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For Autodesk Maya 2014, Autodesk Mudbox 2014 and Autodesk 3ds Max 2014 software customers with current Autodesk Subscription, the latest extensions will be available on September 16th (Maya, and Mudbox), and September 30th (3ds Max), respectively. The Extension for Autodesk Maya 2014 software will bring the XGen Arbitrary Primitive Generator for creating hair, fur, feathers, grass, foliage, and other instanced data; a new retopology toolset; new robust and efficient Boolean operations; and enhancements to the Bullet physics plug-in. The Extension for Autodesk Mudbox 2014 software enables to create topologically symmetrical meshes while retopologizing, or from an existing mesh, and a new Caliper tool that helps to accurately measure the distance between two points in linear space, or along a curve. The Extension for Autodesk 3ds Max 2014 software adds the ability to import and visualize massive point cloud datasets, new support for Python scripting, and a Stereo Camera feature set.

Blackmagic Design today announced that DaVinci Resolve was used for color correction on the coming of age comedy “The Kings of Summer.” Distributed in the US by CBS Films, the indie darling, which premiered to rave reviews at the 2013 Sundance Film Festival and opened in theaters across the US on May 31, tells the story of three teenage friends who decide to spend their summer building a house in the woods and living off the land.

Hollywood based production and post production facility, Blacklist Digital, worked closely with Director Jordan Vogt Roberts from pre production, creating data workflows, handling data storage and on set transcoding, as well as testing the workflow through to post to ensure the resulting footage delivered on Jordan’s vision.

“We used Resolve for much of the pre production process,” said Tims Johnson, owner of Blacklist Digital. “From the beginning, we were ingesting footage, color testing and creating dailies with Resolve. We had footage from two different cameras mixed, so the ingest was transcoded to Avid DNxHD 36 footage that was later reconnected back to RAW. Resolve is very good at supporting multiple file formats and allows us to pretty much link anything we want. Working in RAW and having access to metadata is very important for us in post.”

Once in post, Blacklist Digital’s Head Colorist, Narbeh Tatoussian, was tasked with creating a cinematic, picturesque and vintage look for the film. Narbeh benefitted from Resolve’s unlimited nodes, often using upwards of 10, and sometimes even up to 20 nodes on the majority of the shots. Resolve’s unlimited node based image processing, where each node can have color correction, Power Windows and effects, provided Narbeh with the creative freedom to achieve a truly artistic look.

In one particular scene, the further the actors travel into the forest, the more the mood changes, and the color of the forest changes to reflect it. Resolve allowed Narbeh to create very specific looks and subtly change the colors of the leaves and trees by fine tuning the greens.

“By having the metadata and powerful tools available in Resolve to bring the reds out while taking the yellows down, it was more like painting instead of traditional color correction. I was able to track four different Power Windows in one mask and have a 12 node setup where five of the nodes were tracking. And it was all in 4K on P3 color space RAW in real time, which is amazing,” said Narbeh. “During the conform, I composited grain on top of the color correction and was able to control it to create just the right cinematic look. People even asked if it was shot on film because it looked so authentic.”

Because the footage was shot with an anamorphic lens, Narbeh was also responsible for creating a cinematic depth of field in the montage sequences, which he achieved using a combination of curves with color picking, blurring, sharpening and mist in Resolve.

“The tools are all there in Resolve to help you creatively deliver on what the director and DP want, you just have to use your imagination,” concluded Narbeh.

Press Photography

Product photos of Blackmagic Design products are available at www.blackmagicdesign.com/press/images.

About Blackmagic Design

Blackmagic Design creates the world’s highest quality video editing products, digital film cameras, color correctors, video converters, video monitoring, routers, live production switchers, disk recorders, waveform monitors and film restoration software for the feature film, post production and television broadcast industries. Blackmagic Design’s DeckLink capture cards launched a revolution in quality and affordability, while the company’s Emmy™ award winning DaVinci color correction products have dominated the television and film industry since 1984. Blackmagic Design continues ground breaking innovations including stereoscopic 3D and 4K workflows. Founded by world leading post production editors and engineers, Blackmagic Design has offices in the USA, United Kingdom, Japan, Singapore, and Australia. For more information, please check www.blackmagicdesign.com.

The newly released TVPaint Animation 10.5 contains many new features, including:

• The share manager

• An alarm to remind you to save your project

• A new compression mode for your TVPaint files (lighter, but the same quality!)

• The possibility to link sound tracks and custom panels to you TVPaint project

• The option "Fill inside", for an easier coloring

• The custom brushes' parameter "Projection"

• Four new FX : "Line Colorize", "Tint Replacer", "Color Replacer" and "Expand"

• The improvement of the "Bin" tab in the color palette

• The tool "Zoom in zone"

• The custom panel "Tutorial recorder"

If you are a TVPaint v10.x user, download the new version here.

Press Release

Blackmagic Design today announced a new lower price for the award winning Blackmagic Cinema Camera to 1,525 EUR ex. VAT.

Now in the hands of thousands of film makers all over the world, the Blackmagic Cinema Camera is globally recognized for its amazing 13 stops of wide dynamic range and 2.5K sensor for true digital film quality shooting. With RAW, ProRes or DNxHD recording, files can be opened directly in popular editing software without conversion! The multi award winning design has the features customers need to start filming straight out of the box including a super fast SSD recorder, rechargeable battery, and a large 5” LCD touchscreen. This large touchscreen monitor allows easy monitoring, metadata entry, camera settings and fast accurate focus.

Available in two models, customers can choose from either the EF or passive MFT lens mount, compatible with amazing optics from the world’s leading lens crafters such as Canon, Zeiss and more. For high end work, filmmakers can shoot in uncompressed 12 bit CinemaDNG RAW. The incredible resolution and dynamic range means that more of the scene is captured, giving greater creative control for Hollywood style color correction with the included DaVinci Resolve software.

“The response to the Blackmagic Cinema Camera has been incredible,” said Grant Petty, CEO, Blackmagic Design. “The tremendous support we received encouraged us to work even harder to make the camera available to more videographers and filmmakers. It’s amazing to see the projects that have already been completed and I can’t wait to see what the creative community delivers next!”

Blackmagic Cinema Camera Key Features

– The Blackmagic Cinema Camera is available in either EF or MFT lens mount models.

– Super wide 13 stops of dynamic range allows capture of increased details for feature film look.

– High resolution 2.5K sensor allows improved anti aliasing and reframing shots.

– Built in SSD recorder allows high bandwidth recording of RAW video and long duration compressed video.

– Open file formats compatible with popular editing software such as CinemaDNG 12 bit RAW, Apple ProRes and Avid DNxHD. No custom file formats.

– Includes no custom connections. Standard jack mic/line audio in, BNC 3 Gb/s SDI out, headphone, high speed Thunderbolt I/O technology, LANC remote control and standard DC 12-30V power connection.

– Capacitive touch screen LCD for camera settings and “slate” metadata entry.

– Supports 2.5K and 1080HD resolution capture in 23.98, 24, 25, 29.97 and 30 fps.

– Thunderbolt connection allows direct camera capture via included Media Express software and supports live waveform monitoring via the included Blackmagic UltraScope software.

– Includes a full copy of DaVinci Resolve color grading software.

Availability and Price

The Blackmagic Cinema Camera is available now for 1,525 EUR ex. VAT.

Press Photography

Product photos of the Blackmagic Cinema Camera, and all other Blackmagic Design products, are available at www.blackmagicdesign.com

About Blackmagic Design

Blackmagic Design creates the world’s highest quality video editing products, digital film cameras, color correctors, video converters, video monitoring, routers, live production switchers, disk recorders, waveform monitors and film restoration software for the feature film, post production and television broadcast industries. Blackmagic Design’s DeckLink capture cards launched a revolution in quality and affordability, while the company’s Emmy™ award winning DaVinci color correction products have dominated the television and film industry since 1984. Blackmagic Design continues ground breaking innovations including stereoscopic 3D and 4K workflows. Founded by world leading post production editors and engineers, Blackmagic Design has offices in the USA, United Kingdom, Japan, Singapore, and Australia. For more information, please check www.blackmagicdesign.com

What's new in DaVinci Resolve 9.1.5:

• Support for Avid Media Composer 7.0 round-trip

• Support for reel names from FCPX XML

• Support for Avid EuControl Software Package Version 3.0

• Improved handling of multi-track Quicktime audio files

• Improved DNG format support

• General performance and stability improvements