Bob's Place

“In the creative world,” says Euro RSCG executive creative director Hal Wolverton, “everyone is looking for the new thing, the new way to say something.” RSCG has found it in Color. “People may have wondered what Color is capable of,” points out colorist Alex Bickle. “We’re achieving looks that are as good as if not better than anything you can get in a high-end finishing suite. And we’re doing it with Final Cut Studio.”

Classical mechanics, fluid dynamics, kinetic energy — if you thought you were just playing a good game of baseball, wait till you watch “The Physics of Baseball.”Oone of the highly enjoyable programs brought to us as part of KQED’s QUEST: Science and Nature series on iTunes U, “The Physics of Baseball” explains the role physics plays in throwing a curve ball and hitting a solid shot to left field.

On Thursday, June 19, the Apple Retail Store, Sydney — the first Apple store in Australia — opens its doors for the first time. With two floors dedicated to the Mac and iPod and a third to training and the world’s largest Genius Bar, “this breathtaking new store will be the ultimate place for the people of Sydney to shop, learn and be inspired,” says Ron Johnson, Apple’s senior vice president of Retail.

“When Mac OS X was released with VoiceOver, it was a lifesaver,” says Elliot Aronson. Though he’s lost 90% of his vision to macular degeneration, the social psychologist used VoiceOver, which he calls “the single most important technical invention for me,” to write his latest book on his Mac mini. “The Mac with VoiceOver is indispensable. Without them, I wouldn’t be able to write or edit my work.”

Would you believe that iTunes already has the soundtrack for the soon-to-be-released “Get Smart available for you to preview and purchase? You’ll also find Filmmaker Talk podcasts (two posted and more on the way) and the exclusive — and free — Get Smart clip.

About Calibrated{Q} MXF Import
Native Importing and Playback of P2 (DVCProHD/DV50/DV25), XDCAM DV25 and select OP1a DV-based MXF Files within Final Cut Pro and QuickTime . Finally you can enjoy the freedom of native editing in Final Cut Pro without the need for Logging and Encoding, or creating QuickTime Reference Movies for your MXF Files.

Calibrated Software’s unique solution successfully joins the separate video and audio P2 MXF files so that Final Cut Pro sees them all as ONE file - complete with TimeCode and Reel Name. PullDown can also be removed or added instantly for select frame rates.

Thanks to their “updated CPUs,” “improved battery life,” and the incorporation of “touch-pad gestures from the MacBook Air,” the new MacBook Pro models led the pack with a rating of 8.2 (out of 10) in CNET’s review of desktop-replacement laptops.

Piper Jaffray analyst Gene Munster calls them “‘more powerful and attractive’ than anything he’d seen on a mobile device before.” He’s talking, of course, about the iPhone applications demoed at Apple’s recent developer conference. And, according to John Boudreau (mercurynews.com), Munster believes “Apple could be creating a billion-dollar industry built around the iPhone.”

About Road Trip Effect Pro
Generate animated trails on maps in Quicktime format. Trails can be infinitely layered to allow complex actions by a limitless number of agents. Comes with many preset icons and maps for faster work, yet is fully customizable.

Options and Specs:
- Imports external images from these formats (.jpg, .bmp, .png, .pict or .tiff)
- Supports infinite trip layers with arbitrary start times and lengths.
- Supports infinite number of legs in each layer.
- Each layer can have it’s own color, width, opacity, icon, and fade length.
- Points at the beginning and start of a leg can have formatted labels and can be made invisible.
- Supports sizes and frame rates for (NTSC, PAL, 720p or 1080p)
- Movie Lead-In/Lead-Out lengths can be configured.
- Trails can automatically wrap if you drag past the edge of the map. This is perfect for showing around the world journeys.

About FrameByFrame Leopard
Stop motion movie production made easy. FrameByFrame lets you create your first stop-motion animation in mere seconds, using any camera connected to your Mac. Your movie documents can be exported as QuickTime movies. The software’s native format keeps the original pictures, allowing you to apply any post-production you can imagine.

About aspectRatio
This is a simple self contained application that calculates both fixed and custom aspect ratio conversions. Conversions can be triggered using your mouse or with keyboard commands.

“Macs have always given me the feeling that I can figure anything out,” explains Tal Yarden. And in his latest project, the video designer has figured out how to use the Mac, FInal Cut Pro, Motion, Keynote, and other Mac software to stage an innovative production of Wagner’s Götterdämmerung that adds video via a Mac mini-controlled 66 screen array.

Apple today celebrates the achievements of many innovative developers by revealing the winners of the Apple Design Awards 2008. The awards recognize technical excellence, innovation, and outstanding achievement in software development in seven categories. Take a look.

On June 18, just two days before the hilarious Get Smart opens in theaters, stars Steve Carell (Maxwell Smart) and Anne Hathaway (Agent 99) visit the Apple Retail Store, SoHo, to discuss the film, screen clips, and answer audience questions. Seating is limited, so come early to the 9:00 pm event.

About Phantom Cine QuickTime Toolkit
This toolkit lets users open and play Vision Research’s Phantom Cine movie files. Vision Research creates and manufactures high speed digital cameras that can capture imagery at several thousand frames a second. Their cameras have been used in many industries, including Science, Manufacturing, Aerospace, Defense, as well as Film and Television.

This package lets the user open the raw Phantom Cine movies and choose from different debayer algorithms, color correction matrices, as well as white balance and gamma modes. The user also has the option of including a SMPTE Timecode track if needed. As with any QuickTime component, the Operating system is fully aware of the new file format, allowing for Finder Thumbnails, and Spotlight integration.

QuickTime aware applications will be able to load the Phantom Cine files just as they would any other QuickTime movie. These include Final Cut Studio 2, iMovie, Adobe AfterEfffects, and others.

The leading magazine for digital musicians dedicates its latest print issue to one topic. GarageBand. Computer Music’s June issue (with its included DVD) includes a dozen video tutorials, offers an exclusive “Best of Jam Packs” loop collection, features interviews with Fall Out Boy and Alex Greenwald, and includes plenty of demos and GarageBand songs to hone your audio editing skills on.

The duck-billed Hadrosaur dubbed Dakota grazed the area now known as the North Dakota badlands some 65 million years ago. Unearthed in 1999, Dakota yielded not only soft tissue (an exceedingly rare find) but also near-complete mummified remains. Using a Mac Pro cluster, University of Manchester scientists are now discovering how the 7000-pound looked, walked, and ran.

Be among the first to see the exclusive Get Smart clip now available — free — on iTunes. It’s introduced by stars Steve Carell and Anne Hathaway, who play CONTROL agents Maxwell Smart and Agent 99 in the film. Get Smart comes to theaters throughout the country on June 20. Enjoy.

About QuickTime 7.5
Just launch QuickTime Player, and there’s no telling where you’re likely to land. The Player may whisk you to the Moon or perhaps to an exotic location on this planet. Take you on a virtual field trip to the National Baseball Hall of Fame and Museum. Or treat you to the latest news, movie trailers, music videos, HBO series or PBS specials.

Learn more about QuickTime.

Rather than another tie, Chloe Kamarck (mensvogue.com) thinks the “responsible Dad” will appreciate the reassurance offered by a simple yet rock-solid backup solution. Time Capsule, Kamarck explains in the magazine’s Father’s Day Gift Guide, “works with Time Machine software (built in to all Macs with OS X Leopard) to seamlessly and effortlessly back up your computer on a regular basis.“