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The Tao Colorist

Issue CXXIII                                                           Brought to you by: Tao of Color.com

Editor's Note: In a few days expect an extra email from me titled 'How To Read the Tao Colorist Newsletter'. As we approach our 125th edition and our 3-year anniversary, this Newsletter has gotten much longer and more diverse than when I started in July 2010. From a few recent emails, it's clear new readers might be a bit overwhelmed by the diversity of the 30-50 stories (culled from over 150+ I collect) weekly. 

I don't plan on changing the format of this Newsletter. Instead - I'll be emailing a 'Reader's Guide' to help the uninitiated figure out what's the important stuff and what's the Sunday Morning Coffee Reading stuff.

Today, I thought I'd start you all out on my favorite browser plug-in that's become indispensable when I'm creating this Newsletter: Evernote Clearly for Chrome and Firefox. With my set of 45+ year old eyes, Clearly makes it MUCH easier to read all the web mouse-type and overly cluttered news websites! I've been using it for months and I urge you to download this browser plug-in. (Evernote.com)

Be on the lookout for that extra email this week! 

Question to you: Do you have a particular method for reading this Newsletter that you'd like to share with others? Hit reply and let me know!

The Craft

• [Video] Thriving As A Colorist in 2013 - This is an interview with me, your humble (but not above shameless self-promotion) Newsletter Editor. The topic is aimed at the 'indie' colorist / editor new to the craft and trying to figure out how to make the business work for them. In it I share what I think is the key to success as a 'One Person Shop'. This was also my first time using Google Hangout... a tool I'm going to start exploring. A huge shoutout to Tom Parish (a First Generation Tao Colorist) for the invite. (TomParish.com)

• [PDF] ACES Color Management - Steve Wright has a good PDF explaining the purpose of the ACES color management pipeline and what it's trying to achieve. The link is a direct PDF download pulled from his home page. (vfxio.com via JimWicks)

• [PDF] An (almost) Free Guide to Waveform Monitors - Steve Hullfish and Tektronics have teamed up to produce a 100-page guide on using Waveform Monitors and Vectorscopes for creative color grading... but first providing you a solid foundation in the tech-speak of image evaluation. From basic balancing to scene matching this PDF covers a ton of ground. Yes, it focuses on their brand of scopes. But who cares? For the price of providing your personal contact info (you can tell them NOT to contact you) there's good info in here. (tek.com)

The Tools

• Technicolor Color Assist Now On FCPx - Like the headline says. (damienmorley.co.uk)

• [Video] Controlling Selective Color Changes in Lightroom - I like some of Lightroom's on-screen tools. If I'm reaching for the mouse to eyedrop a color - allowing me to make a few quick changes before releasing the mouse is a nice productivity boost. (blogs.adobe.com via julieannekost)

• AS-11 Suite: Broadcast Delivery from FCPx - Nifty plug-in for file-based delivery of Network Content to AS-11, a newly approved file specification adopted in the EU. I chuckled a bit that it's found under the 'Share' menu - which to my ears sounds like something I do with popcorn and cotton candy. Still - great to see this sort of thing on FCPx. (fcp.co via David E. Bell)

• How To Do ArriRAW Properly - This article is about the ArriRaw format with specific recommendations on managing it. (definitionmagazine.com) 

• [PDF] Avid Digital Cinema Camera Workflows - I've linked to this before... but it recently popped up again and it's worth highlighting in case you missed it the first time. (avid.com)

• Canon Cinema RAW Development Software - "Canon has produced a great little program to handle their RAW footage that makes the idea of "RAW" much less scary and you can download it directly from the Canon Professional website."  (blog.abelcine.com)     

 

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The Business

• FAA Grounds Local Aerial Photo Business - Long time readers know I'm enamoured with the business model of remote control aerial vehicles with camera rigs. But here in the U.S. we're waiting for our federal and state agencies to catch up with technology. This is a news article about one such business (in Minnesota) . . . being shut down. (minnesota.cbslocal.com)

• H.265 Adoption: Sooner than you think - A strong article on the market forces pushing for quick adoption of the just-ratified successor to h.264. An interesting read all the way through. (broadcastengineering.com via AlphaDogsPost)

• Redbox Instant Launches With Netflix-Style Streaming Movies - It's Netflix... with Redbox's physical self-service component. I haven't used Netflix in a few years. But Redbox just might suck me in on this deal.  (lifehacker.com)

• Viewers (and Advertisers) Are Flocking To Streaming Video Content - An interesting report on viewing trends. I wonder when Wired will write that article about how the web already feels like network TV, with almost every website trying to interrupt our surfing with Pop-ups and Auto-starts? (wired.com)

• Want Some 4K Video With Your Broadband Cap? Gook Luck With That -  Interesting article, though the previous item in today's newsletter about h.265 quickly explains why 4K video may not be the emergency they think it is. (gigaom.com)

• Avid's Argo Oscar Accolades Short Lived - "Relying on a legendary film director [Speilberg] does not a good business model make and as a result, Avid is faced with a seventh straight year of declining revenue and massive layoffs of over 15% of their workforce." (news.doddleme.com)       

NAB 2013

• Full Day Color Grading Training: 42 Days Until Show Time - On Sunday April 7 join MixingLight.com co-founders for a full day of color grading training: Colorists Robbie Carman, Dan Moran and myself are hosting a full-day training series on color grading. Buying a Post | Production World One Day Pass for that Sunday will give you access to ALL the classes available that day, including ours (there's no need to individually register for our training sessions).
  
  If you buy before NAB begins it'll save you $70. Pricing details are here. Registration is here. The breakdown for our color grading training is here.

• Color Graders Unite! Join us for a Colorists@NAB Mixer - TaoOfColor.com, MixingLight.com, the Telecine Internet Group [TIG] and the International Colorist Academy (iColorist.com) are hosting an informal color grading gathering. There's no corporate sponsorship, no free drinks or food, no presentations - but we are inviting the vendors who make the awesome tools we use and there might be some free swag to be had... maybe. Arrange your plans to be there and bend arms with like-minded professionals!
  
  Where: Monte Carlo Hotel, 'Keg and Pub Room'
  When: Sunday, April 7, 8p - 10p
  Registration: None, just show up... it's a really big room.

• Your Free Code for NAB Exhibits-Only Pass: LV5183 - Use this discount code from Tao Newsletter sponsor Flanders Scientific to save $150 and get into the Exhibit Halls for free: LV5183. Expires March 22. This link takes you to the sign-up page for NAB. (NABShow.com)

• Attend the 12th Annual Las Vegas Supermeet - It's Tuesday night at the Rio Hotel. Go for the presentations, stay for the mega-raffle. I've got my tickets, get yours now. They sell out every year. (Eventbrite.com)

• NAB Pinball Party - In case the Supermeet isn't your style... a party sponsored by Red Giant Software and MAXON. (eventbrite.com)

• Attend the 16th Annual Media Motion Ball - No, no dancing at this event. Nor is it formal attire. But it's a sit-down dinner & dessert with a few presentations and a raffle. It's a much more intimate version of the Supermeet and tends to be a Who's-Who of vendors, authors, bloggers, podcasters, trainers, web forum leaders and the community they serve. Highly recommended. It usually sells out before NAB. Get your tickets now and we'll see each other there: (Eventbrite.com) More details here: (MediaMotionball.com)

• Discounted Online-Only Las Vegas Monorail Tickets - If you stay at a hotel on the Monorail line, then you'll want to skip the buses and pre-pay for unlimited ride 4- or 7- Day Monorail passes. They're not available in Vegas... save time and money by buying them now through this link for NAB attendees. This page also has the names of the 7 hotels on the Monorail route. (tickets.lvmonorail.com) 

Outside 'The Box'

• 4K At BVE In London - Good post on Philp Bloom's success with 4K production. (pukkatv.blogspot.co.uk)

• [Video] Sync Sound in FCPx - Good tutorial from Richard Harrington. (youtube.com)

• Ummm... But The RED Epic Camera Already Had EBU Approval - The EBU releases its report on using the RED Epic at below 3.5K image sizes. (cinescopophilia.com)

• 6K RED Dragon and Wavelet Compression - As images get larger how will RED keep files sizes manageable?  (nofilmschool.com)

Edumacate Yer'self

• [Webinar] Scene-Linear Workflow/ACES - A series of webinars from a giant in color science on ACES. March 18, 20 and 22. (attendee.gototraining.com)

• Blackmagic Cinema Camera 2-day Workshop - From Marco Solorio and Biscardi Creative in Georgia. Looks like good fun! March 29 and 30th (biscardicreative.com)

 

Current Colorist Control Surface Drivers

JL Cooper Eclipse	Avid Artist Color	Tangent
Software: v2.9.3	Mac: v2.7	Color: v3.8
Color Plug-in: v 1.0.5	PC: v2.7	Wave Firmware: v1.9
Updated: Jan. 2	Updated: Feb 19	Updated: Feb. 7, 2012

 

Sunday Morning Fun(nies)

• [Video] Riding A Glass Snowboard - 8 minutes of smiling. Watch it and see if you don't feel the same. (gizmodo.com via ilovehue)

• [Video] A Night At The (Porsche) Museum - THAT looks like fun. Plus great camera work. (cinescopophilia.com)

• [Video] Running Water Through a 24hz Sine Wave - Another video showing why YouTube exists. Watch to the end. (thisiscolossal.com via mrmikeflorio)

• [Video] Why the world will never go completely digital - An ad that shows the complete story of the relationship between myself and the Tao Treasurer! (designtaxi.com via post_vfx)

• [Video] Playing 'Teardrop' with Vegetables - If your kids are always playing with their food... pull out this video to show them how it's REALLY done! (vimeo.com via robsbessette)

• Autodesk Releases Socialcam 5.0 - The initial release of Socialcam 5.0 is now available for Android and iPhone (don't ask me about those version numbers!) with color correction and HDR. (engadget.com via JimWicks)

• Speed Up Your Ikea Visits By Going In Through The Exit Doors - Advice that keeps couples together... (lifehacker.com via The Tao Treasurer / Ikea Power Shopper)

Weekend Warriors

• Why Ultra HD 4K TVs Are Still Stupid - Demolishing the reasoning of 4K displays in the average home theater. (reviews.cnet.com)

• 4K In The Home - In praise of the previous news item, "The deep, rich blacks matter more to our perception of sharpness than pixels too small to resolve at normal seating distances." Keep preaching, my man! (prolost.com)

• What's The Best Camera Under $1K? - Canon T4i, Soney NEX-6, Panasonic GH2 Shootout (nofilmschool.com by Dave Kendricken)

Gear Heads

• Teranex 2D Helps '4K Finish' Deliver - Clearly a PR piece, I was on the edge of including this article - but it does show the use-case for the amazingly affordable Teranex 2D... a versatile box that's within the price range of any small boutique shop that does tape and file delivery of finished masters. (provideocoalition.com)

• [Video] The HP Z820 and NVIDIA Maximus - I always find discussions of GPUs to be blend of inscrutable technology and Caribbean Voodoo. This video is a strong entry in the 'making it understandable' category of how to build a rig that balances RAM, hard drives, GPUs. And that Z820 looks like a great production machine. Will the upcoming MacPros even come close to this kind of flexibility?  (blogs.adobe.com)

• Demystifying Avid Interplay - From the Interplay team. Before heading out to NAB, I'll be reading up on this, so I can dialog with the Avid crowd more intelligently. (community.avid.com)

• The Current State Of MacPro GPUs - A great comparison of currently available and upcoming GPUs for the MacPro crowd. A nice compliment to the Z820 video. And a strong recap of the history of Mac GPUs. (barefeats.com)

• Review: HighPoint RocketRAID 4522 - (barefeats.com)     

 

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Career

• How To Get Hired When You Are Just Starting Out - Good advice on how to present your lack of experience. (99u.com)

• Get Hired! Be Professional, Pay Attention to Detail - More good advice. (magazine.creativecow.net)

• Why You Should Occasionally Work From A Coffee Shop - (lifehacker.com)

• How To Be Quiet - Ideas on calming your hyper mind. (ducttapemarketing.com)

Tweet of the Week

Tip: it's important to wear a decent coat so that when you're downloading early in the morning you can use it as a pillow.  @BionicVincent

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Th- Th- That's ALL Folks! See you next week. Happy Grading!
  
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Curated + Edited by: Patrick Inhofer, photon-wrangler & founder, TaoOfColor.com

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