News Stories

ETC Reports on CES

1.5.2017

ETC covers CES each year beginning with a 3-week series of previews on the top trends, anticipated technologies, and early product announcements. Through the 2017 show, which ran from January 5 through January 8, 2017, ETC published almost 100 original posts and abstracts of articles in twice-daily editions of its ETCentric Daily News Brief.  Following the show, ETC produced an extensive report and presentation, both of which are now available online. CES 2017 marked the 50th anniversary of the conference. Since the first Consumer Electronics Show in 1967, more than 700,000 products have debuted in what CTA calls “the world’s gathering place for all who thrive on the business of consumer technologies.”

CES “has served as the proving ground for innovators and breakthrough technologies,” adds CTA, “the global stage where next-generation innovations are introduced to the marketplace.”

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“At CES you will get a glimpse of a brilliant future,” writes CTA president and CEO Gary Shapiro in the annual CTA publication, 5 Technology Trends to Watch. “New products, services and technologies are solving real problems and improving the world for global citizens.”

CTA’s report suggests that accessibility will be the “overlay” across their list of trends and tech to watch. These are voice and digital assistants, augmented reality, transportation, digital health and sports technology.

CES 2017 may be best remembered not for one standout product, but for revealing a new and powerful generation of technology and the things it enables. The top five CES hashtags as the show ended perfectly summarize the hot topics of the week: #tech, #iot, #ai, #VR, and #CES. It was also a remarkably balanced show in the sense that almost every product category and business sector reflected applications and the impact of this evolution. Moore’s Law is alive, tomorrow is here, and the pace is accelerating. Three of the most important presentations of the week were made by Nvidia, Intel, and Qualcomm. Their processors deliver the power necessary for this next level of computing.

The Business of VR

12.13.2015

One hundred and four business people with direct involvement in Virtual Reality attended The Business of VR workshop co-produced by the Entertainment Technology Center at USC and the Advanced Imaging Society.  Over the course of the afternoon the attendees heard seven 10-minute presentations, participated in one of four moderated discussion groups, and had the opportunity to experience seven VR demos while networking.
The event was held at the Skirball Center, Los Angeles, on November 17, 2015. What follows is a summary of each of the seven 10-minute presentations, a roll-up of the notes from the four discussion groups (Four moderated discussion workgroups – composite summary), and a compilation of the post-event responses to questions emailed to the attendees the day after the workshop (Business of VR – Your Take-aways Please).

The list of companies who RSVP’d ‘yes’ for the workshop, a list of questions that the attendees wanted addressed during the workshop, and the workshop program are in appendices.

Download a copy of the event report: The Business of VR.

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Specification for Naming VFX Image Sequences Released

ETC’s VFX Working Group has published a specification for best practices naming image sequences such as plates and comps. File naming is an essential tool for organizing the multitude of frames that are inputs and outputs from the VFX process. Prior to the publication of this specification, each organization had its own naming scheme, requiring custom processes for each partner, which often resulted in confusion and miscommunication.

The new ETC@USC specification focuses primarily on sequences of individual images. The initial use case was VFX plates, typically delivered as OpenEXR or DPX files. However, the team soon realized that the same naming conventions can apply to virtually any image sequence. Consequently, the specification was written to handle a wide array of assets and use cases.

To ensure all requirements are represented, the working group included over 2 dozen participants representing studios, VFX houses, tool creators, creatives and others.  The ETC@USC also worked closely with MovieLabs to ensure that the specification could be integrated as part of their 2030 Vision.

A key design criteria for this specification is compatibility with existing practices.  Chair of the VFX working group, Horst Sarubin of Universal Pictures, said: “Our studio is committed to being at the forefront of designing best industry practices to modernize and simplify workflows, and we believe this white paper succeeded in building a new foundation for tools to transfer files in the most efficient manner.”

This specification is compatible with other initiatives such as the Visual Effects Society (VES) Transfer Specifications. “We wanted to make it as seamless as possible for everyone to adopt this specification,” said working group co-chair and ETC@USC’s Erik Weaver. “To ensure all perspectives were represented we created a team of industry experts familiar with the handling of these materials and collaborated with a number of industry groups.”

“Collaboration between MovieLabs and important industry groups like the ETC is critical to implementing the 2030 Vision,” said Craig Seidel, SVP of MovieLabs. “This specification is a key step in defining the foundations for better software-defined workflows. We look forward to continued partnership with the ETC on implementing other critical elements of the 2030 Vision.”

The specification is available online for anyone to use.

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