Light Iron unveils Live Play 3
HOLLYWOOD, Calif.–Light Iron, a postproduction specialist in on-site dailies and digital intermediate, has reinvented its popular “Live Play” iPad app to be an all-encompassing VTR and Dailies Review System. The new Live Play 3 boasts an intuitive interface, powerful metadata sorting, and cloud distribution of dailies.
“We reimagined Live Play and rebuilt it based on feedback from our television and feature film customers,” said CEO Michael Cioni. “The new app meets the need for a seamlessly integrated system for both on-set review and cloud distribution of colored and synced dailies. Live Play 3 is also designed to be a creative asset management platform, empowering customers to maintain a centralized resource of media during the entire production and post process.”
As shown in a preview video just released by Light Iron, the design of Live Play 3 features ultra-fast navigation through a media pool of thumbnail frame grabs. Users can easily choose among automatically-tagged scenes and shoot days, quickly filtering thousands of clips to find specific media. An active tagging feature applies metadata tags to multiple clips at a time, enabling search by an unlimited number of fields including circle, camera, actor, and location, as well as custom tags. Live Play 3 also relies on 256bit TLS encryption, so released dailies and associated metadata are stored securely in a cloud-based hub that can be accessed by the production team, editorial, VFX, and other creative collaborators.
An additional unique feature is that Live Play 3 enables real-time streaming of camera feeds from remote locations. “With Live Play 3’s unique live stream cloud architecture, we can empower directors with a new creative tool–the ability to collaborate with other production units in real time,” added Cioni who noted, “The advent of digital technologies and workflows has caused the market to become very fragmented. Multiple vendors each supporting a specific component of the pipeline—without understanding their impact on others downstream—may lead to a breakdown in the workflow. With the addition of Live Play 3, Light Iron is uniquely positioned to offer the community a vertically integrated system for creating, managing, and delivering creative assets from the set through final delivery. Our popular OUTPOST system for on-set dailies creation, the new Live Play 3, and our digital intermediate services work in tandem to enhance collaboration and ensure efficiency throughout the entire creative process.”
Pricing for Live Play 3 will be offered in tiers based on data usage and whether productions want just set review or set review and cloud dailies. A beta testing period begins this summer, with live demonstrations being offered at this week’s Cine Gear Expo at Paramount Studios, booth S220.
Quadriplegic drives 106 mph with OptiTrack Motion Capture Technology
CORVALLIS, Oregon–Former Indy Racing League driver and quadriplegic Sam Schmidt got behind the wheel several times during race week for the 2014 Indianapolis 500, which kicked off May 18. Schmidt started off the week completing two warm-up and four qualifying laps on Pole Day in a modified 2014 C7 Corvette Stingray controlled by his head using OptiTrack motion capture technology. Schmidt’s trip around the track maxed out at speeds of 80 miles per hour and marked his first laps on a professional raceway since a 2000 crash at Walt Disney World Speedway in Orlando left him paralyzed. He also served as the ceremonial pace car for the Indy Lights Freedom 100 on Carb Day, and on Monday following the Indy 500, Schmidt went at it again, this time topping speeds of 106 miles per hour.
The Corvette, which was modified by a team from Ball Aerospace & Technologies Corp., Arrow Electronics, and the Air Force Research Lab, was created as part of the SAM (Semi-Autonomous Motorcar) Project using mostly off-the-shelf commercial components. Schmidt’s vehicle is outfitted with four infrared OptiTrack Flex 13 cameras mounted on the dashboard that enable precise tracking to ensure accurate and safe steering. A baseball cap with eight pea-sized reflective markers allows Schmidt to control the Corvette with subtle head movements: forward and back to accelerate the car’s speed in increments of 10 miles per hour, and right and left to steer. With a sensor in his mouth, Schmidt can slow down or stop by biting down.
“Infrared motion capture technology has been used in the entertainment industry for years, and we felt confident we could be successful using it for the head tracking on the SAM Project,” said Glen Geisen, Chief Technologist and SAM Project lead at Ball, the company that created the car’s human-to-machine interface and driver-guidance system.
“Given the need for 100% reliable, precise real-time tracking in unpredictable outdoor lighting and in a fast moving car, we were intrigued by the project from an engineering perspective and delighted to participate,” said OptiTrack Chief Strategy Officer Brian Nilles. “The passion exhibited by Sam Schmidt along with the design team’s ability to overcome the project’s significant challenges made a historical moment possible, and congratulations are in order for everyone involved.”
Schmidt’s custom vehicle is the result of a near year-long collaboration between Ball, the Air Force Research Laboratory at Wright-Patterson, Arrow Electronics, Inc., Falci Adaptive Motorsports, and Schmidt Peterson Motorsports. The Indy 500 demonstrations signaled an important achievement in autonomous systems advancement and laid the groundwork for further applications across industries.
Since his accident, Schmidt has regained neck strength and partial shoulder movement through intensive physical therapy. Remaining active in the racing world, he is the co-owner of Schmidt Peterson Motorsports, while his Sam Schmidt Paralysis Foundation seeks to conquer paralysis though scientific research, medical treatment and rehabilitation.
Grass Valley rolls out EDIUS 7.3
MONTREAL–Grass Valley, a Belden Brand, announces version 7.3 of its widely used EDIUS Pro and Elite multiformat nonlinear editing software. This new version boasts a host of new features to amplify productivity throughout the entire postproduction workflow, including I/O support for the Matrox MXO2 LE, MXO2 Rack, Mojito MAX and MXO2 Mini editing devices.
New features include multi-channel audio monitoring for clip preview, SONY XAVC format export, lower bit-rate audio support for MP4 output, AAF exchange with DaVinci Resolve and audio monitoring while capturing with third-party I/O hardware. The ability to support Matrox expands the software’s capabilities even further. Matrox MXO2 editing devices are versatile I/O products that are used in various places including laptop and desktop computers, studios, OB vans and on set. They can connect to the editing computer via PCIe or ExpressCard/34 adapters.
Additional new features of EDIUS 7.3 include:
· Multi-channel audio monitoring in the preview window
· Audio level adjustment with preview
· 96kHz/192kHz audio support
· The ability to apply the Layouter as a separate (transform) filter
· SONY XAVC S file export ability
· SONY PMW-1000 export ability
· XAVC S timecode support (AS100V)
· Panasonic AVC-Ultra additional format support (AJ-PX5000)
· Panasonic LUMIX GH4 4K file support
· After Effects plug-in Bridge update (with support for Sapphire presets)
Cloud Imperium leverages Shotgun for production tracking on Star Citizen
LOS ANGELES–Independent game studio Cloud Imperium is using Shotgun Software to manage review and production tracking on Star Citizen, a massively multiplayer online game (MMO) currently in development. Established by Chris Roberts, creator of the Wing Commander series, Cloud Imperium raised more than $44M through crowd funding (including Kickstarter) to develop Star Citizen. The Shotgun web-based production management, asset tracking and review platform enables Cloud Imperium to organize and review hundreds of new game assets daily, while managing communication between a global network of artists.
“Everyone at Cloud Imperium has a Shotgun account,” said Chris Olivia, chief visual officer, Cloud Imperium. “It’s not just the artists; all departments–including engineers, coders and designers–use Shotgun to organize assets, deliver feedback and communicate internally. We’ve used Shotgun since the beginning of production on Star Citizen, and it has really helped us manage the information overload.”
With three offices based in Santa Monica, Calif., Austin, Texas and Manchester in the UK, and an international team of contracted companies and freelance artists, Cloud Imperium produces new assets for multiple game modules each day. Using Shotgun’s web-based platform, the studio’s global network of artists are able to share and access assets across the same database from any location. By uploading assets into Shotgun, the studio has a record of all artwork and a way to connect comments and feedback to each asset.
Shotgun is also used to facilitate the review process for Cloud Imperium, which is critical to the development of Star Citizen because the studio is constantly issuing new updates as part of their commitment to transparency with their crowd-sourced backers. Though the game is not officially scheduled to launch until sometime in late 2015 , a steady stream of pre-alpha versions are continually released. The faster assets can be funneled through the review process and approved, the sooner they are available to test in the pre-alpha version of the game. Shotgun helps speed up this process by automatically keeping internal communication on track and organizing assets and feedback without tying up additional cycles.
A large percentage of Shotgun review sessions consist of informal communication between artists and Chris Roberts, Cloud Imperium’s founder who oversees all aspects of production. Artists upload different asset versions to the Shotgun database, and Roberts views the versions and responds with comments and feedback, often in real time. For more formal review sessions, the team organizes meetings with multiple offices via Skype and sets up a Shotgun playlist with relevant artwork they need to discuss. Using Shotgun’s cineSync plug-in, the team reviews shots and sequences and ensures that all notes are uploaded directly into the Shotgun database. They have also started using Shotgun’s Screening Room tool to facilitate collaborative review sessions between artists in Austin and the Manchester-based editorial team.
In addition to production tracking and review, Cloud Imperium has been working with the newly released Shotgun Client Review Site to evaluate new artists with concept and modeling tests. “To review artists’ skills and capabilities we like to show them our artwork for reference, then have them match our style and recreate the assets,” said Olivia. “We set up a playlist with the reference artwork and share it with the artists via the Client Review Site. This allows the artists to view the art without giving them full access to Shotgun. It’s really easy! We don’t have to set up any extra users in Shotgun or copy any of the assets. It wasn’t quite designed for this use, but Client Review has proved to be a perfect tool for us in recruitment of new artists.”
Rino Petricola promoted to COO/GM at Front Porch Digital
LAFAYETTE, Colo.–Front Porch Digital, a leader in cloud-based content storage management (CSM) solutions, announced that Rino Petricola has been promoted to chief operations officer and general manager. In his new role, Petricola is responsible for sales, sales engineering, delivery, and support on a global scale. Petricola also continues his role as general manager of Front Porch Digital International. Front Porch Digital created the global operations position in order to consolidate all customer-centric functions in the face of an increasingly global market.
Petricola has spent more than 30 years in IT, telecomm, and media, including a 15-year stint at Digital Equipment Corporation (DEC) that culminated in his founding DEC’s digital media business in Europe, developing sales from zero to $12 million in three years. He also played key roles at StorageTek Solutions and then ManagedStorage International (MSI) before it was acquired by Front Porch Digital. Upon MSI’s acquisition, Petricola took responsibility for all of Front Porch Digital’s international operations, including sales, marketing, delivery, support, and finance.
Petricola splits his time between Front Porch Digital’s offices in Lafayette, Colorado, and Annecy, France.
