TACTIC? Integration with Qube!? Accelerates Digital Media Production PipelinesHonolulu, HI and Toronto, Ontario ? September 18, 2007 ? PipelineFX, makers of Qube! software, the leading render farm management software for film production, game development, and digital media education around the world, and Southpaw Technology Inc., makers of TACTIC, a leading digital asset management system, today announced that TACTIC has been updated to integrate seamlessly with Qube! in support of complex, next-generation render pipelines.
Southpaw Technology Inc., founded in 2005, provides software to simplify the digital asset management workflow for film production houses, design houses, and other organizations finding the complex interaction of thousands of models, images, and other digital assets to be a major problem threatening their budgets and deadlines. For asset management, Southpaw Technology Inc. has introduced TACTIC, with repeatable and standard controls, so that it is more like an assembly line than a constant re-invention of the wheel.
"TACTIC understands assets, and Qube! understands jobs," said Remko Noteboom, CTO of Southpaw Technology Inc. ?There is usually a disconnect between assets and jobs. Productions try to make the relationship by using file naming conventions, either through the name of the file processed or some extra metadata stored in the job. With TACTIC, users can submit a version of a particular asset or shot directly through the TACTIC interface. TACTIC then submits a custom job type to Qube!, feeding it all the information Qube! needs to process the asset. This can include the necessary frame range, the files, and the quality levels. Qube! is then responsible for distributing this job efficiently across the render farm. When the job is finished rendering, the custom Qube! job will check the results back into TACTIC. This deep integration relieves the users of having to figure out which files need to be rendered and which files are the results of the render.?
Qube! is openly extensible via it?s C++, Perl and Python APIs. PipelineFX develops Qube! with exactly the same APIs provided to customers, so that every feature is available for customization and integration with other applications such as TACTIC.
?Essentially, TACTIC delivers a package to Qube! via a custom job type,? said Troy Brooks, CEO of PipelineFX. ?Qube! processes the job with all of its resources and the output is checked back into TACTIC. Users deal with assets, render farm managers deal with jobs and TACTIC/Qube! handles all of the details of connecting and relating the pieces together. This deep integration is a real benefit to studios looking to streamline their pipeline and remove time-intensive manual tasks.?
For more information on Southpaw Technology Inc. and TACTIC, visit
http://southpawtech.com/.
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