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| A Video Systems Publication | |
| A Primedia Property | |
| June 25, 2003 | Vol 2, No. 12 |
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Table of Contents An Editor's View PowerMac G5s Announced! HDTV News It's A Wrap Congratulations High School Award Winners Source Window Boris FX White Paper on Avid Adrenaline Matrox RT.X100 Xtreme & RT.X10 Xtra Shipping Blackmagic Design Updates Software to DeckLink CinéWave 4 Delivering Aurora Releases RT Extreme Driver for FCP 4 Sneak Peek of Sapphire for AE Plug-Ins at DVExpo Canopus Offers Summer Promotion Avid Users Dominate Edward R. Murrow Awards Adaptec Intros New Serial ATA Raid Controller Maya Increases Market Share Maxtor 300GB ATA Drives Shipping NEC Folding LCD Monitors mSoft offers Music Solutions Bitstream Scalable Fonts for Games and Edutainment nucoda data conform Aquired by Creature Shop Pioneer Selects Ulead Digital Media Software WinDVD Creator 2 Debuts at DVExpo More DVDs Rented Last Week Than VHS Cassettes CyberLink PowerDVD 5 Advances DVD Technology New Versions of SOFTIMAGE|XSI Now Available Viacon Boasts Record Sales Quantel Artist of the Year DarkTree 2.5 Plug-In Shipping Free PhotoShop Performance-Boosting Plug-In for G5 Talking Head Interview With a Newly-Formed Plug-In Coalition Letters to Bob Pondering Trade Shows and NAB ADVERTISEMENT Quantel's eQ is the HD editing powerhouse that brings you all the opportunities the new world of HD and multi-format post opens up. Pristine quality, unsurpassed performance, brilliant toolset and Resolution Co-existence - eQ is the future of post. Find out more at www.quantel.com/eQ An Editor's View June 23rhd - Apple Computer has announced their new desktop flagship PowerMac G5. This announcement will probably be the most exciting news of the month for many video editors. Their evangelistic PowerMac G5 QuickTime video is generating excitement in our professional video community and is raising questions concerning when the benefits of this system will be incorporated into Final Cut Pro. The product will work with FCP 4.0 as a 32-bit application when the platform is released in August. FCP will benefit from the performance that all 32-bit apps will experience with this new platform. The big question is not "will FCP work with the new platform?", but "when will Final Cut Pro access the many new features and capabilities available with this new platform?". Another big question is when will the various profession application drivers be available? Of course Apple will not comment on unannounced products, so the question of a Final Cut Pro upgrade incorporating the new features or the 64-bit architecture will go unanswered for a while. Many believe that if developers adapt to Apple's 64-bit architecture quickly enough, it will give Apple a major boost in the market. I feel confident that FCP will not be the only Mac-based editing product that will be working with the G5 at the time of the August delivery. I believe you will be able to install the Avid Media Composer Adrenaline and connect the Adrenaline DNA without a problem. Media 100 will also benefit. Media 100 VP Mike Savello admits, "The bandwidth and performance improvements they provide will deliver a boost to today's Media 100 i systems and should complement greatly the architecture of our Media 100iHD technology." You can see the entire Steve Jobs WWDC Keynote presentation, but I do not know how long this video presentation will be available on the Apple site. If you have the two hours required, I strongly recommend that you watch the entertaining presentation. CNET Video Reports offers a short video segment of the Steve Jobs introduction of the PowerMac. This video segement explains the features most important to the film/video post production community, including why the product offers up to 8 GB of RAM (64-bit processing can be especially RAM-hungry!) -- it makes the wide bandwidth platform 40 times faster on some applications (the difference between processor to RAM vs. Processor to HD). The segment goes on the say that the platform features a 4X Superdrive, up to a half a terabyte of internal hard disk storage, a choice of new graphics boards (nVidia G-Force 5200 Ultra on the two lower-end models, and the ATI Radeon 9600 Pro in the highest end model), and a new thermal cooling system with nine fans and 4 different thermal zones, yet the platform is much quieter than the G4 (35 dBA at normal room temperature) -- all in an aluminum enclosure with handles to heft this 40 pounder. The press release about the developers for this platform, including Alias|Wavefront, Digidesign, Luxology and Pixar, indicates that Apple intends this product to have a major impact on post production. I should point out that this announcement follows the June 20th announcement that Shake 3.0 is now delivering. Apple and IBM jointly announced what they are calling the introduction of "the world's first 64-bit desktop processor -- the PowerPC G5". The product will be available in August with three standard configurations with prices ranging from $1,999 to $2,999 MSRP or you can custom-configure a system. A new OS 10.3, a.k.a. Panther was also announced (MSRP $129 and available before the end of the year). It will become the OS of choice for the new G5. Some new features in Panther include Pixlet, a studio-grade wavelet-based codec that was developed in conjunction with Pixar to deliver HD-quality video on the Mac and Font Book, a new application that provides "system-level font management with double-click font preview, one-click installation and an intuitive iTunes-like interface". Apple also announced the preview of the Panther (OS 10.3) Server operating system. Other announcements at the Apple WorldWide Developers Conference include the introduction of iChat AV / along with the iSight camera, the release of the "super-fast" Safari 1.0 browser and the developement of Xcode, "the fastest way to create Mac OS X applications". Back to top HDTV News There has been a great deal of discussion in our industry about Digital Television. I thought I would mentioning a few recent sources of information. The latest Nation Association of Broadcaster "Destination Digital TV" .PDF publication has come out. The other is Joe Kane's "Digital Video Essentials" DVD. For those that have seen the Video Essentials DVD, you will understand that this is a basic source of information for both consumers and professionals who sell to and service those consumers. Since we are all also consumers interested in the future of home entertainment as well as postproduction professionals, I thought I would point out another interesting read available from the Consumer Electronics Association, "Digital America 2003". While on the subject, I would like to congratulate DV Magazine's Steve Hullfish on his excellent interview with Robert Altman and Altman's view on production using HD. Back to top It's A Wrap I would also like to mention that the Hollywood Post Alliance will offer an evening of summer fun and networking to celebrate the first year of it's existence in "re-defining post production". The program, It's a Wrap will be held on Friday, July 11, 2003 at 6:00 PM. Back to top Last night at the New England section meeting of SMPTE, video historian Paul Beck explained the derivation the name "Emmy" as highest award in our industry. It appears that it was going to be "Immy" -- a nickname for the Image Orthicon tube, but the majority of the decision-making body did not like the name and suggested something that sounded like it. The reason for that story is that it leads to my last An Editor's View segment in this issue. The National Television Academy (the organization governing the Emmy Awards) announced the winners of the First Annual Student Awards of Excellence honoring outstanding television journalism by high school students -- several of which are THE CUT subscribers. If I may, I would like to offer specific congratulations to my home-town winners, Erik Emmett and Emma Curran for their regional recognition of "Welcome to SHS" by the New England Chapter of the National Television Academy. Back to top Source Window Boris FX has a new white paper out, Boris Motion Graphics Pack for Avid Media Composer Adrenaline, explaining what the bundle of RED and Continuum Complete AVX offers to those considering a Avid Media Composer Adrenaline purchase or upgrade. Back to top June 20, 2003 - Matrox Video Products Group announced that the Matrox RT.X100 Xtreme and the RT.X10 Xtra real-time video editing platforms are now shipping worldwide. Back to top June 13th - Blackmagic Design announced the release of a public beta of version 4.0 software update for its DeckLink family of uncompressed QuickTime video capture cards. DeckLink's version 4.0 adds support for RT Extreme and multi channel audio features found in the Apple's Final Cut Pro 4 video editing application. Three days later, they announced that DeckLink Pro is now shipping to customers ($1,295 MSRP). In the first 4 days of shipments, over 100 units were sold worldwide, making it the industries fastest selling uncompressed QuickTime video card. Back to top June 23rd -- Pinnacle Systems announced that they began shipping CinéWave 4 for Apple's Final Cut Pro 4 NLE software. The CinéWave 4 web site explains the many new features available with this upgraded product including film support, offline support, improved audio capabilities and real-time keyframeable HD effects. Back to top June 26th - Aurora Video Systems announced the release of a new software driver that allows their IgniterX family of video capture and editing solutions to support Final Cut Pro 4's RT Extreme engine. This drive update will allow render-free playback of effects in real-time, as well as a virtually unlimited number of video streams. Aurora Video Systems' software driver is available now from the company's Web site. They also announced that they believe all Igniter boards will be compatible with the PowerMac G5s that use the standard PCI bus for expansion cards. The version of the PowerMac G5 that uses the updated PCIX expansion bus is not compatible. Aurora Video Systems is in the process of testing PCI bus version for full compatibility. Back to top In April, GenArts announced that they are porting the Sapphire plug-ins to the After Effects API. This means that GenArts will support Adobe After Effects, Adobe Premiere, Discreet combustion and Apple Final Cut Pro. At DVExpo East GenArts has been invited to give a 15-20 minute presentation each hour in the Discreet booth. The presentation will be a "sneak preview" of a sampling of the 175 Sapphire Plug-ins coming soon to AE and compatible products. Some of the effects they'll be demoing on the Discreet combustion include LensFlares, EdgeRays, Glows, Glint, Blurs, Lightning Zaps, Wipes, Dissolves, and more! For those with Avids, check out the new GenArtsAVX web page to see what Sapphire plug-ins are available on that platform. In a separate June 25 press release, Genarts announced the immediate availability of Sapphire Plug-ins for Apple's Shake version 3 - available for the Mac OS X, Linux, and Irix operating systems. Back to top June 25th - Canopus announced two special summer software promotions. The Canopus Visual Effects Suite is now $299 with the purchase of a Canopus hardware nonlinear editing solution, such as DVRaptor RT2 or DVStorm2. The Canopus Production Suite is now $999 saving $900 off the MSRP. Canopus is offering this promotion now through August 31, 2003. Back to top June 25th -- Avid Technologies announced that customers of Avid Broadcast represented nearly 70% of the award winners (25 of the 36 winners) in television news categories at this year's Edward R. Murrow Awards -- the broadcast industry's highest honor for journalistic excellence. Back to top June 23rd - Adaptec announced a new 4-port Serial ATA RAID 2410SA controller featuring Adaptec's data protection capabilities to maximize performance and data availability for high-end workstations using Serial ATA disk drives. Back to top June 25th -- Alias|Wavefront announced that it is exceeding business expectations for its Maya software product line and boasted of its successes over the past year. Back to top June 23rd - Maxtor announced that it is shipping their new 300GB (5400 RPM) ATA hard disk drives ($399.95 MSRP). Maxtor, together with LSI Logic also announced plans to collaborate on extended testing and prototype development or of Serial Attached SCSI (SAS) storage prototypes. Back to top June 23rd -- NEC-Mitsubishi Electronics Display of America announced its first line of light-weight LCD monitors that fold up for easy portability. The new monitors are priced aggressively with the 15-inch NEC LCD1565 at $349 estimated street price and the 17-inch NEC LCD1765 at $549 estimated street price. NEC MultiSync LCD 60 Series monitors are appearing in more and more edit suites. Just last week the display manufacturer was recognized as the number one stand-alone vendor of flat panel desktop displays Back to top Keith Mason of mSoft wanted readers to know that audio management is an important issue with post houses and mSoft offers a couple of solutions. First, he wanted you to know that mSoft offers an inexpensive subscription program for its signature ServerSound and MusicCue digital asset management (DAM) systems. The MusicCue system includes a browser with a GUI similar to many search engines, and features 4 million cross references to 800,000 music tracks. ServerSoundStorm is 50 hours of production music that can be pre-cleared for worldwide use for a monthly rental fee. Back to top June 17th - Bitstream announced the release of seven theme-based gaming font sets for developers to use in electronic and online gaming software. The font sets include Cartoons & Animation, Dungeons & Chains, Sci-Fi, Shoot 'Em Up, Show Biz, Sports, and The Dark Side. Last month, Bitstream announced release of version 1.07 of ThunderHawk, Bitstream's wireless Web browsing technology. Version 1.07 includes upgrades to the Pocket PC Edition, a full-featured wireless Web browser for Pocket PCs, giving end users complete access to real Web pages. Back to top June 12th - nucoda announced that the visual effects facility, Jim Henson's Creature Shop, has purchased a nucoda data conform previsualising solution. This release tells how data conform sits within The Creature Shop's dailies' review process. The nucoda web page says that "nucoda data conform is the world's first PC-based 10 bit full resolution previsualising tool for film." Back to top June 16th -- Ulead Systems announced an agreement to include special editions of VideoStudio 7, DVD MovieFactory 2, DVD PictureShow 2, as well as Ulead DVD player software and burning technology with Pioneer's new multi-format DVR-A06 DVD/CD writer, providing a fully-integrated, multi-format solution for editing video content, transforming video DVDs, and creating digital image slideshows. Editors can burn final digital projects to CDs or DVDs in both the DVD-R/RW and +R/RW formats. The DVR-A06 will be available in North America in June for $329 MSRP. Back to top There will be a range of low-cost DVD solution at InterVideo's Booth #357 during DV Expo July 9-11 in the Javits Center. InterVideo will introduce WinDVD Creator Version 2.0 as a complete video editing, authoring and burning DVD and CD solution. They will also be featuring DVD Copy -- a single-pass DVD copying solution, and WinDVD Recorder & WinDVR3 -- economical PC answers to Tivo, REplay and set-top recorders with no monthly usage fees or usage tracking. Back to top June 19th -- The Video Software Dealers Association reported that last week, for the first time ever, more DVDs were rented than VHS videocassettes. Back to top June 17th - CyberLink announced the release of PowerDVD 5, a new version that is built upon the company's technological strength to offer what they believe is "the ultimate DVD entertainment on the PC." On June 24th, CyberLink announced that PowerDVD XP 4.0 software would be bundled with TDK's new Midnight veloCD DVD-ROM/CD-RW combo drive. The TDK Midnight veloCD drive offers high-speed CD-R/RW recording along with DVD playback. Back to top June 26th - Softimage announced the immediate availability of version 3.5 of its SOFTIMAGE|XSI software as well as its family of processing and rendering products including SOFTIMAGE|XSI Batch and SOFTIMAGE|XSI Batch Universal. Qualifying commercial and educational institutions can access the significant toolset and performance enhancements in version 3.5 free of charge by downloading the new version. This upgrade comes just 8 months after the previous release. Softimage is a subsidiary of Avid Technology. Their Softimage|XSI is growing into the 3D environment of choice by many leading computer graphics houses. Back to top June 19th -- Vicon announced record sales of new and upgraded Vicon Motion Capture Systems at the close of the first half of fiscal year 2003 Back to top Congratulations goes to Neil Goodridge, who was named "Quantel Artist of the Year". His entry, 'Pa', was created entirely on Quantel's Paintbox and Editbox systems. Back to top Darkling Simulations has announced that DarkTree 2.5 , an advanced textural generator/procedural shader authoring tool, is now shipping. It is a free update for all DarkTree 2 users. This new version includes new APIs plus new UI and output features. Back to top June 24th -- Adobe Systems announced new add-on software technology designed to maximize the performance of Adobe Photoshop 7.0 software on Apple's just-announced Power Mac G5 product line. Back to top Talking Head Interview With a Newly-Formed Plug-In Coalition A new coalition of small plug-in developers has formed recently. These manufacturers include Automatic Duck, Conoa, Digital Anarchy, Profound Effects, RE:Vision Effects, Synthetic Aperture, Stagetools, Total Training, Trapcode, Visual Infinity, Walker Effects and Zaxwerks. I held a nonlinear online interview with them over the period of this last week. The following is their story. Jim Tierney of Digital Anarchy: Total Training is technically not a developer, but they've participated in two events so far and have been a good partner. THE CUT: As I understand it, you are a small group of plug-in manufacturers that have formed a consortium so that you can:
Bob Currier of Synthetic Aperture: That is essentially correct. You are leaving out the ability to share business expertise. Wes Plate of Automatic Duck: We don't really share user information, but we do share booth leads. By teaming together and marketing as a group, we can reduce the cost to each participating company. Bill Ferster of StageTools: Our first shared booth event will be DV Expo in New York, July 9th through 11th at the Jacob Javits Convention Center. THE CUT: Can you elaborate on what you are hoping to gain from investing time in this consortium? Bob Currier of Synthetic Aperture: Beyond the sharing of costs, there is also the sharing of technical and business information. We all face technical problems in developing our products, and it's silly for each company to be constantly solving the same problems. By sharing technical information we can help each other out on development issues. We also all face common business issues. While some are generic, others are unique to plug-in developers. For example, most all of us do on-line sales via credit cards. We face unique issues with regard to on-line fulfillment, licensing, cc fraud, etc. There are specifics to these issues that you aren't going to be able to discuss at the local chamber of commerce meeting. I also hope we can gain some leverage with the host application manufacturers. The response to developers varies widely between companies and between divisions of the same company. It's much easier to make sound business arguments to a company if you can show that their efforts will benefit multiple developers, and you can quantify the size of the market that will benefit. And as those manufacturers have also cut expenses, it may be easier for them to deal with an organized group instead of many individuals. And there is always the camaraderie of getting together with like souls. You may not be able to solve your common problems, but at least having a mutual gripe session about them over a beer makes you feel like you're not alone! Wes Plate of Automatic Duck: I see this coalition as a way to reduce costs, share helpful information, and help each other succeed as businesses. What we have in common is that we are very small companies working very hard in a space that can be difficult to succeed in. By teaming up and acting not as competitors but as allies, we can help everyone succeed. We ask questions and share information about host application compatibility, software security, distribution, reseller problems, what computers we use, what setups we use at shows for furniture and PA systems... There is much information we can share with each other. Bill Ferster of StageTools: From my point of view, it is strength in numbers. We are all similarly-sized companies and share many of the same business and technical issues. By sharing booth space at shows, and potentially advertising, we are able put forth a stronger presence at a more affordable cost. Since we don't compete directly with one another in our core products, the addition cross pollination of customers will be beneficial to all of us. There's also a sense of camaraderie that is good. Pete Litwinowicz of RE:Vision Effects: It's probably nothing else then a standard per project volume buying grouping for certain promotional activities, in particular the ROI on small trade shows makes it hard to legitimate stand-alone efforts as the average operations here is probably 2 people company. There have been a number of ad-hoc groupings over time - notably DV Expo LA last December. Steven J. Walker of Walker Effects: I'm always interested in being involved in the developer community, and offering help when I can. THE CUT: Is there any sort of financial investment required to join this group? Bill Ferster and Wes Plate: No. Bob Currier of Synthetic Aperture: So far it's just been a splitting of expenses for those members who elect to participate in a project, such as the group sharing space at DV Expo East. THE CUT: Are you just a group that see each other at shows and decided to do something together, or was there criteria by which invitations went to a specific type of manufacturer? For example, might you invite GenArts or SpeedSix to join? Wes Plate of Automatic Duck: No criteria. There aren't many small companies doing what we are doing, so we all have come to know each other through various shows, conferences, meetings, demos, drinking binges across the country. Bill Ferster of StageTools: There are no rules, as far as I know. We were at an Adobe Conference when this first jelled, but since we support multiple manufacturers aside from Adobe, I don't think that's a badge of admission in and of itself. Jim Tierney of Digital Anarchy: I have been thinking of contacting Buena Software, Digital Film Tools, and DigiEffects to see if they are interested in joining the consortium. Kathryn Cree Bouchard of GenArts: We support this new coalition's efforts and have been asked to be included on the email list, so we can learn more about opportunities as they arise. We will not be part of the booth at DV Expo, but will be presenting in Discreet's booth. Perry Kivolowitz of Profound Effects: We need each other to help expand our (pretty small) market. Our own marketing capabilities are each quite limited. There will be greater strength in numbers. Bob Currier of Synthetic Aperture: It's a group that has interacted at shows, shared some booth space at previous shows, attended the same developer meetings, etc. I think everyone currently sells plug-ins for Adobe After Effects, so that is the common ground, but many sell plug-ins for other products. Jim Tierney of Digital Anarchy: Right now the group seems to be focused around AE plug-ins and host apps that support AE plug-ins. That is kind of the common link. Since SpeedSix doesn't develop for AE, I'm not sure they would see a significant benefit. While we do welcome other companies they do have to have certain things in common with the existing companies otherwise there isn't really a benefit. Peder Norrby of Trapcode: Similar companies are welcome to join. I must confess that I have never heard of "SpeedSix" though. Pete Litwinowicz of RE:Vision Effects: Sure. For example, SpeedSix offers some products that are in direct competition with us, but I'd be happy to have them aboard. Transfer of information is good. (Marketing with them, however, would probably be quite another thing :-) ). THE CUT: What was the process that brought you together? Whose idea was it? Would you like additional members or is the consortium closed? Wes Plate of Automatic Duck: Adobe used to have a Technical Evangelist named Amacker Bullwinkle, and she used to talk about the idea of a "brotherhood" of developers. She helped cultivate camaraderie among the group of AE plug-in developers and I think she's the one who helped start the idea. Now, we continue the idea that there is strength in numbers and that the "brotherhood" is a good thing. Jim Tierney is really key these days in the workings of our loose group, he organized the pavilion for DVExpo (and IBC, right?). Thanks Jim! Bob Currier of Synthetic Aperture: I don't recall that it was specifically anyone's idea. There was a group of us at an Adobe developer's gathering and we were all talking over drinks. After someone would tell a story (horror or otherwise) several people would inevitably chime in with "me too." After a bit of this I think it became apparent to all that we had a lot in common. The shared space at DV Expo is the first serious effort put together by the group, and Jim Tierney (Digital Anarchy) gets the credit for making that happen. He is also organizing a similar shared booth at IBC. THE CUT: Where do you see this going? Do you find that as a consortium, the editing application manufacturers (that you guys manufacture plug-ins for) might be more cooperative? I mean, if you talk with one voice, will they find it easier or more important to share information with? Perry Kivolowitz of Profound Effects: Ideally, yes. In practice, however, there are so many factors at play that this is not always the case. Jim Tierney of Digital Anarchy: That is the hope eventually. Since we are all relatively small companies it can be difficult for any one of us alone to make a significant point with the developers of the host applications. As a group hopefully we will have a bit louder voice when it comes to the feature requests, help with marketing, and other such things. Bob Currier of Synthetic Aperture: I'd like to see it remain relatively informal. But the results of our first few efforts will determine where it all goes. I'd also like to see some cross-promotion efforts. Either product bundles, or at least some form of discount coupons/datasheets included in each other's mailings. While there is little competitive overlap, the fact that most product is shipped electronically makes this more difficult, although not impossible. We've already done a little of this with Automatic Duck and Visual Infinity. Peder Norrby of Trapcode: The way I see it this consortium is more about lowering costs at tradeshows and exchange/expand customer bases then forming a united voice towards host developers. Pete Litwinowicz of RE:Vision Effects: First, I agree with Peder. I see us as a consortium whose main purpose is to lower costs at trade shows. I also see us acting to help share information about the different host apps. Every plug-in manufacturer here tests a different bit of a host application's ability; as such, we all have different information in our company's brains. I think it's a good thing if we can help each other out by sharing this information and keeping each other from divining the information from scratch. I don't see us acting with one official voice as some Grand Plug-in Consortium (TM :-) ). Of course, when appropriate, having a group that work together is advantageous to all. I don't envision us acting as one business unit. We are, after all, separate companies with separate business plans, philosophies, etc. (we even have some direct competing products!). Jim Tierney of Digital Anarchy: Obviously we are all separate businesses and as is the case with most coalitions/consortiums/whatever, the businesses involved will go their own way most of the time. However, in the cases where it makes sense to act together we will in fact be acting with one voice. The Adobe Store, if they'd been open to negotiating, would have been a good example of that. For the purposes of this article I thought it'd be more useful to present it as a 'Grand Consortium', even if that is more grandoise than the reality. It simplifies things and sounds more impressive than a bunch of disparate companies that occasionally come together to do tradeshows together. Beyond this article talking to users, I hope that some app developers will catch it and find this an easy way to contact all of us in one swoop. Hopefully providing a way for them to easily discuss development and marketing issues with a significant number of developers. Of course some app developers already do this, but it's useful to re-enforce the fact that they can talk to us as a group, which is easier than trying to contact us all individually. This doesn't mean we have to respond as a group, just that they can contact one member and reach all of us. In truth, this was one example of something we should have acted together on and came up with a single response to said questions. Discussing this amongst ourselves first and providing a single answer would have presented more of a coherent front. I hope most of you realize that this can be more than just doing the occasional tradeshow together. There are economies of scale in many things and coming together as a group with one voice will occasionally be useful. Which is not to say I envision everyone coming together as One Big Plug-in Company. However, in some cases it may be beneficial to act as one. The goal of all this, as far as I can see, is to expand the market overall by reaching people we wouldn't normally be able to reach, extend or improve our rapport with various app developers and doing so at a minimum of cost. Relying on ASN and resellers hasn't worked incredibly well so far so I'd like to think we can do better. However if everyone is involved simply to save a couple bucks on tradeshows then I don't think anything will improve that much. I think tradeshows reach more or less the same people most of the time. I think the real value will be doing group marketing (catalogs, cds, etc) and promotion. Then again, perhaps I'm overly optimistic/idealistic about the whole thing. Bill Ferster of StageTools: I agree with Jim. THE CUT: It is my view that you can be a powerful factor in keeping a NLE manufacturer's product successful. As new tools or effects become popular, you can provide them without the application manufacturer needing to come out with a new product. Do you think that is a fair assessment? Jim Tierney of Digital Anarchy: This is true to some extent. In many cases they may just want to add it to the host app itself. However, I would like to see app developers possibly say 'here's a list of things we'd like to have in the application, but probably won't do ourselves' thereby giving us some new product ideas and freeing them up to work on more core things. Peder Norrby of Trapcode: Adobe does exactly this. If you look in their SDK you'll find the file opportunity.pdf. Jim Tierney of Digital Anarchy: I'm aware of this. The reason I mentioned it in terms of this article is that I'd like to see other developers doing the same thing. Perry Kivolowitz of Profound Effects: An editing or effects platform without a vibrant 3rd party developer base makes for a very fragile platform. Plug-in developers allow platform vendors to concentrate on their core competencies. The availability of key plug-ins for one vendor and not another also affect the platform vendor's competitiveness. This is why, for example, Profound's Elastic Gasket technology is sought after by platform vendors without a significant developer base. Pete Litwinowicz of RE:Vision Effects: Absolutely. For example, we were able to plug-in right into After Effects and Shake's spline tools to provide RE:Flex, our interactive warper and morpher. We benefit by not having to write our own spline editing tools. The customer benefits by having new features right within the application they already have. In addition, they are able to use the interface they already know. The host application manufacturer wins because they don't have to develop an "everything for everybody" application. THE CUT: Is it true that your first public display will be at DV Expo, where you will all share booth space across from Adobe Systems? Jim Tierney of Digital Anarchy: Yes, DVExpo East and IBC. DVExpo West was the first event where we did anything like this. Wes Plate of Automatic Duck: At DVExpo LA in December 2002 Automatic Duck, Digital Anarchy, Maxon and Total Training shared a booth. It proved to be very successful. Over the years Adobe has offered space in its NAB booth, and most of us have participated in that at some point. This is the biggest group of people we've had join together to be their own booth. Bob Currier of Synthetic Aperture: Not everyone is participating in the DV Expo space. I expect there will be a different group at different shows, depending on how that show fits with their market. Even after splitting costs, tradeshows are expensive, so we all need to make sure we choose wisely which ones we attend. THE CUT: What specifically will you be showing at DVExpo East? Bill Ferster of StageTools: As to what I'm showing, it will be MovingPicture, and I will be debuting MovingParts which you mentioned in your last issue of THE CUT. Each company will have its own pod within the booth, so there are no scheduled demonstration times. Wes Plate of Automatic Duck: We're showing all of our wares, including previews of the FCP import plug-in you have written so many nice things about, Automatic Duck Pro Import for FCP! Peder Norrby of Trapcode: Trapcode will display all four products: Shine, Starglow, 3D Stroke and Sound Keys. And also give a preview of a brand new 3D particle system. Pete Litwinowicz of RE:Vision Effects: We will be offering:
Bob Currier of Synthetic Aperture: We'll be showing a new product, Test Gear, which is a plug-in for After Effects (Mac/Win) that provides a variety of "test instruments" inside After Effects itself. We have a waveform monitor, vectorscope, histograms, an image slice tool, audio level and spectrum displays, and just for good measure, a color picker/swatch book. All instruments appear in regular AE-style floating palettes so you can dock/move them as desired. We'll also be announcing the availability of Color Finesse, our color corrector plug-in, for Windows systems. Jim Tierney of Digital Anarchy: We will be featuring Anarchy Toolbox (intro price of $129): A collection of 8 filters for doing a variety of special effects, including:
We will be showing (with show special prices):
Pondering Trade Shows and NAB My "Ponderings" in the last issue of THE CUT appears to have touched a nerve. Below are three excellent responses to that segment on trade shows in general and NAB in particular. It does not surprise me that the responses are from three of the more knowledgeable and respected public relations personnel in our industry. (They are also excellent people to work with.) Dear Bob, You nailed it -- your "Ponderings" column this week raised several issues that I deal with as a public relations strategist. I wanted to share my thoughts, in particular, on your discussion of the decline of NAB attendance, virtual conventions and evangelistic communications. The Decline of NAB Is NAB declining, or is it shedding the hype and distractions of the dot bomb era to refocus on its core values and original mission? Trade shows follow the ebb and flow of the hottest trend. They flow with the trends, inflate with the bubbles, and then settle down to their comfort zones. Or worse, they become obsolete. NAB is no different. Remember NAB 2000? Streaming media was all the buzz, and any digital media company who could craft a streaming media message flocked to the show. The result? Attendance surged and broke all attendance records. At NAB 2001, the hype continued and the show got bigger. Unfortunately, it also became highly diluted. It's an occurrence that afflicts any large trade show experiencing tremendous growth during boom economies. When shows latch on to a trend and experience unimaginable growth, they become in danger of collapsing under their own weight. I see this happening with NAB. It's refocusing, re-qualifying its audiences and resizing itself and will continue to shrink back to a more manageable, but targeted show. I believe that's a good thing for the future of NAB. Information Dissemination at Shows This is a battle I've played out over and over again with clients and senior management. Somewhere along the line, the allure of the "big splash, top secret unveiling" at huge events became too enticing for executives to resist. Well, it's fine if you're IBM, Apple or Microsoft; but if you look closely, they actually don't execute their communications strategies that way. (Remember the day the new iMac was launched, simultaneously appearing on the cover of every major national news weekly and trade journal? That was no accident!) Surprising your customers is one thing; surprising the media and influencer community isn't always a good thing and, more often than not, it back-fires. Effective communications strategy is not so much about surprise as much as it's about building relationships, earning trust, securing buy-in and support for your products/strategies/directions and consistently embracing these relationships to keep them informed and close to the issues and developments. When done correctly and effectively, you actually find that, not only is the coverage you've generated and the resulting buzz highly positive, it is enduring and follows your company from product launch, to first customer ship, to first major purchases to Version 2.0, and so on. It's a cycle that doesn't end with the big splash event and one day's worth of coverage that may, or may not, get it quite right. So my advice to clients is; remember your primary audience and closest potential allies when launching communications strategies --the end user customer is very important, but it is always the market influencers that will become the voice most listened to and trusted in the marketplace. Virtual Conventions Virtual Conventions are interesting, innovative and even effective ways of disseminating information -- but in my opinion, you lose the signals, the sea change feeling that can only be felt when walking the floor and noticing the absence of ABC company this year, or the growth (or reduction) in booth size and location. You also lose the face time with executives -- the chance to hear the passion in their voice or see the panic in their eyes. You can feel the buzz, the energy level at a trade show -- and it's not just on the show floor. It's in the meetings, the press conferences, even the parties and gatherings. You can't get that online. Virtual Conventions are an enhancement to, and when done correctly, complementary to a show. The reality is; you can't always get to the show, so it's good to have an alternative that gives you the basics from an informational perspective. Evangelism The evangelism game is an interesting one, and when managed effectively, can be a very powerful tool in your communications arsenal. What competitors don't realize, or at least seem to forget, is that every time you voice negative opinions and verbally attack your competition -- constantly assaulting a perceived soft spot or exposure --you are behaving defensively. All of which gives credibility to your competitor. After all, would you be making so much noise if your competitor was truly ineffective or if their products were junk? No. It's human nature to lash out in defense of what threatens you. It's an interesting game but you have to know how to play it. I always advise my clients to take the high road and stay focused on their agenda. You don't have to take the bait when lured into discussions you may not want to have. This philosophy ties back to my earlier point about effective communications strategies and how they are built on relationships, trust, credibility and honesty. In today's business climate -- the scandals continue to be played out in the media on a daily basis -- customers, partners, the press, the influencers and analysts want more than ever to believe in the company with whom they are doing business. It's harder than ever to market and promote your products these days because you are facing this credibility battle in everything you do. When your communications strategies are honest, focused and factual, the results are valuable. These are the values on which I've built my business, and it translates into success for my clients. Thank you for giving me the opportunity to share my thoughts with you. Best regards, Kevin M. Bourke, Principal BourkePR Hi Bob, Having been in several industries in the communications realm over the last six years, what you reflected upon in your thoughts on NAB and conventions, conferences, and shows in general isn't surprising. When I first went to these shows as a PR person, the goal was to meet and interact with editors. Increasingly, the time available for the editors to do that has been less and less. The big guy's dazzled them all with fancy shows, lavish receptions, etc. Even that was getting a bit excessive -- a person can only fit so many things into a day. At Tektronix, I very much advocated a presence at some of the major shows. As the downturn hit, marketing staff increasingly looked at "how many leads are we getting" it all came down to what were they spending to make sales. As things tightened up, there were some who adamantly insisted that tradeshows were becoming ineffective -- expensive beauty pageants where little results were being made. From the PR side, I was finding it more effective to go out on the road and meet with my editors individually -- give them a demo in person, at their office, where they weren't pressured by when the next appointment was and how long it would take to get there. I really don't know how editors do it at these larger shows. The sheer volume of how many companies they have to meet with, in such a short timeframe -- and all of that information to process. And of course, there are less editors now to cover all of that! The smaller shows offer the company and the editor what they want and in a manageable context -- but now it is starting to get so fragmented, how long will this be effective? Just my thoughts. Steve Kuyatt Hi Bob. Thought your ponderings were interesting. I still think shows like NAB & IBC are necessary. While the press has to run around like mad people because they write about so many dif, but related products, most attendees are there to look for specific types of things & this gives them the chance to see it under one (large) roof. For the vendors, while it can be expensive to exhibit, it also gives them access to prospects & customers at one time, especially from around the globe. The word I heard among vendors at NAB was that they were pleased with the calibre of the people at NAB - due to economy or war or SARs - the "tire kickers" stayed home & the people who did attend were those who were serious about the bizness & were there to check out/buy products. I do think there are too many trade shows in general, especially the smaller ones - vendors get bombarded w/ requests to exhibit, and so they have to pick & choose carefully to make the best use of their $$. Also, even for press, you can only get so much from a press release or attending virtually. Sometimes you need to see products in action - for example, iMatte's new iSkia product sounds ok on paper but it was the hit of Infocomm, & people were rows deep in the aisles around the booth watching the demos. Seeing it in action really brought home how innovative it was; not sure experiencing it virtually would have been the same. Anyway, them's my thoughts... Best Regards, Sharon L. Adcock The Adcock Group Thank you all for your thoughtful contributions. If other readers want to respond to these viewpoints or anything found in THE CUT, please write to me at bobturner@attbi.com I look forward to hearing from you. Bob Back to top |
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