SGO has introduced Workflows Slate, a web-based application that transforms the slow, repetitive manual task of creating burn-ins and slates in post-production into a fast, automated, metadata-driven workflow.

For years, post facilities relied upon editing and finishing applications to create burn-ins and slates. Those tools were never designed specifically for the task. However, with Workflows Slate users create professional burn-ins and slate templates in minutes instead of hours, directly in their browsers.

Workflows Slate gives creators, post-production facilities and media companies a smarter alternative to building burn-ins and slates inside complex finishing software. With Workflows Slate, users visually design layouts, automatically populate them with dynamic metadata, generate thumbnails and adapt templates to any client or delivery specifications from a lightweight browser application.

The application allows virtually any metadata parameter to be incorporated into burn-in and slate templates, including custom fields. This enables fully tailored designs that adapt to the specific requirements of clients, post-production facilities, studios, VFX facilities, broadcasters, consumers and distribution platforms, ensuring consistency and accuracy across all deliverables. Slate templates can also generate thumbnail previews automatically, improving identification throughout review and delivery workflows.

“With Workflows Slate, we wanted to remove every unnecessary step from burn-in and slate creation. By bringing the entire process into the browser and making metadata fully dynamic, we’re giving teams the ability to design, adapt and deploy templates in minutes instead of hours—with absolute creative and technical control,” said Adrián González, creative solutions architect at SGO.

Templates created in Workflows Slate can be downloaded and used directly in Workflows Creator or Workflows Runner, where they integrate seamlessly with the platform’s automation and processing engine. The integration ensures a continuous workflow from template creation to final execution.

SGO is offering a 90-day launch promotion. Workflows Slate is a free-to-use application, but there will be a charge when using slate templates in Workflows Creator. As part of the introductory promo, SGO is allowing existing Workflows users and anyone who subscribes within the first 90 days from launch to receive Workflows Slate at no additional cost.

More information is available on the company’s website.

LOS ANGELES—It’s a fab four that will be honored with the Hollywood Professional Association’s 2016 HPA Engineering Excellence Awards, as Aspera, Grass valley, Real D and SGO all will be recognized. According to HPA, the Engineering Excellence Awards spotlight companies and individuals that provide services to the professional media content industry for outstanding technical and creative ingenuity in media, content production, finishing, distribution and/or archiving.

Aspera will be honored for its FASP Stream application software, which enables live streaming of broadcast video globally over commodity internet networks. Grass Valley’s GV Node real time IP processing and edge routing platform has also been tapped for the award; it provides accurate switching of video signals from SDI or IP. The RealD Ultimate Screen is another recipient, delivering images in both 2D and 3D formats. And the group is rounded out with SGO’s Mistika, a DI post-production system.

The HPA Awards will also take time to recognize excellence in 12 craft categories, present the Lifetime Achievement Award to Herb Dow and the Charles S. Swartz Award to Michelle Munson.

All winners and honorees will be recognized during the HPA Awards gala on Nov. 17 in Los Angeles.

MADRID—Software developer SGO and video hardware developer AJA Video Systems are teaming up, as the two companies announced a new integration partnership.

Mistika

As part of the alliance, SGO’s color grading and finishing post-production system Mistika will now be compatible with AJA’s KONA and Corvid video capture and playback cards. This integration of SGO and AJA’s products lines will reportedly boost support for video formats like 4K Stereo 3D dual-link up to 60p HFR frame-rates.

“Our KONA and Corvid families of professional video and audio capture cards have long been the solutions of choice for filmmakers and broadcasters for their reliability and scalability. SGO delivers on that same promise to customers with their advanced Mistika software that supports future-proof workflows and we’re pleased to offer a best-of-breed post-production solution,” said Nick Rashby, president of AJA.

SGO is based in Madrid. AJA has its offices headquarters in Grass Valley, Calif.