with the service led to the opportunity to create a product, and Cinnafilm provided the software development on the GPU-enabled Pixel Strings platform.
“We needed a major industry player to help us take this to market. Since it’s about image quality, ARRI was the perfect partner,” says Curtis Staples, CEO of Digital Film Central.
About Cinnafilm Inc.:
Cinnafilm Inc. is an Albuquerque, New Mexico-based engineering firm dedicated to the development of powerful, reliable and intuitive film and video production tools for creative professionals in the film, broadcast, and postproduction markets. The company’s patent-pending, GPU-based Pixel Strings™ format conversion engine is the result of over five years of dedicated research into parallel processing methods to enhance complex, real-time video processing techniques.
Additional information on Cinnafilm can be found at www.cinnafilm.com/. For press inquiries, please contact Vicky Gray-Clark, Ambient PR, 408-318-1980, vicky@ambientpr.com.
About Digital Film Central:
Digital Film Central is one of Canada’s leading digital intermediate and film mastering facilities. Its Detail-Specific Grain-Reduction (DSGR) service has been acclaimed by film industry professionals as the finest image optimization process in the world. Digital Film Central is a privately-held company headquartered in Vancouver, British Columbia.
Additional information on Digital Film Central can be found at www.digitalfilmcentral.com.
About ARRI:
Located in Munich, Germany, Arnold and Richter Cine Technik (A&R) was founded in 1917 and is the largest manufacturer of professional motion picture equipment in the world. In 2001, ARRI was restructured and converted into a closely held corporation. The company is involved in all aspects of the film industry: engineering, design, manufacturing, production, visual effects, post-production, equipment rental and laboratory services (film and sound). Manufactured products and technologies include professional high definition video with the ARRIFLEX D-21, in addition to camera systems for 16mm, 35mm, 65mm film, location and studio lighting fixtures, digital imaging systems like the ARRISCAN, ARRILASER and ARRICUBE. These products and services are offered through a network of subsidiary companies, agents and representatives worldwide.
For locations and more information, visit: www.arri.com
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