Ars Technica has this note, and it isn't an apple choice, it is a new ruling about safety on fans, but I still find it ominous.Apple should be pushing out a new update as fast as they can, as they want the line to still exist if they are planning on having it in the future, but maybe their pans have changed. And who knows what Tim Cooke was actually talking about.
NewTek has released Lightwave 11.5 of it's venerable 3D application.New features include:Dongle-Free Licensing - Dongles are no longer required to access the many features of LightWaveBullet Soft Body Dynamics - Soft body effects are now possible with Bullet, including clothBullet Forces - Several force types are now available within BulletGenoma - Fast, modular instant rigging system for Modeler that includes presets for rapid-riggingVPR Update - Depth-of-Field, Motion Blur and Anaglyph Stereo now visible in the rendererRolling Shutter - Rolling Shutter camera effects are now possible to aid matching footage that has this effect presentEdge Rendering Node Control - Control edge opacity, taper and color using nodesFlocking Update - Predator / Prey behavior, new Director types and Node controlFiberFX Update- Multiple styles per object - stored with the object, new styling controls, updated UIGoZ™ Fiber Mesh™ Support - Building on the robust GoZ support in LightWave 11. LightWave 11.5 now supports ZBrush Fiber MeshesAdobe™ After Effects™ Support - 'GoZ style' After Effects interchange for Cameras, Lights, NULLs and animationInstancing Update- Per Object control, speed and memory improvementsModeler Tools Update - ABF UV Unwrap, Edit Edges, Place Mesh, Slice, Thicken, Heat Shrink, Tweak, Transform, Axis and alignment tools and moreWorkflow Enhancements - Many enhancements to streamline and improve workflowI used to do some Lightwave, back when I wanted to really learn 3D. Now it seems most people lean towards Cinema 4D, though I have never had a chance to play with it, and I would love to try out Z-Brush as 3D sculpting sounds very cool. Still Lightwave is a powerful program, and I am glad they are adding to it's feature set.
Allan Tépper at the Pro Video Coalition has a great solution for monitoring video using thunderbolt and a Sony KDL-40BX420E, which will work with US power and supports, both PAL and NTSC frame rates as well as 23.976 and 24 FPS. Very very cool. The monitor is grey market in the US, so he also recommends a third party warranty. This is a inexpensive and great solution for monitoring.
Alan Dague-Greene has created Courier Prime for John August and Quote-Unquote Apps. It is a pretier version of the script font courier, the same size, but better looking, and did I mention, FREE!
Maximum PC compares Thunderbolt to USB 3 to see who wins overall.Thunderbolt is the speed king, but not as ubiquitous and certainly more expensive. Check out the article.
SLCCut, has a an interesting letter to AVID on how they need to update to keep it in line with Premiere and FCP X if they want to stay relevant in the future.Some of it I agree with, but some I don't. Yes, the interface needs updating in a major way, the title tool needs serious updating (as does handling of still photos and the like, which he doesn't talk about), but the organization I do like, though it could use more, like Meta search.Still I do think many of us left AVID because we found something that worked better in many ways, and now are going back and while it has seen some great little updates, there is nothing groundbreaking in the latest version over much earlier versions.And I know they are trying to please their old customers, but it is true that that will only work for current editors, and new editors may move to other tools if AVID does not add some inovation on top of their old venerable tools.
Apple has added a 128GB iPad 4 to it's lineup (at least within a week), but it is $799 for WIFI and $929 for 4G, so they are charging a premium for more memory instead of staying the same price as they get bigger.Starting to get to be the right size, especially for video and audio, though I could still use bigger. I keep most of my music in Apple Uncompressed AAC, and it is huge, and I am constantly fighting it being full.
VideoCopilot has announced the releases of 10 City Templates for Metropolitan for Element 3D. They are a free download for those who have purchased the plug in for Element 3D. And they have released a tutorial video on them as well.
You can see it at filmmaker IQ. Of course this has been covered before in the excellent DV Rebel's Guide by the great Stu Maschitz.
The Cinematographer Philip Bloom has an in depth review of the Canon EOS 1D-C. The video is 35 minutes long and worth checking out.