*VCR gets into Play

Toronto-based post, duplication and multimedia shop VCR Active Media recently announced the purchase of a Play Trinity video production editing system, the system ballyhooed at many a NAB show.

The shop cites the capability of the system to edit from a digital and a tape source and master to tape as well as its compositing power as factors in the acquisition.

The new gear fits in the shop’s equipment lineup as a hybrid editing system which complements VCR’s other linear and nonlinear suites.

*Eyes a Front runner

U.K.-based Innovation TK has announced brisk IBC business for its ITK Y Front telecine product, with Toronto’s Eyes Post among the first to grab the gear, which, used with the Ursa telecine, eliminates scratches and track lines from film without the use of the wet gate process.

With Y Front’s light collection technology, the effects of scratches and the shading problems caused by diffused and refracted light from the film grain are minimized. The product is designed for capability to handle high-definition work.

*ICE blasts off

Waltham, Massachusetts-based ICE has announced a new standalone effects editing product ICEblast, which is said to deliver speed and ease for applying effects to individual film or videoclips.

ICE developed the product with Puffin Designs, makers of the Commotion realtime paint and rotoscoping product.

ICEblast complements ICE’s existing group of effects products in the creation of effects for Avid Media Composer and Xpress, Media 100 and Adobe After Effects.

With ICEblast, users can apply an effect to a clip, adjust settings, render quickly and preview the results with realtime playback.

The product is scheduled for shipment in the fourth quarter of this year and is priced at about $9,000 including the BlueICE hardware card, ICEfx for After Effects software and an ICE’d Boris AE licence.

*Desk at OCAD

Autodesk Canada and the Ontario College of Art and Design have formed a technology partnership whereby OCAD will use the PC software line from Autodesk division Kinetix to train its budding designers and artists.

Students will have access to Kinetix 3D Studio Max, 3D Studio VIX and Character Studio for training in multimedia, digital animation, industrial and architectural design, Web graphics, video and film special effects, and 3D holography.

OCAD will incorporate the Kinetix software throughout its digital curriculum and it will figure prominently in the school’s Academic Computer Centre, which offers courses across various new media areas like post-production media, interactive electronics and multimedia.

*CTI offers self-directed 3D program

Southern Ontario-based Computer Technology Institute and IC Technology have partnered to create the province’s first self-directed 3D animation program.

The program will offer training in Kinetix 3D Studio Max animation software at the CTI campus, with the course led by an instructor from IC, which specializes in 3D animation. Subsequently, students take the computer systems home and begin self-directed learning via CD-ROMs and videos.

Cost of the course is $9,995, which includes in-class training use of the computer system as well as Internet and phone support from IC.

CTI is a division of the Centre for Education and Training, a not-for-profit corporation associated with the Peel School Board. The program is offered at campuses in Toronto, Brampton and Mississauga.

*AMS Neve unveils 48-fader Libra

Audio gear company AMS Neve announced a 48-fader version of its Libra digital mixing console at the AES show in San Francisco recently.

The company showed the console for the first time with an additional control sub-layer enabling up to 144 fully featured audio inputs within a compact 48-fader frame, making it optimum for large-scale audio productions where space is at a premium.

*Artel launches VistaView

Video distribution company Artel has announced a new Web-based management tool for video networks. Embedded in Artel fiber-optic transport and switching products, the new VistaView offers service providers immediate access to every device on their video service networks for equipment checks and repairs.

The product offers realtime network monitoring capabilities and, in a later release in 1999, will offer switch control through Web browsers.

VistaView operates over public Internet or private TCP/IP networks and will be available in the fourth quarter of 1998 priced from $400 to $1,500 per port. Optional server software starts at $1,500.

VistaView’s Web technology was developed by software company Agranat.