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ARCHIVE NEWS: Thursday, March 3, 2005
News: 16x9 Inc 0.7X Wide Converter for HDV
16x9 Inc has the optical solution for getting wider angles with Sony’s HVR-Z1U and HDR-FX1 HDV camcorders. The new 16x9 Inc 0.7X Wide Angle Converter neatly threads on to add 30% wider angle of view, while maintaining full zoom capability. With its addition, the original 4.5-54mm lens becomes a 3.2-38.5mm.
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News: FOCUS Enhancements Now Shipping FireStore FS-4 the World's First Portable Direct To Edit Recorder for Hand-held Digital Camcorders
FireStore FS-4 Extends Market Leadership in Tapeless Acquisition and Increases Video Production Workflow Productivity
FOCUS Enhancements Inc. , a worldwide leader in video production and conversion technology, today announced it has begun shipping the FireStore FS-4 Portable Direct To Edit™ Recorder. FireStore's powerful DTE technology combined with FS-4's rugged enclosure and small size make it the most complete tapeless solution for field broadcast, sports, wedding and event, and education users of hand-held digital camcorders. The FireStore family leads the industry with DTE technology built into products designed for hand-held and shoulder mounted camcorders and rack mounted units for production centers.
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News: Abel to Host Sony New Technology Workshop in NYC March 10th
In recognition of the recent addition of Sony Broadcast and Display products to our sales and rental line, Abel Cine Tech and our industry partners are proud to present a Sony New Technology Workshop on Thursday March 10, 2005 at our NYC location. Come see and discuss the latest in Sony HD, broadcast and production technology, including HDV, XDCAM and HDCAM.
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Game Developers Conference 2005
News: Avid to Showcase Game Content Creation and Asset Management Solutions at GDC 2005
Avid Technology, Inc. today announced that it will demonstrate its industry-leading computer graphics technology at the 2005 Game Developers Conference , to be held in San Francisco, Calif. March 9 - 11, in booth 413. Technology demos will feature SOFTIMAGE® digital content creation tools and Alienbrain® asset management software, offering attendees a look at the power and flexibility of Avid's integrated computer graphics solutions for game development.
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SIGGRAPH 2005
News: George Lucas to be Keynote Speaker at SIGGRAPH 2005 Conference
World-renowned director, producer, and screenwriter George Lucas will present the SIGGRAPH 2005 keynote address, "George Lucas: A Keynote Q&A with the Father of Digital Cinema," on 1 August during the 32nd International Conference on Computer Graphics & Interactive Techniques, 31 July - 4 August 2005 in Los Angeles.
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News: LA Clip Clinic to showcase power of monet and mokey
Following the success of events in New York and London, Imagineer Systems is pleased to announce that its next Clip Clinic will be held in Los Angeles on March 9th. The Clip Clinics are days of training and presentations designed to show just how powerful the company's mokey and monet visual effects software really are.
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News: Director Rodriguez Shoots "Sin City" Exclusively with Fujinon HD Cine-Style Zooms
Reduced Chromatic Aberration, Depth of Field Flexibility, Speed, and Wide Focal Range Cited as Factors for Selection by Renowned Filmmaker
Pioneering filmmaker Robert Rodriguez continues to forge new trails in high definition feature film production. His new feature, “Sin City,” set for release April 1, relies heavily on green screen techniques. Rodriguez purchased Fujinon 6-30mm and 10-100mm ‘E Series’ HD Cine Style zoom lenses for use on his Sony F950 HD cameras.
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News: Biscardi Creative creates animations for "Good Eats"
Biscardi Creative Media is proud to announce that beginning this week, original animated segments will begin appearing on the popular Food Network show, "Good Eats."
In the fall of 2004, Walter Biscardi, Jr. was approached by Director of Photography, Marion Laney, about the possibility of creating some animations for the show. A meeting with Alton Brown followed during which Alton expressed his desire to create some "Monty Python" inspired looks for these segments. Being a huge "Python" fan himself, Walter knew exactly what the show was looking for.
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News: China Subway Purchases Forty Inscriber Inca RTX™ Systems
Inscriber’s Inca RTX chosen to provide subway passengers live updates
Inscriber®, a subsidiary of Leitch Technology Corporation and a leading global provider of broadcast solutions, announced today that the Nanjing Subway Network, located in Nanjing, Jiang Su Province of China, has purchased forty Inscriber Inca RTX systems. The forty real-time data display and graphic systems will drive a new channel for subway passengers.
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NAB 2005
News: IRIDAS Extends Integration of JL Cooper Panels
SpeedGrade DI to be demoed at NAB with full hardware
IRIDAS the industry leader in non-destructive color grading technologies today announced full integration of SpeedGrade DI with JL Cooper's MCS 3800 control panel. Together with the MCS-Spectrum panel, this provides colorists and DI artists with a complete hardware interface for IRIDAS' flagship Digital Intermediate product.
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News: Aurora Video Systems Helps Mission Media Spread the Word
Boise-Based Media Firm Uses Aurora PipePro™ Video Edit and Capture Card to Create Top-Quality, Family-Oriented Advertising Spots
Aurora Video Systems today announced that Boise, Idaho-based Mission Media is using Aurora's PipePro™ to create "March for Families," a series of PSAs that will be aired on the city's KTVB-TV News Channel 7. Mission Media, which specializes in providing high-end production services to non-profit organizations, is working with its Aurora video capture and edit card to produce up to a dozen news spots emphasizing good parenting and family skills.
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News: Adobe Premiere Pro HDV Plug-in Now Available
New Software Update Delivers Real-Time HDV Editing Capabilities and Supports Latest HDV Cameras from Sony and JVC
Adobe Systems Incorporated today announced the availability of a free HDV™ plug-in for Adobe® Premiere® Pro 1.5, its award-winning professional video editing software. The HDV plug-in expands IEEE-1394 support in Adobe Premiere Pro, enabling the software to work directly with the HDV format through a new generation of high-definition cameras such as Sony's HDR-Z1 and HDR-FX1. Using Adobe Premiere Pro, in conjunction with new HDV cameras, video professionals can now quickly and easily capture, edit, and output broadcast-quality high-definition video.
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News: NewTek Releases New Competitive Upgrade Offer
3D Artists Get Opportunity to Try Award-Winning LightWave 3D with Special $495 Pricing on Full Commercial Licenses
NewTek, Inc., manufacturer of industry-leading 3D animation and video products, today announced a limited time, best-ever competitive upgrade offer for LightWave 3D. Users of a select set of 3D graphics and design applications will be able to purchase a competitive upgrade to LightWave 3D for $495US. Current users of LightWave 3D will be able to add an additional seat at this price as well, allowing them to affordably run the software on multiple computers. The promotions are available today through NewTek authorized resellers, or directly from NewTek through April 30, 2005.
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News: Vizrt Signs Letter of Intent to Acquire Curious Software
Vizrt Ltd and privately held, UK-based Curious Software Company Ltd have signed a Letter of Intent by which Vizrt is to purchase all assets of Curious Software Company Ltd, or all of its issued share capital.
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More News Items Available Here... |
Maya
 | Animating a Ribbon with Maya
One common request or problem Maya users stumble across is how to properly animate a ribbon that zips across the screen and is flexible enough to bend and twist in various ways. While it sounds simple in concept, it may not be as straightforward and obvious as one would think to set this up properly with the maximum animation capabilities. In this article, Chad Briggs demonstrates a solution that he came up with in response to a recent gig.
Maya |
Compositing
 | How To Become a Feature Film Compositor
Have you ever wanted to contribute to building a twenty thousand man army in “Troy”, make a mouse fly a plane in “Stuart Little 2”, or launch a doomed luxury liner in “Titanic?” You can achieve visual feats you never dreamed possible and accomplish them all through the magic of compositing. Read this article written by John Lafauce Jr., and see...Compositing, Shake, Combustion, Digital Fusion |
Adobe Illustrator
 | Creating Customizable Dashed Lines with Adobe Illustrator
This mini-tutorial is for those who've often worked in Illustrator and have needed to turn a dashed line into individually selectable shapes. This may also be useful for pasting dotted path shapes into After Effects or other applications.
Adobe Illustrator, Preparing Graphics for Video |
Combustion
 | Creating a Promo with Combustion:
As the lines between television and the internet continue to blur, it seems like every TV channel wants you to look at their website. Whether you’re CNN or community television, you’ll have to rise above the straight cut or dissolve to get the viewer’s attention.In this tutorial, Lee 'Rod' Roderick will show you how to use Discreet combustion to create a promo transition that combines digital video and motion graphics. Once you set it up, you can substitute your own clips and text.
Discreet Combustion |
Final Cut Pro
 | Travel Mattes: Enhance Your Interviews
In this short video tutorial, Walter Biscardi demonstrates the basics of travel mattes in Final Cut Pro. In this third lesson in a 3-part series, Walter will show us a real world application -- one of his favorite uses to enhance an interview.
Final Cut Pro |
After Effects
 | Building the Logo and Putting it Together
In this final lesson of a 5-part tutorial from Motion Graphics Trainer, Dean Velez, we'll build the logo and put it all together. The entire 5 part tutorial explores creating complex backgrounds using a Photoshop still with the 3D properties of After Effects. We'll also create high end transitions using path tools and various effects as well as eye catching 2D animation using parented layers and resolving text using the track matte features.
Adobe After Effects |
If you'd like to submit a tutorial for the COW Library, please write me.
For More Great Tutorials at the Cow, Click Here
Studio Design
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 | TBC Crossfire X-K3 Non-Linear Editing Console
With people continually asking, "what edit desk do you use?" here at the COW forums, Creative Cow forum leader, Marco Solorio hopes to settle this question once and for all with his in-depth review of TBC's Crossfire X-K3 edit console. If you're in the market for a new editor's console or are just curious to know what's "out there", this should give you all the information you need to base your own judgment.
Studio Furniture, Studio Design, Product Reviews |
Sonic
|  | Sonic eDVD 3
Many DVD authors are familiar to some degree with the various DVD authoring applications that exist. Most of these authoring applications allow the author to add DVD-ROM content. DVD-ROM content is typically how the author provides additional assets to the viewer. In this article, Creativecow's Alex Alexzander takes a thorough look at Sonic's eDVD 3 Web Enhanced DVD.
DVD Authoring, Web Enhanced DVDs |
Stock Footage
|  | Post Holes Prematted Stock Clips
Don’t have time or budget to shoot various people in a blue or green screen studio cyk? Also don't have the time or the software to create a perfect chromakey and/or rotoscope to pull that perfect matte? If this is the case, Post Holes may be the solution you’re looking for. Marco Solorio reviews their latest 2-disk DVD set available on NTSC SD.
Stock Footage, Product Reviews |
Discreet Combustion
|  | A First Look at Combustion 4
Creative Cow's Ken LaRue explores the just announced Discreet combustion 4. Packed with many new features that Ken enthusiastically describes as "Hot!" and which include quite a number that many users have had on their own personal wish lists, C4 is drawing a lot of attention and discussion here in the Creative Cow forums. In this article, Ken helps us explore many of the reasons why...
Discreet Combustion, Product Reviews
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After Effects
|  | After Effects in Production
In this article, CreativeCOW.net contributing editor Jim Harvey reviews After Effects in Production 2nd edition for AE 6.5 by Trish Meyer & Chris Meyer and published by CMP Books, 382 pages, Dec 10, 2004; Copyright 2005, ISBN: 1578202647 and writes... "When people first become aware of After Effects, the one question that is most often asked is 'What is the best way for me to learn this program?' The answer most often given is 'Pick up anything by Trish & Chris Meyer'. The book most often recommended is After Effects in Production. There is a good reason for this recommendation. The Meyers are two very talented people who completely grasp the inner working of After Effects. The plus is that they are also extremely adept at taking their knowledge and imparting it to the rest of us."
Adobe After Effects, Book Reviews |
Using Vegas, Excalibur & SD-Connect to Edit the 2005 Stellar Awards
|  | Using Vegas, Excalibur & SD-Connect to Edit the 2005 Stellar Awards
In this article, Creative Cow's Timothy Duncan explores how Northstar Studios used Sony Vegas, the Excalibur plug-in's multi-cam wizard for Vegas and Convergent Design's SD-Connect video converter to help create this year's 20th Annual Stellar Awards broadcast -- a ten camera shoot recorded January 15th in Houston, Texas. With a deadline of delivery by 8:30am on January 20th, Timothy had his work cut out for him to edit and fine-tune the show's pacing using these three tools to quickly offline and then finish online using an Avid|DS system. How did these tools perform together? Read on for the complete story...
Sony Vegas, Excalibur, SD-Connect |
For More Great Reviews and Features at the Cow, Click Here
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 Interested in joining the Cow Team?
For those of you who are interested in joining the Cow Team, you can do so by becoming a host in one of our forums or by reporting on news, penning a tutorial or a review. We are always looking to add new areas to the Cow and new members to the team, so if you want to discuss any interest you may have in joining the team, please feel free to write me at kathlyn@creativecow.net.
All the best,
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