new VFX software

[goulart]

I've been developing a VFX software application for a while now, just because I enjoy writing software. But now I would like to make this application a commercial product, a software application that really would make the difference to existing products and would be very useful to VFX professionals.

I would like to ask if anybody knows any post production house, or company on the film industry, that would be interested in helping?

And another question, does anybody know what current VFX applications don't do well that could be done better?

The software I have been developing is called Mewa Film and can be found at http://www.mewatools.com (http://www.mewatools.com/).

[im.thatoneguy]

No offense but why wouldn't a studio just put their money into developing AE, Combustion or any number of other existing solutions?

Are you ready to fight Autodesk, Adobe, The Foundry, Apple and Avid for software quality?

I could easily sink $400k on development or simply purchase a copy of AE. I don't see the cost benefit working out to your advantage.

[Tagger]

i think there's a bigger market in developing plugins for existing programs, and you'll have more chanse of beeing hired by a company if you can offer them a solution to their (specific) problems

[goulart]

Autodesk and Avid solutions come with expensive licensing and expensive hardware. The hardware that comes with the latest Autodesk solutions is not dedicated hardware anymore, it uses consumer hardware. Why pay for an expensive suite (hardware) when you can have the same performance using consumer hardware that you can buy on the shop by a much cheaper price and be upgraded anytime you want? That’s what Mewa Film does it offers the same performance as other professional post production suites, if you have a very good graphics card.

Then we have the desktop solutions like The Foundry, Eyeon Fusion and Apple Shake. These solutions don’t take advantage of graphics hardware they use proxies (low resolution images). With Mewa Film you always work with full resolution images.

There are other differences that make Mewa Film a unique solution.

The help I was looking for was not investment money (that does not mean I would not accept investment money). The help I need is from someone with expertise in this industry that could indicate me a priority of features to be developed so I could sell Mewa Film as soon as possible and continue it’s development. I also would like to hear some price advice, how much are artists prepared to pay for software like Mewa Film?

[im.thatoneguy]

You would have to replace AfterEffects. That's your challenge.

The new CS4 AE and Premiere are going to be hardware accellerated.

You need frame perfect... not accurate... perfect editing tools. I need to be able to do a round trip with EDLs. Multiple track audio. Support for DVCPro, DV, HDCAM, DPX etc. Full timecode support.

3D import from the major applications. Top of the line tracking. A professional grade keying solution (or 3).

Photoshop quality paint tools.

PSD import with layers.

I hate to say it but this task is borderline insurmountable. If you need a flame suite then cost is not an issue. It's part of the billable hours. At the VERY least you have to best the FinalCut + Shake or Premiere + AE or Avid solutions that already exist.

No scratch that what you want to do IS impossible for one person. You have to outdo Avid or FCP or Premiere. And then go on to outdo AE, Shake, Fusion or Nuke. What you want to create would take hundreds of thousands of dollars in development just to be competitive and at least 20 people full time.

EDIT:
What you *might* be able to do is replace FrameCycler.

[goulart]

From the forums I read there are many people still using shake.
If I deliver Mewa Film with shake's most important nodes, that would not make Mewa Film a competitive product?

[im.thatoneguy]

People use shake because they've developed tons of tools around it. People use shake because it's dirt cheap.

Shake's most important nodes include nodes like Primatte. Its top of the line trackers. Its rotoscope tools. Its retiming tools.

Nobody is going to buy "almost as good as abandoned 4 year old softwar... except for the most important tools"--unless they're broke. If they're broke and can't afford shake then they aren't actually creating anything.

Also Nuke PLE is out now so it's free for learning.

[NickJushchyshyn]

So, your marketing blurb is to say that your product will be "tackle everyday challenges by thinking beyond what has been created to date" ... but the coding is targeted at "deliver Mewa Film with shake's most important nodes"? Given that Shake is many years old ( and most of the "important nodes" have been around for many many years), these two objectives seem to conflict.

Keep in mind that many of today's apps ARE designed already to take advantage of GPU acceleration. That's nothing new either.

Some other things that are important today for any new tool:
Python scripting (not Java)
Cross platform support (not Windows only)

Sounds like you're trying to create something that has basic functionality to start with a very very low price.
OK.
You should probably look at the FXHome products then, since they have been in that market space for a number of years. (Fairly capable VFX tools in the $150 price range)


Here's the thing....
You really can't create a "better" tool for anything, without already being skilled and experienced with the existing tools. This is a trap that many programmers fall into ... in all industries. I've seen it in many different markets, both inside and outside VFX.

The best solutions come from a team of motivated people already skilled in not just the technologies, but also the existing challenges and WORKFLOWS within the target space. It's the understanding of ALL of these areas, combined with little inspiration and a bit of coding, that lead to the creation of the best tools.

[goulart]

Mewa Film was designed to be an open and extendable architecture “that tackle everyday challenges by thinking beyond what has been created to date”. One good example is Mewa Film’s curve editor. Have you noticed that Mewa Film's curve editor is different from any other application? Let me explain ...
Keyframes can only be moved in discrete intervals, this means a keyframe can be on frame 1 or frame 2, not on frame 1 and half. With Mewa Film's curve editor you don’t work with keyframes, you work with points and points can be moved anywhere. This not only provides more freedom to the user but also makes possible to move selections of the curve without distorting the curve.
By allowing the user to create any curve without the limitations of keyframes, with a more easy to use curve editor, Mewa Film's curve editor gives power to the artist to create more in less time.

In traditional applications there is a curve for each parameter that can be animated. In Mewa Film we associate curves to parameters. This approach makes a more inteligent use of computer resources and, most important of all, gives the possibility to use the same curve in more than one parameter.

Mewa Film does not offer all the features found in popular products, but has an architecture that offers the speed of the latest graphics cards, seamless transition between editing, compositing and 3D, and the best of all, it is easy to extend using MFX files.



Some other things that are important today for any new tool:
Python scripting (not Java)

Why not interpreted java? When you choose a language you must consider the context. Python is old. Java has a better Object Oriented design which we wanted for Mewa Film, and after a performance comparison interpreted java was faster than python.


Cross platform support (not Windows only)
There will be a Linux and MacOS version of Mewa Film.

[Gentle Fury]

don't listen to the naysayers! New applications, especially from industry artists is ALWAYS welcome (where do you think shake came from!). If you can come up with a new solution to existing problems and get it stable I would be very interested in this product. This studio is all mac so ill have to try it at home, but I look forward to taking a peak! Got any screenshots to look at?

[im.thatoneguy]

Ignorance, Ignorance and a dash of more ignorance.

1) Limiting keyframe positions is not universal. Every single 3D app is subframe. Most compositing apps are subframe. That being said. I actually prefer keyframe locked. Some people prefer the opposite. I encounter a lot of situations where I accidentally put two keyframes within subframes when I can because I don't realize that there was already a keyframe nearby.
2) A curve collector is just one more thing you have to keep track of. 99% of the time I use a curve in one place. If I want to "Share" a curve. I create a NoOp node (a do nothing node) add the controller I want and slave everything to that curve. That lets me sort my curves how I want not how the program dictates.
3) Python. Not Java. Python. Everyone uses python therefore you have to use python. That's pipeline 101. Find the common denominator. What you want is irrellevant. That's the first hurdle you have to overcome. What artists what is relevant. End of story. You have to find a way to make your software work with the way the user needs it to work. Features are significantly less important than workflow and workflow is the result of use.

This is why OpenSource fails so miserably so many times with things like GIMP. "We need it to do XYZ." "No that's stupid." "Fine your software is stupid." Programmers dictating workflow without user testing is a recipe for disaster. What's "Best" isn't always best. What works best is "Best".

[ShadowMaker SdR]

this means a keyframe can be on frame 1 or frame 2, not on frame 1 and half.
Have you even looked at other applications before you started writing this software?
From my own (limited) experience I know that at least Fusion will allow a keyframe to be placed anywhere in time. If you want it to. It defaults to snap to a whole or half frame, but you can put it anywhere. But most people don't want a keyframe to be at time 54564548948594029309120+e, since there's no visual information to correspond with that. The fact that we work with frames in VFX and animation has made the use of keyframes a very logical step. There IS no information between frames so there's no need to have curves between frames.
As for

In traditional applications there is a curve for each parameter that can be animated. In Mewa Film we associate curves to parameters. This approach makes a more inteligent use of computer resources and, most important of all, gives the possibility to use the same curve in more than one parameter
I'm not even sure what this means. What does 'associate curves to parameters' mean?
How is it different from expressions in AE, connections in Fusion and probably something very similar in Nuke. (which I don't know, but I'm pretty sure it's able to use the same curve in more than one parameter)
At the moment your marketing lines are more impressive than your screenshots. I'd love it to be the other way around, because good competition makes ALL tools better.

[chunkified]

i dont mean to sound harsh and i'm not being harsh just realistic, but i think you really need to get over what seems to be this apparent vision of Mewa become the next big compositing tool, "selling it as soon as possible so you can continue it's development" etc...!
No doubt that you've done some good work and currently have an application capable of doing some VFX work but unless you have the money to hire a team of engineers etc... then it's just not going to happen. Shake and the Autodesk hardware based solutions are the mainstay of the industry, Nuke looks set to take over the throne and of course you have Fusion and AE, which were all built by multi-million companies and have been tried, tested and production proven. It's just a bit too late to try and jump in the game. As people have said, either sort out the strategy and audience of your app (FXHome/Low budget consumer/film maker) or stop development and focus plugins, expansion. Some of the best tools and applications are based on your own day to day problems and gripes...