Issue link: http://digital.copcomm.com/i/990701
63 Q2 2018 / CINEMONTAGE 63 Q2 2018 / CINEMONTAGE TECH TIPS streaming services, but these days, those who work in high-end production — specifically visual effects artists and animators — are mostly doing their work on Windows- or Linux-based machines. (3D animation has always been PC-based.) Film and video editors, who once relied heavily on the Mac platform, also have acknowledged the additional power, expandability and enhanced video cards that can be found on the Windows platform. Eventually, the aspect ratio of screens expanded from 4:3 to 16:9 as resolutions continued to increase. Since those working in production and post needed as much screen real estate as they could get, at some point it became common for artists, animators and editors to put two displays on their desktop. In one display, for example, you could see the image of what you were working on, while the other could hold the plethora of pixels, palettes, timelines and controls that were necessary to get the job done. Or you could put one application on one display and an entirely different application on the other. For most people, a single monitor was simply not enough, and therefore two HD (1920 x 1080 pixels) monitors became standard issue. TWO IS NOT ALWAYS BETTER THAN ONE While two displays sound better than one, there were a few problems with this solution, the biggest being the physical gap between them. Yes, it was possible to take a window or a palette and stretch it across both displays, but it was practically impossible to work that way. Whether you are retouching a large image in Photoshop or animating objects in a 3D viewport, working across two separate displays is a problem. One of the applications where this is particularly egregious is editing because edit timelines are so characteristically horizontal. If you've ever tried to stretch one across two displays, you'll know how frustrating it is. Because of this, an individual window or palette (or application) would typically go on one display or the other, but not both. In recent years, computer displays have increased further in resolution to 4K, and in some cases beyond. However, aspect ratios remained at 16:9. Therefore, while there was indeed more resolution, the physical dimensions of Ultra High-Definition displays remained more or less on par with HD monitors. The result was that pixels got smaller, and this meant you might have to squint to see tiny user-interface elements, icons or text — or use a magnifying glass. Now, luckily, a better solution has recently emerged in the form of the ultra- wide display. Besides the powerful workstation towers and mobile workstations that can be found in HP's Z Series, the company also has a family of displays geared toward high-end creative professionals. This includes the elite line of DreamColor displays, which are used throughout the industry in animation studios and visual effects houses, and by colorists. HP's DreamColor technology even won a Scientific and Engineering Award from the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences in 2015. A BETTER SOLUTION In the new HP Z38c Super-Wide Display, HP has introduced a new product that promises to change the game. In the short time that I've had it, the Z38c has changed the way I work, making the process of everything I do — 3D animation, compositing, sound mixing and picture editing — a lot more productive and fun. What makes this new display so noteworthy? A whole lot. Let's start with the dimensions. Instead of being 16:9, as most displays in the past 10 years or so have been, the Z38c is a stunningly wide 21:9 with 4K (wide) resolution that measures a whopping 3840 x 1600 pixels. That's like having two 1920 x 1600 displays side by side. It's even better than two full high-definition displays since they each only measure 1080 pixels deep. The best part is that there is no annoying gap between them, nothing preventing you from taking a window, or an app, and stretching it across the entire width of the Z38c. At the risk of sounding overly dramatic, once you've done this, you will never want to go back to a 16:9 display; the whole idea of having two displays on your desk will feel outdated and outmoded (see Figure 1). The 21:9 aspect ratio of the Z38c also happens to be the same aspect ratio as the modern cinema widescreen format and very close to the CinemaScope theatrical format of the past. Therefore, those who work in the movie industry can display the entire picture in ways not possible on a 16:9 display (the same aspect ratio of HDTV). Aside from Z38c's 37.5-inch diagonal measurement and its 4K-wide resolution, pixel resolution measures 110 pixels per inch, which Figure 2: With the Z38c, you can stretch windows and timelines across the ultra- wide display. This is especially useful for editing timelines since they can span the display's entire width.