AUTODESK® BACKDRAFT® CONFORM 2007

Autodesk Backdraft Conform 2007 What’s New

What’s New

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Title: Autodesk Backdraft Conform 2007 What’s New

Document Version: 1

Date: August 5, 2006

Part Number: 800-70114

1

What’s New

SummaryWhat’s New in Backdraft Conform 2007 . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 2

Advanced Authoring Format Import . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 2

Archiving . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 2

Autodesk Backburner . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 4

Autodesk Burn . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 4

Cleaner Export . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 4

Clip Input and Output Using a VTR . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 5

Clip Libraries . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 6

Clip Library Tools . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 7

Colour Management with LUTs . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 8

EditDesk . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 8

Editorial Toolset . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 8

EDL Import Interchange Files . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 9

Final Cut Pro XML Import . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 9

Keycode . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 9

Managing Projects and Users . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 10

Mixed Resolution Projects . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 10

OMF Import . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 11

Playing and Viewing Clips . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 11

Setting Preferences . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 12

Soft Effects . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 13

Soft Import and Publish Overview . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 14

Subtitle XML Import . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 15

System Messages . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 15

Timeline Editing . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 15

Utilities . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 16

Infrastructure Features . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 16

What’s New

2

What’s New in Backdraft Conform 2007This document provides an overview of the new features in Autodesk® Backdraft® Conform 2007. The features are organized according to the chapter they appear in in the Autodesk Backdraft Conform 2007 User’s Guide. For full details on the new features, refer to the cross-referenced sections. Infrastructure features are described in the “Infrastructure Features” section.

Advanced Authoring Format ImportYou can now import Advanced Authoring Format (AAF) files exported from Avid® editing applications. AAF files are similar to traditional EDLs, but include multiple layers and more support for transitions, as well as video and audio filters. See the “AAF Import” chapter.

ArchivingFor complete details on the new archiving features and changes to the archiving interface, see the “Archiving” chapter. The following changes apply to archiving.

Complete ArchivingYou can now archive a complete project including project settings, configuration files, setups, and libraries or choose individual items of the project, for example:

• Selected elements in a clip library

• Project clip libraries

• Project clip libraries and shared libraries

You can restore:

• Selected elements

• A complete project (the project is restored and added to the project list).

Linked Archiving of Soft Imported MediaIn addition to using the Stonifise option — archiving only the content of the media file — as a way to archive soft-imported frames, you can now use a new archiving mode. The Linked mode allows you to archive the path to the media and later restore the media in its original form, as soft imported frames, provided the media location has not changed.

Using the Linked mode, you can archive both video and audio files. When archived, a soft-imported clip has a soft import icon corresponding to the file extension attached to it.

Archiving

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Search Tool for Open ArchivesIn Backdraft Conform, when you format or open an archive, you can now perform file searches by clicking a Search button. This is similar to performing searches in a clip library. This feature can be useful, for example, when searching through a mixed-resolution archived project.

Archive Size EstimationThe size estimation display for the archiving or restoring operation has been modified:

• Size estimation for file or data tape archives is now displayed in bytes, megabytes, gigabytes, or terabytes, depending on the file size.

• Size estimation for VTR archives is performed both in VTR time (hh:mm:ss:ff) and in the most appropriate file measurement units (bytes, megabytes, gigabytes, or terabytes).

See “Estimating Archive Size” in the “Archiving” chapter.

Archiving to External USB 2 and FireWire (IEEE 1394) Devices and LTO tape drivesOn systems running on Linux® operating systems, you can now archive to external USB 2 and FireWire® (IEEE 1394) storage devices, as well as to LTO (Linear Tape-Open)-based tape drives. These new archiving devices provide convenient additional means to existing practices.

Space Estimation On DemandBefore appending files to an archive, you can now perform space estimation for different types of archive entries:

• Media (video, in frames, and audio, in megabytes)

• Metadata (including settings and history)

• Entire set of elements (audio, video, and metadata)

Disallowing Deleting Archive EntriesTo prevent many potential problems with archive corruption, deleting entries from an archive is no longer allowed.

Multi-tape Archiving ImprovementsThe multi-tape archiving process has been improved. Space estimation for the archive is now done prior to performing the operation. If the project requires several tapes, you are warned in advance with the corresponding message.

What’s New

4

Dual Library/Archive ViewYou can now view your archive alongside any of your libraries. The bottom panel is your currently open archive. Click the Library View Mode button to toggle between Single and Dual View. Working in Dual View, however, does not allow you to move and copy files between a library and archive. See “Archive Structure” in the “Archiving” chapter.

Autodesk BackburnerIn Autodesk Backburner™, Backburner Web Monitor now has all the features of the Windows®-based Backburner Monitor. Backburner Web Monitor runs in a Web browser from any workstation on the network. You can view and control jobs currently being processed. Jobs in the Distributed Queueing System can be stopped, restarted, reordered, archived, or removed. You can monitor the overall health of the Distributed Queueing System and identify any Render Nodes that are not working. You can now use Backburner Manager on Linux workstations. For more information, see the Autodesk Backburner 2007 Installation and User’s Guide.

Autodesk BurnAutodesk Burn™ has been optimized to demonstrate improved performance and faster processing time when jobs are first submitted to the Burn Render Nodes. Burn Render Nodes can now be organized into groups. Jobs can now be prioritized by importance and assigned to selected groups of Render Nodes. For more information, see the Autodesk Burn 2007 Installation and User’s Guide.

Cleaner ExportThe following changes apply to network encoding with Autodesk Cleaner® XL:

• Cleaner XL 1.5.1, the latest version of the application, can be downloaded from the Autodesk Support Website for this release of Backdraft Conform. Go to support.autodesk.com. From the drop-down list select Cleaner XL, click Data & Downloads, and then click Updates & Services Packs.

• Cleaner XL version 1.5.1 includes the following new output formats: DivX® 6, QuickTime® 7, Flash® SWF and FLV, and various Kinoma® handheld formats.

• The Cleaner XL application is now located under a new directory on Windows systems. Refer to the latest Cleaner XL Readme for details.

• You can now monitor and delete Cleaner jobs on the Backdraft Conform workstation from the Background I/O menu. See the Autodesk Backburner 2007 Installation and User’s Guide.

Clip Input and Output Using a VTR

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Clip Input and Output Using a VTRThe following new features apply to audio/video input and output functionality.

Multi-Format Video Input and OutputWhen configuring the application using the software initialisation configuration file, you no longer need to specify the video timing of your VTR. The initial video I/O timing of your video device is determined by the timing that you set for your project. The following syntax is used in the VIDEO KEYWORD section:

Video <video device>, <default video format>

Besides, in the VTR KEYWORD section, you can no longer use “default” as your VTR token. You must assign a specific VTR timing, such as NTSC, PAL, or 1920x1080_5994i. Multi-format video input and output functionality allows you to modify the VTR timing, without exiting the project, to any timing supported by your system’s video board. To do this, you must enable all the VTRs that you plan on using in your session. Similarly, enabling all possible video preview devices in the VIDEO PREVIEW DEVICE KEYWORD section allows previewing clips of all supported video timings. See “Inputting and Outputting Clips with Mixed Resolutions” in the “Clip Input and Output Using a VTR” chapter for information on how to change video timing of the project without exiting it.

Adjusting Segment Input GainYou can now adjust audio gain of a clip after the clip has been captured. At that point, the audio gain is transformed to segment gain, that is, the gain associated with each captured segment. This allows you to modify its value, using the audio monitoring sliders, after the capture has been completed. See “Adjusting Audio Gain After Capture” in the “Clip Input and Output Using a VTR” chapter.

Capturing Material with Variable Frame RateYou can now capture material from a Varicam (variable frame rate) camcorder. When capturing HD material, you can enable the Varicam option to remove the redundant frames so that the frame rate of the resulting clip corresponds to that of the project. To support this functionality, new VTR tokens have been added to the list of VTRs in the software initialization configuration file. See “Capturing Material with Variable Frame Rate” in the “Clip Input and Output Using a VTR” chapter.

Menu StandardizationClip Input and Clip Output menus of the Effects and Editing applications have been standardized to unify some controls and consolidate procedure workflows.

What’s New

6

Changing Playback Speed with the Up/Down Arrow KeysWhen in the Player module, you can now change the reverse or forward playback speed by pressing the UP or DOWN ARROW KEYS on your keyboard. Each press reduces or increases the speed by two.

Clip LibrariesThe following changes apply to clip libraries.

Clip Library Window RedesignThe Clip Library window has been redesigned. Commands and controls are now grouped according to function.

a) Library Management menu b) Clip Library box c) Dual view d) Clip Library menu

a

b

d

c

Clip Library Tools

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Dual Library ViewClip libraries can now be displayed in two modes, Single View and Dual View. Single View is the default view and displays the contents of one clip library. Dual View displays the contents of two clip libraries, each in its own panel. Dual View allows you to use drag and drop functionality to copy and move clips, reels, and projects. See “Using the Dual Library View” in the “Clip Libraries” chapter.

NOTE: If you are using the Dual Library View, please ensure that you have installed the latest

version of Autodesk Stone® and Wire® throughout your facility.

Reels ViewYou can expand the reels panel so that only the reels of the selected library are displayed. See “Expanding and Collapsing the Reels Panel” in the “Clip Libraries” chapter.

Background Wire TransferYou can now perform a background wire transfer using Backburner. See “Using a Background Wire Transfer” in the “Clip Libraries” chapter.

Hopless Wire TransferYou can now perform a hopless wire transfer by moving files directly between two remote computers. You no longer have to copy the files to your computer first. To perform a hopless wire transfer, use the Dual Library View to display the remote libraries then drag and drop the files.

Clip Library Tools The Clip Library Tools menu has been reorganized to better suit the way you work. The commands for launching the tools have been consolidated into a single pop-up Tools menu available from the clip library.

What’s New

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Colour Management with LUTsThe following changes apply to the application of 3D LUTs:

• You can now switch between 3D LUTs in the image window using the Viewport box in the View menu. See “Applying 3D LUTs to the Image Window” in the “Colour Management with LUTs” chapter.

• When applying a 3D LUT to the reference area, you now enable the Split button in the View menu. See “Applying 3D LUTs to the Reference Area and Overlay” in the “Colour Management with LUTs” chapter.

• When applying a 3D LUT to the reference overlay, you now select the 3D LUT from the Reference Buffer box in the View menu. See “Applying 3D LUTs to the Reference Area and Overlay” in the “Colour Management with LUTs” chapter.

EditDeskThe following changes apply to the EditDesk:

• If you arrange clips in the Source Area in a tiling pattern, the first clip selected now appears on the bottom left.

• The name of the option to search for clips in the Source Area based on clip length has been changed from Duration to Clip Length.

• You can now navigate through clips in the Source Area using the RIGHT ARROW and LEFT ARROW hot keys even when you are selecting clips with the arrow cursor.

• Soft-imported clips now have an icon a on the proxy that indicates whether the clip is a soft-import video or audio clip. As well, List view indicates if the clip is soft imported.

• You can now resize notepads attached to clips on the EditDesk by clicking the lower-right corner of the notepad and dragging.

Editorial ToolsetBackdraft Conform now supports an editorial toolset to help you prepare projects for further compositing in Autodesk Fire® or Smoke®, or colour grading in Lustre®. You can now do the following:

• Create dissolve and wipe transitions

• Perform slipping, sliding, cutting, and trimming operations

• Create constant speed timewarps

• Create Resize soft effects

EDL Import Interchange Files

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• Create containers

• Create multi-layer record timelines

EDL Import Interchange FilesThe following changes apply to the Import EDL module:

• Interchange files (EDL, XML, AAF) are now imported by selecting the format in the Interchange box, and then clicking the Import button. See “Importing EDLs” in the “Importing EDL Files” chapter.

• You can now import Interchange files that reference media shot with a Varicam. See “Importing Interchange Files with Varicam Information” in the “Importing EDL Files” chapter.

• When using the EDL Conversion tool to convert record timecode to source timecode, the original tape names are now included as comments. This is useful, for example, if you only have the final master tapes of a project, and you want to recapture the media with the original edits, as described in the EDL, intact.

Final Cut Pro XML ImportThe following changes apply to Final Cut Pro® (FCP) XML Import:

• FCP XML files are now imported by selecting XML in the Interchange box, then clicking Import. See the chapter “Importing Final Cut Pro XML”.

• You can now import FCP XML files that reference file-based media. Referenced media can now be located on remote storage, accessed using Autodesk Wiretap™. See “Relinking to File-based Media” and “Relinking to Files on Other Computers Using Wiretap” in the “Importing Final Cut Pro XML” chapter.

• There are new supported effects when importing FCP XML, including: containers, keycode, keyframe animation, as well as various wipes and video and audio filters. See “Supported and Unsupported Effects” in the “Importing Final Cut Pro XML” chapter.

KeycodeYou can now select the film manufacturer and emulsion in the keycode calculator. The corresponding values are added to the keycode value. See “Using the Keycode Calculator” in the “Keycode” chapter.

What’s New

10

Managing Projects and UsersFor more detailed information on managing projects and users, see the “Managing Projects and Users” chapter. The following changes apply to managing projects and users.

Accessing Remote FramestoresYou can now access an Autodesk Editing (Smoke® or Fire®) or Effects (Inferno®, Flame®, Flint®) project on a remote framestore from Backdraft Conform. This is useful if you want to prepare a project already created in an Autodesk Editing or Effects application for finishing but do not want to tie up system resources. See “Selecting a Project and User on Start-up” in the “Managing Projects and Users” chapter.

ProcessingImages can now be processed with 10 bits in addition to 8 and 12 bits.

Deleting ProjectsNow when you delete a project, its setups are also deleted as long as they are not shared with a project already in use.

Incompatible UsersYou can now see the list of users that are no longer compatible with the current version by enabling Show All in the Project Management menu. All incompatible users are identified as such in the User box.

Mixed Resolution ProjectsThe following changes apply to working in mixed resolution projects.

Changing VTR Timing On The FlyWhen inputting and outputting clips to and from your multi-resolution project, you no longer need to exit the application to change the timing settings. You can now switch the VTR timing on the fly. See “Working with Video Material” in the “Mixed Resolution Workflow” chapter.

OMF Import

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OMF ImportThe following changes apply to OMF® files:

• When importing OMF files that contain embedded audio, audio files are now loaded to the EDL directory of the application on the Backdraft Conform system disk.

• You can now unlink and relink audio media to OMF files.

Playing and Viewing ClipsThe following changes apply to playing clips:

• The positioner now turns orange to indicate real-time playback with no dropped frames of soft-imported clips.

• You can now display a proxy-size player from the fullscreen Player as well as the regular Player.

Grid and Guide MenuThe Grid/Guide menu, accessed from the image window controls, has been rearranged so that some of its controls appear in a Grid menu and others in a View menu. In addition to the layout changes, the following options are new to the View menu.

What’s New

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• For modules that support multiple viewports, the View menu now contains a Widget Display box for displaying widgets such as icons, crop boxes, and 3D histograms in all viewports or in a selected viewport.

• For modules that support multiple viewports, you can now select an additional layout for displaying three viewports: 3-up wide, which displays three viewports side-by-side, in addition to the regular 3-up layout.

• The Split button, which you use to view both the reference area and the currently displayed clip, has been renamed to the Split Bar button.

• You can now select a 3D LUT to be applied to a clip in the image window using the Viewport box, select a 3D LUT to be applied to the reference overlay using the Reference Buffer box, and apply the 3D LUT being used for the clip in the image window to the reference image using the Split button.

Setting PreferencesThe following changes apply to setting preferences.

Audio PreferencesThe Auto Fade setting adds an adjustable fade to the start and end of each audio segment. Use this setting to avoid audible clicks between audio sources.

a) Viewport Layout box d) View button g) Viewport box

b) Reference Buffer box e) View menu h) Split button

c) Grid button f ) Widget Display box i) Split Bar button

f

a db c

g

e

ih

Soft Effects

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Project Management PreferencesA number of new project management preferences are available:

• Broadcast Monitor preferences allow you to specify what you want to preview on your broadcast monitor.

• Video I/O Timing preferences allow you to set the video I/O timing to correspond to the video standard defined by the selected project’s configuration file or another video standard.

• Space Calculation preferences allow you to specify how you want to perform free space calculations.

See “Project Management Preferences” in the “Setting Preferences” chapter.

Soft EffectsThe following changes apply to soft effects.

Copying Soft EffectsThe following now apply when you copy soft effects:

• If you copy a soft effect from a timeline to a Source Area, the soft effect proxy in the Source Area displays the Front view of the effect, the effect copied, and the name of the effect. If you save the soft effect to a clip library, it is saved as a grey proxy displaying the name of the soft effect.

• You can now create a video segment from a soft effect by dragging the soft effect proxy from the Source Area to an empty video track on a new timeline and then rendering.

• You can quickly copy soft effects from one clip to another as long as the sources used to create the soft effect are the same sources to which you want to copy the soft effect. This can speed up your work if you need to reapply soft effects to an updated offline or are working with multiple versions of a timeline since you do not need to copy each effect separately.

See “Copying Soft Effects” in the “Soft Effects” chapter.

Slipping Soft Effects on the TimelineYou can change the timing of a soft effect directly on the timeline without having to enter the Track Editor. You can slip soft effects by any amount from either the Record timeline or the Container timeline and see the Player update as you make changes. See “Slipping Soft Effects” in the “Soft Effects” chapter.

What’s New

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Soft Import and Publish OverviewFor complete details on the soft import and publish features, see the “Soft Import and Publish Workflows” chapter. The following changes apply to performing soft import, publish, and stonifise operations.

Soft Importing Audio FilesYou can now soft import audio files of the following formats: AIFF, WAV, AIFF-C.

Stonifising Audio FilesYou can now use the Stonifise tool to write audio media to the framestore. To do so, select the Audio Only option from the Media Mode box.

Publishing Audio FilesA new option for publishing audio files is now available. You can specify the audio data sample width choosing from Native, 32-bit, 24-bit, and 16-bit.

Creating EDLs When Using Lustre Publish Besides using the Lustre® Publish option, which publishes the clip media and creates an EDL, you can now choose to create only the EDL and omit media publishing. This allows you to regenerate the EDL file of a clip that has been already published and has been modified afterwards without re-publishing all the media.

Creating Lustre-type SubdirectoriesWhen performing Lustre Publish, you can use the Create Subdirectory toggle button to create sub-directories that match the Lustre format as follows: /basedir/clipname/tapename/resolution.

Published DPX Files Contain KeycodePerforming Lustre Publish of a previously imported DPX file with embedded keycode retains the original keycode data.

Adding an Absolute Path to a Remote HostWhen soft importing a clip, you can now use the Remote Path On/Off toggle button to specify if you want to append hosts/hostname before the default import path.

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Subtitle XML ImportYou can now import Subtitle XML files, which contain text soft effects applied to a layer. Subtitle XML files are readable and they can be edited in any text editor. See the chapter “Importing Subtitle XML.”

System MessagesYou can now access a log of system messages for the current session from anywhere in the application with the CTRL+ALT+F7 hot key.

Timeline EditingThe following changes apply to the timeline.

Timeline ViewsThe following changes apply to timeline views:

• You can now switch between the regular and large timelines from the EditDesk and when in clip selection mode.

• When creating a container, if you did not select any layers or segments but your timeline contains in and in and out points, the container will be created between the in and out points.

Searching SegmentsWhen searching segments on a timeline, you now have the following filtering options:

• You can search for segments that contain unlinked media.

• You can search for segments using wildcards (* to match any number of characters before or after a string or ? to replace a specific character).

• You can use the ALT+T hot key on a segment to populate the segment information directly into the corresponding Source Clip and Comment fields.

See “Searching for Timeline Elements” in the “Timeline Editing” chapter.

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Viewing Segment InformationNow when you ALT-click a timeline segment to view information about a source clip, a clip proxy appears beside the clip information. The proxy displays the source media of the first frame used in the segment. The clip proxy appears in the following Timeline views:

• All Record Timeline views

• All Source Timeline views

• All Container Timeline views

UtilitiesThe vic utility has new options. You can use the “-p” option to specify the project where the Lost_+_Found would be created. You can use the “-w” option to skip integrity checking of audio waveforms.

Infrastructure FeaturesThis section contains a list of new infrastructure features for this release.

High-Speed Infiniband TechnologyEffects and Editing Linux® workstations can now be fitted with an optional Infiniband adapter. This low-latency, high-speed network protocol, with a throughput of 400 MBs or more, allows remote application performance similar to the local system. For example, an application could play back a 2K, 10-bit clip in real time from a remote fibre channel Stone framestore. See the Hardware Setup Guide for your workstation and the Autodesk Stone and Wire 2007 Filesystem and Networking Guide for information on how to connect and configure your Infiniband adapters.

High-Speed 4 GB Fibre Channel TechnologyThe new generation of 4 GB fibre channel adapters in concert with new 4 GB XR-series Stone Direct arrays, enable Effects or Editing Linux workstations to sustain real-time playback of two streams of HD at 10-bit resolution, or a single stream of 2K at 10-bit resolution. Stone Switched and Stone Shared are also 4 GB enabled. See the Autodesk Stone Direct 2007 Configuration Guide and the Autodesk Stone Storage Manager 2007 Guide for information on how to connect and configure your XR-series storage and fibre channel adapters.

4 KB Sector Size Support in Stone and WireXR-series Stone Direct arrays can be configured using a 4 KB sector size instead of the previous 512 MB. Stone and Wire now supports 4 KB sector sizes, which means that larger Stone FS

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filesystems can be configured using fewer inodes. See the Autodesk Stone and Wire 2007 Filesystem and Networking Guide for information on how to configure the Stone filesystem.

Stone and Wire Performance IncreaseOverall performance increases can be seen during Wire transfer and background I/O processing. Specific functions such as image import and export, Stonify, and Publish performance has sped up significantly, especially when used in conjunction with a SAN. Depending on format and storage configuration, 10% to 1000% increases have been recorded! A bandwidth limitation mechanism prevents any background activity, such as Wire, Burn, and Background I/O, from hindering playback or capture processes.

Background I/O and Proxy ProcessingYou can now perform a background Wire transfer and Proxy processing using Backburner™. Proxies for soft-imported clips can be generated in the background at 300+ MB/sec from a SAN. This is significant for DI workflows. See "Using a Background Wire Transfer" in the "Clip Libraries" chapter.

Hopless Wire TransferYou can now perform a hopless Wire transfer by moving files directly between two remote computers. You no longer have to copy the files to your computer first. To perform a hopless Wire transfer, use the Dual Library view to display the remote libraries, then drag and drop the files.

Backburner Linux Manager and Web MonitorBackburner Manager can now run on a Linux server. Installing Backburner Manager on Windows 2000 is no longer required (but still supported). You can also point a standard web browser at the Backburner Manager system (Linux or Windows) from any workstation on the network with the same administrative features as the PC-based version of Backburner Monitor. See the Autodesk Backburner 2007 Installation and User's Guide for information on how to set this up.

Backburner Feedback in the ApplicationA scaled down version of the Backburner Monitor is available in the Background Tasks (formerly Background I/O) window. Everything going through Backburner to the machine you are using is displayed in that window.

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Wiretap, Wiretap Web and the Wiretap Client SDKWiretap™ provides third-party applications with access to media and metadata on the Stone filesystem and Wire network.

Soft-imports and writes of audio through Wiretap are now supported.

This release introduces Wiretap Web, which allows remote users to access and manage the media and projects on an Editing or Effects workstation from any location on the local network, using any standard web browser such as Mozilla®, or Internet Explorer. See the Autodesk Wiretap 2007 Web Installation and User's Guide.

The Wiretap API comes with a powerful client SDK supporting PC/Mac®/Linux/IRIX®, a project management API, and a Python API. This is all designed to provide third-party or facility developers with easy-to-use tools to create applications that increase and automate the integration of Autodesk systems into the entire effects pipeline. To get the Wiretap SDK, commercial developers and Autodesk systems customers must sign up with the Autodesk Developer's Network (ADN). Customers using the Wiretap SDK exclusively for in-house use have free access to the Wiretap SDK. Commercial developers must pay a registration and administrative fee.

PublishYou can now publish and stonifise audio media. Other new publish options include EDL-only, Lustre Publish, and the creation of custom directory structures. Publish also allows republishing of published frames on a standard filesystem. Repeated frames are also treated similarly, a feature essential for titling in multiple languages.

ArchivingComplete projects, including clip libs, setups, and history, can now be archived. Soft imported and published media can be archived along the local project assets through the archiving module, and can be restored on remote systems with or without SAN access. New features include expanded multi-tape archiving performance, more granular space estimation, and the implementation of an archive search tool. See the "Archiving" chapter.

Stone Switched Multi-Seat FunctionalityThe Stone Switched application can now be installed on any Effects or Editing workstation. See the Autodesk Stone Switched 2007 Installation and User's Guide.

FCP 5.1 XML and AAFFCP 5.1 XML support now includes support for Varicam, and for effects such as containers, keycode, and keyframe animation. You can now import Advanced Authoring Format (AAF)

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files exported from Avid® editing applications. AAF files are similar to traditional EDLs, but include multiple layers and more support for transitions, as well as video and audio filters. See the "Importing Final Cut Pro XML" and the "AAF Import" chapters.

Optional Stone Shared SAN Support on LinuxEffects and Editing workstations running Red Hat® Enterprise Linux WS 4, Update 2 with DKU version 2.0 can join a Stone Shared SAN that is running CXFS 4.0 with Metadata Servers running IRIX 6.5.29 and clients running IRIX 6.5.28 or x86-64 Linux.

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