Cooke Optics Announces Avid Support for /i Technology
(Leicester, UK. – March 26, 2007) Cooke Optics Ltd., a premier manufacturer of precision lenses for the motion picture industry, announces that Avid Technology, Inc. has incorporated support for the Cooke-developed /i Technology into its editing systems. /i Technology (the ‘i’ stands for ‘intelligence’) enables film and digital cameras to automatically record key lens and camera data for every film frame shot and provide it to post-production teams digitally, ready for incorporation into downstream processes without any manual manipulation. The technology streamlines both production and post, saving significant time and costs and eliminating guesswork, while enabling greater creative freedom.
To further streamline and speed film production by tracking metadata from acquisition to post production, Avid has integrated support for the /i protocol recorded by the /i dataLink box from Cooke into its editing systems. AvidŽ editing systems such as Media ComposerŽ can read digitally-captured camera/lens data -- including time stamp, lens/camera serial number, reel number, continuous readings of focus, iris, and zoom values, close and far focus, horizontal field of view, entrance pupil position, normalize zoom value, camera status and more – and pass it through editorial into visual effects. The implementation enables Avid editors to export any part of a project timeline via Avid FilmScribe along with any or all of the metadata captured by /i, and post it to a Web-based workgroup environment, print it out, or export it as a file to be parsed by any downstream process.
Les Zellan, chairman of Cooke Optics, noted, "It’s encouraging that leading manufacturers such as Avid are building support for /i into their offerings. By automating data recording processes and passing the metadata across the production and post workflow, we’re helping all of our users to bring their visions to the screen with less pain and better results.”
Michael Phillips, principal product designer at Avid, explained, “The metadata captured with /i tells visual effects artists exactly what the lens was seeing for each frame so they can re-create the same look using 3D plates and integrate effects more seamlessly. Ultimately, it results in more realistic-looking effects, done faster.”
Avid joins ARRI, Cinematography Electronics, CMotion, Preston Cinema Systems, The Pixel Farm, and Service Vision in supporting /i Technology. Cooke Optics has also built the protocol into its own S4/i series of Prime lenses, which the company will showcase at the April NAB conference in the P+S Technik booth, C8828D.
About Cooke Optics, LTD.
Cooke is a storied name in both cinematographic and the ultra-high-end professional photography markets. Known worldwide for their precision, exacting tolerances and superior quality, Cooke lenses are specified by many of the world’s most respected cinematographers. Cooke is also the developer behind /i Technology, the protocol enabling vital lens and camera information to be captured and passed digitally to post-production teams. Recent films and TV series shot with Cooke lenses include Casino Royale, Notes on a Scandal, The Da Vinci Code, Harry Potter and the Order of the Phoenix, Grey’s Anatomy, Entourage, Alias, Scrubs, and many more.# # #
Media contacts:
Europe & APAC - Sadie Paris, Bubble & Squeak, e: sadie@bubblesqueak.co.uk,
t: +44 (0)20 7287 4262, m: 44 (0)771 542 2414
US - Julia Miller, Bubble & Squeak, e: julia@bubblesqueak.com, t: 310.259.5834, m: 310.259.5834
|