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Week
of Oct 19 1998
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Oct
23
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I came across the following a couple of
weeks ago. While the company isn't
shipping product yet, it's interesting to
see what else is going on in the world of
immersive imaging.
Panoptic
Vision is a startup company that is
developing digital panoramic cameras for
Immersive Imaging and other applications.
They have been demonstrating a prototype
rotating-head camera that captures
360-degree images at a maximum resolution
of 6000 H x 5000 V pixels. The camera
takes Nikon-mount lenses and has the same
vertical field of view as a 35mm camera
mounted sideways. A typical capture time
for a moderate-resolution QTVR pano (2300
H x 660 V) is 30 seconds. The digital
images are easily converted to QTVR or
PhotoVista panos in two or three minutes.
Seams are usually invisible and require no
blending or stitching.
Joshua
Eskin is the force behind Panoptic Vision.
Josh worked for five years in the U.S.
research labs of Phillips Electronics,
where among other things he developed the
optical path now used in most LCD video
projectors. In January of 1998 he founded
Panoptic Vision with the singular goal of
developing the world's finest digital
panoramic cameras. The company is now in
residence at the Boulder Technology
Incubator in Boulder,
Colorador.
Want to fix a QuickTime VR file without
going back to the original source files?
PanoTouch, is a tool for editing,
adding content to, and retouching
QuickTime VR panoramas developed by
AdessoSoft. The principals of
AdessoSoft are all former QuickTime VR
team members and comprise Richard Mander,
Bud Smith, John Murata, and Yalin Xiong.
Panotouch
is a plug-in for Photoshop that lets you
open a QuickTime VR file, select an area
of the panorama and it will "dewarp" the
image. You can then edit the image and
save back out to QuickTime VR.
The
tool is available as a pre-release version
for $99.
<www.adessosoft.com>
Want to get into DVD production but can't
afford the high price of the software and
equpiment? Sonic Solutions has announced
the launch of Sonic Capital, a leasing
program. Sorry, it only applies to
purchases over $10,000!
<www.sonic.com>
 
Pinnacle Systems Inc. will be
including Pipeline Digital's ProVTR
Plus video deck control plug-ins for
Adobe Premiere with their ReelTime
products. ProVTR Plus adds device control,
time code stamping on digital video clips,
batch capture, and frame-accurate
real-time insert editing to
tape.
ProVTR
Plus is included with ReelTime family
software version 1.6, and will be
available now to all registered ReelTime
and ReelTime NITRO customers. ReelTime
software version 1.6 is available free of
charge, and can be downloaded from the
Company's website.
<www.pinnaclesys.com
web page "reeltime">
At Networld+Interop, Microsoft
Corp. demonstrated the Microsoft
Windows Media Technologies
streaming media platform delivering live
software video encoding at data rates
exceeding 3.5 Mbps. The high data rate
performance was achieved on a Compaq
Professional Workstation AP500, using dual
Pentium II processors at 450 MHz.
The
NetShow Encoder within the Windows Media
Technologies offers a range of live video
encoding at data rates ranging from 8 Kbps
to over 3.5 Mbps. Smooth video at 30
frames per second video can be produced at
data rates as low as 16 Kbps. At data
rates over 1 Mbps, quality equivalent to a
television broadcast can be achieved.
<www.microsoft.com
web page "Windows
Media
Technologies">
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Oct
22
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Pinnacle Systems has updated the
miroVIDEO DC30 plus package, which
will now include the Deko branded titling
technology found in the Company's
award-winning broadcast
solutions&emdash;TitleDeko™.
Further, Pinnacle Systems has added
Pixélan Software's Video
SpiceRack, which provides miroVIDEO
DC30 plus users with hundreds of new
transitions and special effects. A full
version of Adobe Premiere 5.0 is
also included in the new bundle.
<www.pinnaclesys.com>
FAST Multimedia US says that
601 [six-o-one] their new
all-in-one solution for digital video
editing based on the MPEG-2 standard will
be shipping in the next 30 days. 601 will
offer a "Print to DVD" feature allowing
users to generate a fully DVD compatible
MPEG-2 (IPB-format) video data stream via
a FAST-Studio software option. The upgrade
options for YUV will be released in winter
1998, with the DV/i.LINK option to debut
in early 1999 and the DVD option shortly
thereafter.
In
the variant used by FAST, 'Editing MPEG'
(MPEG-2 422P@ML, I-Frame only), editing in
this format is frame accurate. The program
also supports data rates of up to 50Mbs
and also offers variable compression for
both off-line and on-line work. Editing
MPEG guarantees flexible editing of a wide
range of video formats and guarantees your
investment well into the
future.
601
(MSRP $9,995 US$) offers two real-time
video streams in full quality, an
additional real-time track for graphics
and titles (still, roll, and crawl
titles), plus 8 real-time audio channels.
A professional CG program, 601-CG, is also
included. The system creates all cuts,
dissolves, and wipes in real time. The
software imports and exports all standard
Windows data formats as well as standard
EDL's. 601 controls devices via RS-422 and
supports storage options based on SCSI,
SSA, and Fibre Channel.
<www.fastmultimedia.com>
CHAT
Club Director, an online gathering
place for advanced Macromedia developers,
will be conducting a series of live online
chats.
The
first chat will be with MacroMind (now
Macromedia) founder Marc Canter. If
you want a quick background on Marc, check
out his web site. <www.canter.com>
The chat occurs Wed, Nov 4th, 1998 4pm
EDT.
<clubs.yahoo.com/clubs/macromediadirector>
Medéa Corporation has
announced it will deliver Macintosh
compatible VideoRaid disk arrays in
January 1999. VideoRaid disk arrays are
external hardware-based RAID 0 disk arrays
specifically designed and optimized for
desktop video editing applications.
Macintosh compatible VideoRaid disk arrays
will offer sustained data transfer rates
up to 35 MB/second at prices as low as
$70/GB.
<www.medeacorp.com>
Sony Electronics has developed a
recordable IC (integrated circuit)
digital storage media called Memory
Stick. Smaller than a stick of chewing
gum it has five times the storage capacity
of a standard 3.5 inch floppy disk. It is
available in 4MB and 8MB storage sizes and
with a PC card adapter.
Sony's
new DCR-TRV900 digital Handycam camcorder
and DSC-D700 digital still camera allow
digital images to be saved on Memory Stick
and downloaded onto a Sony VAIO laptop or
desktop computer.
Memory
Stick is smaller in size than compact
flash and smart media. It has a 10-pin
connector, and an Erasure Prevention
Switch to prevent erasing stored data.
Also, it supports Original Serial Protocol
for forward compatibility with higher
capacity models to be developed in the
future. The Memory Stick format may be
expanded in the future to incorporate
digital copyright protection to record
protected content.
Memory
Stick is available now in consumer
electronics retailers for manufacturer's
suggested retail prices of: $29.95 for 4
MB; $39.95 for 8MB; and $99.95 for the
4Mbyte with PC card adapter.
<www.sel.sony.com
press release "Sony
announces Memory
Stick">
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Oct
21
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Having recently spent a day struggling
with a 2x CD Burner device (which
was writing at only 1x speed) I can more
than appreciate Smart and
Friendly's new 8x20 CD Rocket
External, which they claim is the
fastest CD-R on the market today for both
Macintosh and PC platforms. While the 20x
read speed is nice, when it comes to a CD
burner the second most important thing is
the burning speed, and at 8x a single CD
can be burnt in about 9 minutes! The drive
costs $1,099, and requires 8x certified
media which is available from Imation,
Ricoh (Platinum), Sony, Taiyo Yuden
(P-type) and TDK (Certified Plus), in
addition to Smart and Friendly own CD
"Rocket Fuel".
And
the most important thing about CD burners?
The software! (As a side note, using
Toast with the truculent burner
described above made a huge
difference.)
Smart
and Friendly have included a boat load of
software with this baby,
including:
- Adaptec
Easy CD Creator Deluxe Edition for
Windows 95/98 and Windows NT
4.0
- Adaptec
Toast for the Macintosh.
- Sonic
Foundry CD Architect for writing audio
CDs
- Sonic
Foundry Sound Forge XP
- Diamond
Cut Audio Restoration Tools 32 which
offers a range of noise removal and
audio enhancement
capabilities.
- Macromedia
Backstage Designer Plus (this one's a
bit of a stretch, but figure it's
free.)
<www.smartandfriendly.com>
A federal court in California granted the
Recording Industry Association of
America's (RIAA) restraining order on
Diamond Multimedia's Rio PMP300. A
ten-day moratorium on sales was ordered,
and a decision on a prelimiary injunction
is expected October 26.
The
RIAA was required to post a $500,000 bond
as part of the temporary restraining
order. If Diamond prevails in court the
$500,000 will be used to compensate
Diamond for any damages caused by the
delay.
I
previously noted that the Rio was a
software application that saved audio
files to a hard disk. That was incorrect.
The Rio PMP300 is a portable, lightweight
player that stores up to 60 minutes of
audio using MP3 compression. The device
costs $200. The RIAA claims that this is
in violation of the American Home
Recording Act because the technology does
not support codes that prevent rerecording
copyrighted music (such as the coding
found in DAT.)
<www.diamondmm.com>
Spruce Technologies has updated
their DVD authoring system called
DVDMaestro. The new release,
DVDMaestro 1.1 has several new features
including a new seamless multi-angle video
function that enables creators to easily
deliver multiple views that are accessible
at any point during playback. Another new
feature called Command Sequences adds a
complete DVD command language editor to
DVDMaestro for the creation of new
functions and interactive scripts, while
built in library functions allow archiving
of Command Sequences for fast
reuse.
DVDMaestro
includes fully integrated control of the
Pioneer DVD-R system and sophisticated
tools for controlling the physical disc
image layout.
<www.spruce-tech.com>
Meanwhile a short news piece on
CNET describes the ongoing problems
with DVD-ROM (particularly an
ongoing standards battle which seems to be
partly an outgrowth of the original DVD
spec battles.
<www.news.com
news article "Rewritable
DVD: A year
unchanged">
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Oct
20
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NewTek has announced HyperVoxels
2.0 a new rendering technology for
LightWave 3D that simplifies the
creation of highly sophisticated
volumetric rendering effects. Users can
utilize volumetric rendering to create
photorealistic clouds, flames, explosions,
and other gaseous effects, viscous fluids
and detailed solid surfaces as well. With
its integration to LightWave 3D's ray
tracing engine all of these effects are
respected in shadows, reflections,
refraction, depth of field and motion blur
as well as our cartoon
renderer.
HyperVoxels
is a sub-pixel volumetric rendering
technology that ray traces continuous
virtual surfaces that can be perturbed
with various hyper-textures, or
algorithmic textures that allow for
extremely detailed 3D surfaces.
Additional
HyperVoxels 2.0 features
include:
- Interactive
viewing of controls over volumetric
texture settings
- Real-time
animated previewing of volumetric
textures in 2D window
- Multiple
lighting models including Rayleigh,
Beer, Constant, Diffuse and
Self
- Customizable
control of volumetric effects including
volumetric shadows, render quality, and
density.
- Smooth
and multiple object blending between
attributes and
HyperTextures.
- Blending
modes can be used to blend, affect or
repel other objects.
HyperVoxels
2.0 will be available soon for $249.00
directly from NewTek. HyperVoxels 2.0 runs
with LightWave 3D 5.6 a free upgrade
available for LightWave 5.5 registered
users.
<www.newtek.com>
Apple Computer is shipping
Macromedia Flash and
Shockwave players with its new
MacOS 8.5.
This
follows the recent announcement that
America Online is including the Macromedia
players as part of its AOL 4.0 CD-ROM.
Earlier this year, Macromedia announced
that the Flash and Shockwave players are
included with every copy of Microsoft
Windows 98. Macromedia also announced that
Netscape Communications Corp. is including
the Flash player with all current versions
of its Navigator browser.
<www.macromedia.com>
Netscape and RealNetworks
have announced an agreement to distribute
and include RealNetworks RealPlayer
software with Netscape Communicator
4.5, available this week.
RealNetworks
RealPlayer 5.0 will be bundled with
Netscape Communicator 4.5 and Netscape
Communicator 4.5 with Enterprise Calendar
and will also be made available on the
Netscape SmartUpdate service from
Netscape. Netscape will initially
distribute RealPlayer 5.0 and later plans
to distribute the final version of
RealPlayer G2, which is expected to ship
by the end of the year.
<home.netscape.com>
<www.real.com>
Aurora Design has posted new
drivers that fix a problem when 'Printing
to Video' from Premiere with the
Fuse video board. The latest Aurora
Fuse 1.4 drivers can be downloaded from
their website.
<www.auroradsgn.com
download page "Software">
PC Week recently ran an interesting
overview of the current state of the
streaming video industry and
technology.
<www.pcweek.com
article "Streaming:
Here today, better
tomorrow">
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Oct
19
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I think Adobe
needs to rethink their product names. Last
week they announced
ImageStyler which I
mistakenly confused with the product
ImageReady. Even after reading the press
release, I'm not certain I get the
difference....
Adobe
ImageStyler 1.0 is a "powerful Web
graphics software application for the
creative business user." Estimated street
price is $129 (U.S.). Adobe ImageStyler
helps you create live objects, JavaScript
rollover effects, and other design
elements quickly and easily.
<www.adobe.com>
Adobe announced last week it had
resolved a patent infringement case
initially filed by Quantel, Inc. in
January 1996. Neither party has paid any
money in connection with the resolution of
the case.
Last
Fall, a jury in federal court in Delaware
found that Adobe Photoshop did not
infringe five patents held by Quantel,
Inc., a U.K. based company and that the
five patents were invalid. Both companies
appealed various aspects of the decision
and recently, Adobe and Quantel agreed not
to continue the appeals.
<www.adobe.com>
At technology seminars hosted by the
company in New York and San Francisco,
TDK recently demonstrated working
prototypes of a 4.7GB DVD-RW disc
using the company's new ReCom
(Rewritable/Compatible) recording
material.
According
to a TDK research engineer who made the
presentation last week, the new ReCom
recording material will prove critical in
the creation of compatible/rewritable
DVD-RW discs, as well as increasing the
capacity of today's DVD-RAM discs from 2.6
GB to 4.7 GB (DVD-RAM discs are not
playback-compatible with DVD-Video and
DVD-ROM).
Compounded
of silver, antimony, tellurium and indium,
ReCom can form ultra-small, highly precise
data marks in response to very rapid laser
pulses. The material is suited to multiple
rewrite operations, and has been tested in
excess of 1,000 record/overwrite cycles.
In
a related announcement, TDK also disclosed
that it has succeeded in creating a
write-once DVD-R disc with a full
4.7 GB capacity, up from the 3.95 GB
capacity of current DVD-R media.
Write-once DVD-R discs are playback
compatible with DVD-ROM and DVD-Video
drives, and with 4.7 GB capacity - the
same as pressed read-only DVD discs.
The
company expects to offer 4.7 GB DVD-R and
DVD-RAM discs in the 1st and 4th quarters
of 1999, respectively. Timing for the
introduction of DVD-RW discs must await
publication of standards for the format,
but market introduction could be as early
as the 2nd quarter of 1999.
For Macromedia Director users:
On many PCs, there is a conflict between
Director and Intels RSX
which affects sounds played in Director.
This conflict causes sounds to stutter or
sometimes not to play at all.
- This
problem occurs with the latest version
of RSX.
- This
problem occurs with all PC versions of
Director starting with 6.0.
- This
problem occurs on Windows 95 and
Windows NT.
- Using
the "rsxDontUseDirectSound" command, as
outlined in a MM tech note, does not
solve this problem.
Uninstalling
RSX on a computer will make these sound
problems go away.
<www.macromedia.com>
Incwell DMG Ltd of Chander, Arizona
recently announced the internatioinal
release of SuperCard 3.5, a
Macintosh based high end authoring system
for multimedia and internet content
development.
The
release of SuperCard version 3.5,
introduces several new features to the
product, including:
- extensions
to the language for Speech
recognition
- expanded
import and export of file and graphics
formats
- control
of external content, such as CD Audio
and Apple Computer's QuickTime VR.
SuperCard
3.5 also supports Macintosh system level
enhancements, such as MacOS 8 Appearance
Manager, Drag-and-Drop, AppleGuide,
Applescript and AppleEvents. This
represents the first major upgrade to
SuperCard since Incwell announced the
acquisition of the SuperCard product line
from Allegiant in June, 1998.
<www.incwell.com>
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