Discreet has begun shipping worldwide its non-linear editing and finishing systems, fire 6 and smoke 6. Discreet's editing systems are shaping a new generation of powerful data-centric workflows for digital film, high definition television (HDTV) and standard definition television projects.
"fire 6 and smoke 6 are designed to offer one of the highest-performing, highest-quality creative workflows in digital post-production today," said Paul Lypaczewski, Discreet general manager and exec vp of Autodesk Inc. "Post production is fast migrating from video routing to data-centric IT workflows for more flexible, scalable handling of digital media. With their high quality RGB data capabilities fire and smoke have become cornerstones of modern digital post-production, enabling our clients to achieve new levels of creativity, productivity and profitability."
fire 6 and smoke 6 feature new software design for high-performance multi-resolution post-production, including the ability to work at any resolution at any time, to mix resolutions within projects and timelines and to master to any format. They also offer an extensive range of creative features, including Discreet's powerful next generation Master Keyer, Discreet's Color Warper technology for more sophisticated color correction, 3D warping and the ability to import 3D models via FBX, as well as new and improved media management and archiving tools such as integrated OMF support.
The first customers to buy fire 6 include Warner Bros. Idea Place (Burbank, CA), CBS Inc. (Los Angeles, CA), NBC West (Burbank, CA), Encore Video Hollywood (Hollywood, CA) and Omnilab PTY Ltd. (Sydney, Australia). Clients who have purchased smoke 6 include Sideshow Post (New York, NY), Grace & Wild (Farmington Hills, MI), R!OT (Santa Monica, CA), The Matchbox (Brussels, Belgium), Video Efecto (Barcelona, Spain), Tokyo Film Mate Corp. (Tokyo, Japan), and Secretaria de Educacion Publica (Mexico City, Mexico).
"smoke is a true finishing tool, providing an extremely robust creative toolset," said Christopher Palazini, editorial director at Boston-based Pisces Productions Inc., which has purchased smoke 6. "When combined with the right talent, you can literally do anything on this machine. From basic editorial to more complex editing, smoke offers a level of flexibility that competitive products just don't deliver."
"The Master Keyer and multi-resolution timeline are two features that put fire way ahead of the competition," said Brian Reid, visual effects artist at post house TOYBOX. "The Master Keyer is the best keyer I've seen for retaining fine detail, providing edge control, and making up for compromised lighting, background edges and matte lines. As TOYBOX does a lot of film work, fire's multi-resolution timeline allows us to mix 2K and high-definition work, while at the same time referencing an NTSC offline. fire is going to revolutionize the digital intermediate process for films."
fire 6 is now available on the SGI Onyx 350, allowing users to interactively work with up to 32 2K layers in the 3D compositing environment. smoke 6 is now available on the SGI Tezro visual workstation. Discreet is also planning to ship smoke 6 on the IBM Intellistation Zpro 6221 Linux workstation in March 2004.
smoke on Tezro is capable of playing up to two realtime streams of 10-bit/component, uncompressed RGB, 4:4:4 HDTV (1080i and 1080/24p), allowing for not only the highest picture quality, but extremely fast editing and rendering of effects. The Tezro platform will also enable smoke 6 to deliver realtime 10-bit RGB playback at 2K resolutions for online film editing and more efficient conforming of digital intermediates.
Discreet (www.discreet.com) is based in Montreal, Quebec, and is a division of Autodesk Inc., a leading design and digital media creation, management and distribution company. Discreet's award-winning solutions are designed for digital media creation, management and delivery -- across all disciplines from film and television visual effects, color grading and editing to animation, game development, Web/interactive and design visualization.
Bill Desowitz, former editor of VFXWorld, is currently the Crafts Editor of IndieWire.
