Posts from — December 2009

One of the biggest questions I get when people are purchasing Assimilate SCRATCH for their DI Suite is “What should I run this on?”  Well, according to Assimilates Hardware Guidelines you can use a number of qualified PC’s with specific spec’s.  Assimilate only checks the minimum spec’s to see if the PC is capable of running SCRATCH effectively.  The truth is that just about any tech savvy person who wants to build a station can go to Fry’s and build a workstation that meets the spec’s required for a pretty low price.  Of course you could also grow your own Penicillin but I think I’ll leave that to the biologists . . . [Read more →]

You are invited to attend Autodesk’s virtual technology preview of Autodesk® Smoke® software for the Mac OS® X platform.

During this webcast you will learn how Smoke can empower your existing creative cut workflows by helping deliver true editorial finishing on the Mac. Discover how you can take a project from ordinary to extraordinary with a creative toolset that encompasses editorial, conform, color correction and advanced 2D and 3D compositing.

This webcast will be hosted by Autodesk Applications Engineers Dean Schirm and Will Harris.

Registration is free, but you’ll need to register to gain access to the webinar.

Register HERE.

When: December 17, 2009

Time: 12:30 PM – 1:30 PM PST

TB

Check out THIS great video from FX Guide on Smoke on Mac.

TB

Just a quick note - A faster 3.33GHz Quad-Core Intel Xeon “Nehalem” processor is now available as a configure-to-order option on the quad-core Mac Pro. Featuring 8MB of fully shared L3 cache, an integrated memory controller, Hyper-Threading technology, and Turbo Boost for dynamic performance up to 3.6GHz, this processor brings even greater performance to the quad-core Mac Pro.

Mac Pro and Xserve systems can now be configured with 2TB hard drives, doubling the total storage capacity to up to 8TB on Mac Pro and up to 6TB on Xserve. The 2TB hard drives are high-performance 7200-rpm SATA 3Gb/s drives with 32MB of cache and are also available separately.

TB

I have to admit I’ve been seriously intrigued by RED Ray since it’s announcement some time ago.  I was very intrigued after watching the RED Reel at this past NAB.  RED showed the 2009 reel on a 50 ft screen in glorious 4k.  Needless to say, it looked amazing.  They then said just for giggles they wanted to show the previous years reel and proceeded to show it.  Same amazing look.  Then with a very Steve Jobsish “one more thing” grin on his face, Ted Schilowitz proudly announced that while the first reel was uncompressed 4k, the latter was actually played back from their voodoo, black magic box known as RED Ray.  At a stunning 10Mb/s . . . that’s right, 10Mb (with a small b, as in bits.) about half the bitrate of SD DV.  Don’t believe me . . .  Engadget HD wrote about it shortly after it happened.  Still don’t believe?  Well, truth be told I don’t really care.  I was there, I saw it, I was awestruck.

Anyhow, as cool as that is, it’s in the past.  On the 30th of last month RED decided to up the ante.  They made announcements on RED Ray and the much anticipated Scarlet.  It may be ridiculous but I really want a Scarlet.  I planned on one day getting a nice DSLR anyway so why not get the best and go RED??  I couldn’t think of a reason not to either.  There’s too much to type here so go over to REDuser and check the announcements and some really cool renders for yourself.

TB