AJA KONA 4 PCI-E Video I/O Card (HDMI Output, Cable Included) User Manual
Page 14
| KONA
www.aja.com
14
In addition to a steady stream of feature, games and commercial
projects, Zoic is currently handling VFX for television shows Falling
Skies, Once Upon a Time and Wonderland, all shot using virtual sets.
The company is also venturing into 4K post-production within their
commercial division for the the Intel and Toshiba webisode series,
“The Power Within.”. For reliable and efficient collaboration across
remote facilities, Zoic relies on AJA’s KONA 3G cards to help facilitate
live synchronized sessions using Tweak’s RV-SDI playback and review
software.
“KONA 3G is the backbone of high quality image communication
between Zoic Vancouver and Zoic Culver City,” said Mike Romey,
Zoic Studios Head of Pipeline. “Using the RV-SDI integration, we queue
up media in the projection rooms at each location for synced up dailies
sessions where teams of artists can review and annotate shots in real
time with supervisors at full resolution.”
Zoic’s projection rooms are setup to view HD, 2K and 4K dailies, and
are frequently tapped to finalize upwards of 400 VFX shots for each
episode, and workflow reliability is paramount. During review, files
are opened in Tweak Software’s RV image and sequence viewer, using
a custom front end to record dailies into Shotgun Software’s web-
based production management platform. Since up to 50 artists and
supervisors across both locations might be contributing to a project,
Zoic’s KONA 3G-powered workflow allows producers to compare and
contrast different versions of any given shot to ensure appropriate edits
and design choices are implemented during session reviews.
“We can do instant playback projection to easily show things like
the last CG render of the most recent lighting pass. There is constant
iterating, and being able to present changes in real time with the
KONA 3G is incredibly valuable,” noted Romey.
While a majority of Zoic’s deliverables are in HD, the studio’s
commercial division is currently working on webisode content in 4K
for Intel and Toshiba. Implementing a 4K pipeline proved to be a fairly
straightforward task because of Zoic’s existing infrastructure. The
studio uses the KONA 3G cards with The Foundry’s HIERO collaborative
shot management solution for plate prep, Autodesk® Flame® editorial
and color grading software for final conform and finishing, along with
RV-HDSDI for review.
Romey explained, “We didn’t have to retool our workflow for 4K
reviews. We already had a high bandwidth to route content to the
KONA 3G card from our servers and RV supports 4K so it was just a
matter of adjusting the projector.”
Zoic’s impressive television credits include True Blood, Once Upon
a Time, Fringe, Wonderland, and Intelligence as well as Falling Skies
and Hemlock Grove, which feature work nominated for the 2013
Outstanding Visual Effects Emmy Award®. Considering the volume
and scheduling demands of episodic work, Zoic is currently deploying
editorial improvements to ensure utmost quality on delivered shots.
An early adopter of HIERO, Zoic deploys 25 licenses of the software,
with most workstations running KONA 3G on display monitors to do
live I/O from the conform. Connecting via HDMI and with help from
HIERO, the KONA 3G card has even enabled stereo 3D dailies for a
recent feature film project.
“ KONA 3G is the backbone
of high quality image
communication between Zoic
Vancouver and Zoic Culver City.”
Zoic Bridges Remote
Facilities and Paves a
Path to 4K with AJA
KONA 3G