Imagineer Systems
Encyclopedia
Imagineer Systems Limited is a software company that specializes in the development and maintenance of several visual effects
(vfx) software applications, used throughout all levels of film
, video
and broadcast post-production
. The company was founded in June 2000 by Allan Jaenicke and Philip McLauchlan. The pair had previously been carrying out joint research, at the University of Surrey
, in advanced computer vision technology. By developing mostly specialized (fine-tuning) applications, Imagineer created a versatile product base that was both cross-platform and compatible with other third party tools, editing software
, and compositing
suites.
The applications produced by Imagineer have been used widely within the film industry, notably within blockbuster movies such as Casino Royale
, Pirates of the Caribbean: Dead Man's Chest
and X-Men: The Last Stand
.
The following are the stand alone applications produced by Imagineer systems; all of the following are available on multi platform (Windows 2000
and above, Linux Red Hat
, Mac OS X
).
mocha is a stand alone tracking and roto software designed to complement any effects and finishing environment. mocha's unique planar tracker and streamlined interface allows artists to easily track shots where point trackers fail: shots with noise, shots with motion blur and shots that go offscreen or are obscured.mocha's ability to track accurate roto shapes with less manual keyframing greatly aids effects driven content and 2D to 3D conversion projects.
mocha AE v2.5 is a stand alone tracking and roto tool now updated to support both After Effects and Final Cut users. mocha AE helps solve problematic shots that challenge the built in tools of After Effects and Final Cut by bringing advanced planar tracking and matte creation tools in a simple, easy to learn interface. Accurate roto masks can quickly be created with variable per-point edge feathering in record time. Included mocha shape plug-ins allow users to import roto shapes directly to an After Effects layer or Final Cut timeline.
The pair had been carrying out a joint research project at the University of Surrey in Guildford, United Kingdom, with the aim of applying the latest computer vision research to the problem of image registration - the stitching together of disparate still image. McLauchlan focused on development of the core algorithms whilst Jaenicke focused on building a user interface that would allow a user to ‘stitch’ together spherical and cylindrical mosaics.
During some trials with video sequences McLauchlan discovered that the algorithms developed had a different and more useful aspect. When analyzing a panning shot of Stefan Edberg playing tennis, the algorithms quickly removed Stefan from the shot, computing a clean background shot. Some discussions with a manufacturer in the post production space revealed that there was a real need for such a product to perform wire & rig removal and so mokey, the company's first product, launched at IBC2001, was born. Nearly two years later, in May 2003, the first glimmerings of the software that would become monet came to light. A technology demo led the internal R&D team at top London effects house Cinesite to conclude that Imagineer had the technology to solve a specific upcoming problem: namely how to efficiently insert the animated paintings into the picture frames in Harry Potter and the Prisoner of Azkaban. After an intensive development period working hand in hand with the Cinesite team, Imagineer announced monet at IBC2003, releasing version 1.0 a year later at IBC2004.
Visual effects
Visual effects are the various processes by which imagery is created and/or manipulated outside the context of a live action shoot. Visual effects involve the integration of live-action footage and generated imagery to create environments which look realistic, but would be dangerous, costly, or...
(vfx) software applications, used throughout all levels of film
Film
A film, also called a movie or motion picture, is a series of still or moving images. It is produced by recording photographic images with cameras, or by creating images using animation techniques or visual effects...
, video
Video
Video is the technology of electronically capturing, recording, processing, storing, transmitting, and reconstructing a sequence of still images representing scenes in motion.- History :...
and broadcast post-production
Post-production
Post-production is part of filmmaking and the video production process. It occurs in the making of motion pictures, television programs, radio programs, advertising, audio recordings, photography, and digital art...
. The company was founded in June 2000 by Allan Jaenicke and Philip McLauchlan. The pair had previously been carrying out joint research, at the University of Surrey
University of Surrey
The University of Surrey is a university located within the county town of Guildford, Surrey in the South East of England. It received its charter on 9 September 1966, and was previously situated near Battersea Park in south-west London. The institution was known as Battersea College of Technology...
, in advanced computer vision technology. By developing mostly specialized (fine-tuning) applications, Imagineer created a versatile product base that was both cross-platform and compatible with other third party tools, editing software
Video editing software
Video editing software, is application software which handles the post-production video editing of digital video sequences on a computer non-linear editing systems...
, and compositing
Compositing
Compositing is the combining of visual elements from separate sources into single images, often to create the illusion that all those elements are parts of the same scene. Live-action shooting for compositing is variously called "chroma key", "blue screen", "green screen" and other names. Today,...
suites.
The applications produced by Imagineer have been used widely within the film industry, notably within blockbuster movies such as Casino Royale
Casino Royale (2006 film)
Casino Royale is the twenty-first film in the James Bond film series and the first to star Daniel Craig as fictional MI6 agent James Bond...
, Pirates of the Caribbean: Dead Man's Chest
Pirates of the Caribbean: Dead Man's Chest
Pirates of the Caribbean: Dead Man's Chest is a 2006 adventure fantasy film and the second film of the Pirates of the Caribbean series, following Pirates of the Caribbean: The Curse of the Black Pearl . It was directed by Gore Verbinski, written by Ted Elliott and Terry Rossio, and produced by...
and X-Men: The Last Stand
X-Men: The Last Stand
X-Men: The Last Stand is a 2006 superhero film and the third in the X-Men series. It was directed by Brett Ratner and stars an ensemble cast including Hugh Jackman, Halle Berry, Patrick Stewart, Ian McKellen, Famke Janssen, Kelsey Grammer, Anna Paquin, Shawn Ashmore, Aaron Stanford, Vinnie Jones,...
.
Products
Imagineer currently offers three major desktop VFX applications for distribution. For the core products a naming convention has been adopted: starting each application with the Letter MO (‘mo’ is representative of the word motion (i.e., Motion Picture))The following are the stand alone applications produced by Imagineer systems; all of the following are available on multi platform (Windows 2000
Windows 2000
Windows 2000 is a line of operating systems produced by Microsoft for use on personal computers, business desktops, laptops, and servers. Windows 2000 was released to manufacturing on 15 December 1999 and launched to retail on 17 February 2000. It is the successor to Windows NT 4.0, and is the...
and above, Linux Red Hat
Red Hat
Red Hat, Inc. is an S&P 500 company in the free and open source software sector, and a major Linux distribution vendor. Founded in 1993, Red Hat has its corporate headquarters in Raleigh, North Carolina with satellite offices worldwide....
, Mac OS X
Mac OS X
Mac OS X is a series of Unix-based operating systems and graphical user interfaces developed, marketed, and sold by Apple Inc. Since 2002, has been included with all new Macintosh computer systems...
).
Current products
mocha Pro delivers the planar tracking and rotoscoping tools from award winning mocha, adds tools for wire removal, clean plate generation, lens distortion correction and mesh warping, to deliver an all-in-one VFX tool set. mocha Pro is designed to complement any editing, compositing and finishing environment, and offers digital media artists a powerful, intuitive and innovative planar tracking-based solution with a streamlined interface, accelerated workflow and the power to easily manipulate and track shots not possible with traditional solutions.mocha is a stand alone tracking and roto software designed to complement any effects and finishing environment. mocha's unique planar tracker and streamlined interface allows artists to easily track shots where point trackers fail: shots with noise, shots with motion blur and shots that go offscreen or are obscured.mocha's ability to track accurate roto shapes with less manual keyframing greatly aids effects driven content and 2D to 3D conversion projects.
mocha AE v2.5 is a stand alone tracking and roto tool now updated to support both After Effects and Final Cut users. mocha AE helps solve problematic shots that challenge the built in tools of After Effects and Final Cut by bringing advanced planar tracking and matte creation tools in a simple, easy to learn interface. Accurate roto masks can quickly be created with variable per-point edge feathering in record time. Included mocha shape plug-ins allow users to import roto shapes directly to an After Effects layer or Final Cut timeline.
Discontinued products
- mokey is a standalone toolset that is used for removing wires, rigs, logos, scratches, hairs and other undesired elements in commercial, film and corporate video post production work. Current Version: 4.1.5
- monet is a standalone software used to track and composite for commercial, film and corporate video post production work. The software uses Imagineer unique 2.5D planar tracking and shadow/highlight extraction technology that offers a standalone solution for performing virtual product placement. Current Version: 2.1.5
- mocha for Final Cut is a version of mocha that is restricted to work only with Apple Final Cut Studio. Current Version: 2.1.0
- motor is based on the same Planar tracking within Mokey and Monet. Motor affords you the ability to automate a large part of the rotoscoping process. All of motor's features were included in mocha, and with the release of mocha v2, motor was discontinued. Final Version: 1.5.4
- moxel is a standalone software that is used as part of ‘standards and practice’ work, such as removing undesired branding and obscuring identities by using image recognition techniques. Final Version: 1.0.2
- mofex is a set of plug-ins for Apple’s Shake compositing software for manipulating elements being composited, the plug in also supports application with lens distortion, allows the calculation and application of shadows and highlights and the application of tracking marker filter with adaptive anti-aliasing filtering warping and temporal median filtering. Final Version: 1.1.4 (For Apple Shake 4.1) and 1.1.3 (For Apple Shake 3.5)
History
Imagineer Systems was established in June 2000 by Allan Jaenicke and Philip McLauchlan.The pair had been carrying out a joint research project at the University of Surrey in Guildford, United Kingdom, with the aim of applying the latest computer vision research to the problem of image registration - the stitching together of disparate still image. McLauchlan focused on development of the core algorithms whilst Jaenicke focused on building a user interface that would allow a user to ‘stitch’ together spherical and cylindrical mosaics.
During some trials with video sequences McLauchlan discovered that the algorithms developed had a different and more useful aspect. When analyzing a panning shot of Stefan Edberg playing tennis, the algorithms quickly removed Stefan from the shot, computing a clean background shot. Some discussions with a manufacturer in the post production space revealed that there was a real need for such a product to perform wire & rig removal and so mokey, the company's first product, launched at IBC2001, was born. Nearly two years later, in May 2003, the first glimmerings of the software that would become monet came to light. A technology demo led the internal R&D team at top London effects house Cinesite to conclude that Imagineer had the technology to solve a specific upcoming problem: namely how to efficiently insert the animated paintings into the picture frames in Harry Potter and the Prisoner of Azkaban. After an intensive development period working hand in hand with the Cinesite team, Imagineer announced monet at IBC2003, releasing version 1.0 a year later at IBC2004.