AMD64 - Directly Connecting Your Imagination to Reality By Charlie Boswell
Each generation of new technology assaulting the digital content creator typically comes with elaborate promises about how it?s going to change lives. Sometimes that?s actually true -- but not always for the better. Non-linear editing systems brought the number of ?workarounds? to new heights
...Read More »
This is not a 2D world By Atom Zeidler
This is not a 2D world. Now there is no reason that the world of media has to be either. In recent years, producing a high quality 3D image has become easier and more affordable. Film, commercial and broadcast production houses are using 3D imaging more and more frequently to create more realistic and exciting graphics, both to entertain and to educate.
...Read More »
Adobe to Acquire Macromedia By Stephen Schleicher
Yesterday, Adobe announced that it would acquire Macromedia in a stock option trade valued at around $3.4 billion. This subtle announcement may come as a shock to many users of the Macromedia products, and it will have a huge impact in the web development and content creation worlds.
...Read More »
Beginners Guide to NAB By Ko Maruyama
If you're planning to attend the National Association of Broadcasters Convention in a couple of weeks, you've probably already signed up and are beginning to receive emails and notices daily. The emails probably have all kinds of information regarding the various conferences that will be held, some on satellite technology, others on HD delivery specifications. But you probably haven't received any notices from NAB to wear comfortable shoes.
...Read More »
Anark Studio 3.0 By Ko Maruyama
In what can only be described as a Mac author's recurring nightmare, Anark has announced that their Anark Studio product will only be available for Mac when "conditions are right." The chicken/egg conundrum that has made software solutions for content authoring on a Mac slim, continues. Anark finally delivers a mature application that looks great, but for its PC users only.
...Read More »
Gift of Giving By Stephen Schleicher
Got a new G5 for the holidays? Did you get a new camera, or gaming system and no longer want your old technology? Have you thought about making a charitable donation?
...Read More »
Don't Frustrate the Viewer By Charlie White
Sometimes digital video editing involves magic. You can flash something here to attract the viewer's eye and then over there, make something happen the viewer doesn't see. That's part of the thrill of producing and editing video -- manipulating where people will look. But then sometimes you can give the viewers so many things to look at that they don't see anything. In that case, you've broken the cardinal rule of video production: Don't Frustrate the Viewer. Let's figure out how to stay in the good graces of that rule.
...Read More »
Motion And the Big Picture By Kevin Schmitt
Like many of you, I spent the better part of this last week constantly refreshing my various browser window in the hopes of catching the absolute latest news coming out of Vegas, where NAB just closed up shop until this time next year. Of course, I don't have to remind anyone who was grabbing the (very) early headlines; Apple was quite busy providing whiz-bang fireworks on what is usually a traditional day of rest.
...Read More »
NAB Diary 2004: Preview Edition By Stephen Schleicher
Now in its fourth year, the NAB Diary will be returning to these pages in just a few weeks giving you an up close look at the action going on at the show. While the show is still a few weeks away, now is the perfect opportunity to give you a sneak peak at the thoughts going through my head of what we might expect at the show.
...Read More »
The Case for Specialists By Dariush Derakhshani
Special effects have become a pervasive part of the television industry, with especially heavy growth in effects-driven or CG-enhanced commercials. As a matter of fact, a large number of commercials being produced currently go through at least a minor amount of compositing, where different elements of separate live action shoots are merged together and matched into one scene.
...Read More »
The Accidental Switcher By Kevin Schmitt
Man, I sure do love my Flash MX. I find myself using it to some extent in each and every interactive project I do, and it's even creeping its way into my motion graphics workflow on video projects as the straight-up QuickTime-friendly animation tool it certainly is capable of being. There's only one little, nagging problem. I'm finding that the more time I spend in Flash MX, the less time I'm spending on a Mac.
...Read More »
Making 3D Software Accessible Requires More Than Just Making it Cheaper By Paul Babb
I often wonder if some of the decision-makers in the 3D-software industry have been hearing voices. You know, like the one Kevin Costner heard in the "Field of Dreams." Only this voice seems to have whispered, "if you make it cheaper, they will come." Of course, that's an improvement over the voice of just a few years ago that was touting, "if you make it free, they will come."
...Read More »
Talkin' Smack: Acquire and Conquer By Dave Nagel
If you were in any doubt about Apple's direction in the past, you can now be pretty certain now where things are heading. With the acquisition of Emagic yesterday, Apple made its plans completely clear for the Macintosh platform: total domination of the creative market.
...Read More »
Lucas Are You Listening? By Stephen Schleicher
When I went off on my rant last week about filmmakers changing their movies to update effects or make the film more politically correct, I had no idea I would get flooded with responses from readers who have the same concerns I do. Here is a sampling. Lucas are you listening?
...Read More »
Star Wars Episode 4.6.0: A New New New Hope By Stephen Schleicher
Star Wars Episode Four: A New Hope was probably the reason why many of us got into the industry - motion pictures, special effects, animation, graphics, etc. In 1977 the movie was something that blew audiences away and became one of those films that redefined the industry. In 1997 technology had improved greatly; Starship Troopers came out that year that had animated special effects that made the effects from the ?77 flick pale in comparison. So what does Lucas do? He changes his film. Not only did he enhance the effects and clean it up, but in a couple of scenes he changed the whole tone of the film.
...Read More »
Where The Reader Is King By Charlie White
Many times, readers send me email, wanting to know how I review software and hardware, how I make editorial decisions, what kind of relationship I have with our advertisers, and whether I am beholden to anybody. Sometimes, if I write an article or editorial that a reader disagrees with, I'll be accused of being bought by one manufacturer or another. The following editorial explains what influence vendors and readers have over what I do, how I decide what to write about, and for whom I write.
...Read More »
Bonus Smack: It's the Big One, Elizabeth By Dave Nagel
Good gooblety goop! It's finally here--Photoshop 7.0 for Mac OS X ... and, uh, all those other operating systems as well. But who cares about those? With the release of the most ubiquitous creative application on any platform, Adobe has finally made Mac OS X a viable operating system for creative professionals. And that means everything else can kiss my shiny, graphite Mac!
...Read More »
Maya Enters 3D Volume Market By Paulo de Andrade
Alias/Wavefront has reduced the price of Maya. Not just by a little bit, but significantly. Maya Complete, formerly priced at $7,500 will now sell for $1,999 and Maya Unlimited, which formerly sold for $16,000 will be priced at $6,999. The software remains the same and no features were removed in order to lower the prices. This means that Maya is now priced in the same category as traditional volume market 3D software such as Lightwave and MAX, which may very well be considered a landmark in the history of 3D graphics.
...Read More »
Analysis: Apple's Acquisition of Nothing Real: Insanely Great or Just Plain Insane? By John Virata
Apple's acquisition of Nothing Real, developer of the Tremor and Shake compositing systems, poses some serious questions with regard to the digital media marketplace. Tremor and Shake run on Linux, Windows, and the Irix operating systems. Apple sells Power Macs running OS X. So what does this mean to those artists who use Nothing Real's tools for creating their art? Will support be offered to those who have purchased the turnkey Tremor systems at prices starting at $75,000 on up to $140,000?
...Read More »
The Case For The Defense By Rick Monro
You may not be too surprised to hear a designer jump to the defense of designers and the role they play. However, this little narrative has not been inspired by the instinct for the self-preservation of my industry, but rather by a blown gasket. A blown top. You see, someone said it again. With startling frequency I am informed, by inference or otherwise, that my computer does my job for me; "that's just Photoshop isn't it?"
...Read More »
In Hollywood, there is little doubt that MAXON's CINEMA 4D is the 3D motion graphics artist's best friend. For years, I've been telling you about how easy it is to use, what brilliantly stunning images it produces, how quickly it renders through projects, it's offering of dynamic animation, and, most recently, about its increasingly powerful set of motion graphics tools which fit neatly into production pipelines. So, what could possibly be better than all that has come before? Plenty.
Read More
NO...Doesn't have a thing to do with "that" smartphone...or "that" store...or "that" tablet. It's the next generation. Kids and we mean little kids. That's what today's products are being designed for/targeted at. You happen to buy one...fine. Watch a little, little kid pick up a smartphone. He/she just uses it. They've come pre-wired and we're still trying to figure out how to IM. It's the IGen. They want it instantly. They want to use it instantly. They expect their photos, their video, their music, their stuff immediately when/where/how they want it.
Read More
In this clip, lynda.com host Mark Abdelnour takes a look at proxy bidding. He discusses the strategy and how it works. He also discusses the maximum bid, and when to use Proxy bidding.
Read More
The blood, gore, adrenalin challenges that were unveiled at E3 and enjoyed at ComicCon are fun to look at, easy to hold but are they really the games people want to plunk down their credit cards to own or rent time with? Seems as though the investors, the players who control the controllers have a different idea of a "good" game than the kids who develop them. While mobs of people play educational, informational, stimulating games our kid huddles in his room and mumbles "The Few, The Proud, The Gamers."
Read More
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AMD64 - Directly Connecting Your Imagination to Reality
Each generation of new technology assaulting the digital content creator typically comes with elaborate promises about how it?s going to change lives. Sometimes that?s actually true -- but not always for the better. Non-linear editing systems brought the number of ?workarounds? to new heights
...Read More »
This is not a 2D world
This is not a 2D world. Now there is no reason that the world of media has to be either. In recent years, producing a high quality 3D image has become easier and more affordable. Film, commercial and broadcast production houses are using 3D imaging more and more frequently to create more realistic and exciting graphics, both to entertain and to educate.
...Read More »
Adobe to Acquire Macromedia
Yesterday, Adobe announced that it would acquire Macromedia in a stock option trade valued at around $3.4 billion. This subtle announcement may come as a shock to many users of the Macromedia products, and it will have a huge impact in the web development and content creation worlds.
...Read More »
Beginners Guide to NAB
If you're planning to attend the National Association of Broadcasters Convention in a couple of weeks, you've probably already signed up and are beginning to receive emails and notices daily. The emails probably have all kinds of information regarding the various conferences that will be held, some on satellite technology, others on HD delivery specifications. But you probably haven't received any notices from NAB to wear comfortable shoes.
...Read More »
Anark Studio 3.0
In what can only be described as a Mac author's recurring nightmare, Anark has announced that their Anark Studio product will only be available for Mac when "conditions are right." The chicken/egg conundrum that has made software solutions for content authoring on a Mac slim, continues. Anark finally delivers a mature application that looks great, but for its PC users only.
...Read More »
Gift of Giving
Got a new G5 for the holidays? Did you get a new camera, or gaming system and no longer want your old technology? Have you thought about making a charitable donation?
...Read More »
Don't Frustrate the Viewer
Sometimes digital video editing involves magic. You can flash something here to attract the viewer's eye and then over there, make something happen the viewer doesn't see. That's part of the thrill of producing and editing video -- manipulating where people will look. But then sometimes you can give the viewers so many things to look at that they don't see anything. In that case, you've broken the cardinal rule of video production: Don't Frustrate the Viewer. Let's figure out how to stay in the good graces of that rule.
...Read More »
Motion And the Big Picture
Like many of you, I spent the better part of this last week constantly refreshing my various browser window in the hopes of catching the absolute latest news coming out of Vegas, where NAB just closed up shop until this time next year. Of course, I don't have to remind anyone who was grabbing the (very) early headlines; Apple was quite busy providing whiz-bang fireworks on what is usually a traditional day of rest.
...Read More »
NAB Diary 2004: Preview Edition
Now in its fourth year, the NAB Diary will be returning to these pages in just a few weeks giving you an up close look at the action going on at the show. While the show is still a few weeks away, now is the perfect opportunity to give you a sneak peak at the thoughts going through my head of what we might expect at the show.
...Read More »
The Case for Specialists
Special effects have become a pervasive part of the television industry, with especially heavy growth in effects-driven or CG-enhanced commercials. As a matter of fact, a large number of commercials being produced currently go through at least a minor amount of compositing, where different elements of separate live action shoots are merged together and matched into one scene.
...Read More »
The Accidental Switcher
Man, I sure do love my Flash MX. I find myself using it to some extent in each and every interactive project I do, and it's even creeping its way into my motion graphics workflow on video projects as the straight-up QuickTime-friendly animation tool it certainly is capable of being. There's only one little, nagging problem. I'm finding that the more time I spend in Flash MX, the less time I'm spending on a Mac.
...Read More »
Star Wars Episode 4.6.0: A New New New Hope
Star Wars Episode Four: A New Hope was probably the reason why many of us got into the industry - motion pictures, special effects, animation, graphics, etc. In 1977 the movie was something that blew audiences away and became one of those films that redefined the industry. In 1997 technology had improved greatly; Starship Troopers came out that year that had animated special effects that made the effects from the ?77 flick pale in comparison. So what does Lucas do? He changes his film. Not only did he enhance the effects and clean it up, but in a couple of scenes he changed the whole tone of the film.
...Read More »
Where The Reader Is King
Many times, readers send me email, wanting to know how I review software and hardware, how I make editorial decisions, what kind of relationship I have with our advertisers, and whether I am beholden to anybody. Sometimes, if I write an article or editorial that a reader disagrees with, I'll be accused of being bought by one manufacturer or another. The following editorial explains what influence vendors and readers have over what I do, how I decide what to write about, and for whom I write.
...Read More »
Bonus Smack: It's the Big One, Elizabeth
Good gooblety goop! It's finally here--Photoshop 7.0 for Mac OS X ... and, uh, all those other operating systems as well. But who cares about those? With the release of the most ubiquitous creative application on any platform, Adobe has finally made Mac OS X a viable operating system for creative professionals. And that means everything else can kiss my shiny, graphite Mac!
...Read More »
Maya Enters 3D Volume Market
Alias/Wavefront has reduced the price of Maya. Not just by a little bit, but significantly. Maya Complete, formerly priced at $7,500 will now sell for $1,999 and Maya Unlimited, which formerly sold for $16,000 will be priced at $6,999. The software remains the same and no features were removed in order to lower the prices. This means that Maya is now priced in the same category as traditional volume market 3D software such as Lightwave and MAX, which may very well be considered a landmark in the history of 3D graphics.
...Read More »
Analysis: Apple's Acquisition of Nothing Real: Insanely Great or Just Plain Insane?
Apple's acquisition of Nothing Real, developer of the Tremor and Shake compositing systems, poses some serious questions with regard to the digital media marketplace. Tremor and Shake run on Linux, Windows, and the Irix operating systems. Apple sells Power Macs running OS X. So what does this mean to those artists who use Nothing Real's tools for creating their art? Will support be offered to those who have purchased the turnkey Tremor systems at prices starting at $75,000 on up to $140,000?
...Read More »
The Case For The Defense
You may not be too surprised to hear a designer jump to the defense of designers and the role they play. However, this little narrative has not been inspired by the instinct for the self-preservation of my industry, but rather by a blown gasket. A blown top. You see, someone said it again. With startling frequency I am informed, by inference or otherwise, that my computer does my job for me; "that's just Photoshop isn't it?"
...Read More »
