Issue link: https://digital.copcomm.com/i/18322
The Foundry Forges New Offerings The Foundry has announced a number of offerings, including a new release of its compositor, Nuke. Among the features in Nuke 6.1 is an Ultimatte keyer, in addition to the other industry-stan- dard keying solutions already supported by the software. The 3D through the camera, RED 3.1 support, RotoPaint improvements, new camera-tracking features (in NukeX only), and more. Nuke 6.1 is priced at $3500; NukeX 6.1 costs $7200. Recently, The Foundry also released MARI 1.0, the compa- ny’s new creative 3D texture-painting technology. Origi- nally developed at Weta Digital to handle the exceedingly detailed look development and texture work demanded by Avatar, MARI copes easily with an obsessive level of detail—literally tens of thousands of textures—quickly and elegantly. In other news, the company also released Ocula 2.1, the system inside Nuke now allows users to select any 3D object or 3D points in the viewer, and add 3D objects to them, including cameras and lights. In addition to FBX input, Version 6.1 now has FBX export, as well. Other features include interactive viewing PRODUCT: COMPOSITING Imageworks Offers OpenColorIO Sony Pictures Imageworks has released OpenColorIO (OCIO), its sixth produc- tion-proven open-source software to be introduced since launching its open- source initiative in July 2009. Colorspace—the numerical descrip- tion of color used in CG production and display—is one of the trickiest and most challenging aspects of digital motion- picture production. This is particularly true of visual effects and animation, where images typically fl ow through multiple software applications, and even production houses, each often lever- aging unique color processes. In the absence of conventions for sharing color transformation processes, virtually every production team must re-invent a color workfl ow for every application. Open- ColorIO (OCIO), however, enables color transforms and image display to be handled consistently across multiple graphics applications. Unlike existing color management solutions, OCIO is geared toward motion-picture post- production, with an emphasis on visual effects and animation color pipelines. OpenColorIO has been used at Sony Pictures Imageworks since 2003 to address the challenges of working with multiple commercial image-process- ing applications that have different approaches to color management. By providing a unifi ed color environment, OpenColorIO greatly simplifi es the task of creating and validating multiple-appli- cation color workfl ows. For smaller facili- ties, OpenColorIO allows artists to work in a properly color-managed process with minimal setup effort. And, for larger 4 PRODUCT: POSTPRODUCTION October 2010 facilities, the extensive customization allows OCIO-compatible tools to be used off the shelf, matching existing facil- ity color practice. While proprietary technologies have long characterized the visual effects and animation industry, recent years have seen increasing adoption of commercial technologies. Standards, common tech- nologies, and open-source development further enable greater interaction among artists, facilities, and production work- fl ows. In 2009, Imageworks released fi ve open-source projects, including OSL, a programmable shading language for rendering; Field3d, a voxel data storage library; Maya Reticule, a Maya plug-in for camera masking; Scala Migration, a database migration tool; and Pystring, Python-like string handling in C+ +. company’s unique collection of plug-in tools that address common problems experienced with stereoscopic imag- ery in postproduction. Improvements have been made to the tool’s ColourMatcher, allowing for the reliable correc- tion of localized color differences introduced by the polar- izing effects in mirror and prism rigs. Version 2.1 costs $10,000 but is a free upgrade for existing customers. Finally, The Foundry introduced two new tools for Adobe After Effects: Kronos 5.0, an accelerated retimer and motion-blur plug-in set, and CameraTracker, providing matchmoving directly within After Effects.