(Middleburg, VA – December 16, 2000) — StageTools announced that it has
released Apple Macintosh versions of its highly acclaimed MovingPicture pan
and zoom application as a Plug-In to Media 100’s popular family of nonlinear
editors.
MovingPicture is a new tool for documentary and industrial filmmakers to pan
and zoom on high-resolution images. Rather than using expensive and bulky
motion-control rigs to create pans and zooms on photographic stills,
MovingPicture uses digital images on a desktop PC.
MovingPicture uses an animation-stand metaphor, where a virtual camera
viewfinder is positioned over the digital image in real time. A series of
key frames can be set, each one specifying what the camera will see at
some point in time.
The moves can be previewed in real time, and finally rendered in high
without ever leaving the editor’s timeline. Motion is field-rendered at
sub-pixel accuracy, so motion is very smooth, and in full 32-bit color.
StageTools also announced a free offline version of MovingPicture that will
run on it’s own, without requiring a host editor. This is useful for working
out moves on a separate computer, such as the producer’s laptop. While you
can’t render movie files directly using MovingPicture Producer, you can save
the motion paths to a disk for easy import into the Plug-In version while
editing, increasing productivity and freeing up the costly editing system,
in favor of a standard desktop or laptop computer. The Producer is available
for both Macintosh and Windows platforms.
Four-time Academy award-winning documentary film maker Charles Guggenheim
said “MovingPicture promises to be one of the most valuable tools created in
recent years for the documentary film maker.” It is being widely used by
production companies, such as MS-NBC, the NY Mets, Jim Henson Productions,
Henninger Video, and a number of public and commercial broadcasters.
StageTools is headed by Bill Ferster, the founder of West End Film and
Editing Machines Corporation. EMC developed the first digital nonlinear
editing system, and received an EMMY Award for pioneering a technology that
has revolutionized the way films and videos are edited. We are very excited
about the new Media versions of the plug-in said Ferster, and look forward
to a whole series of cross-platform high-productivity tools for creative
professionals in the future.
MovingPicture is available for Windows-based editors including After
Effects, dpsVelocity, Discreet edit*, Premiere, RexEdit and SpeedRazor .
Macintosh versions are available for After Effects, Final Cut Pro, Premiere,
and Media 100. A standalone version, The MovingPicture Producer is available
for both Windows and Macintosh, at no charge, to free up the creation of
motions away from the editor
