Maximum Throughput Inc., developers of ultra high performance software-based solutions for networked storage infrastructure and media management, announced that 1.1 VFX, a visual effects/creative finishing company in Venice, California, has deployed Xstoner v2 software throughout its facility to ease data management tasks and speed the flow of jobs through its production pipeline.
Xstoner is a client/server application that allows Macintosh and Windows workstations to share images and clips with Autodesk Media and Ent. Editing/Finishing & Effects/Compositing systems, including Discreet Inferno, Discreet Flame, Discreet Flint, Discreet Fire and Discreet Smoke. With Xstoner support for Sledgehammer, artists and administrators alike can visually browse clips stored on their Sledgehammer or Autodesk systems, irrespective of the software version of either system. Files can be easily transferred among different Autodesk framestores or between the Sledgehammer centralized storage and the Autodesk framestores.
Danny Yoon, senior flame artist and owner of 1.1 VFX, said: Its a must have for any Flame or Flint equipped facility. We constantly use it to create QuickTime movies straight off our systems for client review and transfer elements for compositing. It has tightly coupled our Discreet systems with our Mac-based desktop environment. Our artists can now concentrate on their work instead of spending their time managing files. Xstoner has definitely made our pipeline more efficient and productive.
Xstoner is very simple to use. It only takes ten minutes to teach a designer how it works. Other solutions and workarounds dont even come close to what were seeing with Xstoner. The transfer speed for uploading and downloading media is very impressive
Were very pleased that 1.1 VFX is getting so much value out of their Xstoner deployment, added Giovanni Tagliamonti, ceo at Maximum Throughput. We built the software to ease the numerous daily data management tasks that all facilities face, and its great to see that validated.
Maximum Throughput Inc. (www.max-t.com) is a networked storage and media management tool developer. Max-T's storage solutions deliver SAN level performance over TCP/IP. The company's unique solutions provide many times the storage bandwidth of other NAS and SAN products, using smart software that runs on industry standard hardware. The media management tools are integrated within the storage, delivering enriched functionality in one versatile solution.
Located just two blocks from the Venice Beach boardwalk, 1.1 VFX offers a full range of creative finishing and visual effects services (including HD and PAL formats), operating out of a comfortable office that features a basketball court and media room. The companys creative veterans have collaborated with directors such as Noam Murro, Joe Pytka, Matthew Rolston, and Motion Theory on commercials for clients such as Lexus, Nike Golf, Budweiser and EA Sports. The creative teams film and television credits also include SPIDER-MAN 2, THE GRUDGE, CSI, MEDIUM and LAW & ORDER: SVU, as well as music videos for The Flaming Lips, Korn, and David Gray. More recently, 1.1 VFX built on its creative alliance with Motion Theory by completing on-set supervising, compositing, and finishing work on an effects-heavy five-spot Winter Olympics campaign for Lenovo ThinkPad laptops.
Bill Desowitz, former editor of VFXWorld, is currently the Crafts Editor of IndieWire.
