Last week, MTI Film announced Cortex, a new platform incorporating advanced digital asset management techniques for file-based workflow. The first product, Cortex::Convey, is a new version of the automated transcoding application for the company's Control Dailies system that was previewed at the HPA Technical Retreat last month. It will be shown at NAB in April, along with Cortex::Capture and Cortex::Control Dailies. The idea behind Cortex::Convey, MTI said, is to make transcoding require as little technical expertise as possible so that any facility worker can use the system, rather than only those who know the technical ins and outs of different formats. StudioDaily asked MTI Film VP of Product Development David McClure for a little more detail on the thinking behind Cortex::Convey and the rest of the Cortex family.

 

StudioDaily: Does Cortex::Convey replace the existing Convey in the MTI product line?

 

David McClure: Cortex::Convey is the next generation of Convey, and is the first product in our new Cortex platform. It is designed to provide effortless transcoding at any phase of a file-based production. Its primary use to date has been to create file-based deliverables for products as they are being finished.  For instance, on television shows, tape-based dubs are being replaced by file-based deliveries for assembled masters, color-timed masters and even final delivery. Cortex::Convey is designed to make the manufacture of these deliverables intuitive for all users, whether they were previously the ones making the tape dubs, or they are the editors or colorists themselves, or their assistants.

 

The existing Convey application is tightly integrated with Control Dailies and Remote Control Dailies and is now included with all Control Dailies installations as file-based deliverables are now the norm for dailies. We continue to support it and it remains one of the most powerful features of Control Dailies, providing background encoding of all file-based deliverables for dailies, as well as background decoding of all camera files — and we continue to add support for new ones, most recently Canon C300, ARRI's DNxHD files and Sony's F65 RAW and SR Master formats.

 

Is Cortex::Convey a radically different application or, essentially, a new and improved iteration of Convey?

 

Cortex::Convey is a new approach to Convey. We realized the power of Convey when users not only continue to be amazed by how much it improves their throughput for dailies, but when they started to use it to create deliverables downstream of dailies. For instance, on several occasions it was being used to create Blu-ray Discs of movies for review as color was being locked in. Convey was not really designed for this purpose, so there were some extra steps one had to go through. But people still preferred it to other approaches in many cases due to its speed and ease of use. We designed Cortex::Convey to handle these use cases as well as it was clear there was a need for a transcoding application with a UI that can be understood by an editor or tape op.

 

In addition, the Cortex platform's architecture is designed to be more modular and extensible so we can be more responsive to the market as its changing much more rapidly than it ever has in the past.  The hardware requirements are also much more flexible and the installation process is easy enough to allow both resellers and end users to configure their own systems.

 

What's the best way to think about the new Cortex platform?

 

The core of the Cortex platform is a newly designed database. Its design has built-in features for extending the schema with custom metadata and for importing and exporting metadata for sharing among the various Cortex applications as well as third-party applications.  There are many great groups of people out there developing new products for different users in production and post on different devices. The technological ecology will continue to evolve, and we're laying the groundwork for being able to share metadata in a coherent way as these changes continue.

 

Are the Cortex features implemented mainly under the hood, or will there be a new look and feel to Cortex applications?

 

Cortex is an entirely new development with a new underlying architecture as well as a new user interface with a more modern look and feel.  A primary focus is being placed on the user experience from the moment the user clicks the link to download the installer.  This extends throughout the application, and we are taking a close look at every way we can make the processes easier or more enjoyable.

 

As for the under-the-hood changes, in addition to the newly designed database, changes were made to lay the groundwork for cameras in the future that shoot at higher resolutions, bit depths and frame rates.  We are leveraging a lot of the technology we have developed over the years with Control Dailies, Convey and Correct, taking the best bits along the way and getting them ready for the years ahead.

 

What kind of customer feedback instigated MTI's thinking about the Cortex concept? What specific issues is it designed to address?

 

We've heard a lot of things over the past 15 years we've been developing applications for digital film restoration and dailies.  I noted the example earlier of customers using Control Dailies and Convey to create Blu-ray viewing copies of deliverables far downstream of dailies. But, more importantly, we're witnessing a historic shift in post-production. Many of the existing applications were developed to the leverage capital investments in infrastructure and consolidated institutional knowledge of a group of industry veterans surrounded by a professional engineering staff.

 

The shift we are seeing now has many of the processes traditionally handled at a facility are moving under production's roof, whether on the set, in the production office, or in the cutting room.  In these settings, the users responsible for getting the work done don't always have access to the same technical resources that were available in the facility.  And since its a moving target, the responsibilities for a particular process may be on set for one project and in the cutting room for the next. The Cortex platform is designed to be the foundation of MTI Film's future development as the technical and structural landscape of post production continues to evolve.