TECH TIPS
Thank You for Smoke-ing New Courseware, Classes
Available to Guild Members
by Rainer Standke
 A screengrab from Smoke. |
Last August, the Editors Guild offered an evening seminar to introduce the high-end video finishing tool Smoke from Autodesk Media and Entertainment, formerly known as Discreet.
Those who attended that seminar at the Guild’s Hollywood office, may have felt a little bit at a loss as to where to take it from there. Now there is an answer to that question. The folks at Autodesk have come up with a new course book that is now publicly available. See www.autodesk.com/smoke_courseware_book.
Fetchingly titled “Discreet Smoke 7, Autodesk Official Training Courseware,” this book can be used in a formal class, but is designed also to work in a self-paced learning situation. In addition, the book is complemented nicely by short video clips available on the web. I have had the opportunity to work through it, and it I think it provides a very good way to get your feet wet on a Smoke system.
The courseware takes you through the finishing of a 30-second commercial, starting with an EDL from the offline cut and continuing all the way through an output to videotape. Along the way, you load the video material, adjust some cuts, apply speed changes, do some color correction, add graphics and create some composite shots. The course is well balanced between introducing new concepts on the one hand, and providing the satisfaction of gradually finishing a rather slick-looking piece on the other. Also, while it guides you closely through the lessons, it still gives enough room for some exploration on your own.
Since the user interface (the way that the different parts of the software are organized and laid out)––takes some getting used to, the video clips on the web are actually quite helpful. They show and explain every step in great detail, which keeps you from veering off the right path. Also on the website, you can find a video presentation of how a television promo was put together with Smoke. I found this interesting because it illuminated not only techniques, but also what you might call certain “Smoke ways of thinking” used to create a rather dense piece. Visit www.autodesk.com/smoke_courseware_video.
Smoke has a bigger brother, Fire, which has the same user interface. Both of them are very powerful systems used mainly for nonlinear finishing of standard and high-definition video, as well as 2K and 4K digital intermediate film projects. Anyone who is involved in picture post these days should welcome any opportunity to get some exposure to these systems; and one such opportunity will present itself soon.
Guild members, through a generous offer from the Autodesk training department, are invited to acquaint themselves at no cost with Smoke. From June 26 to 30, you will have the opportunity to work for a day on the new courseware at the Autodesk office in Venice, California. The training room has four systems, and there will be only one person per machine. An instructor will be available to guide you through the exercises and to help you get the most out of the hands-on experience. To sign up for one-day slots, e-mail training@editorsguild. com or phone 323-876-4770, ext. 246.
A similar event is in the planning stages for New York City-based Guild members. And, don’t forget, West Coast members can still take heavily subsidized Smoke classes at the Venice Autodesk office.
For more information, visit www.autodesk.com/smoke_tutorials. Guild member Rainer Standke can be reached at rainer@standke.com.
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