London, L.A. & Miami, September 9th, 2002 — Post-production solutions developer 5D today announced that it has signed resellers in major post production centres across the US to reinforce the sales, training, installation and technical support of its products – 5D Cyborg visual effects compositor, 5D Colossus creative digital colour timing and grading, and 5D Commander data portal and review system for digital dailies.
The company is partnering with well-known, pro-active resellers in New York, Chicago, San Francisco and Atlanta. Combined with 5D’s own offices in Santa Monica and Miami, and existing reseller Iris Inc in Seattle, the expanded network means that 5D technologies are supported more efficiently across the US than ever before.
VCA Fusion represents 5D in New York and the surrounding states of New Jersey and Pennsylvania. Midwest Media Group is responsible for 5D products in Chicago and the Midwestern states of Illinois, Wisconsin, Michigan, Indiana, Minnesota, Missouri, Kansas, Nebraska, Iowa, North Dakota and South Dakota. The San Francisco bay area is covered by Advance System Group, with Digital Solutions taking care of the Atlanta region.
All of the resellers report through 5D’s Santa Monica office run by Colin Ritchie, which services the greater Los Angeles area. 5D’s Miami operation, headed by Nacho Mazzini, covers Florida as well as Latin America. As with 5D’s own offices in L.A. and Miami, the new resellers will provide comprehensive product demonstration and training facilities, as well as installation help and 24-hour technical support.
“The expansion of our sales and support network in the US is great news for customers,” said Marc Dando, a director of 5D. “By providing reliable local resources from experienced and progressively-minded companies, customers will feel there’s an immediate comfort zone when considering 5D technology. It also means we can deliver our range of tools more efficiently to the diverse markets across the US. 5D technologies are designed to meet tomorrow’s post production requirements today. We want to make sure that when people invest is 5D they get the best service as well as the best technology in the industry.”
VCA Fusion is a leading systems solutions provider and systems integrator of innovative production and post production tools for digital media content creators in the New York tri-state area. The company is located in the heart of Manhattan’s multi-media corridor, and has headquarters in Somerset New jersey, from where it delivers customer-oriented sales, installation, CAD design, engineering, systems documentation and technical support services.
Midwest Media Group has emerged as the dominant digital new media reseller in the Midwest. The company provides its extensive customer base with expert sales consulting, on-site integration/installation, product training and on-going technical support across the broad spectrum of post production technologies for video and film. The company has demo facilities in Chicago, Milwaukee, Michigan and Minneapolis, and is in the process of opening a new office in Detroit.
Digital Solutions serves the entire Southeast from its headquarters in Atlanta, and satellite offices in Charlotte and Nashville. The company has extensive experience in non-linear technology implementations having installed hundreds of systems throughout the South, from single creative individuals to complex, networked solutions in creative collaborative environments. Along with experienced training and technical specialists, the company has made a substantial investment in its Education Center, offering a state-of-the-art facility, with latest-generation hardware and software
Advance System Group is a leading entertainment software vendor in the San Francisco area. The company offers unparalleled experience in digital audio, digital video and computer systems and has overseen major technology installations at leading film visual effects studios and video post production houses.
About 5D Cyborg:
5D Cyborg is a highly interactive image processing system designed to make digital compositing and visual effects work easier, quicker and more flexible than ever before. Delivering all the essential tools to keep productivity high and the creative process flowing, 5D Cyborg makes unique and innovative use of commodity hardware, resulting in an extremely responsive system that is ideal for client-attend sessions, creative exploration and quick changes.
5D Cyborg operates at high resolution and high bit-depth, and is the perfect solution for anybody wishing to attract film effects work. It is multi resolution, multi bit-depth too, and makes easy work of SD, HD and 2K material, with workflow tools to elegantly handle 8, 10 or 16-bit, RGB, RGBA log and linear data, or YUV.
5D Colossus:
5D Colossus is a software-based, digital grading and mastering solution. Like all 5D tools it is designed to boost productivity and workflow by putting advanced tools at the disposal of digital artists, colourists and cinematographers. Delivering both log and linear grading for the first time and providing cinema-quality, interactive colour-correction, 5D Colossus is dedicated to making the creative grading of multiple scenes as fast and as efficient as possible.
The new v1 version, which was formally launched at NAB 2002 in April, offers improved operational speed and background rendering performance, over previously seen beta versions, along with advanced dust and grain tools for the highest quality digital mastering.
About 5D Commander:
5D Commander provides a convenient and flexible way to acquire, view and distribute full-frame SD, HD, CG and film-resolution data, such as daily test composites for movie special effects and 3D content. As soon as materials are output from the originating workstation, or camera, they can be viewed on 5D Commander. By enabling the viewing on a CRT, or via a digital projector, the system offers a revolutionary and cost-effective alternative to the traditional process of checking digital dailies by outputting to film. It also enables filmmakers to instantly view the materials they have shot on set. In the world of film or video digital intermediate, 5D Commander becomes the essential data portal for effective workflow.
About 5D:
5D is media solutions company built on world-class credentials in film and video visual effects. The company’s IRIX, Linux and Windows 2000-based solutions are essential commodities for digital artists worldwide, helping to boost productivity, creativity and workflow in film and video post production. 5D’s compositing and creative effects/editing division delivers 5D Cyborg, a revolutionary integrated effects system, which combines advanced, resolution-independent, image-processing tools into a central working environment. For digital film grading and mastering 5D offers 5D Colossus, an acclaimed, software-based digital grading and finishing solution. 5D’s Plug-Into division provides 5D Monsters, a renowned range of more than 400 visual effects plug-ins for advanced animation and compositing systems, plus 5D Masher, an offline effects and network connection system for Quantel systems. Chief among 5D’s workflow, storage and infrastructure products is 5D Commander, a full-frame 2K film and video record/review solution.
Editors Note:
5D and its product names are trademarks or registered trademarks of 5D Solutions Limited. All other trademarks and registered trademarks are the property of their respective owners.
Further Information:
For further information please visit, www.five-d.com, or contact:
Marc Dando 5D T: +44 20 7620 4800 E: [email protected]
Ron Prince Prince PR T: +44 1225 789 200 E: [email protected]
5D Reseller Contact Information:
Bob Spencer VCA Fusion, New York T: 001 212 967 9010 E: [email protected]
John Connolly MidWest Media Group, Chicago T: 001 847 221 2200 E: [email protected]
David Manley Digital Solutions, Atlanta T: 001 404 760 8109 E: [email protected]
David Van Hoy Advance System Grp, San Fran T: 001 510 654 8300 E: [email protected]