Press Releases
Lightbeam Systems Reel Six Pipeline Selected for
History Channel's "Battles BC" Digital Effects
Universal Images Digitally Re-Creates Ancient History in Record Time with Custom-Built Lightbeam Reel Six Pipeline
EMERYVILLE, CA – March 17, 2009 – Lightbeam Systems, the leading manufacturer of custom-designed computer systems for the visual effects industry, was chosen by Universal Images to design and create the digital effects pipeline and workflow for the History Channel's smash-hit “Battles BC” mini-series, which premiered last week with the highest ratings ever on a Monday night for any of A&E's 11 networks.
“The people at Lightbeam are perfectionists about getting it right,” said Christopher Wirth, Universal Images Vice President and Chief Creative Officer. "We worked with them in designing workstations that are cutting-edge, cost-efficient and friendly to our artists. Our production time was slashed significantly by their expertise and passion to help us do what we wanted. Lightbeam Systems was extremely thorough and energetic about our project."
Lightbeam Systems custom-designed and built the rendering, 3D modeling and compositing systems for Universal Images. As part of its standard custom development process, Lightbeam thoroughly researched the software requirements to develop a powerful solution that not only was ideal for the Universal Images pipeline, but was also competitively priced. Lightbeam then intelligently integrated the hardware to fully leverage the software used by Universal Images, expediting from storyboarding to final output in a fraction of the time required with previous pipelines, significantly reducing production costs.
The digital effects for “Battles BC” were created with Autodesk 3ds Max, Autodesk Toxik, and Adobe After Effects. Lightbeam Systems is thoroughly seasoned in working with production software and has worked closely with Autodesk to design and build the first Autodesk Toxik workstations capable of real-time 32-bit 2K 4-channel streams. Lightbeam Systems’ ongoing research and development has consistently redefined the performance threshold for high-end visual effects and make it possible to produce sophisticated and complex projects on the desktop, eliminating the need for expensive turn-key systems.
About Lightbeam Systems
Lightbeam Systems develops state-of-the-art, specialized hardware solutions for professionals in the media and entertainment, engineering, financial, academic and scientific communities. The company is renowned for offering customized workstations that provide remarkable levels of performance and optimization in areas such as fluid dynamics, modeling, color management, editing, compositing, stereoscopic film and game production. Numerous award-winning feature films, television shows and top-selling video games are produced with Lightbeam products. In addition, Fortune 1000 companies rely on Lightbeam's expertise in innovative solutions to help them visualize, simulate and analyze complex tasks in record time. For more information, contact Lightbeam Systems atwww.lightbeamsystems.com, 510-868-8059.
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Reel Six is a trademark of Lightbeam Systems Inc. All trademarks or trade names mentioned are the property of their respective owners.
Lightbeam Systems introduces Reel Six Compositing Series Workstations
for next generation visual effects production
New Custom-Built Systems Feature Solid-State Hard Drives to Deliver Genuine 2K and 4K Multi-stream Desktop Compositing and Stereoscopic Workflows at Affordable Prices
EMERYVILLE, CA – March 10, 2009 – Lightbeam Systems, the leading manufacturer of custom-designed computer systems for the visual effects industry, has released a new series of innovative Reel Six solid-state compositing workstations complete with premium NVIDIA Quadro FX graphic cards and advanced multi-core processing. Significantly reducing the cost of production while allowing artists to complete projects at a fraction of the time over traditional hardware compositing solutions, these systems feature components optimized to bring genuine 2K and 4K multi-stream compositing to the desktop at affordable prices.
Supporting over eight billion colors and 4K plus resolution, the new Reel Six compositing workstations are ideal for ultra high-quality, industrial-grade compositing. A second NVIDIA Quadro FX graphic card can be added to support demanding real-time stereoscopic compositing.
"Unlike mass-produced computers built for generalized purposes, Lightbeam Systems are custom designed to support the unique and grueling workflows of visual effects artists," said Donn Gurule, Lightbeam Systems President and CEO. "The new Reel Six compositing workstations we are now introducing are the most powerful compositing systems we've ever built. Thanks to the passionate expertise of Lightbeam’s hardware engineers, these new workstations allow artists to create projects previously thought impossible, at prices that mean artists will never need to settle for a generic mass-produced system ever again."
Over the past two years, Lightbeam Systems’ ongoing research and development has consistently redefined the performance threshold for high-end visual effects compositing to make it possible to produce sophisticated and complex projects on the desktop, eliminating the need for expensive turn-key systems. Lightbeam Systems has worked with Autodesk to design and build the first Autodesk Toxik workstations capable of real-time 32-bit 2K 4-channel streams.
About Lightbeam Systems
Lightbeam Systems develops state-of-the-art, specialized hardware solutions for professionals in the media and entertainment, engineering, financial, academic and scientific communities. The company is renowned for offering customized workstations that provide remarkable levels of performance and optimization in areas such as fluid dynamics, modeling, color management, editing, compositing, stereoscopic film and game production. Numerous award-winning feature films, television shows and top-selling video games are produced with Lightbeam products. In addition, Fortune 1000 companies rely on Lightbeam's expertise in innovative solutions to help them visualize, simulate and analyze complex tasks in record time. For more information, contact Lightbeam Systems at www.lightbeamsystems.com, 510-868-8059 or toll-free at 877-247-1272.
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Reel Six is a trademark of Lightbeam Systems Inc. All trademarks or trade names mentioned are the property of their respective owners.
Lightbeam Systems announces Tom Shankle as Chief Operating Officer
EMERYVILLE, California – November 19, 2008 – Lightbeam Systems today announced Tom Shankle as its chief operating officer. Shankle, the former director of business systems at McKesson Specialty, brings over 20 years of experience in operations, business process improvement, customer relationship management, software d evelopment, services and business development to Lightbeam Systems.
"Tom brings vast business solutions and infrastructure technology capabilities to Lightbeam Systems. His experience in operations, business systems and customer relationship management will be invaluable to our efforts in growing Lightbeam Systems to new levels. I am delighted Tom has joined out team," said Donn Gurule, President and Chief Executive Officer.
Prior to McKesson, Shankle held various leadership positions including Director of Operations at National Oncology Alliance (NOA) in San Rafael. At NOA, he built the company's infrastructure from supporting a few hundred physicians to over 2500 which led to their acquisition by McKesson in April 2006. He was also the director of technical consulting and services at Ventaso, where he successfully built the company from seven employees to over 150. Shankle also had a successful 11 year career at Electronic Data Systems where he received extensive training in leadership and technical consulting. Shankle received his bachelor's degree in business administration from Texas A&M University.
Lightbeam Systems develops state-of-the-art solutions for professionals in the media and entertainment, engineering, financial, academic and scientific communities. We are well known for producing solutions that provide remarkable levels of performance and optimization, such as in the areas of fluid dynamics, modeling, color management, editing, compositing, stereoscopic film and game production. Many Award-winning feature films, television shows and top-selling video games are produced with and depend on Lightbeam products. In addition, Fortune 1000 companies rely on Lightbeam's expertise in innovative solutions to help them visualize, simulate and analyze complex tasks in record time.
Custom Configured