Maximum Throughput Chosen by Aardman Animations

Maximum Throughput Inc. announces that Aardman Animations, in animation for feature film, television series and commercials, has taken delivery of its third Maximum Throughput Sledgehammer HD!O file server and real-time, multi-format video device. XFTX, a Maximum Throughput reseller based in London, is providing sales and integration support for the project.

Aardman Broadcast and Commercials, a division of Aardman Animations, will incorporate the new unit into its existing production workflow at its Gas Ferry Road facility, where it will be exclusively used for the production of TV commercials. The new Sledgehammer HD!O and its built-in MAXmedia application will be used at several stages of the stop frame animation production process, multi-tasking as a DDR playout system, high-performance NAS file server for edit bays, as well as a format conversion, and media processing and assembly solution.

According to Ian Fleming, Head of Production Technology at Aardman Animations, compatibility with Final Cut Pro for off-line editing and a sharp reduction in rendering time makes Sledgehammer HD!O the ideal choice for its TV commercial production workflow. Aardman Broadcast and Commercials has realized similar workflow efficiencies using its two other existing Sledgehammer HD!O in its production workflow for broadcast television series, including the popular TV series “Wallace & Grommit.”

Aardman Wallace & Grommit
“Sledgehammer has infinitely improved the efficiency of our broadcast production workflow, and we estimate that utilizing Sledgehammer in our commercial workflow will translate to a 25-to-30 percent reduction in time spent rendering and performing other tasks,” said Fleming. “Sledgehammer acts as a hub in our workflow, performing multiple tasks along the way and directly interfacing with Final Cut Pro systems for off-line editing. The ability of Sledgehammer to play out native media in real-time directly into our Final Cut Pro systems eliminates time spent rendering at that stage of the workflow. The result is a much quicker throughput, and a more efficient overall operation.”

In the TV commercial production workflow, Aardman Broadcast and Commercials will first use the Sledgehammer HD!O to play out HD 4:2:2 still frames in the .DPX image sequence format, and create ‘on the box’ SD proxies by applying Sledgehammer’s on-the-fly image format conversion and cropping/resizing tools. The proxies are used by Final Cut Pro for off-line editing, and then Sledgehammer HD!O would EDL conform the shots using the original HD .DPX files.

Fleming added that the shorter time scale for project turnaround in the production of commercials makes Sledgehammer’s efficiency critical to the operation.

“Production of commercials is far more intense than in long-form broadcast TV programming,” said Fleming. “When in production, we can write the digital media directly to the Sledgehammer storage, play out the media in native form into Final Cut Pro, and return to Sledgehammer to conform the media to XML or EDL. This is a huge time-saving benefit because there is no need to convert the files to QuickTime ahead of transporting the media to the off-line editing process.”

Fleming added that Sledgehammer’s interoperability with its media management network allows for instantaneous review of commercial dailies from the studio floor, which assists with the quick turnaround time required in the production of commercials. He also expects Aardman will investigate the possibility of networking all three of its Sledgehammer HD!O systems for the purpose of migrating image sequences from commercial to broadcast projects, and vice versa.

“The versatility and ‘on the box processing’ of Maximum Throughput’s Sledgehammer HD!O and its built-in MAXmeia application spares Aardman Animations the hassle of moving media around the facility, saves time and network traffic, and frees other creative seats from the more mundane tasks of image manipulation and processing,” said Giovanni Tagliamonti, chief executive officer of Maximum Throughput, Inc. “Sledgehammer’s compatibility with Final Cut Pro and other systems and ability to multi-task in the production process makes the system invaluable for Aardman Animations and other Maximum Throughput customers who require fast, efficient turn around times in high-volume production environments.”

Sledgehammer HD!O is the ideal device bridging the IT and video infrastructures while extending solutions to high-end editing and visual effects systems, digital intermediates, telecine and color grading. Sledgehammer HD!O offers SD, HD, and 2K film resolutions for the real-time capture of uncompressed SD or HD video at 8-bit,10-bit or 12-bit color depth. The system is available in many different configurations that suit varying requirements for capacity, performance and high-availability.