Imagineer Systems
Imagineer develops a cross-platform film post product tool with the help of Qt.
Imagineer Systems Ltd innovates and markets next-generation visual effects solutions for film, video and broadcast post production markets. In response to a groundswell desire for a more innovative approach to VFX, Imagineer Systems has developed an entirely new VFX architecture, one that embraces better integration, collaboration, performance and feels like an extension of the creative thought process – mogul. Imagineer Systems has made its mark on such marquis Hollywood blockbuster productions as Casino Royale, Pirates of the Caribbean and Harry Potter. Imagineer’s product line consists of monet™ - placement station, mokey™ - removal station, motor™ - roto station, mocha™ - tracking station and mofex™ - plug-in for Shake
The Challenge
Imagineer wanted to transform its industry-leading video and film post production tool, mokey, from a standalone Windows application to a cross-platform solution that would support Linux, Mac and Irix as well as Windows. The development team wanted to ensure that the toolkit they chose would minimize efforts to develop and maintain the application on multiple platforms, allowing the team to focus its efforts on adding functionality. They also needed a robust framework that contained all the elements and features essential to developing cutting-edge applications.
The Solution
Imagineer found what it needed in Qt- it provided all the classes necessary to develop advanced cross-platform applications, such as OpenGL widget, threads, XML parser, networking classes and language translation mechanisms. In addition, Qt allowed the development team to save time by having to maintain only a single source tree. Once the Qt code was written, porting to a new platform was simply a matter of recompiling.
The Value
Simplifying the software development process reduced time to market and saved resources. The company was also able to expand its market reach with the addition of the Irix, Linux and Mac platforms.
The fact that we can easily develop and maintain mokey on four platforms has led to additional revenue and allowed us to reach a wider market without significant increase in cost. And in addition to all the cross-platform benefits and cost savings, Qt is simply great fun to develop with. Even if we were developing on a single platform the decision to go with Qt would have been the right one. - Allan Jaenicke, Managing Director and Co-Founder, Imagineer
