VISUAL EFFECTS
Win • Mac - RE:Vision Effects has improved its Twixtor 4.5 timing software and ReelSmart Motion Blur software for Avid systems offering greater control of timing and motion. Twixtor 4.5 has been rewritten to allow for more accurate tracking of objects, resulting in fewer artifacts as images cross onscreen. A smart blending method for pans and zooms helps eliminate unwanted streaks and artifacts at frame borders, and a new option has been included to enhance dark images and images with poorly defined edges. ReelSmart Motion Blur 3.0 for Avid systems incorporates Twixtor 4.5 technology and is designed to add and remove motion blur based on per-pixel calculated motion. Now available, Twixtor 4.5 and ReelSmart Motion Blur 3.0 are compatible with Windows and Macintosh versions of Avid Xpress Pro and Adrenaline 1.8.
RE:Vision Effects; www. revisionfx.com
© RE:Vision Effects, Inc.
TRAINING
Win - Digital Tutors has unveiled Fundamentals of Soft and Rigid Bodies in XSI and Fundamentals of Mental Ray in XSI training kits for Softimage XSI 5.0. Offering up to 2.5 hours of project-driven training and guides, along with a free trial version of Softimage XSI 5.0 Foundation, the kits include step-by-step instructions and hands-on tutorials. The Soft and Rigid Bodies kit covers setting up rigid-body simulations with active and passive rigid bodies, forces and environments using ODE and physX rigid-body engines, converting simulations to animations, soft-body simulations from objects and clusters, and more. The Mental Ray kit covers topics such as global illumination, final gathering, controlling photon emission, optimizing render speed, HDR lighting, caustics through glass, and more. Both kits are available now for Windows and priced at $55.99 each.
Digital Tutors; www.digitaltutors.com
3D MODELING
Win - Npower Software has released Power NURBS 1.0, an innovative hybrid modeling system that brings surfacing, solids modeling, analysis, and tessellation to Autodesk Media and Entertainment’s 3ds Max and Viz software programs. Power NURBS boasts features such as Booleans, shelling and variable radius filleting, high-continuity blending, multi-rail sweeps, and high-continuity Class-A surfaces. A hybrid modeling paradigm offers the flexibility necessary to create complex concepts and surfacing algorithms that the company claims meet the exacting standards of the automotive and aerospace industries. Intelligent objects are designed to retain their parameters and update automatically through design revisions, and a solids model file can quickly be transformed into a physical object using rapid prototyping and 3D printing techniques. Power NURBS is available now for Windows and is priced at $995.
Npower; www.npowersoftware.com
HARDWARE
Storage
Ciprico has introduced two storage solutions designed to increase work flow productivity in DV, SD, HD, and 2
k and 4
k film formats for the broadcast and postproduction markets. The Ciprico DiMeda 10G NAS system-targeted at DV, SD, and lower-resolution HD nonlinear video applications-boasts 12
tb of raw storage capacity, sustained performance of 300
mb/sec, and a 10
gb Ethernet connection. The new MediaVault 4110, designed for postproduction and digital intermediate applications, combines a 4
gb Fibre Channel interface with ATA drives. A single device records and plays back multiple streams of uncompressed SD and HD, whereas two 4110s striped together offer nearly 600
mb/sec sustained throughput for dual-stream HD. Moreover, multiple 4110s support the recording and playback of 4
k uncompressed film. Now available, MediaVault 4110 is compatible with popular video-editing software and video capture/playback on Windows, Mac, Linux, and Unix hardware.
Ciprico; www.ciprico.com