Weta nets new HD workflow with Avid

Weta Digital has chosen Avid Unity MediaNetwork 5.0 for its Wellington facility, currently in production on James Cameron’s Avatar for Twentieth Century Fox.

In addition, the Avid DNxHD codec is now Weta Digital’s standard HD format for editorial use both in-house and for supply to clients.

“Most of our VFX clients work on Avid systems; it is still the number one platform for long form motion picture film editing,” says Matt Holmes, Supervising Visual Effects (VFX) editor, Weta Digital.

“We wanted to achieve more disk space and more flexibility with managing media. Projects using Avid HD codecs are on the rise, so it was a necessity to maximise space and bandwidth. The ability to use mixed platforms, Mac and Windows, is a bonus, too. I wanted to expand the number of clients accessing projects and media and this meant a mix of Mac and PC platforms.”

The MediaNetwork 5.0 storage, access, and shared media solution connects four Avid Media Composer version 2.7 Fibre Channel clients on two Macs and two PCs, as well as two Ethernet clients running Media Composer Adrenaline version 2.7 with 24TB of storage capacity. The MediaNetwork 5.0 replaced a 6TB Avid Unity LANshare system, which the facility had outgrown due to increased workload.

Designed specifically for storing, accessing, and sharing media in collaborative workgroup environments, Avid Unity MediaNetwork systems offer significant advantages over simple storage area networks (SANs). The multi-project facility designed the set-up of their system to house separate workspaces for each standard definition (SD) and high definition (HD) project.

“At any one time there are three or more projects of varying size and complexity in-house, so space is obviously a consideration,” says Holmes.

“With our new system, we can exchange projects, bins, Avid Log Exhange (ALE) media and even user settings with our clients. In addition, working on Media Composer Adrenaline 2.7 gives us the flexibility to work in SD multi-format projects as well as in HD. Aside from general VFX editorial work, there is an Avid setup at the motion capture stage for live capture during sessions. Having an Adrenaline system has enabled us to support screening in our own theatre.”

Following on from the announcement of the facility upgrade, Weta Digital also announced that Avid DnxHD 36 is now the standard HD format for editorial use. Explaining the reason for the decision, Holmes stated, “It’s a great codec for working with large quantities of media at an HD resolution that stands up very well even on a 2K Digital projector.

“It certainly seems to be the codec of choice now for productions that have decided to offline in HD. As soon as we get the optimised source code we’ll be creating DNx36 encoded QuickTime movies on our render wall for fast import into the Avid systems.”