Animatics Multimedia, the Ottawa-based makers of Midnight Stranger, and Global X-Change Communications, an Internet service company also in Ottawa, are codeveloping a ‘worldwide, interactive social drama service’ on the Net.

The infrastructure should be ready this spring, and the initial plan is to offer interactive sequels to Midnight Stranger, Animatic’s first cd-rom entry, incorporating its unique Mood Bar response system which allows users to interact with the characters. Global X-Change is doing the html authoring and Internet admin and marketing. The bait is a free demo; once hooked you can subscribe to the Net soap service.

The developers say they can track viewers’ fave and least fave characters and respond accordingly.

Cleaning up

Toronto-based International Image has added to its line of Digital Restoration Technologies with ElectronicWash, a service that electronically removes dirt, hairs, and sparkles from film negatives.

EWash removes about 95% of the impairments in less time than it would take an on-line editor to remove them frame-by-frame in post-production, leaving behind a clean master copy with no loss in quality.

The pricing structure for the EWash system varies according to the degree of impairments and the specifications of each individual project, but a 90-minute mow would begin at about $2,500.

Suddenly deluxe

Thirty-two years of operating under the Film House banner came to an end March 1, when the venerable film processing and sound house became ‘deluxe toronto.’ Part and parcel of the name change, the Film House trademark will be replaced by ‘color by deluxe’ and ‘sound by deluxe’ credits.

London, Eng.-based Rank Organisation, which purchased Film House in 1990, also bought 20th Century Fox’s deluxe laboratories (circa 1915). The name change is intended to give a higher North American profile to the organization’s services.

Multimedia middleman

Cherchez L’Image is a new Montreal company specializing in multimedia clearance. Cherchez head Michael Midoun will apply his tv clearing expertise to multimedia rights issues, and act as a middleman between licencees and multimedia developers. Currently the company is working on clearing 20,000 pages of published material on Greek and Roman mythology for an interactive disc for the University of Quebec.

Let Moses decide

Keynote speakers for the MULTIMEDIA 95 expo and conference, running May 31 to June 3 at the Metro Toronto Convention Centre, are Fred Klinkhammer, president/ceo of MediLinx Interactive, and Satjiv Chahil, vice-president new media/new markets Apple Computer.

The call for interactive digital media product entries is out for the International Digital Media Awards, held in conjunction with the expo. Judges include Cultech’s Paul Hoffert, Annette Lalonde of tvontario, and Citytv’s Moses Znaimer.

Art in motion

Mirak, a Toronto-based company that’s been around for 20 years, is heading into deep r&d so that Peter Emond can do what he does best – develop systems.

Emond is moving more into multimedia areas, which he says (unless you do kiosks) has been a bit of a scam. Programs he’s now designing include multimedia manuals, accelerated training systems using audio as a base for a computer interface, and off-site training – audio guides for folks in the field.

In the meantime, one of the systems previously designed and operated by Mirak, a computerized animation stand, has been acquired by Toronto-based Creative Post. Kate Kral and Jean Marc Rodrigue have also joined the company to operate the Motion System. Art’n Motion, a division of Creative Post, will offer the computerized camera system, which is used by videomakers to add motion to still images, photographs and sophisticated background elements.

Virtual sets

Menlo Park’s Accom and Hamburg-based vap have formed a new company, ELSET Electronic Set GmbH, in an effort to quickly deliver virtual studio technology to the tv industry. The elset system is proprietary software running on sgi’s Onyx which creates virtual sets and controls their realtime integration with the actual studio action as captured by cameras. Accom will be the distributor and is doing an elset intro at nab.

Audibly avid

Avid Technology is now shipping Version 3.0 for Avid AudioVision and its lower cost sibling, AudioStation. The new release supports 16 channels of digital audio, boasts new interface facets (such as a 24-track display in the timeline) and is AvidNet/atm compatible.

ZOOM

Fujinon has another new lens. The snappily monickered S14x7.5MD is a zoom (14x) for 1/2-inch cameras, boasting ebc, with a mod of 1.1 m. It weighs two and a quarter pounds and is 6 1/2 inches long.

Rave on

StereoGraphics, a San Rafael-based supplier of stereo 3D electronic display equipment, has a model of its 3D CrystalEyes glasses available for domed and curved theater screens, enabling that theme-park virtual-reality experience in a multiplex environment.

Last year in Montreal, about 3,000 pairs of eyeballs sported the company’s 3D goggles at a Rave held at the NEXSUS Project.