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In addition to releasing a new beta version of firmware for Scarlet, Scarlet-W, Epic, Raven, and Weapon cameras, RED Digital Cinema announced (here) that Helium Weapons orders are now only 2-3 days behind upon placing; Epic-W models are around 2 week turn-around; but new orders of Scarlet-W models are likely to arrive this summer, and new orders of RED Raven are still not accepted at this time. Therefore RED Digital Cinema is extending the RED Owner Pricing deals that were supposed to end last December.

Steinberg's newly released HALion 6 virtual instrument excels with stunning new features like the new wavetable synthesis, the Sample Recorder and the Macro Page Designer providing you with a comprehensive sound design environment. Alongside HALion 6 comes the all-in-one workstation, HALion Sonic 3, providing a 25 GB preset library expansion, a new wavetable synthesizer and 9 new effects.

The new generation of HALion and HALion Sonic are brimming with ground-breaking new tools and stunning new instruments tailored to the discerning needs of the modern composer, producer and sound designer. The new Macro Page Designer in HALion enables users to create custom user interfaces using template-based workflow: design complete user interfaces for your sound creations conveniently via drag and drop! Version 6 also adds the ability to record directly into HALion from any internal or external source and have your samples cut, mapped and ready to play in no time with the new live-sampling editor.

The new HALion Script is a powerful, fast and easy to learn scripting tool offering users to create advanced instrument behaviour and custom script modules. With the new HALion, you can also create and export VST Sound libraries of your custom instruments for HALion and HALion Sonic, conveniently and easy with the help of the Library Creator. Many additional improvements and features can be found in and around HALion 6: The new Library Manager for user libraries, AAX support, Steinberg Download Assistant, online scripting reference for HALion Script, soft eLicenser copy protection and lots more.

New HALion 6 and HALion Sonic also offer a host of new instrument libraries, including The Raven Grand, and The Eagle Grand pianos, Hot Brass brass section, Studio Strings string ensemble sample library, Skylab and Anima synthesizers, as well as HALion Combi Library. The new, innovative three-band Resonator effect allows formant-filtering for various tonal modifications for beautiful vocal, string and brass sounds. HALion Sonic additionally inherits 8 new effects from HALion including the Vintage Compressor, Tube Saturator and many more.

Panasonic has announced a free firmware upgrade for the VariCam 35 and LT cinema cameras and VariCam HS high-speed 1080p camera that includes additional ProRes codecs and HD-SDI monitor output improvements. Both firmware upgrades add ProRes 4444 XQ, ProRes 422 and ProRes 422 LT codecs for 2K and HD resolutions (VariCam 35 and LT), and for HD resolution in case of the VariCam HS model. The bit depth of Pro Res 4444 has been increased to 12-bit, with 10-bit file playback only in camera. For the VariCam LT, AVC-LongG G50/G25 recording (HD only) is now supported for the majority of frame rates.

For HD-SDI monitor outputs, users can shorten the delay of the outputs to two frames, greatly enhancing onset monitoring applications. For cinema shooters, there's a new support of 23.98PsF output, which provides native frame rate support without introducing 2:3 pulldown artifacts. There's also a new support for “Letter Box” output in 4K/2K in which the image in MON OUT will be automatically set in “Letter Box” mode. For the iPad, there's a new remote control app -- VariCam ROP -- that has a user display similar to VariCam's menu display. In the app, users can select whether they want Master control in the app or camera, a lock switch to prevent accidental operation, and dial up/down operation by screen swipe on an iOS device.

For production, a 2.0:1 aspect ratio has been added to the framing marker choices. Netflix series like Frontier and A Series of Unfortunate Events have been produced recently in the 2.0:1 aspect ratio.

Additional features the firmware upgrades include:

• Focus status can be selected in “Meter” notation, even in V-Log recording (VariCam 35/LT/HS)
• Ability to assign “VFR (ON/OFF)” to USER SW (VariCam 35/LT/HS)
• MON OUT can be selected “ANAMORPHIC DESQUEEZE” in 2K/HD mode (VariCam 35/LT/HS)
• For VariCam 35 and HS, “Image Invert” and “Surround View” can be selected independently
• For VariCam 35 and HS, viewfinder display can be selected “EE (Camera through)” even in Playback
• For the VariCam LT, “Audio Level Meter” can be selected to display on SDI OUT

The firmware upgrade (Ver. 7.0) for the VariCam 35 and HS and Ver. 5.0 upgrade for VariCam LT can be downloaded here.

Chaos Group released V-Ray 3.5 for 3ds Max, a free update to its leading CPU and GPU renderer. With the addition of nine major features and a number of performance improvements, V-Ray 3.5 is the fastest and most powerful version yet. To solve the long-time challenge of rendering scenes with many lights, Chaos Group's R&D team has written a new Adaptive Lights algorithm that drastically speeds up render times. After extensive testing on architectural interiors and large environments with hundreds or even thousands of lights, benchmarking results show that Adaptive Lights can be up to seven times faster, depending on the scene. Now artists can work with a virtually unlimited amount of light sources, rendering scenes that were previously impossible.

Other Top Features Include:

• Interactive production rendering – Fully interactive production rendering with immediate feedback.
• Glossy Fresnel – New, physically-accurate reflection model adds more realism to any scene.
• Resumable rendering – Ability to stop and continue rendering at any point, preserving work and saving time. Supports both progressive and bucket rendering.
• Live VR rendering – Render directly to Oculus Rift or HTC Vive with full GPU acceleration. Visualize changes within the headset as they are made in 3ds Max.
• V-Ray Scene node – Import and render complete scene files created in any V-Ray application. V-Ray scenes are render-ready assets and contain all geometry, lights, materials and textures.
• Interactive lens effects – GPU-accelerated glare and bloom effects that can be enabled and adjusted while rendering. Compatible with V-Ray Denoiser.
• alSurface material – General-purpose shader by Anders Langlands includes built-in SSS controls; popular for skin.
• MDL materials – NVIDIA’s universal material format is now supported by V-Ray, allowing designers to apply MDL materials authored in programs like Substance Designer to their assets and scenes.

V-Ray 3.5 for 3ds Max is a free update for all V-Ray 3.x customers. Login at chaosgroup.com to download. This version also marks the debut of online licensing for V-Ray for 3ds Max users, who can now choose this option instead of the traditional dongle. A full-featured 30-day trial is also available.

Latour's Z-shape foldable head offers an innovative way to mount and position a small video camera or a DSLR/DSLM with a max. weight of approx. 2.5 kg. Made from a black-anodized aluminum, the head provides a stable support for your camera while offering portability as well as fast setup of camera angles!