With, "Ability to Learn and Grow" as one of our company core values, it's hard not to put our money where our mouth is.
We spent 10% of the years profits in technology upgrades this year so that the very best artist, film makers and programmers (our team) get the very best tools to work with. Our goal is to get the tools that can drive efficiency and help our creative staff produce some of the best work this industry has to offer.
Here are the recent purchases made for the Production Floor:
Current Hardware Upgrades and Purchases
SR3, DELL Studio XPS 9100 i7 980x Extreme
SR4, DELL Studio XPS 9100 i7 920
Current Software Upgrades and Purchases
3D Studio Max 2011
Auto Cad LT 2011
Office 2010
VRay 2.0
Photoshop CS5
After Effects CS5 (select computers)
Master Collection CS5 (on Project Manager Computers only)
I hate to see anyone go but we must say farewell to Anil Mohammed (the intern)
Anil is off to work for NASA (JSC) for 15 weeks, starting January 15th, he will put his Univ. of Ill. Urbana Aeronautical Engineering studies to some really cool use - he mentioned he was going to help them build inflatable
rafts for astronauts - i'll be honest I spaced
out as he was telling me what project he will
be working on (ha ha - get the pun, SPACED out)
He will be missed, but this gives him
a chance to tell all of his new NASA buddies about what cool things he did for us and maybe we can get a
chance to animate out some inflatable space rafts for them :)
Good Luck to you Anil, and hope to see you in Mars someday
Anil, by the way, we still have the video of you Hula Dancing at Joe's Crab Shack and will continue to send it in our Birthday E-Greetings to customers.
Why wait to get the E-Greeting... Here is the video for you amusement!
Web Research is extremely important in the digital age of marketing - understanding your web traffic, your competitors and the overall effectiveness of your site takes some time. With online tools available to all of us, (Yes, even my competitors), it makes information about your site and your competitors a bit easier to retrieve and cheaper.
Here are 5 FREE web research tools I can't live without
#1. Alexa: The Web Information Company
Alexa is a FREE (and we like that word around here, so we will write it again) Free Public Site Stats website. A lot of people we talk to don't seem to think the tool is perfect, but it's free and can be very useful. www.Alexa.com
Advantages
* Alexa provides site ranking (were the lower the number the better you are), because it is public you can also see your competitors site ranking
* You can see other vital information such as demographic, related site and keywords about your site
* No Log-In or sign up required to view information
#2. WayBack Machine
We really like the wayback machine, partly because it is hours of fun. This tool allows you to see how your website looked in the past, but the great thing is it will let you see other companies web sites as well. http://www.archive.org/web/web.php
Advantages
* When it is up, sometimes a bit slow, will give you access to a series of times you had made web edits on your site.
* You can see how your competitors developed over the years, especially if you are new dog in town you might realize that people progressed to where they are today.
#3. Google Alerts
Setting up Google Alerts is easy but will require you to have a google account which is Free. Google Alerts allows you to get up-to-the google spotting of your search term email to you as it happens. Use it keep track of your clients, competitors and yourself. http://www.google.com/alerts
Advantages
* Lets you stay current on news, web entries, blogs etc... on your searched keyword
* Allows you to pick the frequency and type of sites you want google to watch out for. * Emails you as per your frequency * note: Use "" to have google look for specific search terms. e.g. "Studio Rendering"
#4. KeyWord Spy
This site makes me feel dirty, it basically allows you to spy on your competitors keywords and keyword budgets. Although it is really not accurate based on the info it shows about myself, we use it to get ideas of new keywords for google adwords. http://www.keywordspy.com
Advantages
* You can freely access top ten keywords that link to any site
* No need for a login or subscription unless you need more information
#5. Manta
This is one of my favorite places to go to find out more about a company, tends to have somewhat accurate information. I use it to discover companies listed NAICS or SIC Codes for direct mail use. I go in to learn more about a customer and use it to find similar customers www.manta.com
Advantages
* Allows you to see the companies SIC or NAICS code and you can search other companies with similar code.
* Shows roughly the size of the company, good estimate considering what it shows for us.
That’s Right! Studio Rendering celebrates its 4th Birthday.
Time to take off that diaper, put on some training wheels and discover the world in a whole new light. This year we're ready for all the challenges that come our way - we have been working on our blocks, can spell "KAT" with the best of them and recite our ABC’s forward and backwards. So, bring it on, were ready to hit 5.
Although there is much to celebrate, we do have to take a moment of silence.
You will be missed but not forgotten, we Salute you
Goodbye SR1 :
SR1, was the first ever computer we put together, a supermicro workstation with (2) Quad Core intel xeon 3.73 ghz processors, 1g graphics and a render time that made 3D NASCAR drivers jealous. Although the computer set us back a whopping 8k and no one knew where we would get the money to pay for it, we somehow managed the expense.
SR1 was an amazing piece of equipment to work on and paved the way for the type of innovative 3D company we imagined this studio to be. SR1 gave us unimaginable turn times in the industry (we did our first same day turn on that machine) and a level of quality we could not do with off the shelf computing.
Although when it got warm in the office, SR1 made this annoying whistling sound like an old tea kettle (What was up with that Supermicro?) I remember it like it were yesterday when I screwed your processor down, and you will be just a part of this company's history as the HP laptop that started it all.
Studio Rendering, Inc. wins Bronze Telly award for its animation in the Xprotex web video, to see the video visit the Xprotex site http://xprotex.com/demo-video.php
New York City, NY -- (June 25, 2010)The Winners of the 31st Annual Telly Awards have been announced. With nearly 11,000 entries from all 50 states and numerous countries, this year’s Telly Awards has been one of the most successful and competitive in the long history of the Telly Awards.
Founded in 1979, the Telly Awards is the premier award honoring outstanding local, regional, and cable TV commercials and programs, the finest video and film productions, and web commercials, videos and films. Winners represent the best work of the most respected advertising agencies, production companies, television stations, cable operators, and corporate video departments in the world.
For its 31st season, The Telly Awards joined forces with YouTube to give the public the power to view and rate videos submitted as part of the first ever People's Telly Awards. Now, in addition to recognition from the Silver Telly Council, the judging panel that selects Telly Award winners, the Internet community helped decide this year's People's Telly Award Winners.
This year’s Winners include companies, agencies and organizations of all sizes, from large multinational media companies to small ad agencies and local production houses. A sample of Winners includes: AEG Network Live, American Masters/WNET, AOL Media, Astrocast.tv, Bass Pro Shops Film & Video, Boehringer Ingelheim, Booz Allen Hamilton, CBS Television Distribution, Comcast Spotlight, Cox Sports Television, Discovery Channel, Eagles Television Network, Elvis Presley Enterprises, ESPN, Fox Sports International, Golf Channel, Harpo Studios, Hasbro, Hewlett-Packard, Learning Seed, Lockheed Martin, Miami Dolphins, Microsoft, NBC Universal, New York Jets, Outdoor Channel, PGA Tour Productions, State Farm Insurance, Suddenlink Media, The Weather Channel, TV Guide Network, Weber Shandwick, Women in Film. To view the complete list of Silver Telly winners for the 31st Annual competition, please visit www.tellyawards.com.
A prestigious judging panel of over 500 accomplished industry professionals, each a past Winner of a Silver Telly and a member of The Silver Telly Council, judged the competition, upholding the historical standard of excellence that Telly represents. The Silver Council evaluated entries to recognize distinction in creative work – entries do not compete against each other - rather entries are judged against a high standard of merit. Less than 10% of entries are chosen as Winners of a Silver Telly, our highest honor. Other outstanding work is awarded a Bronze Telly. For a complete list of Silver Telly Council Members, please visit www.tellyawards.com.
To find out more about the Telly Awards, please visit our website at www.tellyawards.com.
Please contact Linda Day at the Telly Awards (lindad@tellyawards.com) for public relations inquiries: (212)675-3555.
About Studio Rendering, Inc.
Studio Rendering, Inc is a 3d Visualization Studio, specializing in state of the art 3D Animation, Photo Realistic Renderings and Engaging Web interactive tools for Architects, Marketing Agencies, and Product Developers
© 2011 Studio Rendering, Inc. all right reserved
