NAB 2012: Sony Creative Software

Sony Creative Software showed Vegas Pro 11 and introduced several new audio and video editing tools at NAB 2012. Shown as a technology demonstration in anticipation of a Summer 2012 release, Spectral Layers is a precision waveform audio editing platform and ThemeBuilder, a Vegas Pro plug-in, enables intelligent template building. Sony Creative Software also soft-launched Do Studio, the Blu-ray authoring tool that the company acquired from Netblender last year.


SPECTRAL LAYERS
Spectral Layers in particular introduces an innovative and unique workflow. "With this audio editing program, you can take a mixed file and unmix it," explained Sony Creative Software Mike Scheibinger, Product Manager, for Spectral Layers and ACID/Sound Forge. "You can unbake the cake...and anyone who can manipulate audio can do this."

Spectral Layers works with the audio directly on the spectral display, dividing audio files into discrete, user-defined layers that can be processed independently and then reintegrated. With Spectral Layers, users can remove artifacts and unwanted noises while leaving the surrounding audio data intact. They can also perform pitch correction on selected components of an audio file and rearrange events.





Spectral Layers works with the audio directly on the spectral display, dividing audio files into discrete, user-defined layers that can be processed independently and then reintegrated.


Other features includes the ability to modify area and frequency selection via a range of user-defined sensitivities and tolerances and use Clone Stamp to replace audio with new data selected from anywhere in the file. Harmonic Selection allows users to select harmonics in user-defined amounts and orders. The Enterprise Edition of Spectral Layers enables users to import 32-bit 192 kHz files and create multichannel audio files from a mono or stereo source file in addition to other features.

"This comes in both a PC and a Mac version," adds Scheibinger, who notes that Spectral Layers is an ideal tool for audio mastering engineers, sound designers, archivists, and professionals who need intelligent audio analysis tools. Spectral Layers was developed by Paris-based R&D lab Divide Frame, which specializes in software designs that bridge the gap between emergent technologies and broadcast professionals.


THEMEBUILDER
ThemeBuilder for Vegas Pro allows user to create intelligent templates, which enables them to automate repetitive tasks while retaining control over projects. With ThemeBuilder, the user can quickly exchange media within a reusable theme. Edit-Intelligence enables editors to replace assets without manual re-edits and conform theme assets to the proper aspect settings of a new timeline. The editor can compensate for different durations and relationships of new media without creating multiple timeline versions.

ThemeBuilder was developed by NewBlue, a California-based company that offers a range of digital media technologies and products to the creative community. NetBlue's ThemeBuilder on Vegas Pro is intended to provide more creative options as well as workflow enhancements to Vegas Pro users. "This maximizes the time that users spend creating motion graphics," noted Sony Creative Software Director of Business Development Leigh Herman.


SONY VEGAS PRO 11
Sony Creative Software also highlighted Vegas Pro 11. "Vegas 11 is the first to be GPU-accelerated," said Herman. "We've taken an Open CL approach. At NAB 2012, you're also seeing the 64-bit version that was introduced at IBC 2011." Vegas Pro 11 supports SD, HD, 2K, and 4K as well as 2D and stereoscopic 3D workflows and includes Dolby Digital professional AC-3 encoder.

Having taken advantage of GPU acceleration (from AMD and NVIDIA), Vegas Pro 11 can now create projects with video visual effects, transitions, compositing, pan/crop and track motion tools with rendering speeds increased by a factor of between 2 and 4 times.

Also new is streaming support for rendered AVC/MP4 files; a NewBlue Titler Pro 3D Titler to create 3D titles that can be moved on the X, Y, and Z axes as well as edited down to the character level; a Titles & Text plug-in for animation and automation of text events; improved image stabilization technology to reduce camera shake and rolling shutter issues; simpler timeline interaction in the ProType Titler tool; and other features.

For improved stereoscopic 3D editing, Vegas Pro 11 now offers support for NVIDIA 3D Vision for single-display 3D devices including the VAIO F-series 3D laptop; offers new tools to correct stereoscopic 3D screen edge violations; and offerw enhancements that allow the perceived depth of VFX to be adjusted.



Sony Vegas Pro 11 user interface. Click image for larger view.

DoStudio™ Authoring and Encoding tools are an economical Blu-ray authoring line of products that allows the smaller production persons or facilities to create Blu-ray projects for replication in either 2D or 3D.

Sony Creative Software had a very fruitful year this NAB. The company's creative partnerships with NewBlueFX and Divide Frame allow Vegas Pro users to benefit from a range of truly innovative products. Spectral Layers in particular tickled my fancy; I am sure more than one audio professional will find good use for the ability to "unbake the cake."

Creative COW noted only a few weeks ago how the filmmakers of Air Racers 3D relied on Vegas Pro for its robust stereoscopic 3D toolsets.

With the addition of still more capabilities to edit in Stereo 3D, I'm sure more 3D filmmakers will gravitate to Sony Creative Software Vegas Pro. And we'll be covering those stories.

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