Class on Demand Report Card

News, views, and information from COD | April 2010

Class on Demand now viewable in 3-D!

CS5 training coming soon Award winning COD instructor, Tim Kolb, will be in the studio soon producing two new titles: “Complete Training for Premiere Pro CS5” and ”Getting Started with Adobe Production Premium CS5”. Judging by all the hoopla surrounding CS5 and the marketing budget that Adobe is spending on this release we expect to see a major adoption of the Creative Suite product around the world. The critics have spoken There is a fantastic review of our FCP 7 training in Final Cut Producer this month. Andy Coon is extremely complementary about Tom Wolsky’s approach and depth of knowledge on Final Cut. This quote sums it up: “This is by far the best training series that I have seen for Final Cut Pro. I’m a huge advocate for the Apple Pro Training Series but this is a step up from that and, with the expertise of Tom Wolsky, is hands-down first-rate training.” > Read the full review here Supermeet superfun! Once again, we want to thank you for stopping by the Class on Demand table at the recent Final Cut Supermeet at the Rio hotel in Las Vegas during NAB. While we thought the attendance may have been a little less than last year, the energy level, excitement and willingness to buy our training at 50% off was certainly a little up on previous years. We enjoy supporting these events with our sponsorship and door prize giveaways and look forward to seeing you at future Supermeets. Wireless course released on COD IT training site Following on the success of our first training course aimed at IT professionals Class on Demand releases “Implementing Wireless Networks Using the HP ProCurve MultiService Mobility Solution” this week. Instructed by industry veteran and wireless expert, Bill Giannattasio, the course provides over four-hours of in depth information on planning, installing, testing and managing wireless networks within the workplace. > Check out the course here

Paul Holtz Fires Back

Everywhere you walked at NAB people were donning 3-D glasses and staring at screens. 3-D was everywhere. As I was offered glasses by pretty hostesses in almost every booth I started to try it out and some of the images are truly amazing. Like millions of others, I went to see Avatar. I have to admit I was not one of those lining up for opening day, it took me two weeks and a dozen or more of my friends to encourage me to fork over the $10 to see what all the fuss was about.

I arrived at my local theater in Algonquin early, figuring a seat in the middle of the auditorium, half way up, would be an ideal 3D viewing location. Armed with my $20 tub of popcorn and $15 vat of Coke I sat back in the less than comfortable chair. The fact that these chairs don’t recline reminds me of something I heard on the radio last week. Budget airline, Spirit, following up on its resoundingly unpopular announcement that they will charge for carry-on baggage just announced another bombshell. To get more seats on the plane and presumably to lower the manufacturing cost of the seats, they will no longer offer reclining seats to their passengers. However, their marketing department is working overtime, as they will be providing “PRE-RECLINED SEATS!”

I digress. Wearing 3-D glasses takes a bit of getting used to, they are not comfortable and your brain is constantly telling you this is not normal. However, the stunning visuals emanating from the screen soon have you forgetting the discomfort. My engineering and creative brain combination spent the first 30-minutes trying to figure out just how they produced such incredibly life-like graphics and seamlessly integrated live action and motion capture. After a while, I gave up trying to figure it out and simply absorbed the movie for what it was; a marvel of technology and creative inspiration from a master storyteller.

With my experience at Avatar stuck in my mind I looked more critically at the 3-D displays and demonstrations at NAB. My sense is these exhibitors were still demoing 3-D 1.0, while James Cameron was giving us a glimpse of 3-D 3.0. Having watched the industry adopt HD at a snail’s pace (HD was first shown at NAB in the early 80’s), I’m left to wonder if we will take as long to fully embrace this whole new way of producing and delivering content. One thing’s for sure, 3-D is the new black and lots of people will be making money with it long before it becomes an adopted standard for viewing. Look for the Class on Demand tutorial for 3-D production in the near future.