Standard graphics and animations workstations can now tap directly into inferno, flame, flint, fire, and smoke clip libraries

Tiger Technology GmbH, developer of high performance, affordable storage area networking (SAN) and workgroup management software solutions, today announced stoneGate, a virtual file system that enables raw image sequences stored on Autodesk ® Media and Entertainment Stone ® file system to be manipulated using standard graphics and animation workstations over a regular LAN connection.
“Users of inferno, flame, flint, fire, and smoke advanced systems are wasting a lot of time transferring digital image sequences to and from a shared repository location using a push-pull model in order to make these frames available to other users” observes Alexander Lefterov, CTO and co-founder of Tiger Technology “With stoneGate, the need to ‘stonifise’ or ‘publish media’ is eliminated. This greatly speeds up the collaborative process.”

Tiger Technology stoneGate exploits the Wiretaptm API to convert the hierarchical structure of the Stone ®’s Clip Library into a virtual file system that maps as a local drive on the client’s workstation. Users can remotely browse through multiple Machines, Volumes, Projects, Libraries, and Clip folders to access the individual frames. These are exposed as standard graphic files (RAW, BMP, TIFF, DPX, and Cineon) that can then be read or written using standard graphics, animations, paint, editing, and compositing applications such as Adobe After Effects, Adobe Photoshop, and Autodesk Combustion.

“Tiger Technology has a solid track record in the field of storage area networks” said Bernard Lamborelle, Director of sales for Tiger Technology “with stoneGate, we are further expanding the concept of unified storage management to embrace all aspects of the collaborative workflow.”

Using stoneGate, every artist within the facility can manipulate image file sequences directly on the stone array, without disrupting the high-end workflow. The modified sequence is immediately available for playback on the advanced system and doesn’t need to be re-imported (stonifised).

Pricing and Availability
stoneGate will start shipping in October 2006, initially with support for the Windows platform. Support for the Mac OS X platform is scheduled for Q1. stoneGate is priced at $995.00 USD. One license is required per connecting seat. Tiger Technology software products are currently available from the company’s OEM partners and its international reseller representatives. For sales inquiries please email Tiger Technology at sales@tiger-technology.com. Additional information on the Tiger Technology product line is available at www.tiger-technology.com.