Ubisoft Montréal Chooses EditShare Collaborative Workflow

EditShare, LLC, in shared
media storage and end-to-end tapeless workflow solutions, announced that
Ubisoft Montréal has selected several EditShare
products to streamline the multiplatform promotional workflow for Ubik, the
game developer’s in-house creative unit.

The EditShare solution for Ubik includes two Geevs Post servers with four
ingest channels capturing 1080p59.54fps in ProRes HQ; EditShare Flow for media
asset management, searching and browsing; along with 96TB of EditShare XStream
storage.

INSO, EditShare’s Montréal-based partner, worked closely with Ubik on
the workflow design, integration and support of the EditShare solution.

"EditShare has differentiated itself from its
competitors and proven to Ubisoft Montréal that it is THE long-term solution
for the studio," says Patrick Plante, team lead, video at Ubisoft
Montréal. "Its capture optimization
with Geevs, its codec portfolio, its previsualization of proxy videos, its
collaborative tools integrated within Adobe Premiere Pro, and its support for
high-bandwidth codecs make it an exceptional solution. The expansion capacity
will also allow us to adapt the product to our future needs. INSO’s commitment
and the constant efforts from EditShare’s R&D department to optimize their
solution to our reality not only shows great customer care, but a real spirit
of partnership."

"This installation illustrates how our solutions
fill a broad range of needs that encompass traditional studio, broadcast, and
post-production environments as well as game development and all types of
multimedia production," says Andy Liebman, founder and president of
EditShare. "We relished the opportunity
to address the complexity and intensity of Ubik’s workflow in terms of managing
and building scenes, the sheer volume of video, throughput requirements, number
of simultaneous users, and reliability. This is what EditShare is all about."

"EditShare provides tremendous flexibility in
terms of integration and media handling so that a customer can achieve the
desired outcome," says Dominic Bourget, media sales manager, INSO.
"We were able to configure a system
and customize the workflow so that it perfectly suits Ubik’s needs."

At
Ubik, content from games currently under development is ingested into the Geevs
servers, catalogued in Flow, and stored in the EditShare XStream centralized
storage. An HDMI matrix also connects the Geevs servers to nine playback,
prototyping and design workstations; editors have access to this content to
perform quality control checks, and to create demo reels and advertisements
that can be used across various media platforms. Fifty HP workstations operate
on the 10GBase-T network for editing with Adobe Premiere Pro CS6. More than
2000 users across the Ubisoft campus will be able to access the Flow database
for consulting, metadata entry, research and preliminary EDL construction for
use in promo reels and multiplatform ads.

EditShare
XStream, the company’s centralized storage product, delivers
performance, scalability and reliability. It offers stream counts, infinite scalability, and advanced Project Sharing with patented
bin and project-locking capabilities. Lightworks, Avid, Final Cut Pro, and
Adobe Premiere editors can see, copy and revise the work of colleagues with the
assurance that no bins, sequences or projects will be accidentally deleted or
overwritten. XStream includes EditShare’s Flow asset
management and Ark backup and archiving software – turning your storage system
into a complete end-to-end tapeless workflow solution.

The
versatile Geevs Post server is designed to handle SDI ingest, playout and
delivery. The core 64-bit Geevs Flux engine offers many powerful technology
enhancements. Housed in a sleek 2U server, Geevs Post is built on brand new X9
hardware and the latest 8-core CPUs. Features include live preview and
multiviewer output, format and closed caption support.

EditShare
Flow provides production asset management. Flow users can browse the database
and view proxy file content on their desktops as well as ingest media from
file-based sources such as P2 and XDCAM. Simple editing tools and metadata templates
let users add details to clips, make rough cuts, and drag and drop clips and
sequences into their NLEs – without requiring access to full-resolution media.