In the first of our new series of Creative COW Magazine Web Extras, we expand on Stephen Smith's outstanding article, Perfect Color Keys: A Checklist. Stephen's article covers optimizing every option for keying backgrounds, from green paper to constructing a full green screen area in your studio. One of the most critical things you'll find in his article is specific advice for successful lighting, including an easy to understand illustration of ideal light set-up. In this Creative COW Magazine Web Extra, we comb The COW's 1.3 million posts to bring you the very best information on one of the most frequently asked questions here at the CreativeCOW: What's the best way to key HDV? By downloading this article now, you'll be a step ahead of the print subscribers for the magazine, as you can get this issue without registering for a subscription. But this preview is only good until June 18, so don't delay! Of course, there's no reason why you shouldn't be subscribed to The COW magazine already. It's fast, easy, at no cost. We've never sold our members' names for any reason, and we never will. Read More... Download the May-June issue of The Creative COW Magazine here! Spread. print,. etc.

Meet our newest COW Leader: Russell Lasson in the Apple Final Cut Pro community! Russell got a different start with Final Cut Pro than most people in The COW: he sold it at the Apple store in southern California's South Coast Plaza Mall! Of course, he was also teaching Final Cut Pro classes. After a year in Southern California, Russell returned to Utah, finished his BA, and started working with Kaleidoscope Pictures as their Lead Editor and Post Production Supervisor. Since then, he's spent many days and long nights in The COW, where his wit is a big a part of his posts as his helpfulness. "I just want to thank everyone who participates to make the Cow possible," he says. "It's such a great resource and community that takes a lot of time and effort from so many different people. Thanks and keep up the good work!" You can read the rest of Russell's profile here.

The BIG News from WWDC! Apple's Worldwide Developer's Conference is going on this week in San Francisco. WIth over 240 sessions on six technology tracks, this is where engineer's start building the future of the Mac platform. Of course, we're starting to see some peeks into that future, starting with Steve Jobs' keynote address to kick things off. Here's the news we have so far! Apple Unveils Near Final Mac OS X Leopard Apple Introduces Safari for Windows iPhone to Support Third-Party Web 2.0 Applications New Mac OS X Server Leopard Features Watch the WWDC Keynote Address

Visit our newest community: Telestream Episode! Since 1998, Telestream has been providing world-class solutions for encoding, transcoding, custom workflow for broadcast and streaming, and many other components of the transformation of digital media distribution. Whew! Sound like a lot? It is! You may have seen Telestream's name on their Flip4Mac software. It provides QuickTime support for WMV, and adds a number of professional components to Final Cut Pro (including support for XDCAM, Editcam, Infinity and more).

CalDigit ships the first truly configurable 2TB FireWire RAID CalDigit's new FireWireVR is the market's only 2 drive configurable, true hardware FireWire RAID. Rather than fixed configurations, you can easily set RAID 0, RAID 1, and JBOD functions. In case anything goes wrong, the FireWireVR has a swappable drive design, allowing users to quickly replace the drive before rebuilding it. FireWireVT is certified by professional capture card companies including Matrox and Blackmagic Desig, and supports applications including Adobe Final Cut Pro, Adobe Premiere Pro, and Adobe Lightroom. Best of all, the performance supports 8 and 10-bit uncompressed SD with no problem. Read more...

The Lighting Design Pros Forum: Because TV without Lights is RADIO And because not every problem can be fixed in post. Better to get it right while you're shooting. Whether you're a seasoned lighting vet, or just need advice from some of the industry's true experts, the Lighting Design Pros community will help you see the light! Here are a just a few of the project-saving tips you'll find: Digital Video and Flourescent Lighting Help Lighting purchase advice help please Silk tip, interesting find Lighting with backlight Creating a Studio from Scratch Trying to set up a blue background light

HOT INDUSTRY NEWS: Telestream Episode Integration with Final Cut Studio 2 Now Available Episode 4.3.1 release enables industry-first direct integration with Compressor 3, extending media encoding capabilities to more formats for Final Cut Pro users MORE Broadcast Asia 2007 Harris Corporation Showcases Integrated Broadcast Workflow Solutions at Broadcast Asia 2007 Harris Corporation , an international communications and information technology company, is showcasing a wide range of innovative broadcast workflow solutions at the Broadcast Asia 2007 exhibition and conference being held June 19 - 22 at the Singapore Expo, Halls 7 and 8. MORE Automatic Duck Ships Pro Import AE 4.0 Highly-Anticipated Pro Import AE 4.0 Adds Integration with Red Giant Software Magic Bullet Colorista, After Effects CS3 and MacIntel Compatibility, Support for Popular New FX Plug-Ins and Advanced Interface For Multiple New Import Options Automatic Duck, the creators of Timeline Integration Engine software for digital media artists, today announced the immediate availability of Pro Import AE 4.0. MORE Framestore CFC Selects REALVIZ® Movimento For Their 2007/2008 Film Production Slate REALVIZ®, a leader in image processing software development, is pleased to announce that Europe's leading visual effects and computer animation studio, Framestore CFC, has selected Movimento as their motion capture solution of choice for their 2007/2008 film production program. MORE Nexsan Leads With Ultra-Dense Energy Efficient Storage Arrays Built Using Hitachi One-Terabyte Hard Drives All Nexsan storage systems move up 33% in capacity, while maintaining the most energy efficient RAID systems available today Nexsan Technologies, the leader in secure and energy efficient storage solutions, today announced that it is offering storage systems featuring Hitachi Global Storage Technologies’ new Ultrastar™ A7K1000 one-terabyte enterprise-class hard drives, which will immediately be incorporated into the company’s award-winning SATABeast, SATABoy and SATABlade products. MORE Automatic Duck & Red Giant Team Up to Bridge the Color Correction Gap Between FCP and AE Technology Collaboration Enables Final Cut Pro Users to Seamlessly Export High Quality Color Correction Work To After Effects Automatic Duck and Red Giant Software, announced today that the two companies have partnered to bridge the color correction workflow gap between Apple Final Cut Pro and Adobe After Effects. MORE Deltacast Announces Expansion Of Delta-sdi Family Of Professional Video Cards New Offerings Provide Developers and OEMs Wide Choice of Cards for Broadcast Solutions DELTACAST is pleased to announce that it has expanded its line of SDI cards with the addition of eight new Delta-sdi offerings. This impressive new array of cards provides developers, OEMs and system integrators with many more options to build into their video solutions. MORE Toon Boom Supports the World Children’ Festival Emmy award-winning Toon Boom Animation, Inc. today announced its collaboration with the International Child Art Foundation to give away Toon Boom Studio Express to all the children participating at the World Children’s Festival, held on the National Mall, Washington DC on June 23-25, 2007. MORE TriCaster to Stream Largest Multimedia Broadcast Press Event in Disneyland's History Breakthrough Production Device to Play Crucial Role in Promotion for Popular Finding Nemo Submarine Voyage Attraction NewTek, Inc., manufacturer of industry-leading video and 3D animation products, announced that its TriCasterPRO portable video production device has been chosen by Knockout Digital Media to stream Disneyland’s media coverage of its two-day press event to commemorate the return of the Finding Nemo Submarine Voyage attraction on June 10 and 11. MORE Apple Unveils Near Final Mac OS X Leopard Apple® today unveiled a near final version of Mac OS® X Leopard, the sixth major release of the world’s most advanced operating system. MORE Apple Introduces Safari for Windows Public Beta Available Today for Mac & Windows Apple® today introduced Safari™ 3, the world’s fastest and easiest-to-use web browser for Windows PCs and Macs. MORE iPhone to Support Third-Party Web 2.0 Applications Innovative New Way to Create Applications for iPhone Apple® today announced that its revolutionary iPhone™ will run applications created with Web 2.0 Internet standards when it begins shipping on June 29. MORE Apple Announces New Mac OS X Server Leopard Features Apple® today announced groundbreaking new features of Mac OS® X Server version 10.5 Leopard that make it even easier for users to set up and manage. MORE MAXON software featured in Spider-Man 3 effects pipeline BodyPaint 3D and CINEMA 4D exclusive 3D texturing and digital matte environment software used. MAXON's software played an important role in the making of Spider-Man™ 3 according to visual effects powerhouse Sony Pictures Imageworks, Inc. For this record-smashing blockbuster, Sony Pictures Imageworks utilized CINEMA 4D and BodyPaint 3D as part of their production pipeline to bring the third installment of the Spider-Man franchise to the big screen. MORE Adobe Integrated Runtime (AIR) Beta Now Available New Adobe AIR Beta Features Local Database, PDF and Ajax Support Adobe Systems Incorporated today released the beta version of Adobe® Integrated Runtime , formerly code named Apollo. Adobe AIR™ is a cross-operating system application runtime that allows developers to use HTML/CSS, Ajax, Adobe Flash® and Adobe Flex™ to extend rich Internet applications to the desktop. MORE Adobe Launches Flex 3 Public Beta Includes New Capabilities for Faster RIA Development; Kicks-Off Open Source Initiative Adobe Systems Incorporated today announced the public beta of Adobe® Flex™ 3 software, the cross platform, complementary open source framework for creating rich Internet applications . MORE Progressive Productions Makes Panasonic AJ-HDX900S Preferred Cameras For Music Videos, Documentaries, Promotions Progressive Productions , a production company long known for top-end projects shot with Panasonic AJ-SDX900 DVCPRO50 Cinema cameras has traded up to Panasonic's AJ-HDX900 multi-format DVCPRO HD camcorders. MORE Ikegami And Toshiba Provide Details Of Advanced New Tapeless HD ENG Camera, Editing, And Production System All-New Tapeless HD ENG Solution Includes Digital Camcorder, Field Recorder, and Studio Deck Using Flash Memory For Efficient Workflow From Acquisition to Archiving Officially announced on the opening day of NAB 2007, Ikegami and Toshiba Corp. have formed a strategic joint-development partnership to develop and promote an advanced video production/editing system for broadcasters and video professionals. MORE Humble Daisy Announces 30% discount on ProfCast during WWDC Humble Daisy is offering a special promotion on ProfCast 2.1.3, the company's flagship lecture recording and podcast creation software. MORE Ulead® VideoStudio® 11 Now Certified for Windows Vista™ VideoStudio Experience on Windows Vista Delivers Outstanding Video Editing, Authoring and Sharing to New and Advanced Users Corel Corporation today announced that Ulead® VideoStudio® 11 and Ulead VideoStudio 11 Plus, the latest versions of its award-winning consumer video editing and DVD authoring software, have been Certified for Windows Vista. MORE Avalon Traveler Now Available In Graphite K-Tek’s popular Avalon Traveler, the first professional boom pole designed to fit in a standard equipment case, is now available in a sturdy lighter weight, carbon fiber version. MORE Mr. Wonderful Designs Action-Packed Show Open For America's Cup On Versus Continuing its successful relationship with VERSUS, design studio Mr. Wonderful was recently called upon to create a heart-pounding show open and animation package for the most prestigious regatta, the America's Cup. MORE Iconix HD-RH1 Video Camera Used In 'Ocean's Thirteen' Point-of-View Camera Enables 'Ocean's Thirteen' Production Team to Acquire High Definition Shot From Within a Roulette Wheel Iconix Video, a leading developer of advanced high-definition camera systems and maker of the world's smallest professional quality HD video camera, announced today the use of the Iconix HD-RH1 camera on the Warner Bros. feature, "Ocean's Thirteen," the third and final installment in the blockbuster "Ocean's" series. MORE Class On Demand Rolls Out Comprehensive Training For Dreamweaver Self-paced training gives step-by-step instruction for new users to create professional web sites using Adobe Dreamweaver Class on Demand , a provider of professional educational products for technology and creative markets, today announced a brand new training title for Adobe Dreamweaver; “Dreamweaver for Designers”. MORE Petrol Introduces Sound Knapsack Petrol, a Vitec Group brand, introduces the Sound Knapsack. This new, professional knapsack transports sound gear and accessories comfortably and securely and keeps them organized, safe and accessible on the job. MORE For more industry news, visit the COW News & Press Releases forum at: http://forums.creativecow.net/cgi-bin/new_view_posts.cgi?forumid=105