Peter Majtan
Well-known member
- Joined
- Feb 29, 2008
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- Location
- Tokyo, Japan
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- www.petermajtan.com
Some quick update:
The Storm development is going along really well and my NDA has been little relaxed and I am now able to share some news... I have been running the pre-alpha version for some time now and have almost daily chats with UK (when I am not bogged down by work / or health for that matter). Even though this is a very early stage in R&D, the app is surprisingly stable (for a pre-alpha builds) and very responsive...
There has been a lot of confusion about what Storm actually is. Many has compared it to the (free) REDcineX and questioned the purpose of Storm as a paid app. REDcineX is a fantastic product and in my opinion it is here to stay for two basics reasons:
A. In Jim's spirit (we all wish him to get well soon), RED wants to offer to all RED users a FREE tool enabling them to work with RED RAW data without having to invest any extra money for a 3rd-party SW...
B. RED needs to have a in-house SW in order to quickly implement any new developments and improvements to their color-science and RAW processing, without being at the mercy of 3rd-party SW developers. This way all users have instant access to the latest RED WooDoo magic (and for FREE!)...
Now Storm does pretty much everything REDcineX does and the (very limited) demo at NAB was showing this, therefore sparking the confusion and comparison between the two SW. You need to understand the key difference between RED and The Foundry's strategy and business philosophy. While RED is all about public beta-testing of both HW and SW and letting us (users) to take a part in the early R&D process, while listening to our feedback and features request (resulting in major changes in the products - DSMC concept and modularity are prime examples), The Foundry is more closed and (typically "British") more conservative. They only show to public things that have been extensively tested and are rock-solid. I am not saying one is better then the other - quite the contrary - I believe that each of these companies has chosen the "right" business model for their products...
RED is a relatively new company and not-so-long-ago they self-proclamed they "didn't know what they are doing" (which was of course a gross understatement). They have taken a road no-one else dared to walk and break the industry's strategy in milking the customer's with minor upgrades, while holding major R&D break-through in their engineering departments. I have worked with my share of these... Early adopters were able to test the cameras in real-world and provide valuable feedback to RED, followed by major monthly upgrades to the camera's firmware. There was a lot of pain, but a lot of joy as well. RED ONE has truly earned RED's place in history. RED openness and attitude of getting the end user involved in the early concept design-stage of the R&D has resulted in true revolution of Digital Cinematography (or as we like to call it here "REDvolution"), with major productions now readily adopting RED cameras and workflow. This would have not been possible without their open business model...
The Foundry on the other hand is providing state-of-the-art SW for VFX and postproduction for many years and their users (pretty much every VFX and post facility in the world that is even semi-serious about providing quality services) came to depend on the stability and reliability of their products. The Foundry is also pushing the ladder ever higher when it comes to image processing and analysis, but their SW is extremely tested and only released to public once stable and production-ready. The Foundry does have a beta-testing group though, selected from individuals with major experience, knowledge and talent. These individuals know what beta-testing means and are prepare to deal with any issues. Also the beta SW is almost never used on actual productions (at least not as a principal solution)...
Having said that - You can now clearly observe RED's shift in their strategy. They have already proven themselves and RED is now widely accepted as a professional tool used on many high-class productions. Enter EPIC. Unlike RED ONE, Epic betas (Tattoo program) are only available to selected few and the general public will only get hold of the cameras once they are production-ready. Sure there will be still things to iron out (in the same way they are always bugs in pro SW), but from stage-2 up You can expect Epic to be ready for some serious work...
I have said all this to explain what happened at NAB. The Foundry (in their tradition) was only ready to show the part of STORM that were stable and demo-ready. And as it is with RED R3D data - the first things You do with it is pretty much what REDcineX does - hence the similarity of the Storm DEMO to the REDcineX. But Storm is so much more...
First (and most importantly) STORM is a workflow concept. All current RED workflows are unnecessarily complex, or they are not taking the full advantage of the RAW data. And when I say workflow - I mean taking the data from start to finish. The whole nine yards. It starts in the location, where data is captured by the camera and it needs to be backed-up, reviewed and post-tested (basic edit and color-correction), and more importantly - organized. Then as the data moves through the post-production, it needs to be accessed by various SW, from editing through sound, 3D & VFX, compositing, color-correction, etc... In the existing workflows this usually means that at some point in the workflow (sooner or later) You need to convert the RAW data into another format. Not only this take (valuable) time and resources, but it also limits Your "options" in the final mastering stages. In the "ideal" workflow You want to keep Your data RAW from start to finish. You would only need to convert the RAW project into specific distribution format on export, while keeping the master timeline RAW. How? You may ask. I (and few other selected individuals that have joined the alpha/beta testing) will explain this concept in more detail in the coming days. But Storm (in a nutshell) is aiming to do just this - to be the glue for all the SW tools You need during the entire production, while keeping Your data RAW. It will also incorporate many of the basic functions of some of these SW enabling You to do basic finishing in the simplest and most streamlined way. These functions will eventually grow and some will push the envelope in comparison to what is available today. This concept is really exciting and for me, very personal...
I want to encourage all of You to talk about this concept and what does the "ideal" workflow mean for You...
But for now I have to get ready for a big industry demo starting in few hours and 3-day shoot for new SUV from Suzuki starting tomorrow...
STORM in my opinion will change the workflow in the way RED has changed the Digital Cinematography. Mark my words...
:thumbsup: Peter
The Storm development is going along really well and my NDA has been little relaxed and I am now able to share some news... I have been running the pre-alpha version for some time now and have almost daily chats with UK (when I am not bogged down by work / or health for that matter). Even though this is a very early stage in R&D, the app is surprisingly stable (for a pre-alpha builds) and very responsive...
There has been a lot of confusion about what Storm actually is. Many has compared it to the (free) REDcineX and questioned the purpose of Storm as a paid app. REDcineX is a fantastic product and in my opinion it is here to stay for two basics reasons:
A. In Jim's spirit (we all wish him to get well soon), RED wants to offer to all RED users a FREE tool enabling them to work with RED RAW data without having to invest any extra money for a 3rd-party SW...
B. RED needs to have a in-house SW in order to quickly implement any new developments and improvements to their color-science and RAW processing, without being at the mercy of 3rd-party SW developers. This way all users have instant access to the latest RED WooDoo magic (and for FREE!)...
Now Storm does pretty much everything REDcineX does and the (very limited) demo at NAB was showing this, therefore sparking the confusion and comparison between the two SW. You need to understand the key difference between RED and The Foundry's strategy and business philosophy. While RED is all about public beta-testing of both HW and SW and letting us (users) to take a part in the early R&D process, while listening to our feedback and features request (resulting in major changes in the products - DSMC concept and modularity are prime examples), The Foundry is more closed and (typically "British") more conservative. They only show to public things that have been extensively tested and are rock-solid. I am not saying one is better then the other - quite the contrary - I believe that each of these companies has chosen the "right" business model for their products...
RED is a relatively new company and not-so-long-ago they self-proclamed they "didn't know what they are doing" (which was of course a gross understatement). They have taken a road no-one else dared to walk and break the industry's strategy in milking the customer's with minor upgrades, while holding major R&D break-through in their engineering departments. I have worked with my share of these... Early adopters were able to test the cameras in real-world and provide valuable feedback to RED, followed by major monthly upgrades to the camera's firmware. There was a lot of pain, but a lot of joy as well. RED ONE has truly earned RED's place in history. RED openness and attitude of getting the end user involved in the early concept design-stage of the R&D has resulted in true revolution of Digital Cinematography (or as we like to call it here "REDvolution"), with major productions now readily adopting RED cameras and workflow. This would have not been possible without their open business model...
The Foundry on the other hand is providing state-of-the-art SW for VFX and postproduction for many years and their users (pretty much every VFX and post facility in the world that is even semi-serious about providing quality services) came to depend on the stability and reliability of their products. The Foundry is also pushing the ladder ever higher when it comes to image processing and analysis, but their SW is extremely tested and only released to public once stable and production-ready. The Foundry does have a beta-testing group though, selected from individuals with major experience, knowledge and talent. These individuals know what beta-testing means and are prepare to deal with any issues. Also the beta SW is almost never used on actual productions (at least not as a principal solution)...
Having said that - You can now clearly observe RED's shift in their strategy. They have already proven themselves and RED is now widely accepted as a professional tool used on many high-class productions. Enter EPIC. Unlike RED ONE, Epic betas (Tattoo program) are only available to selected few and the general public will only get hold of the cameras once they are production-ready. Sure there will be still things to iron out (in the same way they are always bugs in pro SW), but from stage-2 up You can expect Epic to be ready for some serious work...
I have said all this to explain what happened at NAB. The Foundry (in their tradition) was only ready to show the part of STORM that were stable and demo-ready. And as it is with RED R3D data - the first things You do with it is pretty much what REDcineX does - hence the similarity of the Storm DEMO to the REDcineX. But Storm is so much more...
First (and most importantly) STORM is a workflow concept. All current RED workflows are unnecessarily complex, or they are not taking the full advantage of the RAW data. And when I say workflow - I mean taking the data from start to finish. The whole nine yards. It starts in the location, where data is captured by the camera and it needs to be backed-up, reviewed and post-tested (basic edit and color-correction), and more importantly - organized. Then as the data moves through the post-production, it needs to be accessed by various SW, from editing through sound, 3D & VFX, compositing, color-correction, etc... In the existing workflows this usually means that at some point in the workflow (sooner or later) You need to convert the RAW data into another format. Not only this take (valuable) time and resources, but it also limits Your "options" in the final mastering stages. In the "ideal" workflow You want to keep Your data RAW from start to finish. You would only need to convert the RAW project into specific distribution format on export, while keeping the master timeline RAW. How? You may ask. I (and few other selected individuals that have joined the alpha/beta testing) will explain this concept in more detail in the coming days. But Storm (in a nutshell) is aiming to do just this - to be the glue for all the SW tools You need during the entire production, while keeping Your data RAW. It will also incorporate many of the basic functions of some of these SW enabling You to do basic finishing in the simplest and most streamlined way. These functions will eventually grow and some will push the envelope in comparison to what is available today. This concept is really exciting and for me, very personal...
I want to encourage all of You to talk about this concept and what does the "ideal" workflow mean for You...
But for now I have to get ready for a big industry demo starting in few hours and 3-day shoot for new SUV from Suzuki starting tomorrow...
STORM in my opinion will change the workflow in the way RED has changed the Digital Cinematography. Mark my words...
:thumbsup: Peter
Peter