Press Release: SAN JOSE, Calif. and LAS VEGAS NV — April 14 , 2008 — Adobe Systems Incorporated (Nasdaq:ADBE) today announced that it plans to lead an initiative to define an industry-wide open file format for digital cinema files to streamline workflows and help ensure easy archiving and exchange. Adobe intends to leverage its successful Digital Negative Specification (DNG) file format as a foundation, and Adobe plans to work with a broad coalition of leading camera manufacturers, including Panavision, Silicon Imaging, Dalsa, Weisscam, and ARRI—along with software vendors, including Iridas and The Foundry, and codec provider CineForm—to define the requirements for an open, publicly documented file format that it plans to call CinemaDNG.

Adobe is currently working to develop the requirements of the CinemaDNG workflow and intends to subsequently publish a specification for the file format based on collaboration with companies throughout the industry.

“With the CinemaDNG initiative, Adobe is extending its leadership in developing open, interchangeable formats for digital still cameras into the realm of digital cinematography,” said Jim Guerard, vice president of Dynamic Media at Adobe. “By taking a proactive role and working collaboratively with leading digital cinema manufacturers, Adobe is helping to define an industry-standard approach that benefits the entire filmmaking ecosystem. Filmmakers will be able to adopt digital cinema cameras with confidence, and camera manufacturers will be able to provide specialized functionality while ensuring instant file format compatibility with existing workflows.”

Many filmmakers are foregoing film in favor of digital cinema cameras and workflows that offer improved creative flexibility, lower costs, and significantly faster turnaround times. However, those new workflows involve complex hardware and software, with projects passing through multiple vendors along the production pipeline. The proliferation of disparate, vendor-specific raw file formats has the potential to erode some of the advantages of digital cinema. By proactively leading the development of an open, public, and enduring standard that can be adopted throughout the production pipeline, Adobe and other companies through the CinemaDNG initiative are helping to solve an important, emerging workflow issue.

Advantages for Filmmakers
As a publicly documented and open file format, CinemaDNG would offer several advantages for filmmakers. They could avoid roadblocks caused by incompatibilities in workflows that involve multiple devices, vendors, and file formats. They could adopt digital cinema cameras while minimizing the risk that proprietary or camera-specific file formats would be unsupported in the future, because CinemaDNG would provide an open, durable, standard format that would be available for many years to come. Filmmakers could also rest assured that they have access to a robust archival standard for the new generation of raw-capable digital cinema cameras. CinemaDNG would also provide the foundation for an editing workflow that would allow filmmakers to use the highest quality source material.

Advantages for Manufacturers
For camera manufacturers and software developers, CinemaDNG is intended to help remove a key obstacle to the adoption of new products by providing reliable, instant compatibility with existing workflows. Manufacturers may be able to reduce development costs by eliminating the necessity to develop proprietary formats and conversion utilities. CinemaDNG is also planning to deliver support for proprietary metadata, helping manufacturers to differentiate their product offerings from competitors’.

“Experiencing a smoother, more streamlined workflow is, without exception, a good thing and open standards are a great way of accomplishing it,” said Bruno Nicoletti, chief technology officer at The Foundry, a leading visual effects software developer in London. “The Foundry supports Adobe’s plan for CinemaDNG, which will make the adoption of raw digital camera data much easier for everyone in our industry.”

“We are working hard on establishing a realistic and workable method of getting raw data from the camera to post,” said Marc Shipman-Mueller, product manager for Cameras & Lenses at ARRI, a top digital cinema camera manufacturer in Munich. “An industry wide standard for raw data can only help in this future oriented process that will provide multiple benefits for the users of raw data.”

About Adobe Systems Incorporated
Adobe revolutionizes how the world engages with ideas and information – anytime, anywhere and through any medium. For more information, visit www.adobe.com .

Source: DVD Talk

DVD Talk recently had a chance to sit down with some of the key talent behind Disney and Pixar’s Ratatouille [review] to see what they’ve cooked up for the film’s release on DVD and Blu-ray on November 6th. The visit kicked off with a set of roundtables with some of Pixar’s digital wizards at their headquarters in Emeryville, California:

Our first stop was with Michael Venturini, a directing animator at Pixar who helped bring Remy to life. He started off the discussion by running through the animation tests throughout pre-production that gave him a feel for how these digital anthropomorphic critters ought to move and behave. “It was very similar to how we did Nemo in the sense that in this film, we had rats that were going to be talking and acting, but we still wanted them to be rats. Usually the first thing we’ll do is very heavily reference rats, and we’ll do a lot of animation tests that really explore rat behaviors.”

Remy is a rat, of course, but there’s a very human quality to his character that has to be incorporated into the animation too, and striking that balance was a bit of a challenge. “We’ll take a look at all of those tests we’ve done that are very realistic and pick little ideas out of them, and we’ll try to sprinkle that into our acting. On Ratatouille, we went through a learning curve during production where we would do little sniffing and nose twitching behaviors that are very common when you watch rats, and we’d put that in our acting here and there. Brad [Bird] found that as he was editing the movie together, these things were popping up a little more often than he would like, so he started directing us to pull back a little bit from the ‘rat-isms’.” One of the other stumbling blocks Venturini and his team had to overcome was making a character with hands convincingly skitter around like a rat. “It was harder to get [Remy] on all fours because we built him with hands so he could cook. Getting his hands to behave like feet was actually harder than making his feet behave like hands.”

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In addition to shipping Creative Suite 3 and showing off its first Apollo application, Adobe has released public betas of Premiere Pro and After Effects for Windows and Mac users.

Adobe announced in early January that it would bring Premiere Pro — the company’s professional video editor — back to the Mac. Together with its companion product Encore CS3, Premiere lets you author once, and then output to Blu-ray Disc, DVD and Flash SWF for the web. Premiere Pro also supports additional delivery platforms including Flash and mobile devices.

Premiere also has a visual flow chart, which will help users build disk navigation through drag and drop. Users can choose automated menu generation or they can build menus in the Photoshop file format with the Photoshop technology built into Encore. Buttons, text and images are stored as layers and layer sets so you can edit them later in Photoshop.

The preview of Premiere Pro is available for Mac OS X 10.4.9.

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The beta applications are available from Adobe Labs.

Press Release: SAN JOSE, Calif. — May 17, 2006 — Adobe Systems Incorporated (Nasdaq:ADBE) today announced that it is sponsoring the American Pavilion Student Filmmaker Program at the 2006 Cannes Film Festival, May 17 through May 28 in Cannes, France. Students representing 30 film schools in North America, the United Kingdom, India and South Africa will be paired with professional filmmakers and instructors to create documentaries on their experience at Cannes using the Adobe® Production Studio, Macromedia® Flash® and Macromedia Studio 8. Documentaries will be broadcast daily on the Adobe.com Web site.

During a three-day orientation 50 students will be trained on Adobe’s award-winning desktop digital video and audio tools, matched with mentors and broken into 14 collaborative teams. The teams will produce a three minute broadcast reporting on activities in the American Pavilion, a five minute documentary on Cannes and the festival, and a motion logo for the American Pavilion Student Filmmaker Program. Adobe will also offer students access to leading filmmakers who have used Adobe products for their Cannes submissions with daily lectures from the Pavilion.

The best student collaborative team projects will be recognized at an “It’s a Wrap Party” at the end of the Film Festival. Members from SAGIndie, the Screen Actors Guild’s program for outreach to independent producers, will judge student films in two categories: best broadcast and best in show documentary, with special recognition to entries for animation logo creation. Documentaries will automatically be entered into the 2007 Adobe Design Achievement Awards student competition. Additional information on the awards is available at www.adobe.com/education/adaa .

“Students have embraced digital filmmaking and understand the creative potential unleashed by today’s powerful digital video technologies,” said Jim Guerard, vice president of Web and Video products for Adobe. “As digital video becomes even more pervasive across the Internet and mobile platforms, student filmmakers can look forward to delivering their creative work to new audiences, unavailable to previous generations. We look forward to viewing the work of these talented story-tellers during Cannes Film Festival.”

Adobe selected professional filmmakers and instructors to participate on the faculty for the program and to mentor to the students. The faculty includes David Chai, San Jose State University; Jim Kenney, California College of Art; Kathy Smith, University of Southern California; and Bun Lee of Vancouver Film School. Past Adobe Design Achievement Awards winners and finalists Yibi Hu of Kingston University; and Khayalethus Mtshali from the Brand Communication School in South Africa will be student participants in the program; and Eric Finkelman and Evan Schoonmaker of Original City Pictures and alumni of the School of the Visual Arts will serve as industry mentors.

In the American Pavilion, Adobe will also provide a Daily Adobe Reel Ideas Studio with a true post production studio atmosphere and showcase film, animation and broadcast finalist and winners of the 2005 Adobe Design Achievement Awards. Adobe will host daily lectures on film and animation techniques using Production Studio, Flash and Studio 8. Students will also have the opportunity to practice pitching ideas for future films and documentaries with visitors to the Pavilion during “Pitchfest” sessions.

About Adobe Systems Incorporated
Adobe revolutionizes how the world engages with ideas and information – anytime, anywhere and through any medium. For more information, visit www.adobe.com .

Microsoft on Tuesday released early versions of a new line of tools meant to lure illustrators and designers closer to Redmond’s world.

The software giant made public its trial editions, called community technology previews (CTP), of Expression Interactive Designer and Expression Graphic Designer–two products from a new line of software aimed at graphics designers and illustrators.

Formerly code-named Sparkle, Expression Interactive Designer is for building the user interface and layout of Web or Windows applications. The CTP is its first public release and Microsoft engineers have not settled on all the features, said Forrest Key, group product manager in Microsoft’s developer tools division.

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What do The Incredibles, My Favorite Martian, and The Hulk have in common?

Varying levels of entertainment value? Yes, but also animation. Animation, at least as far as Hollywood is concerned, has become a largely computer-generated medium, and a group of professional animators who’ve worked on those movies (among others) has created an online school to take the computer model one step farther. While apprentices used to learn (sometimes literally) at the feet of a master such as Chuck Jones, modern students take to the Internet.

AnimationMentor.com has been online for about 10 months, and features heavy hitters from rival companies as diverse as Pixar, Industrial Light and Magic, Disney, PDI/Dreamworks, and Sony Imageworks. It’s interesting to me, in that it demonstrates the idea that business antagonism often doesn’t coincide with artistic rivalry. Having attended a college with a large degree of arts emphasis in its curriculum, I’ve always been fascinated by the idea that the people who actually produce the product don’t carry the positions of their employers around with them, and in fact often appreciate each other’s work.

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Press Release: SAN JOSE, Calif. — Jan. 17, 2006 — Adobe Systems Incorporated (Nasdaq:ADBE) today announced and shipped Adobe® Premiere Pro® 2.0, the latest version of its popular video editing software application. This major new release of Adobe Premiere Pro enhances productivity and delivers deeper creative control, while allowing editors to work with the latest digital formats including HDV, HD and Flash Video.

Unparalleled integration with Adobe After Effects® and Adobe Photoshop® makes it even easier for editors and artists alike to leverage layered files between these widely used applications. Plus, deeper creative control makes it possible to fine tune and adjust virtually every aspect of the production to get the desired results. Added native HD and HDV support increases the expansive list of format options in Adobe Premiere Pro, ensuring editors can work with any popular format.

“Adobe Premiere Pro 2.0 sets a new standard for editing digital video on the Windows platform, giving professionals everything they need to create award-winning work,” said Jim Guerard, vice president of product management, Web and Video Solutions for Adobe. “Adobe Premiere Pro 2.0 continues to address the evolving needs of the market by providing users with native support for HD, outstanding Flash Video support, and tighter integration with other Adobe applications to provide a more efficient workflow.”

Native Support for HD, SD, and HDV

Adobe Premiere Pro 2.0 supports all major video formats from DV to uncompressed HD, giving editors the flexibility to meet a broad range of client needs. Users can work with material captured using popular camera formats, work in real-time and maintain image quality to deliver uncompromised results. With native support for the AJA Xena HS real time encoding card, Adobe Premiere Pro 2.0 provides a complete solution for SD and HD production, allowing editors to capture, edit and layoff high-quality content. Adobe Premiere Pro 2.0 also supports capture and editing of HDV content without conversion. By editing HDV content directly, the highest quality results are ensured.
Automated Review and Approval Process

Adobe Premiere Pro 2.0 increases workflow productivity with the introduction of Clip Notes, a revolutionary new technology for expediting the review and approval of video content. Clip Notes uses ubiquitous PDF technology to provide a customized commenting interface for video and audio, using either Adobe Reader® or Adobe Acrobat® software. Reviewers can add timecode-accurate comments to the video, which can then be exported and returned to the editor as PDF files. Once imported into Adobe Premiere Pro 2.0, the comments are shown as markers in the timeline, providing frame-accurate feedback for the editor.

Unparalleled Adobe Integration

Adobe Premiere Pro 2.0 offers unparalleled integration with Adobe After Effects 7.0, Adobe Photoshop CS2 and Adobe Encore® DVD 2.0 software, removing production bottlenecks and freeing time so users can stay focused on telling their story. When used as component of the Adobe Production Studio, Adobe Premiere Pro 2.0 provides access to Adobe Dynamic Link, a workflow enhancing technology that eliminates the need for the intermediate rendering of projects. Adobe Premiere Pro 2.0 also introduces the availability to export Flash Video (FLV) files, offering new integration with Macromedia® Flash® for customers who produce video for use on the web. For file management, Adobe Premiere Pro 2.0 includes Adobe Bridge, a visual file browser for viewing and organizing video, audio and image files. Adobe Bridge uses XMP metadata to provide detailed information about files and provide powerful search capabilities.

Pricing and Availability

Adobe Premiere Pro 2.0 for Microsoft® Windows® XP is available now through Adobe Authorized Resellers and the Adobe Store at www.adobe.com/store . Estimated street price for the full version is US$849, with upgrade pricing starting at US$199. For more detailed information about new features, upgrade policies and pricing, please visit: www.adobe.com/premierepro . Adobe Premiere Pro is also available as a component in the Premium and Standard versions of Adobe Production Studio.

About Adobe Systems Incorporated

Adobe revolutionizes how the world engages with ideas and information – anytime, anywhere and through any medium. For more information, visit www.adobe.com .

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© 2006 Adobe Systems Incorporated. All rights reserved. Adobe, the Adobe logo, Adobe Acrobat, After Effects, Adobe Premiere, Photoshop and Reader are either trademarks or registered trademarks of Adobe Systems Incorporated in the United States and/or other countries. All prices listed are in US Dollars and do not include taxes and shipping. Microsoft and Windows are registered trademarks of Microsoft Corporation in the United States and/or other countries. All other trademarks are the property of their respective owners.

Press Release: SAN JOSE, Calif. — Jan. 17, 2006 — Adobe Systems Incorporated (Nasdaq:ADBE) today announced and shipped Adobe® After Effects® 7.0 software, the industry standard tool for producing motion graphics and visual effects for film, video, DVD, and the Web.

Professionals can streamline their workflows to produce compelling content for any media with the new features packed in Adobe After Effects 7.0, including a re-designed, unified user interface, accelerated high-fidelity OpenGL 2.0 support, and the industry’s most comprehensive Flash Video (FLV) export capabilities. Adobe After Effects 7.0 is available as a stand-alone product or as part of Adobe Production Studio also announced today (see separate release).

“Adobe After Effects 7.0 meets the needs of the most demanding film and video professionals and allows creatives who are moving into time-based design to easily create compelling motion graphics and visual effects,” said Jim Guerard, vice president of product management, Web and Video Solutions for Adobe. “With this release, After Effects has extended its leadership role in motion graphics and visual effects, on both the Mac and Windows platforms.”

Flexible and Efficient Workflow

Adobe After Effects streamlines workflows and enhances overall productivity with a re-designed, unified user interface, featuring dockable panels. Users can eliminate overlapping windows and palettes, re-arrange panels, save custom workspaces, and control UI brightness. After Effects users can quickly create great-looking animations with hundreds of fully-customizable Animation and Behavior presets for animating text, effects, transitions, and backgrounds that can be accessed through Adobe Bridge, a full-featured file browser that can be launched independently. When used as component of the Adobe Production Studio, Adobe After Effects 7.0 provides access to Adobe Dynamic Link, a workflow enhancing technology that eliminates the need for the intermediate rendering of projects.

Expanded support for OpenGL 2.0 speeds production time by accelerating the on-screen rendering of 2D and 3D composites and delivering high fidelity support for blending modes, motion blur on 2D layers, anti-aliasing, track mattes and shadows.

Limitless Creative Control

Adobe After Effects 7.0 enables industry professionals to produce eye-catching motion graphics and sophisticated visual effects for delivery to virtually any media. The new Graph Editor makes it easy to create precise animations across multiple layers, allowing complete visual control over keyframe editing and easy synchronization of effects. New 32-bit High Dynamic Range (HDR) color support in the Professional edition allows users to match the behavior of color and light to achieve a high degree of photo-realism by compositing in 32-bit-per channel floating-point color. In the Professional edition, Timewarp utilizes motion vectors to slow down or speed up footage with smooth, crisp results and minimal artifacts. Adobe After Effects 7.0 also introduces the availability to export Flash Video (FLV) files, offering new integration with Macromedia® Flash® for customers who produce video for use on the web.

Pricing and Availability

Adobe After Effects 7.0 for Mac OS X 10.3.9 or 10.4, and Microsoft® Windows® XP is available immediately through Adobe Authorized Resellers and the Adobe Store at www.adobe.com/store . Estimated street prices for the full version are US$999 for the Professional edition and US$699 for the Standard edition. Upgrade pricing is estimated at US$199, and US$499 to upgrade from Standard to Professional edition. For more detailed information about new features, upgrade policies and pricing, please visit: www.adobe.com/aftereffects . Adobe After Effects Standard and Professional versions are also available as components in the Standard and Premium editions of Adobe Production Studio respectively.

About Adobe Systems Incorporated

Adobe revolutionizes how the world engages with ideas and information – anytime, anywhere and through any medium. For more information, visit www.adobe.com .

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© 2006 Adobe Systems Incorporated. All rights reserved. Adobe, the Adobe logo, After Effects, Illustrator, Photoshop and Adobe Premiere are either registered trademarks or trademarks of Adobe Systems Incorporated in the United States and/or other countries. Mac is a registered trademark of Apple Computer, Inc., registered in the United States and other countries. Microsoft and Windows are registered trademarks of Microsoft Corporation in the United States and/or other countries. All other trademarks are the property of their respective owners. All prices listed are in US Dollars and do not include taxes and shipping.

Press Release: LOS ANGELES/PRNewswire-FirstCall/ — CMP Media’s Digital Video Group is proud to announce the return of Digital Video Expo West to the Los Angeles Convention Center, December 4th-9th, for the ninth straight year. This industry-leading event is the core event for professionals working in audio, broadcasting, digital photography, independent filmmaking, lighting, visual effects, video and high-definition technology. Not only will there be exhibits, conferences and Apple and Avid certification training courses, but the sixth-annual DV Film Festival will also be taking place December 7th and 8th.

Digital Video Expo West will provide a platform for market-leading companies such as Adobe, Apple, Avid, Canon, Canopus, JVC, Hitachi, Panasonic, and others, to debut their latest gear and gadgets. Certified trainers will provide instruction on various industry-leading applications, including Adobe Photoshop CS2; Apple DVD Studio Pro, Final Cut Pro, and Motion; and Avid Xpress Pro Editing, Effects, and Film Post-Production. World-renowned speakers will conduct conference sessions on a variety of topics, which will help professionals understand the challenges facing the industry today. Topics include Lighting for the Digital Image, Shooting Documentaries, Hollywood Films and Action Sports, HD Checklist for Motion Graphics Artists, Successfully Producing DVD Projects, Editing HDV, and High-End Results with Digital Video Cameras.

The DV Film Festival will also be celebrating its sixth anniversary this winter by continuing to honor emerging talent by screening independent digital films with intriguing subject matter, robust scripts and foresights that push the digital envelope. For further information, please visit www.dvexpo.com/filmfest/.

Attendees have several options to choose from including a certification package, a VIP 4-day conference package, a 1- or 2-day conference package, or an Exhibits pass, with conference panel and DV Film Festival upgrade options. Register online at www.dvexpo.com before November 30th and receive an exhibit pass free! For special group pricing, call toll-free at 888-234-9476.

About CMP Media’s Digital Video Group

CMP Media’s Digital Video Group (www.dv.com) has been at the head of the digital video explosion, providing information to professional users since its launch. The mission of the Digital Video Group is to inspire and empower creative professionals by being the industry’s most comprehensive source of tools and technologies through event, online and print channels. Digital Video Expo West leverages other Digital Video Group resources, including DV Magazine, Xtreme Video Magazine, and DV.com, for its experience and leadership position in the professional video industry.

About CMP Media LLC

CMP Media (www.cmp.com) is the leading integrated media solutions company providing “broad and deep” access to the entire technology spectrum — the builders, sellers and buyers of technology worldwide. The company’s comprehensive database of technology decision makers enables marketers to reach targeted audiences throughout the purchase process with publications, web offerings, face-to-face events, consulting and other marketing services that deliver actionable results.

The event will be held from December 4th – 9th at …

The Los Angeles Convention Center
1201 S Figueroa St
Los Angeles, CA 90015

Apple and Avid Certification Training: December 4-9
Adobe Photoshop CS2 — DV Certification Training — December 5
Conference: December 6-9
DV Film Festival: December 7-8
Exhibits: December 7-9

Autodesk, the company that develops the industry standard drafting package AutoCAD and the 3D modeling application 3D Studio Max, has announced that it is purchasing Alias, makers of the popular 3D modeling program Maya, in a cash transaction worth US$182 million.

Autodesk, founded in 1982, originally developed 3D Studio as a companion program for its popular AutoCAD software. The company purchased Montreal, Quebec-based Discreet, makers of a 3D program called MAX, in 1999. The two products combined to become 3D Studio Max, a Windows-only 3D graphics package that became incredibly popular in the game development industry. While the popularity of 3D Studio Max has waned in recent years, many game development studios still use the program today.

Alias Research was formed in 1983 in Toronto, Ontario. Their StudioTools software is used by nearly every major automobile manufacturer in the world. However, the company has recently been known mostly for its 3D software package Maya, which has been used in hundreds of motion picture and television projects. In recent years Maya has become almost synonymous with 3D graphics. Maya is available on many platforms, including Windows, OSX, Solaris and Linux.

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Creative team takes to the streets to shoot images for stop-motion program package.

From Creative Mac

NEW YORK – To promote The Call on NY1 News, a division of Time Warner Cable, a show which airs weeknights 9 p.m., and the revolutionary system that lets New Yorkers program the opening Your Call portion of that half-hour news show, the channel turned to the image makers at ZONA Design for their network design expertise.

ZONA, the New York-based innovative motion design and branding studio, designed and produced the program package and elements including program and segment opens, animations and transitions which began airing in New York City’s five boroughs, Southern Westchester, New Jersey’s Bergen County and in New York’s Hudson Valley on July 25th.

To encourage viewers to participate in the programming of the Your Call segment, NY1 created a web page, NY1.com/thecall, and provided the same tool that their producers use in the newsroom – a computer-generated rundown of all the stories available for each broadcast’s opening programming block. Viewers are invited to help shape the news segment by clicking on each story headline and dragging the headlines into the order they prefer, creating a rundown for the show’s opening coverage. A click of the submit button sends his or her preferences to NY1, and tuning in to The Call at 9 p.m. shows how his or her choices stacked up against other submissions.

NY1 Art Director Christopher Mullen explained, “We returned to Zoa and her team, with whom we have collaborated on a number of projects, because she has a rare and exceptional creative sensibility and we were looking for something original. We exchanged ideas and Zoa came up with a number of unique design solutions. The creativity they brought to the table made the piece graphically distinctive and hip.”

To illustrate that New Yorkers, no matter where they are or what they are doing during the course of the day – getting into a cab, working on their laptop, or waiting for a subway – will find it simple and easy to participate in The Call’s programming, the ZONA Design creatives took to the streets of Manhattan to shoot the images for their stop-motion program package.

“NY1 is strongly identified with their use of iconic images of the City. We wanted to keep the landscape, the environment in the blue color of their brand but bring the color of New York – its people – to the foreground. We explored a variety of techniques and ultimately were most excited by a frame-by-frame stop-motion approach,“ explained ZONA Design Director /Creative Director Zoa Martinez.

Using a digital SLR camera , ZONA’s team shot a sequence of stills. Then, to create motion, the individual frames were sequenced in Final Cut Pro before the composite team cut apart and animated individual layers, adding the color treatment and effects using After Effects 3D Camera .

“So that The Call and NY1 would share some similar brand attributes, we incorporated the blue of the NY1 brand into the new promotion package and integrated two additional primary colors – the red and yellow animations – to create a distinct personality for the new show,” Martinez added.

The ZONA Design creative team was led by Director /Creative Director /Designer Zoa Martinez and included Executive Producer Dennis Fluet; Senior Designer Mark Lee; Designers Agnes Nowakowska and Youngha Park; Senior Composite Artist Andre Sam; Motion Art Director /Composite Artist Fabien Leon; Composite Artist Eric Konon; Live Action Producer/ Director of Photography Mac Premo and Photographer Kacy Jahanbini. ZONA utilized ADOBE After Effects , Illustrator, and Photoshop in the execution of this project.

NY1 was represented by Senior Vice President and General Manager Steve Paulus, Art Director Christopher Mullen and Creative Services Director Scott Levin. The final audio mix was engineered at NY1 by Creative Services Manager David Kernand Creative Services Producer Alex Gonzalez.

The musical underscore was composed by Peter Fish of Tonic (New York, NY).

About ZONA Design
ZONA Design, founded in 1999, is an award winning multi-disciplined design agency creating results driven work that is bold and direct for all points of contact with the consumer in the general, Hispanic, and youth markets. The company’s portfolio includes high profile projects for Disney/ESPN Networks, AOL Time Warner Networks, 5Boro Skateboards, Discovery Communications, Encore Media Group, Rainbow Media Holdings, Chrysler, Dodge, and the various A&E Networks.

ZONA Design, Inc. is headquartered in the Empire State Building, 350 Fifth Avenue, Suite 321, New York, NY 10118.

GLENDALE, Calif. — The lights are dimmed, the shades are drawn, the computer screen is on and Dave Walvoord, Xiao Zhang and Han Lei are staring at a porcupine butt.

Specifically, this porcupine butt belongs to an animated character in DreamWorks Animation’s upcoming movie Over the Hedge. And Walvoord, a computer graphics supervisor, is in his office working with two of DreamWorks’ newest employees — recruited straight out of college as part of a new DreamWorks educational initiative. Their job: to light the scene so the motion of the quills looks just right.

Animation is not what it used to be.

Where cartoons of yesteryear, like Bugs Bunny and Mickey Mouse, were once hand-drawn in two dimensions, movie hits such as The Incredibles (Pixar) and Shrek 1 and 2 (DreamWorks) are painstakingly designed, modeled, rigged, surfaced and lighted by teams of animators who have to be as artistic and creative as they are technological. Studios are constantly developing new technology to bring out details: Fur can rustle with the wind, skin can now almost glisten like the real thing (even if it does happen to be green). And porcupine quills can now bristle.

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Adobe will be using this licensed technology to expand the professional capabilities of its product line by integrating it into future Adobe software.

Curious gFx is a raster paint, retouching and rotoscoping software package for film, video, and broadcast developed by Curious Software, which was acquired by Vizrt as of June 1 this year. With this technology from Vizrt, Adobe will have access to a powerful paint engine for moving images, a sophisticated roto-matte system and a range of features for wire and rig removal or content restoration.

By capitalizing on this exclusive license agreement, Vizrt is helping to add substantial value to customers of Adobe products, as well as to Vizrt shareholders. “We’re very pleased that Adobe Systems have chosen our rotoscoping technology for integration into Adobe products,” commented Bjarne Berg, President and CEO of Vizrt. “The flexible architecture and robust tool set of our software will be highly complementary to Adobe’s graphics systems.”

“As a leader in the professional photography and video markets with products like Adobe® Photoshop®, After Effects® and Adobe Premiere® Pro, we’re committed to delivering the best tools in the industry,” said Bryan Lamkin, senior vice president of Digital Imaging at Adobe. “Adobe is investing in this rotoscoping technology because it complements our existing product strengths and helps simplify video workflow.”

Vizrt will continue to support existing customers of gFX, but the standalone product’s future upgrade path will now be determined by Adobe. Additionally, Vizrt will continue to offer the gFx technology as a licensed option within the Curious World Maps digital map creation software and its authoring and design software such as Viz|Artist.

Vizrt is the world’s leading provider of real-time 2D and true 3D broadcast graphics. The company’s software suite offers a complete graphics solution including: character generation, content management and newsroom integration, 3D tickers, virtual studio, weather data integration, virtual sports analysis, information display and virtual effects. All Vizrt’s graphics products are powered by a single core renderer, the unique and powerful Viz|Engine. Vizrt’s graphics solution goes beyond the visual aspect and includes highly customized user interfaces for the designer, operator, journalist and engineer. The world’s leading broadcasters, such as ABC, CNN News Networks, CBS, Fox News, ESPN, BBC Sports, Sky, ITN, ZDF, Star TV, TV Today and NHK, use Vizrt’s solutions, mainly in 24/7 operations, for both conventional digital and high definition content delivery. Production houses and corporate institutions, including the New York Stock Exchange, are Vizrt customers.

Vizrt is a public company traded on the Frankfurt Prime Standard and on the Oslo Main List: VIZ, ISIN: IL0010838154. For further information please refer to www.vizrt.com

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All trademarks are the property of the respective owners.

This press release contains forward-looking statements with respect to the business, financial condition and results of operations of VIZRT and its affiliates. These statements are based on the current expectations or beliefs of VIZRT’s management and are subject to a number of risks and uncertainties that could cause actual results or performance of the Company to differ materially from those contemplated in such forward-looking statements. These risks and uncertainties relate to changes in technology and market requirements, the company’s concentration on one industry, decline in demand for the company’s products and those of its affiliates, inability to timely develop and introduce new technologies, products and applications, and loss of market share and pressure on pricing resulting from competition, which could cause the actual results or performance of the company to differ materially from those contemplated in such forward-looking statements. VIZRT undertakes no obligation to publicly release any revisions to these forward-looking statements to reflect events or circumstances after the date hereof or to reflect the occurrence of unanticipated events.

Press Release: SAN JOSE, Calif. — May 9, 2005 — Adobe Systems Incorporated (Nasdaq:ADBE) today announced its sponsorship of the American Pavilion at the Festival de Cannes, the world-renowned international film festival held from May 11- 22 in Cannes, France. As part of its continued commitment to the filmmaking community Adobe will host technology presentations and panel discussions on digital and high definition (HD) workflows, led by industry-leading post production and motion graphics professionals.

“Adobe is excited to contribute to the Cannes Film Festival, an event with a global reputation for showcasing creativity, innovation and the best in filmmaking,” said Bryan Lamkin, senior vice president of Digital Imaging and Video Products at Adobe. “Our sponsorship of the American Pavilion at Cannes provides us with the opportunity to honor the filmmakers and support up-and-coming student filmmakers who will someday show their own work here.”

At the American Pavilion, Adobe will be hosting several evening receptions including a pre-screening party for Rushes, a feature film at the festival, as well as events with Moet et Chandon and the Director’s Guild of Great Britain. Adobe also will host technology sessions on topics such as HD workflows, audio editing for film and short form filmmaking.

In addition, Adobe will participate on the panel, “The Future of Entertainment Technology” with Hewlett Packard on Saturday, May 14 from 3:00- 4:30 pm in the American Pavilion conference room. Bryan Lamkin, senior vice president of Digital Imaging and Video Products for Adobe, will join Vikki Pachera, vice president of Global Strategy and Technology at HP, along with several other panelists in a discussion of the new ways in which entertainment will be created, accessed and viewed by the industry and consumers.

At the recent National Association of Broadcasters (NAB) trade show in Las Vegas, Adobe announced that it is collaborating with industry leading companies— including HP, Intel, Microsoft, and Dell— to deliver a line of open, scalable, certified desktop HDV and HD solutions optimized to meet the needs of video, film and broadcast professionals. The Adobe Video Collection, which includes Adobe Photoshop® CS2, Adobe® Premiere® Pro 1.5, After Effects® 6.5, Adobe Audition® 1.5, and Adobe Encore™ DVD 1.5, is the cornerstone of these certified solutions, providing the software needed to capture, edit and output professional HD productions. These OpenHD Certified Solutions will also be shown by Adobe at the American Pavilion. For more information visit: www.openhd.org .
About Adobe Systems Incorporated

Adobe is the world’s leading provider of software solutions to create, manage and deliver high-impact, reliable digital content. For more information, visit www.adobe.com .

© 2005 Adobe Systems Incorporated. All rights reserved. Adobe, the Adobe logo, Adobe Audition, Adobe Premiere, After Effects, and Photoshop, are either registered trademarks or trademarks of Adobe Systems Incorporated in the United States and/or other countries. All other trademarks are the property of their respective owners.

“As a leader in the professional photography and video markets with products like Adobe® Photoshop®, After Effects® and Adobe Premiere® Pro, we’re committed to deliver the best tools in the industry,” said Bryan Lamkin, senior vice president of Digital Imaging at Adobe. “Adobe is investing in this rotoscoping technology because it complements our existing product strengths and will help simplify video workflows.”

With technology from Curious Software’s gFx Pro, Adobe will have access to a powerful paint engine for moving images, a sophisticated roto-matte system and a range of features for wire and rig removal or content restoration.
About Adobe Systems Incorporated

Adobe is the world’s leading provider of software solutions to create, manage and deliver high-impact, reliable digital content. For more information, visit www.adobe.com .

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© 2005 Adobe Systems Incorporated. All rights reserved. Adobe, the Adobe logo, Adobe Premiere, After Effects and Photoshop are either registered trademarks or trademarks of Adobe Systems Incorporated in the United States and/or other countries. All other trademarks are the property of their respective owners.

The Adobe Video Collection, which includes Adobe® Premiere® Pro 1.5, After Effects® 6.5, Adobe Audition® 1.5 and Adobe Encore™ DVD 1.5, is the cornerstone of these certified solutions, providing the software needed to capture, edit and output professional HD productions.

“OpenHD Certified Solutions will take HD to the mainstream, by offering choice and peace-of-mind to anyone thinking of moving their workflows to HD,” said Steve Saylor, vice president of Digital Video and Audio products at Adobe. “Technology leaders are combining their expertise to ensure that fully-configured HD systems are available right out of the box.”

OpenHD is being established by these industry leaders to deliver a line of integrated, certified, Windows-based HD solutions, making HD technology more affordable and accessible to a broader audience. Through a joint certification process, these companies will help ensure compatibility between hardware and software components, simplifying the purchasing process and giving customers the confidence that they are buying a validated turnkey system.

The OpenHD Certified Solutions being shown at NAB have been developed to fulfill the needs of a range of DV, film and broadcast professionals working on Windows XP Professional. The HDV solution, powered by 64-bit Intel® Xeon processor-based Dell Precision 670 workstation, ensures compatibility with the HDV format and enables users to edit HDV footage similar to DV without adding any specific cards. Adobe and Sony have worked extensively together to ensure the utmost compatibility between Adobe Premiere Pro and the Sony HVR-Z1 camera and HVR-M10 recorder by providing integrated HDV workflows. As an end-result, this turnkey solution enables DV professionals to expand their portfolio to include high definition content.

The uncompressed HD and uncompressed real-time turnkey solutions, powered by the HP xw8200 Workstation and packaged with the Blackmagic Decklink HD and Matrox Axio capture cards respectively, fulfill the needs of the video professionals who work with 10-bit quality HD content. The HP xw9300 Workstation powers the compressed HD real-time solution in conjunction with the Cineform ProspectHD plug-in. For additional details on hardware specifications, pricing and availability, please visit the OpenHD Web site at www.openhd.org .

At NAB, Adobe will host the MultiMedia World Conference Super Session titled, “Video: The Next Wave of Publishing” on Tuesday, April 19, from 10:15 AM- 12:00 PM in the Las Vegas Convention Center, #S222. In his keynote, Steve Saylor will present Adobe’s vision for the future of video, followed by a panel discussion with representatives from Dell, HP, Intel, Microsoft, and Sony. Moderated by Cynthia Wisehart, editorial director of Millimeter and Video Systems Magazines, the panel will discuss some of the latest trends in desktop video editing, including the new OpenHD initiative.
About Adobe Systems Incorporated

Adobe is the world’s leading provider of software solutions to create, manage and deliver high-impact, reliable digital content. For more information, visit www.adobe.com .
Industry Leaders Show Support for OpenHD Certified Solutions

“Dell and Adobe offer a complete HDV solution so customers can move easily to standardized HD content creation. This turnkey, certified solution available with Dell Precision workstations enables a streamlined purchasing process and instant productivity with optimal performance.”
– Neil Hand, vice president, Dell product group

“When combined with industry-leading HD video capture cards and the Adobe Video Collection, the HP xw8200 and xw9300 workstations provide powerful platforms for professionals creating HD content on a variety of certified HD-based solutions—ranging from Compressed to Uncompressed RT.”
– Jeff Wood, director of product marketing for the personal workstation global business unit at HP

“Editing video content is one of today’s most processor-intensive workloads, and HD further raises the computing demands. 64-bit Intel(R) Xeon(TM) processor-based workstations are ideal for meeting these needs. By collaborating with other leading companies across the industry to create OpenHD solutions, we help to provide customers with the compute-power needed to run optimized, turnkey solutions.”
– Diane Bryant, vice president of Intel’s Workstation/Server Platforms Group

“We are pleased to work with Adobe and other industry leaders to make HD technology more accessible to a broader audience. This collaboration ensures the highest quality end to end Windows-based HD-based creation solutions.”
– Kevin Unangst, director of Windows Digital Media at Microsoft Corp

“We want to provide the best support to our customers who have purchased Sony HDV camcorders and VTRs and need a reliable software environment to edit their HDV content. We are happy to show our support to the Open HD initiative and work with Adobe to provide a comprehensive solution for HDV recording and playback using the Adobe Video Collection.”
– Bob Ott, Vice President, Broadcast and Production Systems Division, Sony

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© 2005 Adobe Systems Incorporated. All rights reserved. Adobe, the Adobe logo, Adobe Audition, Adobe Encore, Adobe Premiere and After Effects are either registered trademarks or trademarks of Adobe Systems Incorporated in the United States and/or other countries. All other trademarks are the property of their respective owners.

Photoshop CS2 includes powerful new creativity tools and productivity enhancements that allow production teams to get impressive results while minimizing tedious graphic and photo retouching time. The new Vanishing Point tool allows users to clone, paint and transform image objects while retaining visual perspective, dramatically reducing the number of steps needed to create realistic effects. Photoshop CS2 software’s ability to create and edit 32-Bit High Dynamic Range (HDR) images is ideal for those users doing compositing of 3D rendered scenes for motion pictures.

“When it comes to creating entire digital worlds for film, we already can’t imagine life without Photoshop CS2,” said Stu Maschwitz, co-founder and chief technology officer at The Orphanage, one of the nation’s premiere mid-sized production companies. “The Vanishing Point feature in Photoshop CS2 is the best thing to happen for digital matte painters since the introduction of Photoshop itself. Painting in true perspective is essential for this kind of work, and Vanishing Point makes that a snap.”

Adobe Photoshop CS2 introduces numerous other features designed to address the need to work as creatively and efficiently as possible. FireWire Previews are now available so projects can be viewed on a television monitor through a new direct export feature during the creation process. Smart Objects allow users to scale and transform images and vector illustrations without losing image quality — as well as create linked duplicates of embedded graphics — so that a single edit updates across multiple iterations. In addition, the new Adobe Bridge, included with Photoshop CS2, makes it easy to organize, find and preview a wide range of media formats, including video.

“Adobe Photoshop CS2 offers a number of key enhancements tailored for motion graphics professionals. Among the most unique improvements are the ability to use 32-bit High Dynamic Range (HDR) editing that lets filmmakers immediately incorporate images from standard digital cameras, and Smart Objects,” said Rob Legato, visual effects supervisor, The Aviator. “Adobe continues focusing its development efforts on the needs of professional filmmakers with each new version.”
Adobe Photoshop CS2 Makes Public Debut at NAB

Photoshop CS2 can be seen ahead of its availability, April 16 – 19 at NAB 2005 in Las Vegas. Adobe product representatives will be on hand to demonstrate the new features and answer questions. Please visit the Adobe booth (#SL313) for live demos and to receive a free 30-day trial version of Photoshop CS2. In addition, Adobe vice president of digital video and audio, Steve Saylor, will present a Super Session on Tuesday, April 19 at 10:15 a.m., discussing the latest trends in global business and consumer demand for video content.
Pricing and Availability

Adobe Photoshop CS2 for Mac OS X version 10.2.8 through 10.3.8, Microsoft® Windows® 2000 with Service Pack 4 or Windows XP with Service Pack 1 or 2, will begin shipping in May to customers in the United States and Canada, and will be available through Adobe Authorized Resellers and the Adobe Store at www.adobe.com/store. International versions are expected to begin shipping in late May and early June. Adobe Photoshop CS2 will be available for an estimated street price of US$599 and licensed users of any previous version of Photoshop can upgrade for US$149. For more detailed information about new features, upgrade policies and pricing, please visit: www.adobe.com/photoshop. Adobe Photoshop CS2 is also available as part of Adobe Creative Suite 2.
About Adobe Systems Incorporated

Adobe is the world’s leading provider of software solutions to create, manage and deliver high-impact, reliable digital content. For more information, visit www.adobe.com .
Addendum

Industry professionals are already hailing Photoshop CS2’s new advanced features and improved power, precision and control for creating high-impact, broadcast-quality images and effects.

“It’s obvious that someone who understands filmmaking worked on Adobe Photoshop CS2. For instance, I can open pre-made empty frames that are set to film, video, and HD resolution, instead of having to build these frames on my own. It’s a simple, yet great, enhancement that allows me to quickly and easily load in frames that I know have the correct dimensions with title and action safe lines indicated.” — Glenn Campbell, visual effects supervisor, Area 51, an award-winning producer of visual-effects materials for the motion picture and television industry

“Adobe has clearly listened to customers in motion graphics, film and visual effects with the release of Adobe Photoshop CS2 and Adobe Creative Suite 2. From Video Preview for sending instant previews of video-destined images to an external monitor for pre-visualization, to Adobe Bridge, High Dynamic Range (HDR) and Smart Objects support, we can stay more organized and save a substantial amount of time on projects.” — Ron Ames, visual effects producer, The Aviator

“I like the fact that it’s easier to work with Raw image files. I can also better locate images in Adobe Bridge and quickly save out comp presets to Adobe PDF. It is enhancements like these in Adobe Photoshop CS2 that amount to big time savings.” – Allen Battino, art director and visual development artist who worked on many feature films, including Charlotte’s Web, Kangaroo Jack, Reign of Fire, 102 Dalmatians, and Mission to Mars

“The Smart Objects functionality in Adobe Photoshop CS2 will have a big impact on our work. Instead of having to create four or five versions of the same background, we can now have one version and scale it as needed. This is terrific for testing out new ideas and also working with teams of producers, all of whom frequently make different requests. With Smart Objects, we can do all kinds of transformation without any worries.” – Frank Guthrie, visual effects designer, visual effects designer for top television production projects such as, Angry Beavers, Dora the Explorer and Go, Diego, Go!

“Adobe has taken a bold step into the world of film by adding support for 32-bit HDR images in Adobe Photoshop CS2. It’s a great enhancement that allows image creation and editing at the highest possible quality.” – Stu Maschwitz, co-founder and chief technology officer, The Orphanage, one of the nation’s premiere mid-sized production companies

“The Vanishing Point feature in Adobe Photoshop CS2 is a great innovation. I do a lot of matte paintings and am excited about the ability to paint and paste in perspective. It’s extremely useful for streamlining matte painting creation.” – John McConnell. 2D Compositor, Pixel Magic, a division of OCS/Freeze Frame, a leading post-production and visual effects house for film and video

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© 2005 Adobe Systems Incorporated. All rights reserved. Adobe, the Adobe logo, and Photoshop are either registered trademarks or trademarks of Adobe Systems Incorporated in the United States and/or other countries. Macintosh is a trademark of Apple Computer, Inc., registered in the United States and other countries. Microsoft and Windows are either registered trademarks or trademarks of Microsoft Corporation in the United States and/or other countries. All other trademarks are the property of their respective owners.

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