Discreet Smoke HD DI 6.7 $285000 versus what FCP setup?

Its not the gear its the artist.

If your name is George Lucas and you own copyright on one of the most lucrative entertainment franchises in history, then sure why not get your company the entire Discreet lineup or even a Discreet farm (ILM fyi).

If your name is Peter Jackson and you've developed a VFX company in your homeland and need to play it safer with budget until they prove themselves, then get Shake and a team of artists who know how to use it (Weta Digital fyi).

VFX done in After Effects, Shake, Combustion, and/or Discreet products can all look wonderful and work seamlessly in their given proejcts. It depends upon the nature of the project and the talent of your artists (and sometimes technitions) that will determine your final result. One application might help you get there a bit easier or in a more streamlined fashion, but I bet the high end user of the rival application could do it too, just perhaps have to put in a few more hours in the suite. The comparisons can be fun, frustrating, and/or fruitless. In the end though it'll still be the people who will make the difference, not the 0's and 1's.

cheers.
 
Actually, I think George Lucas has his own custom system designed from the ground up. Which is the way I'd go, if I had a million dollars...

...and everyone here would own a Varicam, if I had a million dollars...
 
To my understanding Lucas' people use big name (Discreet, etc) products. However, they also staff programers who tweak the hell out of it. So its a pretty customized setup and far beyond anyone else's rig. And that is just one aspect of the company that I've seen documented. I wouldn't be surprised thought if its a large blend of professional products and propritary creations. But yah, to get that you need be in a state where using a $100 bill to light your cigarette is not an issue.

As for the Varicam, well.... If you go down this one back alley, at night, and talk to this one dude, w/ a peculiar accent, he can sell you a Varicam B for less than even and HVX would cost :Drogar-Evil(DBG):.

cheers.
 
What about FCP studio + Combustion? They don't integrate at all but I still prefer Combustion to AFX (let alone Motion ...) and it can replace Shake pretty well in most cases as well, except for massive 100 layer composites maybe ... and it's UB ...
 
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