Archive by Steve Katz

The bitmobile pulled up to the convention hall curb and I got my first limo meeting at NAB. Luxology showed me the new version of Modo, due out in a few weeks, and it was a convincing demo. I usually withhold judgement on products until I take them for a test drive or use them in production. But having seen the product over the past year and going on gut I believe Modo will become a very important 3D product. This is the Stuart Ferguson, Allen Hastings, and Brad Peebler follow up to their other product Lightwave, and a good case can be made for software developers that have the opportunity in their careers to create the same category of product twice.

Adobe Premiere honcho Randy Ubillos got to do this with Final Cut Pro, and Modo may be a similar situation. OK, Modo. It‘s was first a polygonal modeler and the latest version adds texture painting, mapping and rendering. It runs on Windows and natively on the Mac. The render, shown to me on the latest Mac laptop is very, very fast. Yes, I did not hammer it, but I asked the right questions and it looks very promising. No animation yet, which is a too bad, but this time next year we may be seeing the app that professionals begin to include in the fraternity of high end 3D apps. more

NAB opened its doors to the general public today, and there were plenty of announcements of new hardware and software to divert attention from the recognition that the industry is in the midst of change. Change, perhaps, is the theme of the show; Apple has moved to a new hardware platform, implementation of digital theatrical distribution is becoming a reality and IPTV turns telcos into broadcasters.

I arrived at NAB with my new Cingular Razor cell phone and was quickly informed at the NVidia booth that my phone was just so “yesterday.” NVidia is making chips for mobile devices and all three of the models they had to show put my cell to shame. It‘s clear that my even my next phone/personal media player/recorder/camera/GPS locator will have to be replaced every six months to take advantage of new services and new features. more

The Digital Cinema Summit kicked off on Saturday to the biggest turnout in the event’s history. Last year’s poor box office performance and the launch of Movielink and other potential threats to the theater-going experience have helped accelerate digital cinema in a way the promise of substantial print savings never have. In past years, the summit was dominated by technical issue with DPs and SMPTE members weighing in on the relative merits of various compression schemes and the continuing 2K vs. 4K debate. Business and security issues have always been a topic of concern, but there was a distinct shift this year towards galvanizing cinematographers, studios, and exhibitors into implementing digital cinema.

John Fithian (pictured), president of the National Association of Theater Owners (NATO), spoke on Saturday making an appeal to end the technical debate and instead unite in selling the message that “digital is better than film.” More than once, Fithian spoke about the survival of the theater-going experience. This was echoed by director James Cameron during his presentation and heavy lobbying for the adoption of 3D technology as part of the transition to digital distribution and projection. In fact, the dominant theme of this year’s Digital Cinema Summit was the importance of 3D technology as a way to revive interest in the cineplex.

Cameron was even more direct than Fithian in invoking the end of the theatrical movie experience as a reason to get behind 3D cinema. His reasoning was that finally here was something that could not be duplicated on a mobile device or the home entertainment center. A few audience questions probing the limits of the 3D experience were brushed aside and there was definitely a sense that this was a time to lock arms and to quickly move ahead with digital cinema and to present a united front. more