« DRS™ User Group Mixes, Mingles and Learns »
Wednesday, August 12, 2009 at 2:34PM Los Angeles area DRS artists, operators, managers and facility engineers recently attended the Inaugural DRS User Group event – an Open House held at the MTI Film offices in Hollywood. During the afternoon event, attendees had the opportunity to view an expert demo of Correct DRS version 8 and then test drive the software with informal training by MTI staff.
MTI was highlighting the newest features of Correct DRS™ v8 – notably the new 3 Layer Registration tool and two new tools for fixing gate hairs. The new 3 Layer Registration tool expands the Correct DRS™ suite of tools to help tackle the most common problem seen in Technicolor 3-Strip or YCM Separation Master material – individual color channels that become mis-registered due to storage conditions or during the transfer process. The advanced correction algorithm in the Correct DRS™ 3 Layer Registration tool automatically aligns the layers without user intervention for easy and precise results. MTI has also introduced new Paint Tracking and DRS Hard Motion Macro features to address correction of gate hairs, which have always presented a special challenge for restoration artists. Correct's Paint tool and DRS Hard Motion modes have always been top choices of users for correcting this type of damage, but they required time-consuming and repetitive manual steps to completely remove the defect from all frames. Now, with the addition of Paint Tracking and DRS Hard Motion Macros, the same superior results can be achieved quickly, through automation. Correct DRS™ v8 also boasts new discretely sticky DRS Overrides and improvements to both the Paint and AutoFilter tools.
Attendees responded enthusiastically to the new features, especially those who are working in busy facilities that have not found the time to complete the upgrade. “I want this now!” Todd Frey, a DRS artist with CBS exclaimed as he walked out of the demo room, echoing the sentiments of other attendees. While over in the hands-on lab, Mark Workman, a freelance DRS artist who has worked with Crest Digital and HTV/Illuminate, was getting a feel for the new Paint Tracking tool. "This is going to make the biggest difference to most dustbusters, day in and day out. Gate hairs are pandemic. You see at least one in every single old movie you work on."
Besides watching a demo and using the software, User Group members had the opportunity to network with their peers and to provide valuable feedback to MTI. “Our users are a polite bunch,” observed MTI Marketing Manager Amy Hawthorne, “sometimes to their own detriment. I think it's really important to give them this sort of forum where they can bring up the little niggles of the program that they don't think justify a call into Technical Support, but can make the difference between completing a task in 3 keystrokes or 1.”
The DRS User Group is open to all on-staff and freelance DRS artists, their supervisors and the engineers and IT staff who support DRS operations. Please contact Amy Hawthorne at marketing@mtifilm.com to join the mailing list for updates on future events.
