Anybody who's just survived the annual trek to Las Vegas for the NAB show will know that the last 12 months has been a busy time for graphics systems, both in software and hardware. And contrary to what some outsiders might have thought, this even applies to the relatively rarefied worlds of compositing and motion tracking - plus related graphics activities such as rotoscoping where an artist paints over frames of live action, and for that matter automated rig removal.

For instance UK VFX specialist Imagineer chose NAB to unveil a dedicated rotoscoping tool called motor, along with new versions of two established applications - namely monet for inserting 2D elements into moving footage, and its mokey wire and rig removal toolset.

According to Imagineer, motor benefits from being a dedicated rotoscope application in that it incorporates sophisticated spline tools not available in traditional compositing applications, along with a planar tracker that uses an advanced tracking algorithm rooted in its high-end compositing and removal software.

The company estimates that motor users will be able to rotoscope footage three to four times faster than with traditional tools, partly because of tight integration between the tracker and rotoscope. A broad range of design platforms are supported, including Autodesk discreet, Avid DS, Adobe After Effects, Quantel generationQ, and Apple Shake.

Incidentally anybody who was able to preview the v1.1 beta test release should note that several major fixes have been made, including the way that edge widths are handled when spline control points are being manipulated. The public version of motor is also the first full release for Mac OS X to include a fully functional curve editor. Prices range from US$1,595 for a single-user nodelocked license to US$6,995 for a 10-user cross - platform floating license. As well as monet and mokey, which both generate numerous elements such as shadow, highlights, patches or backgrounds to make the basic insert look more realistic, Imagineer also offers mofex, a plug-in for Shake with similar functionality to the standalone monet, and a moxel 'standards station'.

Imagineer says that moxel incorporates a dedicated toolset for blurring and pixellating faces, logos and other unwanted elements in video, which can be steered by built-in tracking technology to save time and money on non-creative and otherwise laborious tasks. Designed to complement the main editing and compositing systems, it can be run either on the same workstations or as a standalone unit.

Importing 3D models to assist tracking

This follows the release last Summer by 2d3 - the visual effects software subsidiary of UK-based Oxford Metrics Group plc â€" of its award-winning boujou automated match-moving application, version 4. Along with general improvements to the interface and workflow, the new release is claimed to offer several features to combat difficult shots, and provide technical users with more control.

One new function is the ability to import 3D models, which for example could be used to line up a model with an object in the scene and then track it, or actually use the object to allow users to visualise a camera position. In this instance the user can not only use the information from the 3D model, but also exercise judgment to create approximate camera positionings using the model as a guide. According to product manager Steve Hill, this is the first time that 2d3 has given users the power to manually add additional information to help boujou better refine the solution. Another is the capability to create 3D meshes. Based on 3D predictions, these allow users to build up a 3D terrain or surface onto which convincing shadows can be cast.

More detailed control over incoming footage has been added, so that operators can copy and delete individual camera views or frames from scenes - or even interpolate camera views to fill in gaps between frames and remove noise - to help boujou determine the correct camera path. This is designed to speed workflow, as by fixing frames at source the horror of having to redo an entire shot can hopefully be avoided.

Finally for the more technically adept, 2d3 has added embedded scripting, which claims to offer an unprecedented level of access to the inner working of boujou. Savvy users could for example write an importer to read camera data from a motion control rig and get boujou to 'solve from approximate camera path' by iteration to optimise and then create a 3D structure. In essence, scripting tackles the common but seemingly unreachable problem in the professional tracking market where users have access to a lot of information from their scenes but previously haven't been able to give that info to the tracking software. Prices start at around US$10,000.

The company has also come up with a plug-in for Autodesk's Maya 8.0 called moujou, which offers the automatic tracking power of boujou within the Maya interface. According to 2d3, this is quick and easy to use as operators simply load in their shot, hit the 'Track it' button and let moujou do the rest - meaning more time spent animating and less time tracking.

Flexible motion capture

Meanwhile the French image processing software development company Realviz, which recently appointed IM Innovations Pte Ltd as its exclusive distributor for the educational sector in Singapore, has released its new Movimento motion capture system.

Powered by SMART, the company's established automatic 3D tracking engine, Realviz says Movimento draws on eight years of 2D and 3D motion tracking experience with its flagship MatchMover Pro within the visual effects industry, and captures the motion of any non-rigid object from multiple image sequences.

According to Realviz, Movimento offers a complete solution for facial, hand, arm and full-body motion capture, and allows users to combine 3D camera tracking and motion capture ('mocap') processes when using non-static cameras - such as on-set mocap, motions spanning a very wide area, or a complex environment. It is also claimed to automatically reconstruct 3D meshes from tracked data.

Using a minimum of two fixed or moving cameras, Movimento capture is claimed to be non-intrusive as it can operate in natural or ambient lighting, and requires no specific hardware within the scene. It is also frame rate and resolution agnostic, while on the output side the mocap data can be exported to Autodesk MotionBuilder, 3ds Max, Maya or Softimage|XSI for further manipulation (with other exports possible through third-party scripting).

Movimento currently runs on Microsoft Windows 2000 or XP and is priced at US$19,000, while the Movimento Total Solution including Movimento software, a 4-camera capture system (640x480 CCD cameras at 200 fps) costs around US$45,000, with rental options available in each case. Prices for promised Mac and Linux versions have yet to be announced.

Integrated compositing workflow

Late last year Autodesk announced the first creative tools extension for its Autodesk Toxik 2007 software, containing advanced features for image transforms, filtering and warping.

Autodesk Toxik Extension 1 offers a new 2D Transform feature in addition to the software's existing 3D Transform tool, based on distinct filtering techniques developed by Autodesk's own Image Science Group. The company says 2D Transform tool allows artists to move, scale and rotate an image while maintaining a superior level of accuracy and quality.

Other key features in the extension include Lens Distort and Comparison tools. Lens Distort allows artists to correct or simulate lens distortion in a clip, and digital artists can quickly remove or adjust existing camera lens distortion and apply lens distortion to computer-generated and other undistorted layers.

According to Autodesk, the Comparison tool is the same as the eponymous feature included in the Autodesk Flame visual effects system, allowing artists to juxtapose images and examine results in context with reference frames or other nodes within

a composition.

The company also says that Toxik software - which is aimed squarely at a feature film visual effects market requiring 2D and 3D compositing tools, integrated collaboration and the ability to manipulate high dynamic range (HDR) at high resolution - has adopted a modular architecture to allow rapid deployment of new features without disrupting production in the core Toxik environment.

Autodesk Toxik 2007 can now be purchased in single seats for US$6,500, while Extension 1 is available to subscription holders for download from the Toxik portal. Subscription has been reduced to US$1,200 (but note that international pricing may vary).

Apple windfall for Shake

To say that Shake caused a stir in compositing circles when creators Nothing Real burst onto the scene ten years ago would be something of an understatement. The product has been steadily refined since Apple took it over in 2002, including of course a Mac version.

But although prices were falling, few were expecting Apple's announcement of a precipitous - some would say predatory - price drop last year from US$2,999 to US$499 which, as Apple proudly points out, is about the cost of a plug-in for Final Cut Pro.

Actually the plug-in paradigm appears to be the new modus operandi, as the company - which by the way still charges the old price for the Linux version - has re-aligned Shake as a powerful companion to FCP working straight off the editing timeline, and no longer sells a standalone Apple Maintenance Program for the system.

Apple says that particle effects from Motion 2 can now be dropped directly into the Shake process tree to add elements such as smoke, sparkles and fire to sophisticated multi-plane 3D composites, while high resolution work can flow from Motion to Shake by rendering with the shared OpenEXR format.

Furthermore, Apple claims that Shake 4.1 delivers significant performance gains on the new Intel-based Macs, in particular by providing artists and editors with 'desktop level experience' on the new MacBook Pro notebook computer.

Apparently, performance tests on a MacBook Pro have shown that common tasks such as colour correction, warping and the application of filters are processed up to 3.5 times faster on a MacBook Pro than on a PowerBook G4 - indeed Apple claims that both artists and editors can start compositing with HD, 2K and even 4K shots directly on location with Shake 4.1 on a MacBook Pro. Shake 4.1 is now available at around UAS$499, while existing owners can get a crossgrade to Shake 4.1 for US$49.

Apple has since launched the first 3.0GHz, 8-core Intel Xeon-based Mac Pro, which promises to put a rocket under virtually all Mac applications by using two Quad-core Intel Xeon 'Clovertown' processors. Alternatively a new quadcore Mac Pro sibling offers two Dual- Core Intel Xeon 'Woodcrest' processors, also operating at up to 3.0GHz.

Mac Pro now accommodates up to four drives and 3TB of storage, offers eight DIMM slots to fill with up to 16GB of RAM, provides up to two SuperDrives, and has four PCI Express slots - plus plenty of input and output options for flexibility. 'Consider the bar officially raised', crows the Apple publicity.

Big beast milestone

Meanwhile among the other big beasts of the compositing platform jungle, Adobe has announced a new graphics strategy based around Creative Suite 3 (CS3), which CEO Bruce Chizen says is not only the biggest launch in Adobe's 25 year history but also represents a milestone for the creative industry. The radical re-alignment reflects an integration with Adobe acquisition Macromedia that includes six all-new suites or full version upgrades of 13 stand-alone applications including Photoshop CS3, Photoshop CS3 Extended, InDesign CS3, Illustrator CS3, Flash CS3 Professional, Dreamweaver CS3, Adobe Premiere Pro CS3 and After Effects CS3.

Also included is an Adobe Creative Suite Master Collection, combining 12 of Adobe's new design and development applications in a single box, which Apple again modestly claims to be the most comprehensive creative environment ever delivered. Significantly, most of the Adobe Creative Suite 3 editions will be available as 'Universal' applications - in other words suitable for both PowerPC and Intel-based Macs, while at the same time supporting Microsoft Windows XP and Windows Vista.

Estimated street price for the Adobe Creative Suite 3 Design Premium is US$1,799, with US$1,599 for Adobe Creative Suite 3 Web Premium, US$1,699 for Adobe Creative Suite 3 Production Premium, and US$2,499 for Adobe Creative Suite 3 Master Collection. The company also helpfully points out that 'numerous upgrade paths' have been devised for existing Adobe customers.

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