Imagineer Systems and CoreMelt announce a new Final Cut plug-in, SliceX, at NAB 2013.
Guildford, UK -- Imagineer Systems announced a new Final Cut Pro X masking plug-in, SliceX powered by mocha. This new version of SliceX comes as a result of a strategic partnership between Imagineer Systems and CoreMelt, resulting in the integration of Imagineer’s award winning Planar Tracker into CoreMelt’s shape masking tool.
SliceX powered by mocha will be demonstrated at NAB 2013 this week at the Imagineer Systems booth #SL3329 at the Plug In Pavilion in the Las Vegas Convention Center. SliceX will also be shown at the 12th annual Las Vegas SuperMeet on Tuesday night.
SliceX powered by mocha lets you create instant shape masks to cut out layers or isolate effects directly in Final Cut Pro X without having to go into Motion or create the masks with an external program. With this new version, mocha planar tracking allows artists to quickly and easily track roto shapes for accurate masking with significantly less manual keyframing. SliceX also includes nine motion templates for common tasks and you can also use the shape masks with built in effects, the built in color corrector or with third party plugins.
“Working with CoreMelt on the newest version of SliceX is an exciting development for the Final Cut X community,” said Ross Shain, chief marketing officer for Imagineer Systems. “mocha's planar tracking tools are used by effects artists around the world and now Final Cut X users will have that same tracking power right on the Final Cut timeline. SliceX combined with mocha’s tracking is simply a must-have tool for Final Cut X users that want to increase their visual effects and color correction capabilities without leaving the application. Creating and animating masks has never been easier.”
“The announcement that SliceX from CoreMelt will be incorporating planar tracking technology from mocha is very exciting. The potential of such an advancement could help take the fastest, easiest professional NLE on the market and make it even faster, by not having to go out to Motion or AE for this type of work,’ added Ben Balser, FCProXUnivserity.com. “SliceX is already a solid staple in many FCP editors toolboxes, but adding planar tracking will put us light years ahead in achieving record setting project turnaround times. I'm very eager to get my hands on it.”
Imagineer’s relationship with CoreMelt is the most recent in a string of partnerships in which industry leading post production technology developers have recognized the value of Imagineer’s Planar Tracking and software developer’s kit (Planar Tracker SDK). In recent months, Imagineer has entered into strategic partnerships and licensing agreements with companies such as Adobe Systems, Silhouette, Quantel and FXhome.
Additionally at NAB 2013, Imagineer Systems will preview new versions of mocha Pro and mocha AE. In the new mocha v3.2 versions, Imagineer adds internationalization and localization support, which includes translated interface and documentation versions of mocha 3.2 for Chinese and Japanese language, as well as a new toolkit made available for additional language versions in the future.
mocha v3.2 also adds support for Contour ShuttlePro controllers to allow artists more options, shortcuts and a speedier workflow.
In February 2013, Imagineer Systems was honored by the Academy of Motion Pictures Arts and Sciences with a Scientific and Technical Award for mocha and its Planar Tracking technology. Imagineer Systems’ Philip McLauchlan, Allan Jaenicke, John-Paul Smith and Ross Shain were selected as a winner for mocha and its underlying Planar Tracking technology. The Company was recognized for their proven record of contributing significant value to the post-production process of making motion pictures.
Over the years, Imagineer’s mocha software has gained acclaimed notoriety within Hollywood’s visual effects community for its ability to “motion track” problematic footage such as out of focus and marker-less areas helping enable a technique called ‘digital makeup’ or ‘seamless effects.’ Visual effects artists use planar tracking to magically transform actors and locations without requiring timely makeup sessions and expensive sets, allowing directors to make important creative decisions long after the performance has been captured. Capturing accurate movement is essential and mocha has been involved in some famous digital makeup examples such as the snake-like noseless Lord Voldemort in the Harry Potter films, replacing Mystique’s eyes in X-Men and helping Natalie Portman undergo an amazing transformation in Black Swan.
Source: Imagineer Systems
Formerly Editor-in-Chief of Animation World Network, Jennifer Wolfe has worked in the Media & Entertainment industry as a writer and PR professional since 2003.
