Toronto’s Xtreme Grafix has updated the look of Owl Communications’ mascot. The new animated sequence, which opens all Owl broadcasts, features a 3D version ofthe well-read raptor. Animator Brian Foster created the bird, complete with realistic feather texture, with Alias. The owl, one of nature’s most fearsome, cold-eyed killers, appears here as a wise yet friendly learning mentor, flying into the spot and lighting on the Owl logo with an endearing bounce.

The new signature coincides with Owl Communications’ 20th anniversary.

Gajdecki’s on fire

John Gajdecki and his eponymous visual effects shop are expecting delivery this week of a Discreet Logic Flame system. Gajdecki, still glowing warmly from his recent Gemini nominations (See story, p. 28), says the volume of work the company is doing can’t be accommodated with existing equipment, which includes three Flints.

With longtime colleague, animator Claude Theriault recently gone to C.O.R.E. Digital Pictures, Gajdecki says he decided to increase the speed of existing staff with the addition of Flame. Gajdecki’s company was the first in Canada to use Flint, and Gajdecki will be speaking for Discreet Logic at this year’s nab.

SOHO beefs up

Toronto’s SOHO Post and Graphics recently added three new digital suites to the facility and some people who know their way around them.

New equipment includes the Quantel Editbox 4020, the Quantel Hal Express for high-end digital compositing, and an Avid 1000 for offline editing and test compositing, which replaced an existing 3/4′ offline. D1 and Digital Betacam machines were also added as input and output formats for the new suites.

soho has also appointed a new creative director in the person of Tony Cleave, formerly with the cbc, who designed many of the network’s animation and id packages. In other recent personnel changes, Quantel specialist Paul Jacobs has joined soho as senior effects editor, Wayne McKenzie as Hal artist and designer, and Todd Glick as sales representative.

Solid State studios

Mixing console manufacturer Solid State Logic has sponsored a multimedia showcase of 10 of the world’s leading recording facilities, Prestige Studios of the World, which will be delivered on cd-rom and on the Internet.

The enhanced cd-rom (e-cd) allows users to visit the studios using QuickTime Virtual Reality from Apple Computer. The cd will also contain audio tracks recorded at the studios and an interactive multimedia tour of the facilities.

The cd includes interviews with artists, engineers and producers. Featured studios include l.a.’s Oceanway, Masterfonics in Nashville and London’s The Town House.

ssl will also have a part of the film industry’s first soundstage. 20th Century Fox’s Stage 1, built in 1928, is undergoing extensive renovations, which will include the addition of ssl’s SL 9000 Series Film Scoring System.

Chyron buys more stuff

In the latest plot twist in its efforts to be a global broadcast systems provider, New York-based Chyron, maker of character generators and other enabling tools, has announced it will acquire 100% of issued and outstanding shares of Pro-Bel, a u.k.-based manufacturer of video signal switching equipment, in a $21.1 million deal. In December, Chyron acquired a large portion of Israel’s rt-set (Real Time Synthesized Entertainment Technology).

Chyron has also announced it will be one of the certified application vendors for the new Silicon Graphics IndyStudio system. Chyron has bundled its Liberty Paint package with the Cindy video board for Indy workstations into a package for broadcast and video production applications for use with the sgi IndyStudio product.

Good Webbing

Ireland’s Audio Processing Technology has built a Web site to enable studios using WorldNet codecs to locate other studios using the same technology. The site enables users to search by country and city to find, for example, the closest venue for voice-over talent. The site can be found at //www.aptx.com.

And

Electric Eye Multimedia’s multimediator Web site has been chosen as an nbnsoft content winner in the multimedia category. The site provides information on multimedia and features the Canadian Developers Directory. The site is at //www.ideaguy.com.

Have compression, will travel

Scientists from around the world put their heads together in Germany last month with the goal of helping to bring Melrose Place to your car phone. The gathering was held to develop the latest video compression standard that would slenderize images to the degree that they could be sent over wireless devices.

Members of the Motion Pictures Experts Group (mpeg) are evaluating proposals from organizations like Microsoft, at&t and several American universities for a video standard to be known as MPEG-4, expected to be completed by 1998.

While MPEG-4 is being developed to make wireless communications more reliable, and there will be incidental educational, medical and military applications, catching up on Simpsons reruns while stuck in traffic seems the application’s most useful gift to humanity.