[hyrlvlrec]

i recently spent the day with an sgi tech……he basically told me that sgi’s main customers arent willing to pay the top dollar for IR based gfx anymore….that desktop/commdity gfx systems can do most of what the IR stuff can do, but not quite….i got the impression that the ati/prism gfx just aren’t what an IR is

[hyrlvlrec]

would love to see this when its done! post a link if possible to the shot

[hyrlvlrec]

yeah, this stuff was shot 24P (not advanced) ….. and im pretty sure that the cadence is restarted everytime theres a start/stop

[hyrlvlrec]

johmnont? jeff? MSeymour??

[hyrlvlrec]

it would be great if you could send me the action setup as well

[email protected]

[hyrlvlrec]

if all of this is true, it still seems kind of funny that not only “artists” on duty in the demo, and the cheif software engineers weren’t able to produce any of these things

[hyrlvlrec]

kuban, i was speaking mostly of the level of interactivity inside of action

like i said before….. i jumped on both linux and tezro systems at NAB, and realized that as soon as i got to only four layers of 1080p in action, the linux system lost all interactivity, while the tezro maintained realtime interactivity….. and this was only 4 layers……. most jobs that go through action in our flame suite require a minimun of 20 layers….. and we often get up and beyond 100 layers, so if linux loses its interactivity at only 4 layers of HD, i dont think linux would be good for us

octane2 V12 acts the same way…. we still got quite a bit of interactivity even with 43 layers of 8bit 2k, which was the last job i finished

we’ll stick with the sgi platforms for now 😉

[hyrlvlrec]

hmmmm. i sat through a private demo of the latest unreleased piranha with the owners and chief software engineers of ifx, and this is where i get these facts from…… they were not able to show me a real motion blur….. and by the way, if you dont know what motion blur is, dont argue about it… motion blur is blur applied to layers moving through 3d space, not blur applied within the layer (that is what piranha was able to do)…. without real motion blur, you would never be able to create a realistic composite

they were not able to show me anti-aliasing, they were only able to show me a workaround with edge blur

they were not able to show me any colour grading tools with any actual ability

they gave me a price quote for a turnkey system (they said that a software only purchase was not available) and it well above $75k so i have no idea where you get these prices from ($55k to $75k)

and the fact that all these production companies have them does not prove the system is worthwhile….. places like those buy systems like these just to say they have them, and just to be in style, places like those have systems like these, but do they really use them when it comes down to business, and they need a serious compositing, editing or colour grading tool?? does apple really use shake or motion when they need a new ipod commercial or motion demo?? NO!!!!!! apple doesnt even do their own media work…. they outsource to companies that use flame, which honestly is the only system that’s worthwhile for a job that needs to get done, and done the right way……….. if you insist on “being different” or “being in style”, but dont really care if the “different” or “stylish” systems are the best tools, go ahead and use a piranha, or a quantel………. but if efficiency, reliability, and proven capability are what matter most, stick with a smoke/flame…. any day, all day, everyday

[hyrlvlrec]

ohohohohohoh discreet event planner girls

[hyrlvlrec]

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[hyrlvlrec]

i sat through literally hours of toxik bullshit in vegas, and really, i couldnt tell you one useful tool that i could use right now

im really hoping that flame and smoke dont become “plugins” for toxik, that would fuking suck

[hyrlvlrec]

i watched one toxik seat make a change to one key, then another seat sitting directly 5 feet from it hit the update button, and then witnessed a good 45sec before the key was update…….. it was a simple curves mod……… id say thats awful slow, especially when it was on an image that was no larger than sd res….. imagine trying to update a key on an HD layer

[hyrlvlrec]

you love constantly having your controls overtop of the video ? i dunno about you, but i like having my controls, and my video nicely separated so that everything is clean and workable

one monitor is filled with controls and video, while the other is, well, filled with pretty much nothing……

even your clip bin has to be displayed on the same monitor as your video

[hyrlvlrec]

i hate to say it…. the guys at ifx really have given it a go at piranha, but…………

piranha is sort of a joke:
no anti-aliasing–> rotate a plane of video just one degree in Z and find yourself with jagged edges only halfassed fixable with an edge blur

no motionblur on anything that you may want to move in x/y/z

a bunch of really cool looking realtime effects (even on hd) that you would probably never use

this is just a few things wrong with piranha, other than its over-$100,000USD pricetag (and that’s without storage)

---

for a system that’s probably less capable than finalcut/AE combo on a G5

and the UI flat out sucks

[hyrlvlrec]

bottom line is that software optimization (or lack thereof) is really not relevant here, the fact and reality of the matter is that the linux systems ARE not as capable, and ARE not as fast for high resolution work—- like many beleive them to be

PS: live sessions were fun, thanks john

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