– Immersion engine

For its recently released pc-based cd-rom game A Fork in the Tale, San Francisco-based AnyRiver Entertainment sought out sensitive, naked Saturday Night Live alum Rob Schneider and a new proprietary game technology from San Anselmo, California-based Advanced Reality to deliver a funny and impactful full-motion video experience.

Schneider provides the first-person voice of the player in A Fork in the Tale, released earlier this month. The live-action game entails combat, puzzles, role-playing and magic spells delivered with a comedic edge as the player, intending only to return a video rental, is transported to a mysterious island and must, naturally, battle for the preservation of Earth and self.

The action is delivered with branching video, serving up a nonlinear interactive game with five different endings. To circumvent the problems of game slowdowns, pops and hisses associated with the use of video in games, AnyRiver used Immersion Engine, which delivers seamlessly edited clips at speeds which facilitate continuous smooth play.

The engine, created by Rob Lay and Ken Carson, formerly of Lucas Films’ DroidWorks, has two components – the Interactive Editor and the Interactive Player.

The Interactive Editor, described as an object-oriented program in a video editing session, allows an editor designing a game scene to assign video clips information such as file location on the cd, type and location of icons and corresponding action based on analysis of the game player’s input.

The tool also ‘remembers’ what the player has already seen and presents only new material based on story development.

The Interactive Player locates selected clips and presents them post haste. The engine utilizes asynchronous seeks – searching for an audio response clip and a videoclip simultaneously after a player move. To maintain audio integrity, a 4:1 compression algorithm was used to allow the recording of 16-bit 22 kHz audio while using the smaller amount of disc space normally taken up by eight-bit 1 kHz audio.

-C. O. R. E. cubists

Toronto’s C. O. R. E. Digital Pictures is donating all of the special effects for the latest Canadian Film Centre Feature Film Project, The CUBE. The film revolves around a group of people imprisoned in a structure of identical rooms.

While cube director Vincenzo Natali reaps the benefits of a high-end effects shop for the low-budget project, c. o. r. e.’s initiative will provide education to new filmmakers on the growing capabilities of digital imaging. The film’s effects are directed by c. o. r. e. head Bob Munroe and will entail about six weeks of work for the facility.

-Media streaming solution

Silicon Graphics has announced its next generation media streaming solution, WebFORCE MediaBase 2.0.

The system integrates content and network management and scales from 28.8kb/s to 8mb/s bandwidth Internet and intranet applications. MediaBase is designed for Internet service providers and companies requiring realtime delivery of video and audio to the desktop, including applications like Internet broadcasts, video and Web-based training, multicasting and desktop video on demand.

MediaBase 2.0 allows streaming of video over atm networks and, integrating digital encoding options from third-party vendors, can capture a live video stream from an incoming cable service, camera, vcr, tv or satellite feed and broadcast it over a network to a variety of client desktops.

-H|O/SGI launch

Systems integration company Helios|Oceana celebrated the recent move of its Toronto facility from Mississauga to 543 Richmond Street with a launch party featuring the new Silicon Graphics Octane workstation.

The tech-stravaganza, attended by over 150 post-production types, featured an Octane overview and demonstrations by Alias/Wavefront, Side Effects, Avid and Bulldog, followed by acid jazz and merrymaking. The event was one of a series held nationally.

Helios|Oceana, which has offices in Toronto and throughout the u.s., provides systems integration services from analysis to design and installation, training, tech support and custom programming, with strategic relationships with major hardware and software companies including sgi, Ciprico, Avid, Paradigm, and Toon Boom Technologies.

-In Motion

Regina-based production company Partners in Motion has expanded its operations with the addition of staff and an Avid editing system. The company has also acquired a Betacam camera for its field production unit to facilitate the completion of tv and corporate productions from its Regina location.

Ron Goetz, from bbs station ckck-tv Regina and head of the Saskatchewan Motion Picture Association, will join the company as gm in April.

-Higher Profile

Oregon-based Tektronix has added to its Profile Professional Disk Recorder family with the Profile PDR200 video file server.

The network-ready PDR200 is a two- or four-channel configurable file server with increased storage capacity, higher internal bandwidth and digital audio. The system features 30mb/s internal bandwidth, increased external storage and raid data protection options, and the ability to share digitally compressed video over a Fibre Channel network.

-That’s ShowBiz

An early heads-up for festival time in Toronto: ShowBiz Expo, the production and post trade show and conference which runs concurrently with the Toronto International Film Festival, returns this year Sept. 5 and 6 at the Metro Toronto Convention Centre.

New at the show for ’97 are exhibitor fora, free educational sessions conducted by exhibitors, and an expanded conference program encompassing animation, tv broadcast and post-production.

-On ICE

Waltham, Massachusetts-based Integrated Computing Engines has formed partnerships with San Francisco-based DigiEffects, maker of effects software plug-ins for Adobe After Effects, and blue-screen compositing toolmaker Ultimatte, based in Chatsworth, California.

The partnership will optimize the latter two companies’ software for the Greenice 16-processor digital media compute engine. ice, which makes Mac and nt-based tools for digital media content creation, will work with DigiEffects and Ultimatte to enhance versions of their respective software.

-PPD partner

Toronto-based Post Producers Digital has announced that Bruce Rees, who has an extensive background in non-linear editing, has been made a partner in the company.

-SPARS confab in NYC

The Society of Professional Recording Services’ Biz/Tech 97 Conference will be held in New York May 16-18 and will feature a number of top management and business professionals.

Presenters include N2K head and GRP Records founder Larry Rosen, journalist Stephen St. Croix, and Howard Schwartz, head of Howard Schwartz Recording. Talk will be of emerging technology trends and business issues. For more info, contact spars at (561) 641-6648.

-Other audio

Attention professional and semi-professional musicians, musicians manque and post house hacks: Downtown Jam is now open to provide an outlet for excess creative energy. The space, at 260 Richmond West, offers two studios, instruments and equipment, mixing and recording equipment, and personnel to orchestrate jams amongst the musically kindred.