Wednesday, April 11th, 2012 Posted by Jim Thacker

Shotgun Software announces Revolver


All-in-one shot review tool Revolver will make its public debut at NAB next week.

Shotgun Software has announced Revolver, an all-in-one review toolset for animation and VFX studios, developed in partnership with Tweak Software.

Pitched as a “personal screening room”, Revolver is intended to enable artists to view their work in the context of the latest cut without the need to go directly to an editor. Tweak’s industry-standard playback tool, RV, is integrated into the software, which also includes shot markup and annotation tools.

The software includes an integrated HTML5 web player, optimised for playback on mobile devices, and an optional Alembic-based 3D model viewer developed by Fabric Engine – the first use of the technology we’ve seen in a commercial application.

The announcement follows the release of Hiero last month. The Foundry’s ‘lightweight shot manager’ exists in a similar grey area between conventional VFX, editing and shot-management tools.

Revolver is currently in private beta and will make its debut at NAB next week. The commercial launch is scheduled for early summer. There are some early pricing details in the official announcement below.

PRESS RELEASE (Excerpts)
Shotgun announced it has teamed up with Tweak on a new product called Revolver that provides digital studios with an all-in-one review toolset. Revolver combines production tracking and review, making it easy for teams in any location to view their latest work in context of the cut, browse and compare iterations, annotate on images, write notes, and collaborate on work in real-time. A web-player provides access to the work from any browser or mobile device, and Tweak?s high-end native player RV is deeply integrated to provide real-time playback of high res frames from local storage at the desktop or in the screening room. Additional players like an Alembic viewer from Fabric Engine will be offered as optional apps, allowing studios to customize their ideal review pipeline.

Shotgun and Tweak will be exhibiting Revolver at NAB, April 16-19 at the Las Vegas Convention Center in booth #13416; visit for a live Revolver demonstration or go to www.shotgunsoftware.com/revolver for an online preview.

“Shotgun has become the fabric that ties our industry together,? said Seth Rosenthal, CEO of Tweak Software. ?They have already done a brilliant job of foreseeing the collaborative, social, connected future of production. Revolver is the inevitable next step – we seriously hope it will help our friends and colleagues in the industry spend more time making great images and less time fighting with outmoded tools.”

?We?re working with Tweak to take review to a new level. A level where review is so seamless that studios dealing with spiking complexity are finally freed to focus on the work instead of wasting time dealing with the logistics of managing media, documents, time-zones, and data?, said Don Parker, Shotgun’?s CEO. ?The result is like having a personal screening room on every desk, and on any device, catering to your every need at any time of day.?

Powerful Features

  • Visual browsing of assets, shots and playlists across multiple projects.
  • View the latest work in context of the cut, with or without handles.
  • Integrated search and visual filtering.
  • View one or more versions in the timeline, or compare them at the same time.
  • Annotate right on the images or write notes that go directly back to the artists.
  • View what will be or has been seen in dailies.
  • Supports media stored on a local file system or media uploaded to Shotgun managed cloud storage.
  • Smart Playlists create filter-driven ?in-boxes? of work based on saved filters.
  • Playback on any screen, from screening room to desktop to mobile device.

Built on the Shotgun Platform
Revolver is built on the Shotgun platform, providing a powerful and flexible cloud-based framework for production tracking, collaboration, and integration. Revolver leverages much of the platform, including the customizable database, Python API, event stream for event-driven automation, advanced user account and permission management, and custom web-based interfaces for advanced layout control. Revolver will be made available as an add-on for Shotgun clients or a stand-alone product.

Optional Apps: 3D Alembic File Review from Fabric Engine
A web-based Alembic player created by Fabric Engine will also be available as an optional add-on, allowing studios to review and annotate on 3D alembic files.

?We were amazed how fast the integration came together and how cool the results are? said Paul Doyle, CEO of Fabric Engine. ?The next generation of tools for artists should look a lot like what we?re doing here. This type of mash-up that provides huge value to studios is exactly the type of work we?re hoping to make possible with our tools.?

Beta Tester Buzz
?The ability for any artist or supervisor to bring up our latest versions within the context of the cut on their own workstation is a fantastic boon. It frees them up to view dailies at a time that suits them and frees up the review suites, which are always in demand for time.?
— Andrew Bunday, Head of Pipeline, Baseblack

“Revolver enables us to finally set up a review pipeline between different production places all around the world in a unifying interface. Having a studio in China fill in versions and footage, based on a Shotgun project developed in Berlin and being reviewed by a director in Munich becomes a breeze. Everyone can just fire it up, start reviewing and get the notes-work done with unprecedented speed and ease.?
— Frank Lenhard, Managing Director, PiXABLE STUDIOS GmbH & Co. KG”

?With Revolver the industry finally has an off-the-shelf solution for a professional and flexible revision pipeline as well as a simple and effective publishing workflow. The visual shot browsing and review round-trip is easy to set up and a perfect stepping-stone into a professional production environment. What used to tie up a lot of development time, yet not always deliver the desired results, is now available as a ready-to-roll package built specifically for production.?
— Frank Rueter, VFX Supervisor, OHUfx

Pricing & Availability
Revolver is currently in private beta with more than 30 studios and will be released publicly in early summer. Revolver will be available with a range of options to help studios customize their review pipelines. Prices start at a $19 subscription fee per user per month, or studios can opt to purchase instead. Revolver can be used with existing licenses of RV, or customers can purchase low-cost monthly RV subscriptions directly through Shotgun.

Read more about Revolver on the Shotgun Software website