Issue link: https://digital.copcomm.com/i/1475973
BITS & PIECES www.postmagazine.com 12 POST JULY/AUG 2022 DNEG TO RELEASE OPEN SOURCE PLAYBACK & REVIEW APP LONDON — VFX and animation studio Dneg has outlined plans for the upcom- ing launch of xStudio (www.dneg.com/xstudio), its flexible and feature-rich playback and review application. Currently in development at Dneg, xStudio is designed to replace all other image review tools across the studio's content creation pipeline, allowing individuals and teams to review shots, edits and grades in a single, unified application on all desktop platforms and operating systems, including Linux, Mac and Windows. Dneg intends to publish xStudio as an open-source project, allowing industry partners and filmmaking teams to integrate the application into their own pipe- lines, all while encouraging the adoption of the tool as a new industry-standard toolset for collaborative review. "From its conception, xStudio was designed to allow everyone working in the media creation industries to collaborate seamlessly," explains Chas Jarrett, senior VFX supervisor at Dneg. "VFX supervisors, artists, directors, DPs, studio executives, producers — we all look at images every day in many different ways. XStudio will give us a common industry toolset for organizing and displaying all types of media, annotating and editing them, and then securely sharing the results with each other on our laptops, in screening rooms or over the internet." The application is expected to launch later this year and will be available for free download and use. Partners can also contribute features and workflows to support their own specific needs. "Our teams across the globe design, create, animate and submit thousands of visual effects shots and animation sequences across multiple projects every day," notes Paul Salvini, global CTO at Dneg. "In xStudio we have created a modern, flexible, feature-rich playback and review application that we hope will become the new industry standard. By freely sharing xStudio as an open source project with our clients and our industry partners we are encouraging everyone to use and develop the toolset so that we all benefit from the collec- tive expertise in our community." XStudio will feature a modern, feature-rich and pipeline-agnostic core application, while also providing a full Python API, C++ plug-in framework and extensive use of open-source libraries to allow contributors full control of its integration into their pipelines. REMOTE PICTURE LABS INTRODUCES REMOTE WORKFLOW PLATFORM BURBANK, CA — Remote Picture Labs (remotepicturelabs.com) has introduced the RPL Platform, a modular offering of cloud-based post production solutions that bring flexibility, performance and efficiency to workflows ranging from pre-production through delivery. The RPL Platform seamlessly shifts decentral- ized post production teams to more agile remote workflows, enabling them to use the same tools and software products on existing media and projects. "The benefits of the hybrid and remote post production workflows are stun- ning when compared to traditional work models," explains Keith Gore, COO at Remote Picture Labs. "Across cost, efficiency, productivity, agility and team satisfaction, there really is no comparison — and the RPL Platform delivers all those benefits, as well as the reliability and proven performance that are so essential in post production." The central offering within the RPL Platform is RPL Edit, which leverages RPL's fault-tolerant private cloud and high-performance workstations — run- ning Avid or Adobe applications — to provide a hybrid on- prem/remote editing solution that enables full collaboration between team members, no matter where they are located. RPL can receive content from any worldwide secure source and make it available to creatives working anywhere. Thanks to ultra-fast 10GbE connectivity and secure transport using PCoIP technology, editors and producers can enjoy picture, audio and system response identical to that of a traditional editing bay. Other modules currently available within the RPL Platform include RPL Dailies, RPL Finish and RPL Archive, which facilitates archiving of projects in any format and rapid restores of archived projects as needed. Any of these RPL Platform modules can be implemented as a standalone solution or with other modules as part of a larger post workflow. RPL works closely with customers to customize just the right solution for every project and scale it to address new creative team additions, increased processing demands and other changes to the collaborative work environ- ment. The RPL team provides IP-centric service and support, and manages all the technical details for every RPL Platform solution.