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A r tists find inspiration in many different ways. Maybe it's a song, or a painting or the way the sunlight reflects off the water. This month, I spoke with a handful of compositors about their ar t and what influences their work, and what I discovered is they look at the world differently than most people. They find ar t in ab- solutely everything. Inferno ar tist Fred Ruckel of New York City's Stitch says, "I am always inspired by others' work. When I see tasteful executions of a great cre- ative it just reminds me where it all begins — with the concept." And Ruckel sees composites in ever yday life. "When I walk the streets in Manhattan, I look at the people — some fast-moving, some standing still — and the cars moving through at different speeds; it looks like a composite of many layers all at offset speeds." Something as simple as pouring creamer into a clear coffee cup, reminds Ruckel of fluid dynamics. "It looks like an explosion, or a convulsing cloud.". Even looking at nature reminds him of a com- posite. "When I am driving down a mountain and see a valley full of clouds and I drive into it... some- times the real thing looks like a bad composite." Remi Larroque is an Eyeon Fusion compositor based in France. Prior to working in visual effects and compositing, he studied carpentr y and learned the basics of architecture. "I am ver y in- spired from the streets, as well as 'old-school genre' and mixing '30s and '70s graphic ar ts. Pop ar t and motion design influence me as well. It is fun to get vintage designs and put in some 3D." Larroque says he is inspired by films more than traditional art. "I like to know how people do there transitions because if you have a good idea for the transition you've got the point [of the piece]." How does he transfer his inspiration into his work? "When I find something I like, I prefer knowing what the guy went through to translate what he saw; how he brought that into CG. I prefer to know how the pieces of CG or movies work instead why they work — it is not the same approach." He adds that his tool of choice helps by not getting in the way of his creativity. "Fusion is very helpful because the most impor tant thing for me is to create [naturally].You think, you drag and it's done. I can drag and connect the nodes and see the tree growing up as fast as I think it." What inspires you? The art of inspiration E D I T O R ' S N O T E 2 Post • October 2009 www.postmagazine.com By RANDI ALTMAN EDITOR-IN-CHIEF raltman@postmagazine.com P O S T S C R I P T Autodesk addresses Red workflow R ecently, Post teamed up with Autodesk and Alt Systems to host a roundtable presenta- tion that looked at digital acquisition — particu- larly using the Red One camera — and the chal- lenges that pros are facing in handling files during post production. The goal of this LA-based event was to pre- sent a sampling of pros working on Red projects, and the solutions — Autodesk's in this case — that are helping to simplify workflows. My job was to ask tough questions and not let it dissolve into a sales pitch in front of our guests, all of whom had their own Red experiences. Todd Iorio of Resolution/LA, a division of Union Editorial (LA/NYC), was on hand to dis- cuss his work, which focused on commercials, his studio's specialty. Resolution has Autodesk Flame, Smoke and Maya, as well as Avid DS, and Iorio says about one out of eight projects that comes to the studio is shot on Red. Paal Anand of Bling Imaging in Hollywood also participated, and detailed some of his Red experiences. Bling has Flame and Toxik, and works on commercials, music videos and long- form projects, including indie films. But it's the spot clients that Anand says seem to have adopted Red for acquisition. Longform clients, he says, still prefer film, and his music video clients feel Red footage is too sharp for beauty shots. In addition, Anand says VFX can be a chal- lenge because of the compressed format. Both Iorio and Anand have tried different transcoding solutions, each with different degrees of success, and have ultimately selected Autodesk's Wiretap Central for the job.Wiretap is a software application that transcodes Red's R3D files into RGB or DPX files on a back- ground system — or cluster of systems — leav- ing an artist's creative workstation free to con- tinue working without any hits to performance. But what's interesting is that, while both are happy with Wiretap's performance and ability to allow them to continue working, neither has been able to monetize the transcoding process. Instead, they chalk it up as a necessary step in simply securing a job. Post and Autodesk will host a video of the event on our respective Websites, as well as a white paper that provides an overview of these Red workflow solutions. By MARC LOFTUS SENIOR EDITOR mloftus@postmagazine.com A D V E R T I S I N G MERLE MODEL East Coast Sales Manager (781) 255-0625 cell: (516) 830-0631 mmodel@postmagazine.com MARI KOHN West Coast Sales Manager (818) 291-1153 cell: (818) 472-1491 mkohn@postmagazine.com LISA BLACK Education and Recruitment Sales (877) CGW-POST (249-7678) lisab@copcomm.com KEITH KNOPF Production Director (818) 291-1158 CHRIS SALCIDO Account Manager (818) 291-1144 csalcido@copprints.com CUSTOMER SERVICE 620 West Elk Ave, Glendale, CA 91204 csr@postmagazine.com (800) 280 6446 opt 2 (publishing), opt 1 (subscriptions) REPRINTS Reprints (781) 255-0625 • (818) 291-1153 LA SALES office: 620 West Elk Avenue, Glendale, California 91204 (800) 280-6446 Post Magazine is published by Post, LLC, a COP communications company. 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