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Boris FX released a major new version of its flagship plug-in collection Continuum (formerly BCC). Building upon the previous award-winning release, Continuum 11 delivers even more powerful chroma keying and compositing tools, new streamlined titling options, and a new VR Unit for 360/VR editing and finishing tasks. The set integrates Photron's Academy Award-nominated keying algorithm and toolset Primatte, giving editors access to the same revolutionary keying tools used in blockbuster films like the Lord of the Rings series, Spider-Man, and the Harry Potter series.

The new Continuum VR Unit fills a much-needed gap in the burgeoning 360 video industry, by complementing Adobe's recent immersive initiatives and providing Avid Media Composer with a 360 finishing workflow. The Continuum VR Unit is the result of a collaboration with the award-winning Mocha VR development team and features five new filters, including VR Reorient, VR Insert, and VR Sharpen, that drastically reduce the often laborious post and VFX tasks related to 360/VR video. Continuum 11 is now available for Avid (Avid Media Composer, Symphony, and NewsCutter) and Adobe (Adobe After Effects CC and Adobe Premiere Pro CC) host applications. Continuum 11 for OFX and Apple will be released later this year.



Continuum 11: New Features

Primatte Studio: Based on Photron’s Academy Award-nominated Primatte green/blue screen compositing algorithm, Primatte Studio is a powerful, next-gen keying and compositing feature. Highlights include: automatic green/blue screen analysis, manual transparency tuning, adjust lighting to correct unevenly lit screens, foreground object detection to deliver a perfect key with a single color sample, and integrated Mocha masking. Primatte Studio is included in Continuum’s Key and Blend Unit.

Broadcast Safe: The new Broadcast Safe filter guarantees a project will pass rigorous broadcast-safe standards with a simple one-click solution. Choose the desired standard option and the filter automatically produces the final picture-perfect result. Broadcast Safe is included in Continuum’s Image Restoration Unit.

VR Unit: The new VR Unit gives 360/VR editors highly-useful tools, including VR Reorient, VR Insert, VR Blur, VR Sharpen filters, and VR Flicker Fixer, to work quickly inside their host timeline while also avoiding the seams inherent to regular non-VR filters. Based on Mocha VR’s award-winning 360/VR tech.

Title Studio: New improvements to Title Studio include a 3D render engine for realistic 3D cast shadows and depth-of-field, a spline-based motion path for animating multiple objects on one path, faster performance, a simplified user interface, and many more presets/templates. Title Studio is included in Continuum’s 3D Objects Unit.

The following certified SSDs are recommended for use with the URSA Mini SSD Recorder when shooting on the Blackmagic URSA Mini Pro.

The following SSDs are recommended for 4.6K Lossless RAW up to 30p
Angelbird Pro XT 1TB

Samsung 850 PRO 1TB

Samsung 850 EVO 4TB

Sony G series Professional SSD SVGS48 480GB

The following SSDs are recommended for 4.6K ProRes 444XQ up to 30p
Angelbird Pro XT 1TB

Samsung 850 PRO 1TB

Samsung 850 EVO 1TB

Samsung 850 EVO 4TB

Sony G series Professional SSD SVGS48 480GB

Western Digital WD Blue 1TB

The following SSDs are recommended for 2160p ProRes 422 HQ up to 60 fps
Angelbird Pro XT 1TB

Crucial MX300 2TB

Samsung 850 PRO 1TB

Samsung 850 EVO 1TB

Samsung 850 EVO 4TB

SanDisk SDSSDP-064G 64GB

Sony G series Professional SSD SVGS48 480GB

Western Digital WD Blue 1TB

Wise Cinema 240GB CMS-0240 240GB



Important notes about SSD speed

Some SSD models cannot save video data at the speed the manufacturer claims. This is due to the disk using hidden data compression to attain higher write speeds. This data compression can only save data at the manufacturer’s claimed speed when storing data such as blank data or simple files. Video data includes video noise and pixels which are more random so compression will not help, therefore revealing the true speed of the disk.

Some SSDs can have up to 50% lower write speed than the manufacturer’s claimed speed. So even though the disk specifications claim an SSD has speeds fast enough to handle video, in reality the disk is not fast enough when used to store video data for real time capture.

Use the Blackmagic Disk Speed Test to accurately measure whether your SSD will be able to handle high data rate video capture and playback. Blackmagic Disk Speed Test uses data to simulate the storage of video so you get results similar to what you will see when capturing video to a disk. During Blackmagic Design’s testing, we have found newer, larger SSD models and larger capacity SSDs are generally faster.

Until 31 December 2017 you can get the Panasonic GH5 professional 4K mirrorless camera for 49.990 CZK incl. VAT, instead of the standard 54.999 incl. VAT! Also on sale is the LUMIX G VARIO 12-60 mm / F3.5-5.6 ASPH body and lens kit, temporarily priced at CZK 54,990 incl. VAT (normal price is 59.999 CZK incl. VAT)!

Tutorials in the new EDIUS Basics series describe basic functionality of the Grass Valley EDIUS Pro 8 and Workgroup NLE applications.

This software update adds support for the new Blackmagic URSA Mini SSD recorder which records RAW or ProRes onto SSDs. This update improves SDI output latency to less than 1 frame for URSA Mini Pro as well as lowering LCD monitoring latency. This update also improves support for B4 lenses as well as fixing focus and iris control bugs with some Cannon lenses, and more.

What's new in Blackmagic Camera Setup 4.5

New support for Blackmagic URSA Mini SSD Recorder.

New features for URSA Mini SSD Recorder

Added RAW & ProRes record capability to SSD Recorder.

Added playback capability from SSD Recorder.

Added SDI and SSD status LED indicators.

Added ability to use 1TB, 2TB and 4TB SSD’s.

New features for Blackmagic URSA Mini Pro 4.6K

Added support for URSA Mini SSD Recorder.

Added user interface information for SSD Recorder in media status page.

Lowers SDI output latency to less than 1 frame for live production.

Lowers LCD monitoring latency.

Added Program Audio option for prioritising return audio in headset.

Improved support for B4 lenses.

Fixed focus control on Canon EF-S 18-135mm f/3.5-5.6 STM and USM lenses.

Fixed iris control on Canon EF-S 17-55mm f/2.8 IS USM zoom lens.

Fixed bug where audio levels reset after power cycling.

Fixed bug where lens change was not recognised in metadata if powered off.

Updated URSA Mini Manual to include SSD Recorder and F Mount instructions.