Crowd Control NAB 2009 Video [4:45m]: Download

At the Red Giant Software booth, Aharon Rabinowitz showed us a unique product called Crowd Control, it allows you to use a pre-built library of actor composites to generate realistic crowds for editing projects. Watch the attached video below, subscribe to our podcast feed, or watch all of our current NAB 2009 videos in one playlist here.

 Red Giant NAB 2009 Video [11:31m]: Download

Red Giant Software showed their new Particular 2 and ToonIt 2 After Effects software at NAB 2009, here’s a demonstration of the featureset offered by both plugin packages. Watch the attached video below, subscribe to our podcast feed, or watch all of our current NAB 2009 videos in one playlist here.

 Cineform 3D NAB 2009 Video (Part 2) [12:24m]: Download

This video is Part 2 of our interview with Cineform on their comprehensive 3D workflow using Neo3D. Not only is it a demonstration of Cineform’s new tools for stereoscopic post-production, but David Newman took the time to go really in-depth on 3D filmmaking and stereoscopic post on a larger scale. We’ve split this fascinating 30-minute interview into two parts. Part 1 is here. Watch the Part 2 video below, subscribe to our podcast feed, or watch all of our current NAB 2009 videos in one playlist here.

 Cineform 3D NAB 2009 Video (Part 1) [21:23m]: Download

At NAB 2009, Cineform was demonstrating their comprehensive 3D workflow, using Neo3D. We stopped by to talk about these new tools for stereoscopic post-production, and along the way, Cineform’s David Newman gave us an in-depth education on 3D filmmaking and post. We’ve split the fascinating 30-minute interview into two parts. Watch the Part 1 video below. Part 2 is here. Also, subscribe to our podcast feed, or watch all of our current NAB 2009 videos in one playlist here.

 Marshall Electronics NAB 2009 Video [5:44m]: Download

Marshall has made a name for themselves in the LCD field monitor world, and at NAB 2009 they were showing off several new models with advanced features like a false-color exposure mode that Red One shooters will recognize. They also were demonstrating a new OLED monitor that will be coming out this fall. Watch the attached video below, subscribe to our podcast feed, or watch all of our current NAB 2009 videos in one playlist here.

 Beachtek & Blackmagic NAB 2009 Video [8:13m]: Download

At B&H’s booth, Beachtek showed their DXA-5D audio adapter unit for the Canon 5D MarkII, a box that offers two XLR inputs, level controls with VU meters, headphone monitoring, and a AGC-Disable switch that can defeat the 5D’s audio auto gain control. Check out the video for the details on how they accomplished this. We also dropped by Blackmagic Design’s booth for an update on their latest I/O cards and a look at their new professional scopes product for editors. Watch the attached video below, subscribe to our podcast feed, or watch all of our current NAB 2009 videos in one playlist here.

The Canon 5D MKII camera is currently in-stock at B&H and ships free. Pricing currently $2,699.95 USD. Purchases made via this link help support FreshDV.

 Sony PDW F800 NAB 2009 Video [8:41m]: Download

At the Sony booth, we spoke with an XDCAM shooter about the new PDW-F800 camera, and the pro-level improvements it offers over it’s predecessor. Watch the attached video below, subscribe to our podcast feed, or watch all of our current NAB 2009 videos in one playlist here.

Yanobox Motype Review
by Kendal Miller
www.yanobox.com
$99 USD

Yanobox Motype software is designed to be a motion titling application that piggybacks on the FX Factory framework within Final Cut Pro, Motion, After Effects, or Final Cut Express. The first step in the process is to download and install the FX Factory framework on your system. After the installation of FX Factory is complete, you may then install Motype through FX Factory.

Motype offers twenty-six different presets to get you started on the right foot. With several quick clicks you can access Motype through your host application and select a preset and voila! Your custom text is fit into the preset and instantly animated. Beyond the custom presets Motype offers several parameters for further customizing your motion graphics; 3D Camera movement, Motion Mixer, Per Letter Particles, Cyclorama, and Random Characters as well as a full range of color, font, and timing parameters ensure you can tweak to your hearts content. All parameters are keyframeable allowing even further animation. After Effects gurus with experience will probably find the parameters to be somewhat limiting. However in the event you need just a quick and dirty title Motype will get you there quickly. My personal opinion is that Motype offers several nice graphics packages although a few of them feel rather basic and could be easily replicated in After Effects, or Motion. There are a number of presets that with some minor tweaking can look very good. It terms of usability the process for customization is very easy.

I do have a few minor complaints about the software in general. My first titles in FCP rendered out all the text as white blocks when exported through compressor. I re-exported as a QuickTime file from FCP and they all rendered correctly. This problem only occurred one time and subsequent efforts to render through compressor worked flawlessly so I’ll chalk the initial error  up to the software gremlins. Secondly the user interface only has a single field for text input which can make it rather difficult to properly layout multi-line text elements. This is a pretty big limitation in my opinion and near impossible to work around, for multi-line text.

While Motype offers a pretty strong suite of tools, it appears to be aimed mostly at those with weaker motion graphics backgrounds. At a price tag of $99, power users will probably prefer to spend that money on other plugins more suited towards their skillset. However, those looking to quickly and easily create motion titles that can be customized with very little effort will find the money well spent. You can find more information and download a trial version of Motype at www.yanobox.com.

 Adobe NAB 2009 Video [13:07m]: Download

Adobe’s big announcement at NAB seemed to be centered around the integration of Flash into settop boxes, bringing it into the livingroom. They also were showing a concept software product called Adobe Story, which helps round out their complete integration from initial creative concepts all the way through post-production. We stopped by for a demo of both announcements. Watch the attached video below, subscribe to our podcast feed, or watch all of our current NAB 2009 videos in one playlist here.

 The Foundry NAB 2009 Video [10:36m]: Download

Unless you’ve been living under a rock for the past year or so, you are probably aware of what CMOS rolling shutter is, and the potential image problems it can create in certain shooting situations. At NAB 2009, The Foundry was showing an early version of a software toolset in Nuke to help resolve certain undesirable image issues created by CMOS rolling shutter. They were kind enough to give us a demonstration of these tools. Watch the attached video below, subscribe to our podcast feed, or watch all of our current NAB 2009 videos in one playlist here.

 Element Technica NAB 2009 Video [6:56m]: Download

Element Technica was at NAB, showing a wide variety of accessories and hardware solutions for Red shooters, tools that solve common issues and enhance and streamline working with the camera. Watch the attached video below, subscribe to our podcast feed, or watch all of our current NAB 2009 videos in one playlist here.

 Redrock Micro DSLR Rigs NAB 2009 Video [7:31m]: Download

At NAB 2009 a popular topic was convergence…a good example of this are the new Canon 5D MKII still/video cameras. But as good as these cameras are, the form factor leaves something to be desired. We stopped by Redrock Micro’s booth to check out their their highly-configurable DSLR shooting rigs, designed to eliminate some of the shooting and handling issues associated with these DSLR cameras that are still designed primarily for photography. Watch the attached video below, subscribe to our podcast feed, or watch all of our current NAB 2009 videos in one playlist here.

The Canon 5D MKII camera is currently in-stock at B&H and ships free. Pricing currently $2,699.95 USD. Purchases made via this link help support FreshDV.

 CoreMelt NAB 2009 Video [4:12m]: Download

CoreMelt recently released their CoreMelt Complete V2 plugin package for editors, and they were showing it off at NAB. They also are offering their ImageFlow package for quick and painless photo (and now video) montage creation. Watch the attached video below, subscribe to our podcast feed, or watch all of our current NAB 2009 videos in one playlist here.

 Zylight LED Lighting NAB 2009 Video [4:51m]: Download

For NAB 2009, Zylight launched their new full-size professional LED lighting fixtures. Previously they offered small on (and off) camera solutions, now they are transitioning into larger, fully-adjustable fixtures as well. Watch the attached video below, subscribe to our podcast feed, or watch all of our current NAB 2009 videos in one playlist here.

 Viewfactor Inclino NAB 2009 Video [7:19m]: Download

We’ve covered the Viewfactor Studios Inclino Remote Follow Focus unit in the past, and at NAB 2009 we learned that they are shipping the units out to reservation holders. Curt from Viewfactor spent some time with us, showing how the system operates, and demonstrating it’s featureset. Watch the attached video below, subscribe to our podcast feed, or watch all of our current NAB 2009 videos in one playlist here.