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Click
here for a great feature article about Catalyst from Total Production
(PDF file .71MB)
Catalyst
Feature by Bruce Jordahl (from www.plsn.com),
April 2002
And just like the video professionals, designers can scale, rotate, zoom,
edit, morph, mask, color mix, overlay, and blend to their heart's content.
Meanwhile, images can be projected anywhere in three-dimensional space
with Catalyst's orbital movement system. Developed by WWG (creators of
the TM total movement system), the head provides microstepped 250°
movement on axis one and 360° on axis two, and is designed to be fitted
on a high-powered rental/staging video projector. (HES recommends using
a 3-chip DLP projector for best results.) Though projectors and control
console are not included, High End has struck a distribution deal with
projection giant Barco, and they obviously suggest a Whole Hog console
for control.
Catalyst comes complete in a rackmounted Apple Mac® G4 (with Catalyst
software preloaded and configured) and with hardware interface. Still
image and movie playback is handled from the hard drive. The unit connects
to a video projector (as well as video walls and LED panels) through a
BNC component video connector with integral distribution amplifier. For
live video image feed, DV input is handled through the Mac's Firewire
port, or external video interfacing via third-party format converters.
High End also offers some optional accessories for remote control of projector
focus and zoom.
If you've worked on video content in Final Cut Pro®, After Effects®,
or Photoshop®, you'll be happy to learn that all these file formats
can be input directly into Catalyst! But if these terms are foreign, don't
fret; Catalyst utilizes Apple® Quicktime™ technology for compatibility
with a wide variety of image and movie formats.
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