Post-production software?

[Guest no_soft_shots]

I have no idea what programs like shake, flame, inferno and smoke do?

 

I'm thinking they have somthing to do with 2D or 3D compositing.

 

cheers

no_soft_shots

[Rolfe Klement]

not sure what your question is but all of the above are 2d | 3d compositing and finishing fx software (except Smoke which is more edit based)

 

Shake - is mainly used (and more frequently used) on feature clean ups

Smoke - is used as high end editing with loads of features

Flame is 2nd best and Inferno is top of the heap (but at in excess of USD$5 000 000 a decent set up it is quite expensive)

 

read more at

 

http://www.apple.com/shake/

 

and

 

http://usa.autodesk.com/adsk/servlet/index...3112&id=5708192

 

thanks

 

Rolfe

[Dirk DeJonghe]

Some packages run on dekstop computers, others are on dedicated hardware. The difference in features between both becomes smaller and smaller every year.

 

Some packages are made to be front room applications with the client in attendance, others are backroom applications where the client only comes to look at a semi-finished product.

 

I use both Digital Fusion on Windows and Shake on LInux. Both are very powerful packages, the limit is more in the operator than in the software.

[Stephen Williams]

Smoke - is used as high end editing with loads of features

Flame is 2nd best and Inferno is top of the heap (but at in excess of USD$5 000 000 a decent set up it is quite expensive)

 

Rolfe

 

Hi,

 

There is not much betweem Inferno and Flame. Inferno runs on faster and more expensive hardware. In the past Flame was only 8 bit but that is not so today. Costs are much lower than $5,000,000. 10 years ago about $500,000 today nearer $200,000, but deals are done.

Smoke has a timeline, so is better to edit with and can achieve most of the features of Flame/Inferno. The upgrade costs of all 3 are very high so many facilities have kicked them out.

 

Stephen

[Rolfe Klement]

Yeap the problem with Discreet is you have to buy properitery hardware and Storage so the software might not be that expensive but the hardware mounts up.

 

Try time a render of 6k files in floating bit colour in DPX or Cineon - with 32 layers in 3d space and the SGI Origin 3000 with inferno will win everytime and there will always be someone prepared to pay for that time advantage when you have busy directors and DOPs

 

but I agree the lines below 2k and below 10bit are blurring - a quick Powermac running Shake can do more than a flame could 6 years ago - the software deals are getting better but the super computer hardware high end will always be very expensive

 

Not sure who else knows this but Discreet 3DSMAx bought Alias Maya a while back which might push | force people into a Autodesk Discreet workflow

 

thanks

 

Rolfe

[Stephen Williams]

Try time a render of 6k files in floating bit colour in DPX or Cineon - with 32 layers in 3d space and the SGI Origin 3000 with inferno will win everytime and there will always be someone prepared to pay for that time advantage when you have busy directors and DOPs

 

 

Rolfe

 

Hi,

 

Thats true, but as you can work proxies, so you don't have to render @6k when the DoP/Director whants to play!

 

Stephen

[Phil Rhodes]

Hi,

 

One to watch is Cinelerra, a Linux-based edit application with some very interesting features. The actual edit and composite functionality is half-finished at best, but it has the ability to network render over a conventional network to any number of render nodes. Now, clearly, there's a limit to the bandwidth of this sort of setup, but the total throughput is potentially enormous and it's expandable with very cheap commoditised hardware.

 

Expensive status toys like Inferno, and hardware colour correctors like Pogle and DaVinci, have got to see the writing on the wall with this sort of thing.

 

Phil

[Michael Most]

Expensive status toys like Inferno, and hardware colour correctors like Pogle and DaVinci, have got to see the writing on the wall with this sort of thing.

 

As long as there are segments of the industry - television programs and commercials, for example - that need very fast turnaround (I'm talking hours, not days), client interactivity, and integrated video I/O - all at HD or higher resolutions - there will be a significant market for all of the devices you just mentioned. And I don't see those segments going away very quickly, at least not in the major markets (L.A., New York, London, etc.).

[Rolfe Klement]

It might be my overdose of chocolate cake but Autodesk Media have some sneaky plan (which is fine by me - good products deserve it - I say)

 

Since autodesk (discreet) now own the world's 3D market since they bought Maya and many poeple want to switch to Lustre CC and they have the high end sorted - all they need is a fancy new propietery format like the new ILM one - and everyone will have to use them

 

my conspiracy monopoly mind at work :ph34r:

 

ahhhh - they just need to break shake. I can see it on their coffee cups "BREAK SHAKE"

 

thanks

 

Rolfe

[Phil Rhodes]

Hi,

 

Michael, I disagree. I have experience on a colour corrector that's effectively just a pile of PC hardware, and not that special PC hardware at that, which does 2K realtime grading as you describe. I'd hazard that Cinelerra on an infiniband cluster would probably be similarly capable. The days of being stuck on Altera gate arrays for realtime colour work are frankly over already.

 

The fact that systems like these have vastly, vastly improved flexibility and capability over welded-in hardware is another persuasive factor. I'm used to being able to drag and drop effects as I need them, the hardware stuff seems so limited in comparison.

 

Phil

[Adam Frisch FSF]

Let's not forget After Effects - the all-can-do program that delivers most bang for the buck. Most high end post houses turn to it on virtually every project the minute the client leaves the room.... :P

[Paul Bruening]

Hey Adam,

 

I've set my entire post to Adobe Video Collection. The ease and compatability between workprints in Premiere and matching scans in After Effects is a fine experience. Audition has sufficient tools to t**d polish most dialogue tracks. Then it's an easy pop over to Encore to make DVDs.

 

I know Adobe isn't the cool stuff, but it works quite fine for me.

[seth christian]

I started out using ALL Adobe setup.

Then I splurged and bought a new G4 Mac when it came out and

went Apple for a while..using Final Cut, and eventually Shake.

Then I interned with a tv station and was forced to learn

Avid System, which is probably in the top 2 of post workflow.

 

But now, in the end and for the past 2 yrs., I am completely

sold on sticking with this setup:

layer edit with Premier Pro 1.5 (renders close to the speed of

Final Cut HD anyway, plus its cheap upgrades)

then I use my Combustion for all colorization, compositing, and

effects. The footage ALWAYS ALWAYS comes out looking

warmer and more professional then using anything else I've

used. Maybe its partly just cause of my experience now, but

I've had brief moments with those past paths, and I just

retreat to Discreet Combustion every time......

it rocks!!!