By Dylan Highsmith, DotLot Editor, The Buddy Group

As we mentioned on Wednesday, Adobe had a very knowledgeable tech staff presenting personal tutorials on some of the neater features of NAB. At DotLot, a good deal of our workflow takes place within the CS3 suite, so we’d like to embellish on the nature of some cool features that you may or may not be aware of in CS3.

First off, it was neat to see the integration of Photoshop’s Vanishing Point feature into AfterEffects. Simply by plotting a square mesh of each face of a photograph of a two-dimensional building, AfterEffects is able to interpret that information to generate a three dimensional object. Meaning, you can take any image of any flat-planed object from Photoshop, and within a matter of minutes have a three-dimensional representation that you can light and move a camera around in AfterEffects.

Also the brainstorm function in AE CS3 is an interesting feature that was demonstrated. Brainstorm takes any simple animations that you may have done, and extrapolates several other animations using the same parameters that you keyframed. Then, it allows you to preview them and choose your favorites, and continues making successive approximations based on your preferences. This is a very interesting feature if you are hitting a wall generating some motion graphics and want to see an array of different options without trying them one at a time; it really cuts down on a lot of trial and error.

Now we’re off to plan our upcoming client projects and figure out which of the cool new toys we saw at NAB will be the most useful and appropriate. We already own CS3 – the rest is up to budget approval. Did we mention we love our CEO? He’s great! Long live Chief Buddy Pete!

NAB has been great. There’s a lot of new products, technology, and techniques that we uncovered on Thursday and would like to share with you.

As we progress more and more into digital file acquisition, we need to find ways to store, file and archive these files. There are several solutions for digital media storage in the market. Many companies are robust in their hardware solutions but seem to lack the software management tool to make it a complete solution. But one company that stands out to have both the hardware and software solution is EditShare. EditShare offers a multi-user storage and editing environment that allows teams of editors to work on a shared project space. What makes this great for DotLot is that it works with the Adobe Suite and allows for multiple editors to work off of the same files. EditShare can also designate specific amounts of hard drive space to an editor or to a project. In addition, if the editor or project needs more space, then with a few clicks of the mouse more space can be allocated. And since this storage solution connects on a 10 Gigabit Ethernet (the first storage solution to offer this speed) the ability to have multiple streams of HD going to multiple workstations won’t be of concern.

Another great discovery is from Gridiron. We’ve seen and heard about Nucleo in the past, but the progression seen in its latest version, Nucleo Pro 2.0, is something for any After Effects user to consider. Nucleo offers background rendering, which is awesome as many MoGraph artists can continue to tweak and make progress on their work without having to take a gaming break. This product also allows for better usage of any PC or Mac multi-processors. When rendering, Nucleo will render several frames at once which cuts the full render time significantly depending on the number of processors in your machine. The last impressive solution this product offers is “Commit to Disk”, which replaces layers with rendered footage to optimize previews. This is great, especially if you have the background approved but still need to tweak the titles of other layers. You can “Commit to Disk” on the background and decrease your rendering time. Cool, huh?

Gridiron also brings another cool product to market. It’s called Flow. How many times have you sat in on another project and the edit or graphic artist has all sorts of sub-sequences or files used in the presentation and has stored them everywhere but where you think they are? This little program automatically tracks and manages all the assets used by illustrating everything with a diagram. Flow tracks each asset for changes and allows you to revert to previous versions. For instance, if your AE sequence has a Photoshop file in it and you decided to change something within that file, Flow will track the changes. Then, if the client decides to go back to the previous version, you can revert back to that file with a couple of clicks, and the whole path is listed out in Flow. Done! Love it. There are many other features we like about this product that we might go into more depth on later.

Overall NAB was a great show to attend. It was very informative and full of new products and techniques to try out. Thumbs up!

By Jonathan Neubauer, Senior Production Buddy, DotLot, The Buddy Group

On Wednesday a handful of things impressed us far more than anything else.

By far and away, Autodesk (NAB booth SL1420) had one of the best booths at NAB. They clearly and precisely showed off their post-production software and its capabilities. A combination of theatrical tutorials and hands-on computer stations allowed guests to better understand the power of programs such as Lustre, Flame, and Smoke. We sat in on a few of these tutorials and were incredibly entertained as well as informed. There is a reason why Autodesk is considered one of the leading software companies when it comes to post-production, and they clearly demonstrated it.

The sheer power of programs such as Flame is incredible. The tools it provides for compositing, lighting, and 3D modeling/lighting are fantastic. One of the most impressive features we witnessed was with rotoscoping. The Flame artist hand drew a mask (using a Wacom tablet) around a person. He then converted the points to tracking points, and analyzed the scene. The mask adjusted automatically, rotoscoping the shot in a matter of minutes. He was then able to manipulate the points to finesse the mask. All masks in Flame also have B-splines, allowing fine tuning of feathering and opacity. The new features of Flame 2009 seem even more incredible, including seamless integration with P2 media, (ensuring Panasonic’s power in the post production workflow).

Adobe’s dedication to its customer base was clear at NAB (NAB booth SL3220). They had one of friendliest and most informative booths at NAB. Their hosting staff was incredibly knowledgeable, friendly, and social - making sure we found everything we needed. The tech staff did a great job at demonstrating their CS3 suite either in theatrical presentations, or more personal tutorials. We learned a handful of things about the CS3 suite we had not known previously. The depth of the CS3 suite continues to amaze us on a regular basis. Adobe truly does allow its users to efficiently and effectively explore their creativity, continually improving on the leading industry products.

We also had a great experience checking out Sapphire at the GenArts booth (NAB booth SL14516). We were given an amazing demonstration by a motion graphics artist, further convincing us of the strength of their plugin suite. Even during the tutorial we were thinking of ways to incorporate the plugins into projects we’re currently working on. A successful sales pitch.

Today was a day of gimmicks at NAB. We saw a bunch of things that had great cool factor, and a couple more that will be really practical.

File this one under “super cool but currently irrelevant for the web”: Ultra High-Definition (UHD). If you didn’t wander all the way to the back of the central hall, then you missed this incredible display. Japan’s NHK Enterprises (NAB booth C12105) was showing off its UHD system. The new camera is almost the size of a Smart Car, draws 900W of AC power and looks like an old studio camera from the 1950’s, but it doesn’t shoot like one - not by a long shot. UHD-format video has a native resolution of 7680×4320 - sixteen times the size of a standard HD image! The system also boasts 22 channels of audio; 10 speakers surround the viewer at ear level, 9 more are placed above the viewer and there are 3 channels at floor level.

We watched a brief demo that was displayed on four 4K monitors. The experience was similar to that of watching an IMAX movie. The sound was totally immersive and even the smallest details were incredibly crisp; in an extreme wide shot of a football stadium we could read the writing on a sign that someone was holding up. According to the NHK rep, their target is to have the UHD format be accepted as the broadcast standard in Japan by 2025 and to bring that same integration to the States by 2040.

For something a bit more practical to the DotLot way of life, we visited Panasonic (NAB booth C3512) to check out the AG-HPX170. This P2 camera is cousin to the wildly successful AG-HVX200. It retains all of the shooting mode features of the HVX200, but eliminates the tape drive in exchange for an HD-SDI 4:2:2 output. Look for the HPX170 to hit shelves this fall at a price point similar to the HVX200.

3D has long been romanticized in the world of cinema as the next great thing. Since the 1950’s, it has been used to “resurrect” movies whenever box office receipts start falling. With the recent acceleration in installations of digital projectors at movie theaters nationwide, we are currently watching yet another 3D explosion with films such as the U2 and Hanna Montana 3D concert films. Could web be the next domain of 3D content? It’s hard to say for sure, but if any company can make that concept a reality, it’s American Paper Optics (NAB booth C11225).

No, they don’t shoot 3D video - that’s DotLot’s job. What they do is produce the cardboard glasses that get sent to consumers via direct mail, magazines and in-store handouts. Anaglyph, Color Depth, Polarized… we counted at least 6 different types of 3D glasses. Which one would be best for web? Is 3D even a viable format for the internet? We’re not sure, but we are definitely insipred and over the next few months DotLot is going to start conducting some tests to find out.

For tomorrow’s Day 3 update, we’ll be looking at a lot of post-production solutions including plugins and accelerators for Premiere and After Effects.

Hello there fellow DotLotters!

We drove out to Las Vegas to check out all the stuff that’s going to make our industry even better in the year to come and thus far, we’re finding what we came for.

First, the candy! The RED booth (NAB booth SL3820) has been a dream magnet for a few years now. DotLot has had several RED ONE cameras on our stage over the past few months and we thought that NAB would be a good palce to talk to lots of RED ONE users and get our hands on some cool accessories for the cameras. Leave it to RED, however, to whet our appeties once again, with the announcement of two new concept cameras slated for release over the next few years. Following tradition, RED teased us with prototype body designs that look great but have limited tech specs at this time. EPIC is touted as a 5K resolution camera, which would make even the RED ONE seem like a starter camera.

Also shown was a handheld camera called SCARLET, which is going to be a 3K camera released in “2009″ for around $3K! This small but powerful camera would truly bring super-large resolution shooting into the hand of the masses. If the release version of this camera even comes close to this target, then it will knock down the cost of super-resolution acquisition, once again following in the long line of technological advancements that bring high technology into the hands of the masses. This would level the playing field and once again signal that content and not budget is king. Long live content. www.red.com

Speaking of conent, are you ready to monetize? If you’re anything like DotLot, then you’re always coming back from shoots with extra footage or shooting fun clips here and there in your spare time. A new stock library makes it easy for you to put your SD and HD content up for sale. Pond5 (NAB booth SL10730) allows registration of a free account for content producers and users. You can browse the entire library online and buy clips via direct download. As a producer, you upload your clips and set your own price, sharing revenue with pond5 50/50. www.pond5.com

Rosco (NAB booth C8208), whose 5711 chroma green paint we just used to cover our green screen Studio B has a great booth, and they sent some really friendly reps to answer questions. They spent some time giving us tips and also showed us a chroma green vinyl dance floor material that we might use t ocover the floor of our studio. This material can be mopped clean just like Mom’s kitchen, meaning no more post-shoot repainting. Now we just have to get our Moms to come clean up after us. I guess we never really grow up, after all. www.rosco.com

Do you shoot with camera stabilizers? Be sure to visit Camera Motion Research (NAB booth C10412) to see their prototype GS2. This gyro stabilized handheld stabilzer takes all of the rock and sway out of your moves. You have to feel it to believe it, but it truly makes even the steadiest shots more steady. www.camotionllc.com

On Tuesday we’ll be checking out a ton more gear including Panasonic (NAB booth C3512), who now has a cousin to the HVX200 that eliminates the tape drive and concentrates fully on P2 acquisition. This camera features an SDI output via BNC and lots of other cool features. www.panasonic.com

Until then…