FXguide FIRST with this screen grab from Toxik..
This is the first grab of the new user interface…( hey what else would you expect from us !!)
Discreet’s Strata (only the code name) will feature new tools in what Discreet is calling an “immersive 3D creative environment”, where artists can quickly combine visual effects with audio, editing and 3D rendering.
At NAB Discreet showed the technology codenamed Toxik. The first actual products from this new Discreet Media Architecture are code named Mezzo and Strata. Mezzo is the system product and Strata the FX product that sits on top.
In terms of system performance, Toxik provides as a minimum 5 standard video teams, or 3 HD streams or 2 streams of Film Res, – being composited -lit and animated in REAL time.
Toxik runs currently on PC, but the technology is non platform specific. For example, while the new (and still under warps ) Discreet FFI background rendering product will only run on Open GL systems, – the integrated Mezzo rendering subsystem is software and not OGL.
The main differences between say Flame and Strata – apart from platform/price/performance – is that Flame was designed for an independent artist, where Toxik is designed for a collbrative work group, with media management and batch rendering all built in at the system level. Strata is not pitched to replace flame – as it does different things, so Discreet expects most initial systems to be installed beside existing Flame or Inferno systems.
The big technology break buzz, is around the new Illumination models for compositing. If Flame was made successful initially due to its innovative tracking… Strata allows you to effectively track lighting with innovative real world illumination models. (more stories on this soon)