Today we were invited to the Foundry's Hiero tech demo. It was sold to me as a "Timeline for Nuke/Nuke X," however, upon the start of the demo it was clear that it was more than just a timeline. Last year Foundry announced Storm, a data wrangling tool that enabled the entry of metadata and application of basic grades to newly-ingested clips.
A year has come and gone and though development on Storm had been progressive, not many customers were buying it. The announcement of Red Cine-X Pro did not help either, and was the final nail in Storm's coffin. As Storm dies, Hiero is born and ports Storm's "best bits" across. Yes there is a timeline, but what makes Hiero interesting is that it also has elements of a fully functioning nonlinear editing program. It has a conform tool, cut/trim, metadata, etc. It also round trips with Nuke very well and you are able to layer composites, i.e. FCP to Motion, Premiere to After Effects, etc.
Though only in Alpha stage at present, the potential is there for Hiero to be a great tool for Nuke artists to help manage the media. With all the features of Hiero, and if it continues to be developed, it begs the question, are The Foundry entering into the nonlinear editing market?
For more information on Hiero head on over to http://www.thefoundry.co.uk/products/hiero/.
Sam Johnson got his start as a runner in Soho, learning the ropes on Avid systems and working his way up the ladder. He is now a Production/Post-Production Engineer for the LAB, AMV BBDO's post facility, and specializes in Apple Pro Applications & Xsan Environments. He also provides consultancy to the TV department. Learn more about AMV BBDO at http://www.amvlab.com.