Post Magazine

CAMBRIDGE, MA — GenArts (www. genarts.com) was at IBC with new Sap- phire plug-ins for OFX products. OFX is an open standard for plug-ins that enables developers to support a broad range of plat- forms with a common interface.The new Sapphire OFX plug-ins bring more than 200 effects to users of Au- todesk,The Foundry, Eyeon, FilmLight, Digi- tal Vision and Assimi- late tools. The collection in- cludes regularly-used effects, such as Glows, LensFlares, Glint, Film- Damage and ZDefo- cus, as well as more exotic offerings, such as Lightning, FlysEye, and JpegDamage. Future support is expected for other OFX host platforms. Sapphire Plug-ins V.1 for OFX includes the full range of ef- fects, features and functionality al- ready stan- dard for other supported hosts, including V.2 for After Effects and com- patible products,V.2 for Apple FxPlug and V.4 for Autodesk sys- tems. Support for floating licenses and background render nodes is also included. The plug-ins sup- port Windows 32 and 64, Linux 32 and 64, and Mac OS X. AUDIO VIDEO STORAGE GRAPHICS D-CINEMA STUDIO N E W S GENARTS PLUG- INS EMPOWER OFX PRODUCTS 8 Post • October 2008 www.postmagazine.com I RVINE, CA — Sonnet Technologies (www.sonnettech.com) is offering the new Tempo SATA Pro ExpressCard/34, a two-port SATA host controller that delivers high throughput performance to notebook users. Designed for video capture and editing in the field or studio, the Tempo SATA card supports sustained data throughput of up to 200 MB/sec, 140 percent as fast as Sonnet's standard-performance Tempo SATA card for notebooks.With this high performance throughput, the Tempo SATA Pro Express- Card/34 supports more simultaneous video streams during play- back and enables faster file transfers for content of any kind. Based on Sonnet's Tempo SATA E4P SATA host controller for desktops, the Tempo SATA Pro ExpressCard/34 allows users to connect up to 10 SATA hard drives to any compatible notebook computer with an ExpressCard/34 or ExpressCard/54 slot.When used in combination with storage systems featuring two or more drives, the Sonnet card deliv- ers significant gains in read and write data transfer speeds, with higher throughput than FireWire, USB, and earlier-generation eSATA ExpressCard adapters. The Tempo SATA Pro ExpressCard/34 is compatible with Mac- Book Pro systems running Mac OS 10.5 and 10.4, as well as with notebooks running Windows Vista and XP SP2.The Sonnet card will be available this month at a suggested retail price of $299.95. N EW YORK — Thornberg & Forester (www. thornbergandforester.com), a design bou- tique set up by par tners Scott Matz, Eliza- beth Kiehner and Justin Meredith, has been busy since its launch just under two years ago. After moving locations a number of times, the company has set- tled into a 3,000-square-foot space on Fifth Avenue, and is steadily churning out high-profile work for both advertis- ers and broadcast networks. The studio recently completed work on an animated spot for McDon- ald's that relies heavily on still images. Q&A With The Packers Guy is a fun spot, conceived by Boston-based agency Arnold Worldwide, featuring a die- hard Green Bay fan, who offers up no- nonsense advice. The commercial is one of three that T&F is creating for the client, all using the same animated style and football theme. Still images of talent, including Matz's dog Pocket, were captured during a photo shoot and manipulated using Adobe's After Effects, Photoshop and Illustrator. The studio also recently completed work on a challenging spot for Target, out of Minneapolis-based agency Peterson Milla Hooks. The commercial, which came together in just three weeks, is designed to highlight the retailer's fall collection and features live- action imager y, composited onto a twisting, turning cube puzzle. Live action was shot by director Floria Sigismondi and was provided to the T&F team on a hard drive. The studio performed numerous motion tests to achieve the desired folding cube effect. Four ar tists using Autodesk Maya handled 3D duties for the job, and two compositors relied on Adobe After Effects to add the live action to the animated model. The spot was produced in HD and was delivered in both HD and SD formats. On the broadcast side, T&F helped Discover y launch their Planet Green network, and also created an image campaign for HBO Canada. Showing their cross platform skills, the studio created a redesign for Thomson Reuters that affects both their broadcast and broadband presence. More than 80 HD Quick- Times were delivered to the client, as well as a toolkit, designed for quickly creating news graphics. By Marc Loftus T&F takes on spot & broadcast work This McDonald's spot relied on still images compositied in After Effects. Sonnet card improves laptop throughput

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