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MPC
www.moving-picture.com Autodesk® Flame® Autodesk Flare™ ®
Flare for better workflow. Autodesk® Flare™ software helps MPC optimize the efficiency of its compositing artists around the world.
We needed a way to extend our already formidable capacity without having to purchase new systems for our other studios. We found what we were looking for in Autodesk Flare. —Bill McNamara Creative Head 2D Advertising MPC
Image courtesy of MPC.
Summary Founded more than 40 years ago, MPC is one of the world’s most successful post-production companies, particularly in the realm of high-end feature films, commercials, music videos, and broadcast. Based in London, MPC also runs studios in Los Angeles, Vancouver, and Bangalore, and has just opened a 13,000-square-foot studio in New York’s SoHo district. A long-time Autodesk customer, MPC uses Autodesk® Flame® software for visual effects, Autodesk® Smoke® software for editorial finishing, and Autodesk® Maya® software for animation along with a variety of other software packages. With some of the most talented visual effects artists in the world working out of far-flung studios, MPC needed a more efficient way to extend the reach of its technology and people. With Autodesk® Flare™ software, a software-only offering based on the Flame creative toolset, MPC found an answer.
The Challenge “Schedules and budgets have continued to grow tighter in the past couple of years, and more than ever we need the flexibility to deploy all of our resources whenever and wherever needed,” says Bill McNamara, Creative Group Head of 2D Compositing at MPC in London. Our other studios are smaller than the one in London, but if there is a big job, we want to be able to dynamically react to wherever things are most busy.” With visual effects artists in different studios and time zones, MPC also needed to manage the schedules of its people and systems in order to deliver projects on time and on budget. “To efficiently share the workload, it’s important that we all be using the same software,” says McNamara. “With Flame being one of our main compositing packages, we needed a way to extend our already formidable capacity without having to purchase new systems for our other studios. We found what we were looking for in Autodesk Flare.”
“The evaluation period enabled us to figure out the full potential of Flare,” says McNamara. “Being able to team up our Flame systems with 20 floating licenses of Flare software meant we could significantly extend our resources to more artists in more places. That goes a long way to successfully completing our projects under the challenging budgets and deadlines we frequently experience.”
Image courtesy of MPC.
The increased availability of the compositing toolset also enabled more simultaneous collaboration between artists and sites, and helped junior artists gain valuable experience with the Flame toolset, without tying up more resources.
The Solution MPC worked with Autodesk to launch a six-month evaluation to refine the installation, configuration, and integration of Flare into the company’s global workflow. Offering the same set of creative tools and intuitive compositing workflow as the powerful Batch module in Flame, Flare provides MPC artists with fully compatible capabilities, including 3D tracking and path animations, particles, a modular keyer, and relighting tools.
The Results Following the successful evaluation period, MPC purchased 20 licenses of Flare and distributed them between its major studios. The new workflow even performed above McNamara’s high expectations: “We worked on a promo for a dramatic remix video of the Depeche Mode song ‘Personal Jesus,’” he says. “It was a high-profile job with lots of editorial changes throughout the process. Using Flare, we were able to distribute the work between three
sites. Each day, we had a session with the director and client in which we would use Flame to lay out the work for the next day that would then be completed using Flare. Traditionally, that work would have been scheduled during the night, but using Flame and Flare meant we were able to integrate comments and feedback more quickly and clearly, and complete the job faster. The project would certainly have been more challenging without Flare.” “Eventually, we’re looking toward expanding our use of Flare to other departments,” says McNamara. “The new versions of Flame, Smoke, and Flare open up more opportunities for 3D compositing environments than we had been handling using other software. Especially in London, we will soon be able to provide Flare for 3D compositing support for a lot of the Flame work.” For more information, visit autodesk.com/flame and autodesk.com/flare.
Using Autodesk Flame and Flare meant we were able to integrate comments and feedback more quickly and clearly, and complete the job faster. The project would certainly have been more challenging without Flare. —Bill McNamara Creative Head 2D Advertising MPC
Image courtesy of MPC. Autodesk, Flame, Flare, Maya, and Smoke are registered trademarks or trademarks of Autodesk, Inc., and/or its subsidiaries and/or affiliates in the USA and/or other countries. All other brand names, product names, or trademarks belong to their respective holders. Autodesk reserves the right to alter product and services offerings, and specifications and pricing at any time without notice, and is not responsible for typographical or graphical errors that may appear in this document. © 2011 Autodesk, Inc. All rights reserved.
