GridIron Nucleo Pro is a $495 software plugin for Adobe After Effects 7.0 that enables fast distributed rendering on both Windows and Mac OSX computers.

It has been reviewed by Steve Douglas (text/images) and Aharon Rabinowitz (video/project files included). Both reviewers seem to be pretty happy with the rendering improvements.

(Via CDM & Ken Stone)

TUAW has a post entitled “MacBook Pro Core 2 Duo means great deals on yesterday’s MacBook Pro Core Duo”. They are right. The Apple Refurb Store has always been a great way to get not-quite-bleeding-edge hardware on the cheap, and with the announcement of the new MBP Core 2 Duo’s, there are plenty of refurbs to choose from. So if you don’t require the latest and greatest (and expensive-ist), go with a ‘furb.

Besides being up to “39% faster”, the new MacBook Pro notebook models offer new features, fixes and upgrades. Mike Curtis has posted specs and commentary on the new MBP C2D notebooks. Comments of note:

“…the 1GB config on the MacBook Pro is now a single 1GB stick, so you still have a free slot - cheaper to upgrade…
If you are on a budget, the 15″ base model is a helluva machine for the money. Get some more RAM, be it third party or Apple branded…
The 17″ is a viable desktop replacement. If you have a dual 2.0 GHz G5, this laptop might well be faster…
If you have a choice, the new 15″ models are DEFINITELY preferable to the older 15’s, if only because of the addition of FireWire 800 - a HUGE increase in throughput for certain applications…
ALL of these will be JUST FINE for cutting native DV, DVCPRO HD, HDV, etc.”

In related news, another geek named Brian just picked up one of the new Macbook Pro notebooks, a 15-inch 2.33GHz model. He’s taking questions and detail requests from inquisitive people, and posting them on his website. For instance, this little tidbit:

Q: What wireless network card is in the new C2D MBP?
A: The card is based on the Atheros AR5008 802.11n chipset.
Additional: The card only supports 802.11g in OS X, however in Win XP via BootCamp you can get full “n” functionality by installing the driver for the D-Link DWA-645 (version 102).

Brian’s site was having a little difficulty keeping up with the /. traffic earlier, so here’s a Coral Cache link as well.

And of course you can build your own MacBook Pro at the Apple Store.

This is what Mount Doom really looks like, before it was massively retouched by matte painting.

That link is a raw production plate before and after from the Lord of the Rings “The Two Towers”.

The New York Times has a video story on Image Metrics, a special effects company whose new facial mapping software greatly simplifies the process of capturing facial expressions and mapping them onto 3D models. Their technology enables motion capture of the face and subtle expressions without the use of markers or physical indicators.

Paul Harrill @ SRF has posted a few Storyboard Templates in PDF format, choose between 1.78:1 and 1.33:1 goodness.

General Specialist recently posted some excellent advice for better chromakeying. Read on for our Top 10 Quick Tips culled from those suggestions, as well as a tutorial on chromakeying in Adobe After Effects.

1. Keep It Blurry
Turn off all in-camera sharpening and skin detail settings. Seperate the talent from the screen and strive for a shallow DOF. Seperation also helps control light spill.

2. Resolution and Framing
Shoot as high rez as you can afford. Disregard TV safe areas and framing, you need that extra 10%. Tilt the camera 90 degrees for shots of standing people and flop the image in your comp during post-production.

3. Blue or Green Screens?
It depends. Green is a brighter color channel with less noise than blue. Blue is better for blonde hair. Blue light spill is also less sickly looking than a green cast.

4. Don’t Depend on Imagination
Don’t assume that the talent or crew understands what you are after. Good storyboards will save you time and frustration. It’s hard to act in a vacuum, so give the talent something to look at and interact with.

5. Garment and Costume Colors
Greens, browns and khaki are all no-no’s for greenscreen work. Jeans and blue colors are just as uncool for bluescreen.

6. Proper Props
Ensure that shiny props don’t reflect the color of your screens. Or don’t use shiny props.

7. Lighting is Key
Get a crew that knows how to light if you are unable to, proper lighting is more critical than ever for chromakey work. You cannot fix the lighting in post, don’t bother trying. Get it right the first time.

8. Preview On Set
Provide some method of previewing at least a rough version of each comp as you shoot. Your talent and lighting crew will thank you and hopefully reward you with better performances.

9. Chroma Sampling and Codecs
If you can afford it, capture a 4:4:4 image without color compression into a codec that doesn’t discard any of that info. For DV keys, blur the U and V channels before pulling a key, or use software that does this for you.

10. Progressive Frames, not Fields
Shoot progressive instead of interlaced if at all possible. If you are forced to shoot interlaced, properly deinterlace the footage before keying it.

Read the whole enchilada at General Specialist for more tips, detailed explanations and picture examples.

For those keyers still wet behind the ears, here is an excellent tutorial on chromakeying in After Effects. And there are many useful tips and nuggets dispensed in this tutorial on Motion Control systems by Mark Roberts Motion Control (highly recommend watching that one).

(Via HD For Indies)

Imation reportedly has the only production facility in the world capable of creating all 4 flavors of High-Definition DVD media. And they are showing it off with a 14 minute video tour of the facility, entitled “Imation: Into the Blue“.

See how the glass masters are created and pressed into retail HD-DVD and Blu-ray movie discs. Watch High-def DVD recordable blanks being created and initialized for burning in consumer drives.

Along the same lines, the following is a old Discovery Channel program on how plain old vanilla compact discs are made. Basically the same processes, though a little simpler (and not quite as cool).

(Via Camcorderinfo)

William Speruzzi recently attended NAB New York, and he’s got some notes and opinions on Craig McKay’s keynote, RED and others. Check it out.

High-Definition DVD format backers are giving away discs in hopes that it will drive adoption rates:

“It all started last month when Microsoft pacted with Universal to give away copies of ‘King Kong’ on HD DVD to consumers buying the XBox 360 HD DVD add on. Sony followed that up by offering a free ‘Talladega Nights’ Blu-ray with the first 500,000 PlayStation 3 units sold in the U.S.. Now today, HD DVD backer Toshiba has announced that it will give away *three* free HD DVD discs with every player sold for four months beginning on November 1st.”

I seem to recall this same strategy being employed by drug dealers…

A Martin Scorsese student film from 1967, entitled “The Big Shave”. Can you watch it without flinching?

Is the short a commentary on the USA’s involvement in Vietnam, or simply a little gratuitous gore?

We recently mentioned the mysterious Upravlator input device, with just a few design hints available. Looks like full on product shots have been released now, no real specs but at least we know what it is. The device is certainly very pretty, and a very interesting concept. The final hurdle remains though…without some intelligent software applications and widgets, this will just be another expensive toy. Time will tell if this is the next big thing in input interfaces for creative professionals.

Adobe just bought Serious Magic, makers of DVRack, Ultra and Vlog It.

“The purchase of Serious Magic accelerates our vision to make, not just video but all dynamic media, an even more ubiquitous communications vehicle, whether you’re delivering content for the broadcast market, over the web or on mobile devices,” said John Loiacono, senior vice president of the Creative Solutions Business Unit at Adobe, in prepared remarks.

(Via HD For Indies)

Creative Commons filmmaking experiment A Swarm Of Angels aims to create and distribute the first collaborative internet film. The aim is to use community participation and funding to make a film that would traditionally cost $3-4 million for just $1.75 million.

“A Swarm of Angels reinvents the Hollywood model of filmmaking to create cult cinema for the Internet era. It’s all about making an artistic statement, making something you haven’t seen before. Why are we doing this? Because we are tired of films that are made simply to please film executives, sell popcorn, or tie-in with fastfood licensing deals. We want to invent the future of film. Call it Cinema 2.0.”

Because the finished product will be released under the creative commons license, users will be able to freely download, view, share, burn, rip, and remix the content as they see fit. The entire filmmaking process will be collaborative, from a Wiki-based script creation to community voting on certain creative & marketing decisions. They have set clearly defined stages and targets, with an eventual goal of 50,000 participants involved in the making of this feature film.

Torrentfreak has more details on the project, as well as a short interview with founder Matt Hanson.

“The genre will be thriller based with some soft sci-fi elements. The community is currently developing two scripts, The Unfold and Glitch. Based on member input these scripts will be put into initial drafts written by Matt Hanson.”

“The success of this project would undoubtedly create a landmark example of how media can be created and made available for free. It would encourage an alternative entertainment model to Hollywood, which doesn’t crack down on filesharers, but encourages and accommodates them, and their enthusiasm. I think the future of film is about bringing audiences and filmmakers closer together in entertainment communities where both can interact and get more out of the experience.”

Those interested in participating should check out the Join page and discussion boards to get involved. Join The Swarm.

Jack Black fans rejoice, Tenacious D has a new album due out next month. And “The Pick of Destiny” pre-orders at iTunes will also be treated to a short film in which Jack and Kyle warp through time and space to fight the Time Goblin. Seriously, what could be better than that? There is a 3-minute preview of the video at the iTunes Store. In classic “D” fashion the video is over-the-top corny and ridiculous, fans will not be disappointed.

Anyway, I said all that to say this…at the end of the video preview, they’ve got this little tagline; “iTunes. Easier than stealing. Almost as cheap.” It’s glib for sure, particularly when spoken by Jack Black. But the statement also rings very true. Making audio and video content sufficiently convenient and cheap is probably the best way for the RIAA and MPAA to combat piracy and illegal filesharing. An outdated business model with inflated pricing and overly-restrictive DRM coupled with a shoot-first-ask-questions-later attitude towards consumers, is not.