SMPTE issues calls for Student Papers, Louis F. Wolf Memorial Scholarship applications
WHITE PLAINS, N.Y.–The Society of Motion Picture and Television Engineers (SMPTE) has announced a call for papers for a special student issue of the SMPTE Motion Imaging Journal, as well as for the SMPTE Student Paper Award. SMPTE is also accepting applications for the Louis F. Wolf Memorial Scholarship.

“Education is one of SMPTE’s three pillars, and there is no better way to demonstrate our commitment to education than by recognizing and supporting students, who are the future leaders of our industry and our future members,” said Pat Griffis, education vice president at SMPTE. “We look forward to reading the submissions every year because they highlight the insight and vision of up-and-coming innovators in the field, which gives us all an indication of where the industry is headed.”

SMPTE’s Student Paper Award honors an outstanding paper prepared and submitted by a SMPTE Student Member that deals with some technical phase of motion pictures, television, photographic instrumentation, or their closely allied arts and sciences. The paper receiving the Student Paper Award will be published in the SMPTE Motion Imaging Journal, providing recognition both for the author and the institution at which the work was done. The application form and requirements are online at www.smpte.org/student-paper-award. The deadline is July 15.

The Louis F. Wolf Memorial Scholarship is open to SMPTE Student Members who are full-time students enrolled in an accredited high school or two- or four-year college or university. The scholarship offers as much as $2,000 toward the cost of tuition at the student’s educational institution. The application form and requirements are online at www.smpte.org/scholarships. As with the Student Paper Award, the application deadline is July 15.

The award winner and the scholarship recipient will each receive a full conference registration to the SMPTE 2014 Technical Conference & Exhibition, Oct. 20-23 in Hollywood, Calif., where they will be recognized during the SMPTE 2014 Honors and Awards Ceremony.

MAXON partners with Side Effects to develop CINEMA 4D Plug-in for Houdini Engine
FRIEDRICHSDORF, Germany–MAXON, a developer of professional 3D software solutions for modeling, painting, animation and rendering, announced its intention to partner with Side Effects Software, a leader in 3D animation and visual effects software, to develop a plug-in which gives CINEMA 4D users access to the Houdini Engine. The Houdini Engine was introduced in 2013 on SideFX Labs and is designed to allow Houdini’s procedural technology to work inside other digital content creation applications. This bridge between the two applications offers CINEMA 4D artists direct access to Houdini Digital Assets with an integrated procedural workflow that does not require baked-out data.

“Creating a bridge to Houdini Digital Assets for CINEMA 4D artists underscores MAXON’s commitment to provide our customers with an efficient pipeline to other digital content creation tools,” said Harald Egel, co-founder and CEO, MAXON Computer GmbH. “Integrating Houdini’s procedural workflow and VFX tools inside CINEMA 4D will offer our users a streamlined experience to collaborate with Houdini artists and create inspiring content.”

The CINEMA 4D plug-in for the Houdini Engine is slated for release before the end of the 2014.

Grass Valley collaborates with Canon on EDIUS Pro 7 promotion
MONTREAL–To celebrate the 10-year anniversary of its EDIUS multiformat nonlinear editing software, Grass Valley, a Belden Brand, announced a cross promotion with Canon. For a limited period, anyone who purchases a Canon EOS C100 digital video camera can download the latest version of Grass Valley’s EDIUS Pro 7 editing software for free.

This promotion coincides with Canon’s upgrade of its EOS C100 camera with a new function called continuous recording, which is supported by EDIUS Pro 7. This feature provides access to the in/out marker information placed by the camera and is available as a firmware update on the Canon website.

EDIUS Pro 7 is a proven solution for editors working on fast-turn production in broadcast news, news magazine and studio program content, as well as professional video editors working on organizational, documentary and 4K theatrical productions. Features include: Support for super-intensive media operations, such as multilayer 4K and 3D editing; open to third-party input and output hardware from Blackmagic Design and Matrox; and Multiformat support, automatic program update checking, updated MPEG and H.264/AVC performance, and faster handling of large quantities of still image files

Users who purchase a Canon EOS C100 camera in a sales promotion area between April 1 and December 31, 2014 (and between April 1 and August 31 in the US, Canada & Mexico) are eligible for a full, free copy of EDIUS Pro 7 nonlinear editing software.

Google challenges nonprofits on ideas to use Glass
By Brett Zongker
WASHINGTON (AP) — Google has a challenge for U.S. nonprofits.

On Tuesday, the tech giant is asking nonprofit groups to propose ideas for how to use the Web-connected eyewear Google Glass in their work. Five charities that propose the best ideas by May 20 will get a free pair of the glasses, a trip to Google for training and a $25,000 grant to help make their project a reality.

Already, Google has been testing Glass with nonprofits in their field work.

Conservationists at the Washington-based World Wildlife Fund have been using Google Glass for hands-free field research. In Nepal, a research officer has been using Google Glass to track, photograph and monitor rhinos to help protect them from poaching in areas that are inaccessible by vehicles.

RTI, Ivory Coast, takes delivery of new PlayBox Technology CIAB Broadcast System
ABIDJAN, Ivory Coast–Radiodiffusion-Télévision ivoirienne (RTI), state broadcaster for the Ivory Coast, has taken delivery of a new CG titling and television playout solution from PlayBox Technology, a manufacturer of television channel-in-a-box systems. This was installed by Brussels-based systems integrator Periactes Broadcast Solutions at RTI’s production and transmission centre in Abidjan.

“We have been using PlayBox Technology equipment very successfully for many years,” says Vénance Kouakou, head of operations–digital workflow and maintenance, at RTI. “We transmit round the clock so reliability is obviously a major requirement. PlayBox Technology products integrate into a fully unified system which is highly stable and easy to control….Switching between live and file-based feeds is seamless. Other very useful advantages include the system’s ability to manage incomplete clips and to automate the management of logos. This latest installation comprises three AirBox servers, each equipped with TitleBox Interactive on-air graphics, SafeBox automated content management software and Multi Backup Manager. We have also invested in a fourth AirBox and TitleBox which are being used for content preview and system testing.”

AirBox is a universal SD/HD content playout and streaming server designed for continuous unattended operation. Every clip in the playlist, except the one which is currently playing, can be trimmed, edited or repositioned. Playlist order can be changed on-the-fly using commands such as skip-to-next or jump. Changes are performed seamlessly without stopping current playout session. Live productions are facilitated by a Live Show clipboard which allows insertion and/or execution of various events or live streams. AirBox accepts MPEG1/2/H.264, HDV and DV streams from practically every known production platform providing AVI, MPEG, WMV, Quick Time or MXF content. Files from third-party servers such as Leitch or Seachange are natively supported.

TitleBox delivers on-air graphics which can be controlled interactively. Multi-layered simultaneous crawls, rolls, animated logos, clocks and text templates can be activated by a mouse click. TitleBox provides total control during on-air session, including text selection, running speed and transitions.

SafeBox replicates remote content to local playout server folders for safe playback. It can gather content from a number of sources automatically, when new content is available at the remote locations. SafeBox can work in playlist-dependent or stand-alone mode. In playlist-dependent mode, all file operations are slaved to schedule contents. New daily schedules are transferred along with their associated content and file paths in the playlists are automatically updated according to the new local storage. Expired daily schedule content is automatically deleted or moved to a predefined purge folder for manual deletion or archiving. Deletion can be done automatically or with user approval of deletion lists.

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