*Toon Boom releases USAnimation 5.0

Montreal-based Toon Boom Technologies has released the 2D cel animation software usanimation 5.0, the first solution available in the ink-and-paint market to support the Macromedia Flash format. Being a vector-based technology like Flash, usanimation 5.0 can compress movies without quality loss and stream them for the Web.

The software makes it possible to save individual usanimation vector drawings as Flash files or render usanimation scenes into a Flash movie (.swf) and play them from any Flash Player. Users can create quality classical animation and then convert it to Flash, making it conducive to webcast.

In addition to Flash format support, usanimation 5.0 offers multi-format rendering as well as interactive, realtime, multi-layer 3D Scene planning.

Toon Boom announced that these new capabilities will save studio time as well as increase the quality of productions.

Toon Boom Technologies says it is the only company on the international market offering 100% vector-based, resolution independent, 2D cel animation packages.

*New model from Lowel-Light

Lowel-Light Manufacturing out of Brooklyn, New York, has greeted 2000 with its new dimmable DP Daylight System. The 40-year veteran in the production of location lighting equipment is introducing a family of three hmi/msr fixtures (200, 400, and 575w), which retain the basic design of the company’s popular DP Light.

The new system’s major innovation is a compact, flicker-free triple output ballast that can automatically power any one of the aforementioned fixtures with 90-260v input voltages. A quick-release clamp easily connects the ballast to a light stand, keeping both it and the msr dimming control (with a variable output of 50%-100%) well within reach.

The DP Daylight System provides maximum output, wide focusing range, and an even spot and flood, all thanks to an msr point source in a parabolic reflector. Convection-cooled operation ensures safety and simplicity, and the fixtures give a hot restrike. The design is both lightweight and rugged, making the system especially suited to eng and documentary crews.

*Animo Soundtrack Editor for character lip-synching

The u.k.’s Cambridge Animation Systems has announced the arrival of Animo Soundtrack Editor, software that accurately matches the dialogue track of an animated production with characters’ specific mouth movements.

The basis of Soundtrack Editor is ProductionSync, production-based voice recording analysis software the company has secured the rights to from Dallas-based Media Sync Solutions.

‘It is a great endorsement for Media Sync Solutions software that an acknowledged leader like Cambridge has chosen to work with us,’ said Media Sync’s president and cofounder Kevin Erler in a release. ‘We are very pleased they are taking the lead in finding ways to enhance productivity for their users, and that they are using our leading-edge technologies to do so.’

Animo Soundtrack Editor can be used as standalone software or in conjunction with an Animo system for 2D, 3D, or model animation.

‘Accurate lip-synching for realistic speaking characters has always been a painstaking process,’ says Brian Tyler, Cambridge’s vp of sales and marketing. ‘With Animo Soundtrack Editor, using the ProductionSync software, it becomes faster, more intuitive and reliable.’

* Alliance Atlantis adopts Sony Betacam SX VTR

Sony of Canada says Alliance Atlantis Broadcasting, a division of Alliance Atlantis Communications, has adopted the Sony Betacam sx digital platform in preparation for the advent of dtv. The system, optimized for eng, sports and documentary applications, will bring aab the digital advantages of superior picture quality, portability, high-speed image transfer, and nonlinear editing.

When aab decided to incorporate Life Network and Home & Garden Television at its Toronto broadcast centre, it felt the timing was ideal to replace the station’s mcr equipment with an all-digital environment.

Those channels, in addition to Showcase and History Television, which aab already operates at the facility, are expected to be fully operational on the Sony Betacam sx platform by July 2000.

aab reformats all programming for commercial breaks, time breaks and closed captioning, and so was seeking a format producing clean, crisp pictures even after several regenerations. Betacam sx’s backwards-compatibility with Sony’s Betacam sp analog platform also enables aab to use its extensive Betacam tape library for playback in either the 4:3 or the future 16:9 aspect ratio. The company believes Betacam sx puts it in a comfortable position for the digital future.