The Future of Visual Effects

Mark Spencer | 08/26- 07:44 AM

Automatic matte extraction, touchup and rig removal?

Some very smart folks in the University of Washington’s Computer Science department are cooking up some pretty amazing procedures that could well revolutionize the process of creating visual effects.

Spotlight: Fox Sports HD

Chris Meyer | 08/27- 07:36 AM

Flowing ribbons in 3D space tie together this sports ID.

For our next project spotlight, we’re going to look at a Fox Sports HD promo animated by Joost Korngold of Renascent. This spot fuses organic movement with the high-impact 3D Fox Sports is known for. Joost, as well as Fox Sports Creative Directors Josh Nichols and Mark Denyer-Simmons plus Senior Vice President and Creative Director… more »

QuickTime Quickies

Jay Rose | 08/25- 08:02 AM

A couple of non-intuitive hacks for QuickTime audio

I’m a soundie. So I frequently have to send music samples, progressive mixes, and other pieces of track to directors or clients for approval. Since I’m also a lazy soundie, I’ve discovered a couple of ways to speed up the process… and save my clients a lot of download time.

Aperture 2.1.1 Won’t Preview Raw Photos

Adam Wilt | 08/26- 11:49 PM

If you shoot raw stills, and use Aperture, don’t update to 2.1.1.

I use Apple’s Aperture to import, organize, and do simple processing on digital pix. I just updated to 2.1.1, and now the image import window won’t show raw images—only dashed rectangles (JPEGS still show up properly). The raw images’ metadata is shown correctly, except for the consistently goofball pixel size of 128x128. If I select raw pix blindly and import them, they show up properly once imported, but importing them blindly ain’t fun.

Aperture 2.1 didn’t have this bug; my Nikon D200 and D300 images showed up fine in the image import window. And I’m not the only one with the problem; Apple’s discussion lists are filled with similarly unhappy upgraders, mostly those using Nikons, but I saw Ricohs mentioned as well.

I can confirm that the bug afflicts Aperture 2.1.1 on both 10.4.11 and 10.5.4.

Solutions?… more »

The Secret of P2 Slating

Art Adams | 08/24- 01:09 PM

Do this to see your editor weep with joy

Yesterday I shot a political spot with Simon Sommerfeld, a friend who saved the day after I pitched the concept for this no-budget spot to an agency that then said, “We’ll take it--make it as fast as you can for no money.”

AJA Io HD drivers updated

Adam Wilt | 08/20- 07:24 PM

Important fixes and enhancements in the version 6.0 driver

AJA has released version 6.0 drivers for the Io HD, AJA’s external video I/O box and format converter connected using FireWire800.

Version 6.0 adds a bunch of new features:

• Support for true progressive (in addition to PsF) 1080p capture and playback.
• Support for 720p/23.98 and 525i/23.98.
• Stand-alone mode for format conversion with no Mac attached.
• “Plug and Play” on FireWire without needing to reboot the computer.
• Simultaneous component and composite outputs.
• Audio delay controls for better A/V sync.
• Io HD’s LCD can… more »