Issue link: https://digital.copcomm.com/i/1013519
www.postmagazine.com 5 POST AUGUST 2018 BITS & PIECES SIM POST NY BOOSTS STAFF AND AUDIO PRODUCTION CAPABILITIES NEW YORK — Sim Post (www.siminternational.com) has announced five strategic hires and the expansion of audio services and facilities in New York to better service the North American television and film community. Sim Post is a division of Sim, the North American leaders in providing end-to-end solutions for TV and feature film production and post production in LA, Vancouver, Toronto, New York and Atlanta. Following the recent addition of a premiere DI Theater to its New York location, Sim is building three state-of-the-art audio suites, a voiceover room and support space for the expanded audio capabilities. The advanced facilities and technology, paired with key talent recruitments, solidify Sim's dedication to providing world-class services for content creators across North America. "We're continuing to grow in the New York market and are thrilled with the new talent that's joining the Sim team," says Bill DeRonde, president, post production divi- sion, Sim. "Our investment in the facility's audio suites and new DI Theater, along with our new staff bolsters Sim New York's status as a premier center for post picture finishing and sound services." Primetime Emmy award winner Sue Pelino joins Sim as a senior re-recording mixer. Over Pelino's career, she has been nominated for 10 Primetime Emmy Awards, most recently winning her third Emmy in 2017 for "Outstanding Sound Mixing" for her work on the 2017 Rock & Roll Hall of Fame Induction Ceremony (HBO). Dan Ricci also joins the Sim audio department as a re-recording mixer, having graduated from Berklee College of Music. Ricci's prior work experience includes Sony Music and a portfolio that includes Comedians in Cars Getting Coffee and the Grammy-nominated Jerry Before Seinfeld Netflix special. A recent graduate from Five Towns College (New York), Ryan Schumer completes Sim New York's audio department as an assistant audio engineer. Stephanie Pacchiano joins Sim as a finishing producer, following a 10-year stint at Broadway Video where she provided finishing and delivery services for a robust ros- ter of clients, including Jerry Seinfeld's Comedians and Cars Getting Coffee, Atlanta, Portlandia, Documentary Now! and delivering Saturday Night Live to over 25 domes- tic and international platforms. Kassie Caffiero joins Sim as vice president, business development, east coast sales, with over 25 years of post production experience. Caffiero's strong foundation in the managing of scheduling, operations and sales departments at major post facilities led her to the role of VP of post production at Sony Music Studios, New York City (10 years), Creative Group in Times Square (five years) and Broadway Video (six years). EPIC GAMES RELEASES UNREAL ENGINE 4.20 CARY, NC — Epic Games has launched Unreal Engine 4.20 (un- realengine.com), enabling developers to build realistic characters and immersive environments across games, film and TV, VR/AR/MR and enterprise applications. Unreal Engine 4.20 combines the latest real-time rendering ad- vancements with improved creative tools, making it easier to ship blockbuster games across all platforms. With hundreds of optimiza- tions, especially for iOS, Android and Nintendo Switch — which have been built for Fortnite and are now rolled into Unreal Engine 4.20 and released to all users — Epic is delivering on its promises to give devel- opers the scalable tools they need to succeed. Artists working in visual effects, animation, broadcast and virtu- al production can also take advantage of the latest enhancements for digital humans, VFX, cinematic depth of field and more to create stunningly sophisticated images across all forms of media and entertainment. Key features within Unreal Engine 4.20 include: New proxy LOD sys- tems UE4's production-ready Proxy LOD system allow easy reduction of rendering cost due to poly count, draw calls and material complexi- ty. Proxy LOD yields huge gains when developing for mobile and con- sole platforms; smoother mobile experience — Well over 100 mobile optimizations developed firsthand for Fortnite come to all 4.20 users, marking a major shift for easy "shippability" and seamless gameplay optimization across platforms. Major enhancements include improved Android debugging, mobile Landscape improvements, RHI thread on Android and occlusion queries on mobile. Niagara VFX (early access) is Unreal Engine's new programmable VFX editor, now available in early access, which will help developers take their VFX to the next level. This new suite of tools is built from the ground up to give artists control over particle simulation, rendering and performance, for more sophisticated visuals. This tool will eventu- ally replace the Unreal Cascade particle editor. Unreal Engine 4.20 also delivers tools for achieving depth of field at true cinematic quality in any scene. This brand new implementation replaces the Circle DOF method. It's faster, cleaner and provides a cin- ematic appearance through the use of a procedural bokeh simulation. Digital humans improvements include In-engine tools that offer dual lobe specular/double Beckman specular models, backscatter transmission in lights, boundary bleed color subsurface scattering, iris normal slot for eyes, and screen space irradiance to build the most cutting-edge digital humans in games and beyond. Unreal Engine 4.20 builds immersive environments. (L to R) Ricci, Pelino, Pacchiano, Caffiero and Schumer