Pinnacle Systems Ships Commotion Pro 4

Post Production Community Gains Advanced Visual Effects Desktop Solution Aug. 7 /PRNewswire/ -- Pinnacle Systems, Inc. (Nasdaq: PCLE) is now shipping Commotion Pro 4, the Company's integrated paint, composite, and special effects software. Commotion Pro was used on every nominated film for Best Visual Effects at the 2001 Academy Awards and continues to play a major role in the production of blockbuster films, prime time television shows and Internet video. Commotion Pro 4 offers dramatic speed gains in the areas of composite and paint. Commotion Pro 4 also offers significant workflow advancements and new features that simplify and quicken the work performed by visual effects artists. "Commotion Pro has made a significant impact on the film and television production community," said Michael Tomiuk, Senior Effects Animator for Kaotics Inc., a motion picture and post-production effects studio based in Alberta, Canada. "The software makes seemingly impossible paint, composite, and visual effects possible and easy to accomplish -- no matter what the size is of your production."

"With Commotion Pro 4, we continue our focus on providing a rich application for creating visual effects," said Sean Safreed, senior product manager for the Professional Division at Pinnacle Systems, Inc. "Our engineers have worked tirelessly to perfect this new version, bringing greater speed and improved tools to our many users."

Optimized Paint and Compositing Speed
Commotion Pro 4 has more highly developed algorithms that increase the speed of the paint function by 200% and the composite function by 30%. These speed enhancements will greatly improve user productivity and the ability to complete projects quickly.

Grouping and Browsing Controls in the Timeline
New Grouping and Browsing Controls provide a comprehensive solution for managing composites and working with multiple layers at once. Users can add mattes, color corrections, or other filters and motion controls to multiple layers at once -- all within an easy-to-use folder interface. Groups can be viewed solo in the timeline to more efficiently use screen real estate. Finally, a new timeline browser gives users an overview of the entire composite with controls for selecting, moving and deleting groups and layers.

Real-Time Playback of Standard Definition Clips Using Pinnacle CineWave
Pinnacle CineWave users will be able to view their NTSC, PAL media in real-time. Commotion Video Preview will simply mirror the user's clip to the display, allowing editors to easily and quickly judge the colors and animation timing of their media on an external video monitor as they work.

Adobe Photoshop Layer Import
New with Commotion Pro 4, users may import Adobe Photoshop files into a composite while preserving the individual layer information including transfer modes, transparencies, masks, and names. This new feature further strengthens the integration and complementary nature of Photoshop and Commotion Pro.

Pricing and Availability
Commotion Pro 4.0 is shipping worldwide through select resellers at $995 for Commotion Pro 4 and $495 for Commotion 4. Upgrade pricing for versions 3.0 or earlier is $249 and $149 respectively. Customers who purchased Commotion 3.1 after April 19, 2001 may contact their reseller for a free upgrade. For more information call 800-401-0009 or browse http://www.commotionpro.com .

About Pinnacle Systems, Inc.
Pinnacle Systems' broadcast, desktop, and consumer products provide video professionals and consumers cutting-edge digital video tools to create, store, distribute and view web enabled digital video easier and more affordably than ever before. Pinnacle Systems may be reached at 650-526-1600 or at www.pinnaclesys.com.

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SOURCE Pinnacle Systems, Inc.