cineSync news

For M. Night Shyamalan's latest film The Last Airbender (based on the animated series Avatar: The Last Airbender), San Francisco based Industrial Light and Magic used cineSync to manage the VFX reviews with Shyamalan's production company Blinding Edge in Pennsylvania.

VFX Supervisor, Director and VFX artist Allan McKay, in a recent interview with CG Society said "Some industry technology being built around the industry budget tightening can really help get things done more practically and cheaper. CineSync and VFX tracking software allow shots to final quicker, so these are more supportive tools for the industry that definitely help streamline a lot of the production processes."

Until today, we've always had two versions of cineSync - the standard version and cineSync Pro. However from today, we now have a new unified client, cineSync 3.0.

In a recent short interview posted on MTV Online, Iron Man 2 director Jon Favreau discussed how cineSync played a role in expanding the Marvel Universe...

In the latest Screen Production Guide for Film New Zealand, promoting NZ's awesome post production facilities, the very first paragraph is dedicated to remote collaboration and the solutions provided by cineSync (and our partners Aspera among others).

Legend of the Guardians, a collaboration between Australian VFX Studio Animal Logic (Happy Feet) and director Zack Snyder (Watchmen, 300), faced some distinct communication challenges as Snyder worked on other projects in the US while animation work was being done in Australia. However, Snyder says using cineSync while in the US, "I do 2 hours a day with Australians and it works out pretty good actually."

With a troubled production history and key personnel spread all over the planet, co-ordinating the VFX of The Wolfman was a major challenge. However cineSync was able to ensure communication remained clear and the final results speak for themselves.
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Movie making truly is a global business these days. Making a film with a director based in the US and VFX facilities based in Europe can lead to some pretty difficult communication challenges. That's where cineSync comes in.

In Clint Eastwood's latest film, the rugby themed Invictus, the VFX team had to create entire stadiums full of people and in many cases, recreate the stadium itself. With the number of facilities involved in the FX work, VFX supervisor Michael Owens said "It would never have happened if we didn't have the capability that we have today," says Owens. "I can cineSync with anybody on the planet, and work alongside him with him on a monitor."

The editing of Avatar was a massive task. To effectively review VFX shots as they were coming in, editors John Refoua, A.C.E., and Stephen Rivkin, A.C.E turned to cineSync.

To create the immersive 3D world of Pandora in James Cameron's new blockbuster Avatar, New Zealand's Weta spent many months working back and forward with Cameron, using cineSync to visually communicate.

For the latest film from James McTeigue (V for Vendetta), VFX work was spread between a number of companies in North America and Europe. One of those European companies, Ghost in Denmark, spoke to Danish online magazine Kino.dk about the process of working on the film, including the use of cineSync to maintain communication - "It is a super tool".

In conjunction with the DVD release of JJ Abrams' Star Trek, FX Guide have released an interview Digital Domain and Svengali FX (both cineSync customers) about their work on the film. Because the project was split between ILM in San Francisco and several other vendors in LA and San Francisco, cineSync was used to keep everyone in the loop at all times.

For the second live action film from the Cartoon Network, Ben 10:Alien Swarm, studios from all over the world communicated remotely to pull the VFX together. Using a combination of cineSync and database application Invisually, Zoic Studios (LA), Turner Studios (Atlanta), Ghost FX (Denmark) and Super 78 (LA) - all regular cineSync or cineSync Pro users - were able to communicate effectively and deliver the shots without ever being in the same room.

For two new advertising spots for Saatchi and Saatchi, Stockholm-based Motion design company Happy Camper teamed up with Kiev-based The Chimney Pot, using cineSync to clearly communicate visual concepts, despite the physical distance between the companies. "With the use of cineSync we got dailies and gave our feedback easily"

For the newly released feature film 9 from director Shane Acker, animation work was spread all over the world. Initially communication with far flung studios was a problem, until the work was redeployed and cineSync used to streamline the communication process - “This tool was key for us, enabling us to do a portion of the show remotely.”

Due to popular demand, we have now released versions of cineSync and cineSync Pro specifically for Snow Leopard (Mac OS X 10.6+). The new versions can be downloaded from here.

The latest versions of cineSync and cineSync Pro have been released today, sporting a number of new features. Both have an updated Playlist Viewer, with the ability to sort your playlist into groups. Both have a new function that allows you to select and loop only part of a clip. There are also now preferences that allow you to turn off annotations while you are playing, and to allow user selection of thumbnail frames.

The VFX work for Terminator:Salvation was spread all over the world, with nearly a dozen companies from the US, Canada and Australia. In an article with FXGuide, Asylum VFX and Rising Sun Pictures talk about the process of creating some of the effects and the use of cineSync as a way of managing communication between the production and the various contributors.

Today sees the release of both cineSync 1.3 and cineSync Pro 2.1

The major improvements across both tools include an eraser tool and an entirely new Playlist Viewer (replacing the old Playlist Organiser) which greatly improves the process of building playlists, including drag and drop functionality and thumbnails for each clip, as well as improving and simplifying file transfers. In addition to file transfers via FTP you can now also transfer files using SFTP, FTPS, HTTP and HTTPS.

The new film X-Men Origins: Wolverine was shot in Sydney Australia, with visual FX carried out around the globe, including Australia's Rising Sun Pictures and Fuel VFX, UK's Cinesite and several North American facilities including Frantic, Hydraulx, Soho VFX, Tippett Studios and Luma Pictures, all cineSync users.

In an article for FX Guide, the team from Rising Sun Pictures talk about the role of cineSync in distributed post production.

For the latest Nascar promo spot, Fox Sports decided to take it underground. Working with Spanish VX house La Huella, Fox Sports Creative Directors Robert Gottlieb and Mark Simmons used cineSync Pro to facilitate communication between LA and Madrid, to create a visually dynamic view of the Nascar action from below the ground.

Jerome Debeve from La Huella said "Dealing with changes and from the distance: that was one big concern, but we established from the beginning a fluid communication with Fox Sports Design team, including cineSync sessions so we didn't really feel we were separated by a few thousand kilometers."

For the latest horror film from Dreamworks, the Guard Brothers' The Uninvited, the film-makers and VFX house CIS Vancouver used cineSync to easily facilitate communication between LA and Vancouver during post production.

"This was a typical 21st century production - we never ever sent anything physical to anybody. We did everything with cineSync sessions. I never ever had to get on a plane."

One of the key pieces of software that made the entire system work [on The Spirit] was cineSync, a software tool from Rising Sun Research (RSR) for remote collaboration and review. “Some of these VFX facilities only know each other through the cineSync sessions, but it was enough and it felt very personal.”

Tools developed specifically for The Orphanage and included in cineSync Pro proved very effective in the design and review process for the new Frank Miller film The Spirit.

For the newly released film version of teen sensation Twilight, LA based VFX Supervisor Richard Kidd coordinated 350 VFX shots across 4 vendors in 3 cities, using cineSync.

"We used it with all the vendors - even the ones in L.A. - to communicate very quickly and go over all the different shots specifically."

To re-create 1930s Los Angeles in Clint Eastwood's Changeling, VFX Supervisor Michael Owens worked with CIS Vancouver, using cineSync to review shots, sometimes even from his home in Idaho.

In the latest film from Gil Kenan (Monster House), audiences are taken to the underground lost City of Ember. Shot in Ireland, with VFX work completed in Paris and Los Angeles, Kenan and VFX Supervisor Eric Durst used cineSync to coordinate their geographically distributed team. "CineSync was a life-changing concept for me", says Kenan.

The latest issue of American Cinematographer magazine has an extensive article on the use of cineSync in post production on The Dark Knight.

"I used [cineSync] from Hong Kong, Chicago, LA, London and Paris", says Dark Knight VFX supervisor Nick Davis. "Wherever we were, I was able to stay in contact with the director and the vendors. It really makes the world a much smaller place."

The new Eddie Murphy movie Meet Dave, about a spaceship that looks like Eddie Murphy being piloted by a miniature Eddie Murphy, is a necessarily VFX driven comedy. VFX Supervisor Mark Stetson (Superman Returns, Lord of the Ring: Fellowship of the Ring) worked with LA based VFX houses CIS, Hydraulx, Pixel Magic and Make VFX (among others) to deliver the shots. cineSync made communication between all the facilities quick and easy.

"Although we worked entirely with L.A.-based VFX studios, and our post production offices were in L.A., we used cineSync nearly always for dailies and shot reviews" says Stetson, in an interview with VFX World. "That saved us hours in traffic each day. There were key meetings and final reviews where we did get together face-to-face, but cineSync covered about 95% of it".

When Frantic Films' two Canadian divisions (Winnipeg and Vancouver) were selected to create more than 130 shots for the new Journey to the Center of the Earth 3D feature film, they relied on cineSync to effectively communicate visual images between locations.

In an interview with Post Magazine about the various challenges of creating the shots, Frantic's Randal Shore said that "Frantic's two locations communicate as freely as if they were across the hall from each other using cineSync".

For the latest vision of the The Incredible Hulk, director Louis Leterrier worked with VFX facilities Rhythm and Hues, Soho VFX, Image Engine and Hydraulx, spread between LA, Vancouver and Toronto, while the shoot was split between Canada and Brazil.

In order to effectively co-ordinate the distributed VFX team, while on the road, Leterrier found the simplest solution was cineSync - "with CineSync it’s so easy".

cineSync is increasingly being adopted for audio post production in film, television and animation. An article from Post magazine highlights cineSync's role in the post of a recent animated film Turok.

From the article:

“We all had the same QuickTime on our desktops and anyone could hit play or stop and we all could see it. So, we could have a meeting about the show and we did not have to be in the same place. It’s like a spotting session that takes place in 10 different places at once. If that didn’t exist, then I probably would not have been able to work on this job.”

Today sees the release of cineSync Pro - the ultimate synchronised review and approval solution.

Expanding on the hugely successful and widely adopted cineSync, cineSync Pro takes interactive, real time reviews to another level and is fast becoming an essential part of production and post production pipelines the world over.

Today sees the release of cineSync 1.2.7, with a number of new features and improvements.

The new update is available for free to all cineSync customers.

Rising Sun Research announced today that Montreal's Meteor Studios employed its cineSync remote review and approval tools and cineSpace color management to streamline workflow and keep quality consistent during visual effects creation for the highly-anticipated 3-D movie, Journey 3D. The movie, from Walden Media and Walt Disney Pictures, is an updated take on the classic Jules Verne story, where a geologist and his son travel to the center of the Earth and discover an unknown world. Starring Brendan Fraser and shot in live action with landscapes & creatures created using HD, photo-real 3-D technology, the ambitious stereoscopic picture comes to theaters in 3-D in summer 2008.

The Spiderwick Chronicles is a fantasy adventure movie based on a series of childrens' books of the same name. The magical and sometimes dangerous creatures of the books were brought to life by Tippett Studios and Industrial Light and Magic, both long time cineSync users.

Prime Focus London and their Indian sister offices were required to do extensive VFX work for the new feature film Tales of the Riverbank, based on the children's television series of the same name. As the production was based in the UK, Prime Focus relied on cineSync to maintain an accurate communication pipeline throughout the post production process.

Production and post for Columbia Pictures' new film Vantage Point was based in London, but Vancouver based Rainmaker Digital were called on to complete many of the film's complex effects shots. To enable London based VFX supervisor Paddy Eason to easily communicate with the Canadian crew, he utilised cineSync.

Following our release of the cineSync 1.2.4 beta last month, we're today officially releasing cineSync 1.2.4.

The main improvements for cineSync 1.2.4 include support for Leopard on OSX, support for the newer MacBook Pros which fixes some image and drawing issues and improved image saving for Windows users.

When Entity FX were required to create CG elements for the new Sean Penn film Into the Wild, they used cineSync to review material with the picture editing department to ensure seamless integration of their work.

Riot recently delivered more than 80 visual effects shots for The Seeker: The Dark Is Rising, a supernatural fantasy released on October 5th by Walden Media and 20th Century Fox. Even though Riot's studios are based only 30 minutes from the Fox offices, cineSync enabled the shots to be reviewed much more efficiently by eliminating driving and parking delays and allowing reviews to be set up at mutually convenient times.

For this year's followup to the highly successful 28 Days Later, the sequel, 28 Weeks Later utilised a number of VFX houses around the world. One principal vendor was Prime Focus, who have offices based in England and India. To enable clear visual communication between the two offices, Prime Focus used cineSync.

When VFX Supervisor Boyd Shermis (Poseidon, Gone in 60 Seconds) needed to set up robust communication between facilities in the US and Germany for the visual effects work on The Invasion, he again used cineSync - having used it succesfully for Poseidon 2 years earlier.

On the recently released Rush Hour 3, starring Jackie Chan and Chris Tucker, cineSync formed an important part of the post production process, connecting facilities in LA and Vancouver. Zoic Vancouver's vfx supervisors Randy Goux and Patti Gannon worked closely with the film's overall vfx supervisor, Adam Howard, throughout the delivery process.

As part of our continuous development of cineSync, we're pleased to announce the release of the latest version, cineSync 1.2.3

While most of the changes in 1.2.3 are related to improving overall performance, there are some new features:

• Proxy server support: for users who want to connect to cineSync via a proxy server.
• Auto locating movies: cineSync now remembers the last 20 folders you've pulled movies from - and will auto search these folders when new movies are added to the session.
• Windows colour picker: to match the existing capability of the OSX client.

For the children's feature Charlotte's Web, VFX companies all over the world were called on to create different individual characters to populate Charlotte's barnyard. In order to be able to co-ordinate and review the work at the different facilities, VFX supervisor John Berton Jr utilised a combination of iChat and cineSync, to great effect.

New Features:

• A buddy list: see who's in the session with you.
• A text drawing tool: write notes directly onto a frame.
• Session saving capability: recall your notes from previous sessions.
• Final Cut Pro XML data Import/Export: supply all your notes directly to your FCP editor.
• Refined pencil, circle and arrow drawing tools: better, faster, improved.
• Multi-level Undo/Redo: of all drawing and text.

Rising Sun Research was nominated as the hottest company among 14 technology developers that participated in this year's ANZA Technology Network Showcase conference, held last week at the Plug and Play Tech Centre in the Silicon Valley town of Santa Clara.

Rising Sun Research won the award for its cineSync technology, which allows visual media practitioners - whether they be film, TV, advertising, graphic design or a myriad other fields - to collaborate on digital media in real time, regardless of their physical location...

Rising Sun Research celebrates the first birthday of the world's preferred visual media review tool.

Since its commercial release in November 2005, cineSync has become the preferred software tool in the international film industry for reviewing, annotating, discussing and approving picture edits, visual effects shots, credit sequences and other aspects of post production. An integral part of the workflow of major Hollywood productions such as X-Men: The Last Stand, Poseidon, Superman Returns and Charlotte's Web, cineSync has quickly become the market leading review tool...

"Each person has the QuickTime and cineSync connects them all,' says Hitesh Shah [co-founder and CEO of FrameFlow]. "So if someone goes to 2:37, all the people see the same footage in real time. You can also draw on frames and that metadata is saved. That's been a tremendous help in shot turnover and a great tool for feedback. Whenever you draw on the frame it generates separate image files as JPEGS so you can go back and see the notes and pull up the still frames."--Studio Daily

All vendors used Rising Sun Research's cineSync. "We had QuickTimes of effects shots, cut sequences or jpegs in folders on our computers at Red Sun," Joyce Cox explained. "The vendors had the same material in folders on their side; so we could bring shots up in sync, watch playback with sound, and Mark could stop the image, draw on it, and say, "move this to the left, make this more gray..." That enabled us to manage more than 500 shots out of the country"--CineFex July 06 Issue

The conference calls to L.A. every night were amazing. We showed our work via Rising Sun Research’s cineSync and then discussed the shots eye-to-eye, via a web cam every evening...--VFXWorld

Visual Effects Supervisor Stephen Rosenbaum, DP Gabriel Beristain, and Director Brian Robbins used cineSync to remotely review and approve the digital effects shots for Disney's The Shaggy Dog. "It has probably made me give up satellite transmission systems forever." remarked Stephen Rosenbaum...--Millimeter Magazine

Every day during the last month of production, ILM transmitted shots to studios where Spielberg was working. To make sure they kept getting the approvals, sometimes ILM would video conference at his home via the Mac's iChat AV and transmit files over the Internet. "We have this other program called cineSync where they could download the files off a secure server and we could call him up and use the camera to talk to each other while watching the file."--Post Magazine Online