New versions of award-winning 3D Compositing, Titling and Effects plug-ins support Apple hardware advancements

Boris FX will show for the first time Boris native plug-ins running on the Intel-based Macintosh at NAB 2006. Visitors to the Boris FX stand SL2596 can see first-hand the popular Boris Continuum Complete filter package integrated with the latest release of Apple's Final Cut Pro (version 5.1), running on the Intel-based Macintosh. Boris Continuum Complete for Intel-based Macintosh will be released later this year.

"As a developer of integrated Mac OS solutions for more than 10 years, we are proud to support the next generation of Apple computers," said Boris FX founder and president, Boris Yamnitsky. "We're excited about the potential performance enhancements that this will provide to our loyal Macintosh users."

The first Boris FX product to support the Intel architecture was Boris Calligraphy, a set of four Generators that is included with the Intel-based version of Final Cut Pro. While appearing as native generators, these plugins add valuable titling features, including vector text, auto-animated rolls and crawls, type-on effects, jitter, randomization and Z-space animation including tumble and spin.

Next to support the new architecture will be Boris Red version 4.0. Designed specifically for editors, Red integrates with more than 20 supported NLEs, including Apple Final Cut Pro, Adobe Premiere Pro, and Avid systems. Boris Red is a powerful and versatile application that integrates advanced 2D and 3D compositing, industry-leading software DVE technology, robust 3D extrusion and animation, native vector titling, motion tracking, vector paint, rotoscoping, Adobe Illustrator file animation and extrusion and more, all in a single plug-in. Version 4.0 introduces dozens of new features, including new filters, 16-bit color support and a sophisticated new paint engine. Boris Red version 4.0 is expected to ship in Q3 2006. This release will be quickly followed by Intel-compliant versions of Boris FX and Graffiti.

New version of award-winning 3D Compositing, Titling and Effects plug-in

Boris FX announced that it will unveil the next generation of its award-wining Boris Red at NAB 2006. Boris Red is an integrated 3D compositing, titling, and effects solution that provides integrated broadcast-quality features directly inside nonlinear editing systems. Version 4.0 introduces hundreds of new features, including more than 40 new filters, 16-bit color support, and a sophisticated new paint engine.

Designed specifically for editors, Red integrates with more than 20 NLEs, including Apple Final Cut Pro, Adobe Premiere Pro, and Avid systems. In addition to an unprecedented range of integrated features, the Red Engine provides standalone rendering. Red is a powerful and versatile application that integrates advanced 2D and 3D compositing, industry-leading software DVE technology, robust 3D modeling and animation, native vector titling, motion tracking, vector paint, rotoscoping, Adobe Illustrator file animation and extrusion and more, all in a single plug-in.

"I have been using Boris Red and its predecessors for many years now, and I wouldn't be without it. Red is an integral part of my workflow, both inside Final Cut Pro and as a standalone application," comments Alison Stevenson, editor and partner, Stable Recordings. "The new buttons in Red 4.0's composite window are really going to speed things up for me, and I'm looking forward to using the new brush tools. If I can imagine something I can usually build it in Red. I'm excited to find out what Boris's wizards will come up with next."

"Maintaining its tight integration with all industry standard NLEs, Boris Red 4.0 will move the Red product further in the direction of 2D and 3D software based compositing and effects creation by offering support for 16-bit color and a new procedural paint engine. While our newly released Boris Blue solution will address the demand for 3D graphics and real-time hardware rendering in video postproduction," said Boris FX founder and president, Boris Yamnitsky.

Significant new features in version 4.0 include:
* 16-bit per color channel image processing
* New procedural paint brushes create ribbon and roller brush paint effects
* New raster paint engine with sophisticated clone paint brushes
* Convert bitmap files to vectors that can be extruded and animated
* Support for Wacom tablet with multiple paint input channels
* More than 40 new filters include a new Motion Key filter that removes moving foreground objects from a clip and a new Motion Path filter animates objects on a spline path
* Import EBU subtitle files to generate standard subtitles for multiple languages and DVDs
* Improved integration with Avid NLEs, including support for the AVX 2.0 architecture
* Support for PPC and Intel processors on Macintosh systems
* A new Type On Container automatically creates type on title effects

Boris Red version 4.0 will be shown at NAB 2006 at the Las Vegas Convention Center from April 24-27 in booth SL2596. Boris FX will also showcase other solutions including Boris Blue and Boris Continuum Complete (BCC) at NAB 2006. A new BCC training DVD will also debut. This DVD helps both novice and experienced editors to integrate BCC into the Adobe environment. The DVD is hosted by James Rankin, author of "Adobe After Effects 6.5 Magic." Boris Red version 4.0 is expected to ship in Q3 2006.

Leading Japanese post-production facility launches hybrid editing establishment

Bluefish444 announced that Sony PCL Inc., a subsidiary of Sony Corporation, has launched "Hybrid editing room", combining linear and non-linear editing functionality and utilizing Bluefish444's HD|Lust and HD|Iridium cards.

Sony PCL is an industry-leading facility concentrating on high-end post-production processing for TV, CF, films, as well as content and events production.

Sony PCL's core system is a HD/SD multi-format digital switcher, the Sony MVS-8000ASF. By creating this system, which is able to handle both HD/SD and HD24p, Sony PCL can meet the needs of its high-end customers. Sony PCL has integrated this linear system with HD NLE systems. Sony PCL chose Windows and Macintosh NLE systems to integrate with the MVS-8000ASF, as well as an exclusive RAID system.

The real-time Windows system is a Bluefish444 HD|Lust turnkey system and the Macintosh system is based on Bluefish444 HD|Iridium. The Bluefish444 products supply smooth I/O of HD/SD video signals in YUV and HD RGB 4:4:4.

This integration of digital switcher and NLE systems is called "Hybrid Editing". The system is able to react to the increasing demand for flexible processing of CG or 2D animation sequential file data. Traditionally, the customer would send or bring its data and Sony PCL would then copy to tape media and process it on a digital switcher. Now, the Bluefish444 can playback the data once it is brought into the PC - without failing. Bluefish444 contributes to the smooth production of processing data conversion, inserting titles, or compositing. The flow now for digital data is to process the data immediately and playback without recapturing into tape media.

Bluefish444's capability of handling RGB 4:4:4 files allows Sony PCL to produce high quality films or exhibition images as well as master sequences for high quality HD software content. The HD|Lust fits perfectly to the dual link of HDCAM-SR RGB 4:4:4, which is leading in the high-end market. Bluefish444's new 2K Catalyst card will be incorporated into the hybrid-editing environment when it is available, offering even more capabilities.

Software applications incorporated into "Hybrid editing room" include Bluefish444's Symmetry application, Drastic Technologies QuickClip Pro, Autodesk Combustion, Apple's Final Cut Pro, and Adobe's Premiere Pro, After Effects and Photoshop CS.

In addition, this room is capable of doing sound return work by equipping the 5.1 surround system using DA98 as voice materials.

Mr. Ogawa, Senior Manager, and Mr. Susa, Chief HD Supervisor, Post-Production Dept. of Sony PCL, stated, "There are several key factors why Sony PCL chose Bluefish444 for its hybrid editing environment:

* Flexible Video Format Support: To satisfy the capability of the MVS-8000ASF digital switcher, the NLE system had to be capable of supporting multiple formats. Bluefish444 ably met the need for SD-SDI, HD-SDI, and dual link RGB 4:4:4 with stable performance.

* Convenience and Cost Performance: Instead of installing high-end equipment, Sony PCL chose to create a NLE which provides good cost performance and a convenient system as an increasing number of creators choose to use Adobe Premiere Pro or Apple Final Cut Pro as a means of digital editing.

* High Quality Color Management: The quality of video image also has to be well managed. There were many capture boards that sounded similar to Bluefish444 but the quality of images from those boards was not the same. Bluefish444 could supply consistent color quality between the original data, in the digital switcher, and the VTR, or again into digital data."

Sony PCL has processed many films, television series and animations since it launched its "Hybrid editing room". Sony PCL sees that HD processing will increase in the near future, especially as TV animation becomes more HD. These clients bring HD digital data into Sony PCL and copy the data into the RAID using Bluefish444, so that the client can immediately start post processing. The reliability of color management in the Bluefish444 HD|Lust contributes to the increased productivity of the system.

Bluefish444 Now Offers Integrated XML Support for SCRATCH

At NAB 2006 Bluefish444 is showcasing its new Catalyst 2K video I/O card with ASSIMILATE's SCRATCH Data-Centric Workflow Solution. The 2K demo will run on a high-performance BOXX 7400 workstation, configured with the new Catalyst 2K card, the latest release of Symmetry, and SCRATCH. In a separate demo set up as a colorist workstation, SCRATCH will be featured with the Bluefish444 HD|Lust video I/O Card, running on a GlobalStor ExtemeStor workstation. The configuration includes an NVIDIA Quadro FX 4500 graphics card, 6TB storage, 24" 1920x1200 plasma display, and a JL Cooper color panel.

With the goal of giving creative and post professionals the tools to easily build and use end-to-end digital workflow, ASSIMILATE and Bluefish444 also announced today that the Bluefish444 Symmetry software and its SD/HD SDI video cards provide XML support for ASSIMILATE's SCRATCH. This means users can easily load clips or long-form shots archived in XML format directly into the data-centric pipeline and automatically set up a digital project in the SCRATCH CONstruct. Based on the user's EDL or cut list, the CONstruct provides a direct visual representation of the data structure and hierarchical set up. Projects can be divided into a series of groups and CONstructs to create a working hierarchy that displays footage in a number of different ways, such as timeline, shot channels, or free form. The Bluefish444 video cards with Symmetry will then enable output to either SD, HD or 2K.

"Bluefish video I/0 cards offer a hardware capability that post professionals and producers of video features and projects didn't have before, which is high resolution input and quality output within an easy-to-use data-centric workflow. Combined with SCRATCH, users now have another tool for building their digital workflow that will streamline and increase productivity of the post process" says Jeff Edson, CEO of ASSIMILATE. "This is the kind of technology we like to support - bringing new capabilities that deliver high value to users."

"SCRATCH and Symmetry are great examples of two partners offering powerful toolsets that support industry standard file formats such as DPX, ensuring consistency and quality throughout for our customers' workflow," says Craige Mott, managing director of Bluefish444. "With Catalyst due out very soon, SCRATCH customers will get a considerable feature increase with support for 2K, HD and SD I/O, offering cost effective monitoring as well as tighter integration via EDL and XML support."

BrainBox Productions, Inc., based in the Washington DC area, is a rapidly growing independent producer of non-fiction television - and a major supplier of concept to completion programming for networks such as Discovery Channel, HGTV, TLC, History, Court TV, and Style.

In the late Spring of 2005, BrainBox was deep into the production of "Small Space Big Style", a series of 26 half-hour shows for HGTV. The company was also about to begin post production for "Roush Racing: Driver X", 13 one-hour reality shows on NASCAR racers for Discovery.

With the combination of these two projects, field producers were shooting thousands of hours of High Definition footage, and all of this material had to be made accessible to over 15 Avid editors and assistant editors, as well as to the producers and assistants who were planning to log the material and wade through it to find the gems. The workflow issues facing BrainBox were daunting, as BrainBox executive vice president of postproduction Bill Davidson explains:

"Going into the first of our two latest series, "Small Space Big Style", we knew we had to establish a solid system for collaborative editing. We were getting a ton of footage in that had to be digitized quickly and edited by several editors. But this problem got compounded by the addition of a second new series, "Roush Racing: Driver X". That second show brought in an additional 2000+ HD tapes, and editors, assistant editors, as well as post-producers were going to need simultaneous access to the footage, sometimes around the clock.

At the beginning of the two projects, BrainBox was relying on two off-the-shelf NAS devices with one fixed 800 GB RAID and one 2 TB RAID with no metadata-sharing features. This caused many problems including time loss, corrupt Avid media databases and lack of productivity. That's when Davidson turned to EditShare.

"I began to look for a replacement for our original two NAS devices, at first to just give us additional storage space. The influx of a few thousand tapes in a short period of time meant we were going to need several terabytes of storage very quickly. We also needed something that was fast and that could support many concurrent clients over our existing Gigabit network infrastructure. Finally we hoped for something that would allow us to share project/asset metadata, unlike our first NAS solution that just barely allowed us to share media files. EditShare offered all this in a uniquely affordable, yet robust central storage system," explains Davidson.

"Small Space Big Style", a 26 x :30 HD series for HGTV, was BrainBox's segue project into a truly reliable shared storage and shared metadata system. For the first time, thanks to its investment in EditShare, the whole team of BrainBox editors could safely digitize into and edit from the same Media Spaces as well as work from the exact same shared Avid Project files that everyone could access simultaneously. And, they got the peace of mind that behind the scenes on EditShare, a robust security system was in place ensuring that media files weren't getting accidentally erased and that shared Avid bins and sequences couldn't get modified by editors who didn't have the proper authority.

The 6.4 TB EditShare system BrainBox purchased also gave them enough space to store every second of video shot for the "Roush Racing: Driver X" series at 15:1 offline resolution. Not only was all this material available on the network, but with EditShare's unique "Avid Project Sharing" feature, BrainBox was able to create one giant Avid Project for the series that allowed everyone involved to access and use what everyone else was editing. As Davidson explains:

"Discovery Channel's "Roush Racing: Driver X", a 13 x 60 minute HD series, is currently being completed using EditShare's Avid Shared Project system. This has been crucial in our success as it allows all the editors, assistant editors and producers to share one big project, giving us the ability to seamlessly share sequences, shots, graphics, music, and all other media assets. With an approximate 3 week turnaround for offline per hour episode, we need to put so many editors and support personnel on each episode. Without a collaborative editing system like EditShare, it would be virtually impossible."

Since the installation of the EditShare system, BrainBox is enjoying a streamlined workflow that is allowing the programs to be edited with unprecedented efficiency and that is leaving the editing team enough time to add all the creative finishing touches that make BrainBox successful.

Boris Blue is a real-time 3D compositing and motion graphics solution. A standalone application, Blue provides unprecedented 3D creativity with real-time performance to accelerate your workflow.

Create stunning 3D text and shapes with innovative pixel shaders including bump maps, noise patterns, natural materials as well as reflections and 3D shadows. Distort and warp 3D objects with a simple one-parameter action. Bend and twist corners or wrap extruded text around curves.



Feature Highlights Include:

* Particles: Use any 3D object as a particle, including extruded shapes and imported 3D models. Attractors and repellers provide dynamic particle interaction. Sprite-based particles simulate Fire, Smoke and Sparks. Clips

* Enhanced Extrusions: Create custom bevels by defining a curve with spline drawing tools. Extrude text, spline primitives, free hand spline drawings and imported EPS files. Import 3D models in the .3ds and .obj formats, preserving individual geometry groups. Clips

* Deformers, Image Processors, and Generators: Vertex Deformers provide true 3D warping of 3D objects. Blue's Deformers, Image Processors and Generators are fully hardware accelerated for blazing speed. Clips

* Materials including Bump Maps and Reflections: Materials include per pixel lighting controls and texture, bump and reflection mapping. They are also are fully hardware accelerated for blazing speed. Clips

For more information including system requirements, visit the Boris FX web site

Bluefish444 announced today that iO Film, a leading post facility in Hollywood, is using Bluefish's HD|Fury and HD|Lust cards for its HD mastering and acquisition needs.

iO Film is a post-production facility specializing in digital intermediates. Its service offerings include digital intermediates, 2K and 4K film scanning, film recording, visual effects, titles and digital opticals, and custom image solutions.

iO Film has used Bluefish's HD|Fury card to do the HD masters for such movies as Crash, which won the 2006 Academy Award for Best Picture, Green Street Hooligans, and The Celestine Prophecy, which is being released on April 21st, 2006.

iO Film purchased the HD|Lust specifically for a government DARPA project titled The Future of Augmented Condition, and has since then utilized it on feature films Tenth & Wolf, Supercross and Neverwas.

For the DARPA project, iO Film needed to playback uncompressed 444 & frame accurately control the Qvis acuity server for digital cinema playback. The project was shot on the Viper, played back through the HD|Lust and output to the 444 Qvis server. The Future of Augmented Condition was shown in D-Cinema presentations in Las Vegas.

iO Film utilizes the Bluefish444 cards to play back dpx files uncompressed. The Bluefish444 products, in conjunction with Bluefish444's Symmetry application, provide a flexible full performance solution at an excellent price point. In addition, the Nucoda film mastering systems, of which iO Film has four, incorporates Bluefish444 video cards, thereby offering a seamless solution for iO Film's DI needs.

Adam Hawkey, Senior Digital Colorist, iO Film, states, "I've used Bluefish cards for all our HD mastering and acquisition needs for over three years. For the price, flexibility, performance and ease of use, Bluefish can't be beat."

Leading 3D company uses HD|Lust on "Night of the Living Dead 3D" And "The Stewardesses 3D"

Bluefish444 announced today that Dimension 3 (www.d3.com), a leading provider of 3D technologies and services, is using Bluefish444's HD|Lust video card on several 3D projects.

A leader in 3D technologies for over 30 years, Dimension 3 offers products and services for 3D glasses, 3DTV (3D video), 3D film (3D motion picture), 3D art, and 3D print media. Its patented 3D video (3DTV) and 3D film production technologies (16mm, 35mm, 65/70mm) are recognized worldwide as unequalled.

Having moved into professional HD after several years of working in SD, Dimension 3 used Bluefish444's HD|Lust on two recent projects: "Night Of The Living Dead 3D" and "The Stewardesses 3D".

Slated for a 4th quarter 2006 release, "Night of the Living Dead 3D" is both an homage and re-imagining of the 1968 film. While the 3D process, trade named Natural Vision, is based on the anaglyph principle (red/blue glasses), it has been demonstrated to be vastly superior to the older process that Robert Rodriguez's "Spy Kids" movies were released in. For filming, Dimension 3 built two custom lightweight dual, HDV 3D cameras and filmed out to 35mm. The film features extensive handheld and Steadicam shots, a first in 3D films. In addition, real-time 3D monitoring was used on the set.

Dimension 3 recently restored the highly successful 1970 3D film, The Stewardesses, and did an HD transfer from the camera negative. The result is that the film looks better than when originally released. The HD version will be released on HD DVD before the end of 2006.

After investigating a number of products on the market, Dimension 3 decided upon Bluefish444's HD|Lust for its robust feature set and integration with Dimension 3's current technology.

Daniel Symmes, CEO, states: "We wanted to work with a product that had a minimal learning curve, and we found it with the HD|Lust. We were up and running almost out of the box. Use of the HD|Lust is transparent. Bluefish444 is continually adding new features, and their technical support is beyond anything we've ever experienced. We have yet to see any other product that compares, especially with regard to tech support and willingness to incorporate client suggestions!"

He continues, "HD is it. We're in it with the best tools, and can now do things we dared not dream of only a couple of years ago. As we move forward with HD projects, we will continue to work with Bluefish444 products and are looking forward to incorporating their new Catalyst card into our workflow."

Taking manual conform out of the picture

Virtual Katy announced that Supervising Sound Editor Bruce Howell uses the VK software to accelerate the sound post process for their Emmy award winning South Park show. The widely popular animated series drives one of the most demanding postproduction schedules. Each show topic is developed, animated, cut and aired within a week. "We work everyday for 8 weeks straight - delivering a show every week. VK took what was once a 20 hour per week per show job of conforming sessions and turned it into a 20 minute per week per show job. It gave us 20 more hours of sound design, music, mixing, etc.... It gave us the ability to raise the quality of the show!" comments Howell.

A 10-year veteran of the South Park team, Bruce is involved with all aspects of audio post production for South Park and other productions. His credits include Bigger Longer & Uncut, "That's My Bush", "Team America", The "Chef Aid" album, "Timmy & The Lords of the Underworld" and "DVDA". Bruce relies on the VK software daily and sometimes hourly to help him keep the sound sync with the evolving picture. "We go through 20 cuts in a week - on a single show. VK has cut our time spent conforming from 45 minutes per cut to under 45 seconds. It is fast, fast, fast."