Prime Focus Software releases administration & rendering toolkit 'Deadline 4.0'

Prime Focus Software, the R&D and software development arm of Prime Focus has announced the release of Deadline 4.0, the company’s easy- to-use administration and rendering toolkit for Windows, Linux and Mac OSX-based render farms. This new version includes improved Mac OSX support, enhanced scalability and stability, in addition to an abundance of key new features.

    The release of Deadline 4.0 follows many months of intensive beta testing. Commented beta tester and longtime Deadline user Mike Owen, senior technical director, Burrows Nvisage, “Even during the early stages of the beta program, it was obvious Deadline 4.0 was going to be an extremely feature-rich release. The new slave throttling and network load reduction features are brilliant at handling larger data files and keep Deadline highly responsive to users at all times. The development of Deadline continues to remain highly inventive with lots of new functionality whilst remaining stable and reliable under fire in production.”

    “Most notable in this release is the number of subtle enhancements that have been made, to not just the main applications, but also all the underlying software-specific scripts,” continued Owen. “Multithreaded remote command execution and status feedback is fantastic for keeping control and ensuring consistency of our software load and configuration on all our slaves, and the new Pulse web service opens up a world of new possibilities for communicating information to other systems in our pipeline. I can’t wait to get my hands on the forthcoming iPhone app!”

    Commented first-time Deadline customer Matt Griffith, lead compositor at Mechnology Visual Effects, “Deadline 4.0 was one of the easiest programs to install and configure for Mac OSX. As a first-time customer, I’ve been very impressed with the software’s intuitive interface and slick performance. Deadline 4.0 is an incredibly solid release.”

    New Features in Deadline 4.0 includes:

    - Improved Mac OSX support: ffmpeg, Fusion 6, Generation, Maxwell 2, Maxwell for Maya, Maya

    - 2010, MetaFuze, Modo 401, POV-Ray, Softimage 2010, Toxik 2010, Vue 8 and Nuke 6

    - Enhanced scalability and stability

    - Customizable themes for the user interface

    - Compatibility with Prime Focus Software’s upcoming Deadline iPhone application

    Deadline 4.0 is now available through Prime Focus Software. Please visit http://software.primefocusworld.com for additional information or contact Deirdre O’Reilly: [email protected] Deadline is available for a list price starting at US$140 per render node plus US$35 for the first year of support and upgrades for the first 25 nodes purchased.