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Indie Thriller Ingenium Goes to the Big Screen

Ingenium Gets Consistent Look from Assimilate's SCRATCH

Indie thriller, Ingenium, was a labor of love from start to finish. Creativity and dedication to their craft make indie filmmakers tick, and this was fully demonstrated by brothers Steffen Hacker - director, editor, producer - and color grading artist, Peter Hacker, in the production of their new mystery feature. The film is teeming with the typical indie challenges: multiple cameras with differing formats, resolutions, and codecs; limited time and varying work schedules; and tight budget constraints. Like many an indie filmmaker, the Hacker brothers used every ounce of talent and ingenuity, as well as the right tools to bring their creative vision to the big screen. Here's how they made it happen. Read More

One of the key ingredients to maintaining a positive global marketplace is collegial trade between countries. Many partnerships are strong and create a win-win situation for all concerned parties. But, there are still many countries who cannot come to an agreement about the ratio of imports to exports between the nations. These disagreements can escalate into imposed tariffs and the beginnings of a trade war. So why should we be concerned about tariffs and trade wars? Here's what you need to know. Read More

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3D Printing Is Hot...And It's Only Going To Get Hotter

We often think of 3D printing as a new technology with futuristic implications, but we rarely stop to consider how far it's come or where it could be in another few years. 3D printing was invented by Charles Hull in 1984, and in the ensuing 34 years we have developed ways to scan and 3D print objects in real time and have even begun one of the most science-fiction endeavors yet-3D printing human organs. Still, 3D printing has yet to reach its full potential, and that's a good thing. Read More

Feature: By Miles Weston

Content Insider #587 - Before the Game

Consumer crystal gazers keep putting up fantastic mouth-watering numbers on the HMD sales that are going to be delivered...next year. Next year rolls around and it's ooppss. Their projections aren't wrong obviously it's that the world (kids) don't want VR. Funny thing is they were sold instantly when they were first introduced a few years ago and sales keep rising. Where? Well gee just about in every business application you can dream up for virtual and augmented peeks as to what's going on. Trouble is everyday practical use isn't as sexy, as fun, as exciting as a shootem up VR game. No but it makes work safer and better so get into it Read More

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Industrial Air Pollution Clean-Up Is On Its Way In 2018

Since 1955, the United States government has recognized the need for legislation to clean up air pollution. Subsequent revisions to the initial legislation strengthened the laws regarding allowable amounts of car emissions, factory smog, and other sources of air pollution. Now, in 2018, it isn't just legislation and governments fighting air pollution. Private inventors, corporations, and other organizations are harnessing the technology that can aid in cleaning our air all over the world, along with recognizing that some advances in technology are creating more air pollution and combating it with air filter and filtration systems, dust collectors, industrial vacuums, industrial blowers, air compressors, vacuum pumps and many other products. Read More

Product Review: By Stephen Schleicher

Scratch Play Pro

If you are looking for a responsive camera format player and transcoder that is light on system resources, and supports looks and metadata management, then SCRATCH Play Pro from Assimilate may just be the all in one tool for all of your playback needs. The application was released in July 2018, and after using the software for a month, it is hard not to find a reason to add SCRATCH Play Pro to your workflow. Read More

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Trade War With China Will Hit OEM Manufacturers First

As trade relations between China and US deteriorate, OEM manufacturers and their metal suppliers are caught in the middle. Who is affected first? Read More

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When a Movie is More Than a Movie: MYSTERY OF SIMBI_XOMBIES

MYSTERY OF SIMBI_XOMBIES is a lot of things. Just another indie film it is not. A zombie horror film it definitely is not. What it is is a concept for showing how one band making their videos in VR can set off a global chain reaction. It is an underground music comedy. And it is a digital entertainment experiment. To help author all of this, David Kim used Blackmagic Design cameras and its DaVinci Resolve Studio software. Read More

Featured News:

Assimilate's Scratch 9.0 Now Shipping

Assimilate is now shipping Scratch 9.0, an aggressive, high-performance, and user-friendly product update that delivers a huge boost in creativity, efficiency and performance, saving enormous amounts of time for all creative functions. Known for its high-quality 2D/3D/VR tools in a single, streamlined workflow - dailies, conform, color grading, compositing, finishing & mastering - now includes support for over 200 Matchbox Shader effects and an easy connection to AfterEffects and Nuke compositing tools with a single click. Read More

Product Review: By Stephen Schleicher

The WUNDER360 S1 360 Spherical Action Camera

360 video for Virtual Reality continues to be an area that next generation content creators are focusing more of their attention on. But, with professional 360 VR cameras costing tens of thousands of dollars, it might be a good idea to experiment with this wondrous new way to tell your story with a camera that does the same thing, but costs a fraction of the price. Funded via an Indiegogo campaign, the Wunder360 S1 360 Spherical Action Camera is a nice alternative to other 360 cameras on the market. Read More

Product Review: By Matt Siegel

URSA Mini Pro - Taking It to a Higher Level

For filmmakers, from high-end pros to novice students, the traditional production paradigm has undergone a radical change. "Good, fast, and cheap, AND in 4K" is the expectation. Blackmagic Design's URSA Mini Pro meets these requirements and has boldly ascended into the film industry mainstream, proving itself to be a reliable production workhorse. Read More

Industry Profile: By Miles Weston

Content Insider #586 - Growing Overload

We're beginning to wonder if The Tale of Two Cities quote might be addressing the streaming content industry...It was the best of times, it was the worst of times, it was the age of wisdom, it was the age of foolishness. Business mavens see how Netflix, Amazon, YouTube and others are raking in viewers and dollars and say heck we can do better. But viewers don't want a dozen S/AVODs. They only want a few daily options - one, two, three, four - after that they'll pass. We may be getting to the point when too many great viewing options are just too many to sign up for. Still going back to the cable or phone guy's old tired bundle isn't in the cards. Read More

Events: By Ko Maruyama

MAXON sponsors HalfRez

Chris Schmidt, Greyscalegorilla director of 3D product development and Half Rez co-founder, explains that Half Rez, heading into its seventh year, has become an essential motion graphics destination honoring the diverse community of motion graphics artists. Read More

Product Review: By Rakesh Malik

Grading and Finishing with Scratch v9

Last summer I filmed a short mockumentary spoofing a home improvement show where the homeowners are a family of zombies. We shot this in a weekend with a fairly minimal crew, working with a first time director. The camera we filmed with was mine, a Red Epic-W, and we filmed in 8K raw. Earlier this year after a lot of rounds of editing and screenings with test audiences, the editor sent me the final edit for color grading. At the time I was working on an IT contract in Seattle and commuting an hour each on the train, so I took my HP Spectre x360 and the hard drive and decided to get started while commuting. And I used the new Scratch v9 for grading and finishing. Read More

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China's Government Eyes Complete Scrap Import Ban

Who's effected? Recycling Equipment Manufacturers and Recycling Companies! For a closer look, let's review the equipment that will be affected. Read More

Feature: By Jason Pruett

Stream On

Live streaming. Once a term exclusive to the technology lexicon, it has quickly earned a place in everyday conversation. From the exponential growth of branded and independent content channels, to the explosion of esports and the emergence of social video, live streaming has evolved from a very niche application in the context of content production to a price-of-admission necessity for virtually every platform and provider with aspirations of multimedia supremacy. Read More

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