So, what is HIERO?
HIERO is a
desktop application for collaborative VFX workflow - a scriptable
timeline tool that conforms edit decision lists and parcels out VFX
shots to artists, allows progress to be viewed in context, and liberates
your finishing systems and artists for more creative tasks.
HIERO has been built to work ‘out of the box’ with NUKE, and can also be custom-scripted to work with other applications in your facility.
Because HIERO is open and scriptable via the Python programming
language, it is an editorial tool that fits naturally into any VFX
pipeline
Find out more in THE COMPOSITOR our weekly newspaper featuring pre-release information about HIERO.
The HIERO Beta is now up and running. If you want to take part download the Beta binary using your login to The Foundry website. When you launch HIERO simply fill in the trial form and off you go!
HIERO features explained...
Conform your timeline with intuitive tools
HIERO
conforms XML and EDLs into a multi-resolution, multi-track timeline,
including audio. Its tools help take the pain out of the conform
process, alongside standard editing features.
Make life easy with the sophisticated, session-wide spreadsheet view
which can be called upon at any time, a side-by-side comparison of your
timeline against an offline and extensive metadata to inspect at any
point in the conform process.
HIERO Conform screenshot
Nissan X Trail courtesy of Unexpected.
Playback any media that NUKE can read
HIERO shares image reading functionality with NUKE
so both applications can read the same formats in the same way. HIERO
has no dedicated frame store, it 'soft imports' all your media.
Smoothness of playback is hardware dependent, but given fast enough
hardware (which you choose), HIERO will playback your footage including
synchronized sound.
Send your shots to VFX
Shots in your timeline are exported to VFX artists based on a
template you define. Select a master track to guide the break down and
export any additional tracks you want from the timeline.
HIERO then follows your timeline and, for each shot, creates sets of
folders on disk where it puts the media (with handles). You can tell it
where to expect finished shots to be rendered so it can generate a NUKE
project all wired up to those inputs and outputs. As part of the export
process you can force a transcode of media, a simple copy of it or quick
and light symbolic links back to the original files to save export time
and disk space.
Reading and writing industry standard image file formats on standard
file systems means HIERO can cooperate with any other application you
need to get the job done.
Automatically ingest VFX shots
Because your export template tells HIERO where to expect the results
from VFX, HIERO can make a new clip per shot pointing to that result.
These clips are placed in a new “VFX” track on the timeline. When the
results are eventually rendered, and because all shots are soft
imported, they immediately appear and can be played back.
Manage your shots
Each clip in HIERO is not a single clip of real media, but rather it
can be one of many different clips of real media on disk. We call each
of these alternatives “takes”. When you place a clip on the timeline,
you can quickly and interactively swap between available takes.
HIERO can scan for new iterations of VFX renders and ingest them as
different takes on a single clip. This lets you rapidly swap versions in
a timeline for review.
HIERO script editor screenshot
Nissan X Trail courtesy of Unexpected.
Manage your timelines
Timelines can be check-pointed as your work progresses, making a
complete copy labeled with a timestamp and comment. We call these
“snapshots” and you can easily see which snapshots are available,
restore your timeline to a previous snapshot, or even put two different
snapshots into a viewer, to play them back side by side and examine the
differences.
Deliver EDLS, XMLs, selects or entire timelines
When VFX is complete and your work is ready for the next stage, you
can deliver it in multiple ways. If you need to send work to an in-house
finishing system, you could bake out EDLs or XMLs which point to the
finished shots on your network. The painful conform has already been
done in HIERO, leading to a very simple re-conform in your finishing
system.
If you need to send the shots to be finished elsewhere, HIERO can
bake-out EDLs or XMLs plus media selects (with handles) from the
timeline. Alternatively, you could simply bake out the entire timeline
as a single clip in your required delivery format.
Colour manage your footage
Along with MARI and NUKE,
HIERO uses OpenColorIO, the open source colour management framework
from Sony Picture Imageworks. It allows you to specify exactly how
colour should be managed from file to screen.
Script HIERO any way you want
By providing a comprehensive set of Python APIs that link deep into
HIERO, you can make it work in the way that best suits you. We provide a
rich set of hooks for each stage so you can execute your own Python
code at any point in the conform, ingest or export processes.
If that isn’t enough, you can even create your own user interface via
the PySide library. The included Python APIs also give you direct
access to the projects, timelines and clips in HIERO so you can
manipulate shots and timelines however you need.
HIERO is a shot management system
Because HIERO has no image processing apart from what is needed to
play back a multi-resolution timeline (reformatting, colour management
and transitions), it is currently not suited for work as a finishing,
grading or visual effects system in it's own right. It is a shot
management system for VFX that integrates brilliantly with today’s open,
collaborative pipelines.
HIERO screenshot
Nissan X Trail courtesy of Unexpected.
Platforms
HIERO 1.0 works with MacOS (10.6) and Linux (specific OS details to
follow). It needs a recent GPU, but is otherwise hardware independent.
Further details will follow shortly.
Backed by The Foundry
HIERO has an aggressive development schedule. In upcoming releases it
will support Microsoft Windows, multi-channel images, localised caching
for optimised playback, stereo imagery and more.
A tool for professionals
We built HIERO based on what users told us were the missing tools in
their VFX workflow. Drop HIERO and NUKE into your pipeline, and use a
tuneable tool designed for day-to-day shot management, versioning and
review to significantly improve turnaround.
Liberate your finishing systems! Stop using inappropriate tools, such
as finishing systems, for these basic tasks and free them up to do what
they do best - finishing.
Download a printable version of HIERO's product sheet here.
“We love that The Foundry are developing a product as
sophisticated as HIERO. The flexibility, ease of use and integration
into our pipeline will increase our output, allowing even more jobs to
pass through our facility. The Foundry has yet again come up with a
solution that will benefit the post production community.”
Tony Lawrence, Head of 2D, Smoke and Mirrors
When will HIERO be available?
HIERO is planned for release in February 2012.
For the full press release, please click here.
