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  • Hey all, just changed over the backend after 15 years I figured time to give it a bit of an update, its probably gonna be a bit weird for most of you and i am sure there is a few bugs to work out but it should kinda work the same as before... hopefully :)

Red and Flame

Elcurado said:
Hi guys,
seen demoed a (linux-box) Autodesk Smoke. + Hints and speech about the other Autodesk products (Flint/Flame/Inferno). 2 hours.

Pros:
Really an impressive piece of software. 8192x8192 max res.
Extreme powerful keying, tracking, CC (Btw, all this features will be achieved with a good combo of OSX Apps - FCS2, Shake, Furnace plug, Bojou, Mokey/Monet/Motor).
The real difference is that here you will find all the tools you need in ONE, blazing fast and really well optimized app.
Interface fluid and snap in every situation (compare to Shake).
Transparent background renders. Btw you NEED to render out to finalize your works. It's fast, but you have to calculate Motion Blur, anti alias etc..


Cons:
Prince range (obvious) and storage/filesystem (you must do all the trick on a dedicate, very expensive array of disks named Stone - if you have multiple projects -or a very big one- you must swap the contents in and out...)

Conclusion
If you're working alone (without the client behind your shoulders) you can buy with the same money 3 or 4 FCS2+Shake very powerful workstations (BMD/AJA top solutions).
And a very large storage (xRaid or whatever). And you can setup a SAN. And you remain with some money to go out for a dinner with 20-30 friends...

But if you need blazing speed, top quality vfx, and you're always in a hurry... This is the solution. Sorry for your friends...
Click to expand...




Any thoughts from anyone? :bye2:
 
Elcurado said:
But if you need blazing speed, top quality vfx, and you're always in a hurry...
Click to expand...

And you don't have to be a computer expert, a networking expert, or a storage expert. And you also don't have to learn multiple programs, and figure out how to navigate your way around them, and how to pass material from one to the other.

You basically said this without directly saying it: Most artists just want to sit down, plug in a turnkey system, and work. With the best toolset in the business and with great speed. They don't want to deal with any of the issues above, nor are they experts in computer hardware. And that's why many facilities opt for Autodesk solutions, and make money with them. In the end, it's not about the basic acquisition cost - as many die-hard Apple fans seem to believe it is. It's about a business decision: how to get work done at a level that keeps your clients happy, keeps your artists working efficiently, and allows your business to be profitable.
 
Agree.
You're are completely right.

Btw, It's really difficult to forget that Shake have a street price of $499.
And indeed Color (Silicon Color Final Touch HD - $25.000 until yesterday), is "virtually" free of charge.

If only that hp box with that extraordinary piece of software will cost a little bit less...
 
Elcurado said:
Any thoughts from anyone? :bye2:
Click to expand...
Some additional info. Autodesk is going to open up their storage protocol so you can use more generic arrays, thats going to be a big cost saving for alot of people. And smoke has a pretty effective proxies setup that really speeds up the work flow, realtime 2k Colour grading etc.

It takes a special kind of artist to effectively fly a system like smoke/flame/DS, you really need to be a master of all trades, and like pressure!

I had a session recently with 15 people in the room and a cranky director, I was quite glad I wasn't on Final Cut and Shake in that session. (I'm also glad that someone else writes the check to buy such gear)

Regards Seán


P.s we've actually got a new smoke sitting in its boxes waiting to be installed in our new 11,000Sq ft facility :biggrin:
 
It was announced at NAB, I'm not sure if its happened yet.
 
No stone? GREAT!
to Elcurado> IMHO about Flame/Smoke - it is human depended systems -
You can find tonns of FCP and Shake artists, but to find a Flame compositor
for full time work will be painfull...
 
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