Broadcastbuyer is reporting that Digital Anarchy, the company which has delivered visual effects and 2D software for the past 7 years, has sold their entire video product line to Red Giant Software.

Effective Monday, August 4th, the company will transfer sales and support of 12 plug-in products for host applications that include Adobe After Effects, Apple Final Cut Pro, Avid systems and Autodesk systems.

This asset sale will allow Digital Anarchy to focus on their other core market, Photoshop plug-ins for photographers and digital artists. Since 2004, the company has released tools that help professional and hobbyist photographers to uniquely create a fully digital portrait studio. The company has recently focused on software that provides custom graphic effects, and plans to release new innovative products by the beginning of Q4 2008. Digital Anarchy is also considering development for related host applications like Adobe Lightroom and Apple Aperture.

The sale will not affect the sales or support of Photoshop plug-ins of which Digital Anarchy has retained full rights. See the article for a complete list of all plug-ins sold to Red Giant.

Well it’s finally here, the long awaited stereoscopic pipeline from Autodesk. While others have been rolling out stereo tools here and there Autodesk has been mum. The only thing anyone from the company would say about the subject is that they were working on a solution and that theirs, of course, would be better than the rest. There is supposed to be presentations from both the software group and the systems group. Which would mean tool for every thing from Maya and Max all the way through to Flame and Luster. This is poised to be a very good User group meeting so get there early, they are only handing out 3D glasses to the first 3000 people to show up.

You can see the details of the meeting and how to register here

Ani-Jobs’ tech insider has just posted our first product review! In the review, he praises Apple’s release of Final Cut Server 1.1. He writes,

“I can setup an automated workflow which will recompress my media, burn timecode, automatically post to my ftp and then email me and my client when it’s all finished. In an industry where time is money, and everybody needs work done “yesterday”, this kind of workflow is priceless. Final Cut Server 1.1 is amazing…positively amazing.”

To read the rest of the review, click here.

AWN says the R&D company Digital Video, which is behind the making of the 2D software Toonz, has announced a new production software called Story Planner.

With Story Planner it is possible to create from start to finish a storyboard with sketches and notes laid out in an unlimited number of panels describing the flow of the story.

Drawings can be made in the sketch area by using raster-based tools to achieve the traditional sketch look. Dialogs and descriptions can be written down or copied from the script in the notes section comments, and formatted in any font style.

It’s available as a free 30 day download- with no limitations.  The AWN article lists a number of other great features in this software.  Click here to read the rest of the story.

Autodesk has released it’s first Service Pack for 3d Studio Max 2009. The Service Pack fixes a variety of issues and bugs across most every function of the software including Hair, Biped, Inverse Kinematics, Particles, and Spline Mapping among others. The Service Pack can be downloaded from Autodesk’s website here.

DMN Newswire–2008-5-26–ADELAIDE, Australia, 26th May 2008:  RSR, the company behind the world leading post production workflow tools cineSync and cineSpace, today announce the full 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. 

Available now, cineSync Pro has been developed in response to the needs of VFX, animation, film production, network television and DI facilities - facilities that deal with a large volume ofmedia across multiple locations and which require a level of interactivity not available in existing media review tools. Available on Windows, OSX and Linux, cineSync Pro is also designed to be deployed as an internal review tool, streamlining project management workflows.

cineSync Pro is designed to provide absolute “visual context”, removing all potential for confusion or misinterpretation, by ensuring that everyone in the review and approval process sees exactly the same thing at the same time.

Features of cineSync Pro include the ability to play stereoscopic material, to apply 3D colour look-up tables (LUTs) to loaded movies and still images and to display in full screen on a monitor or projector. With cineSync Pro you are now able to adjust colour, brightness, gamma, saturation and contrast, zoom and pan to specific ares of interest, apply hard and soft masks and modify stereo convergence, all in total synchronisation with everyone else in the review - no matter where they are in the world.

“cineSync Pro represents an exciting step forward in the evolution of cineSync” says Clint Walker, RSR CEO. “For the customers that demand the highest level of quality and speed in the review sessions, while still maintaining a simplicity and ease of use, cineSync Pro stands head and shoulders above any other product in the market. We are very excited to be working with our valued clients to push cineSync Pro even further and look forward to some very exciting developments in the near future”.

For more information, visit the official website of cineSync Pro at <www.cinesync.com/pro> or contact Product Manager Rory McGregor on +61 8 8400 6475 (Australia) or at rory.mcgregor@rsrhq.com.

Well after it’s initial announcement a year ago at NAB 2007 and a subsequent delay that was supposed to have it shipping in August of 2007. Apple is finally shipping Final Cut Server. They make no mention in their press release of what the hold up was. Although we do find it curious that they would announce this only a week before NAB 2008, apple is notorious for making a big splash of new products at the convention. 

Our best guess is that they have something else up their sleeve and they don’t want to take the spotlight away from that with a product that was supposed to ship 6 months ago. 

While we are by no means a rumor site I will note that DVD Studio Pro hasn’t been updated in 3 years and currently has no blue ray support. They also announced two years ago that they were going to stop developing shake to work on their “Next Generation” Compositing system and it would be out in a couple of years…. well it’s a couple of years. But I guess we’ll all find out in a week.

Digimation, providers of one of the largest collection of 3D models has announced that it is dramatically lowering its prices starting May 1.   According to VfxWorld Digimation’s Platinum Edition which includes 10,000 3D models and currently sells for $24,995 will be dropped to the rock bottom price of $2,995. While the Titanium Edition, which has a whopping 16,500 Models and was priced at $49,995, will now sell for just $4,995.

“More and more of our customers, particularly those in the entertainment segment, are working in smaller, focused development teams,” said David Avgikos, president of Digimation. “We have removed the barrier to ownership for smaller companies and individuals who have wanted access to our model library for use in their own projects.”

The Archive Platinum Edition features 10,054 3D models that, if purchased individually, represent more than $1 million in value.

The Archive Titanium Edition features 16,504 3D models including fully digitized vehicles, high-resolution anatomy (including skeletal data from the Visible Human Project), famous landmarks, accurate military models, and more.The Titanium Edition represents more than a million man hours of development and $6 million in value.

Marketwire reports that Antics Technologies has released a new bundle of premium content for their existing entry-level product Antics V3 Basepack. The new version boasts

increased functionality, enhanced ease of use and improves users’ ability to import 3D content. With similar functionality to the professional Antics V3 ProPack version, the free version means creative individuals can use a professional-grade software tool to create quality animations on a limited budget.

Phil Swinstead, founder of Antics says this software is built for a diverse group of users in mind, from the experienced to the beginner. He says,

“Anyone from complete novices to more experienced animation enthusiasts can now use Antics to create animations quickly and cheaply, without any professional training, using the large free content available to all Antics users and purchasing those special premium content elements they need to bring extra life to their stories.”

Havok announced today that they will offer the PC version of their award-winning physics and animation software product – Havok Complete – for download free of charge.  Available for non-commercial use, Havok Complete for the PC will be freely downloadable in May 2008.

Havok’s core platform, Havok Complete combines the industry-leading Havok Physics engine and Havok Animation, the company’s premier character animation solution. Havok Complete is already the most popular solution in the cross-platform AAA games market, featuring technology used in over 200 games. By making Havok Complete for the PC freely downloadable, Havok will further build on its leading position by completely removing the barriers to entry for the large number of independent developers, academic institutions and enthusiasts in the PC space.