Studio

In our Santa Ana studio, we have a Flame suite and a Final Cut Pro-based HD suite. The studio has a full kitchen and comfortable common areas for meetings. Our building is a modern loft space with 12-foot ceilings and a non-traditional layout. When we fitted out the studio we hid over five miles of cable within the walls and attic space. The result is that the majority of the hardware is concentrated in a machine room with dedicated air conditioning. The suites are peaceful and tranquil, without the hum of drive and fans. It also means that the workstations are very flexible and can be switched around very easily. An artist working some 3D magic in the Mac suite on one machine can re-patch their machine to the Flame suite to support a session.

The Flame suite boasts a 65" Professional Plasma display in addition to a calibrated ECinema display. The second artist's seat can support with anything from Motion Graphics to 3D.

The Final Cut suite also uses an ECinema calibrated display and two workstations. And it has a great view to boot. During long editorial sessions this can be very refreshing!

Whether a job is divided across our artists working in-house at An Ideal World or across the country via remote collaboration, we offer a seamless workflow through our FTP and online review software. The same extends to clients who might be a block away or a state away.

Tools

The Flame | The Flame is ideal for client-attended sessions. The responsiveness of the system gives real-time feedback for finishing at any resolution. Flame used to be a limited to single shots; with Flame 2010, we have a fully featured timeline and can easily conform complete jobs. Why Flame over Smoke? Flame offers all of the visual effects tools we need to tackle complex shots. Our system is fully loaded with the Sapphire sparks and Furnace from the Foundry. There are sixty Flames at facilities in LA; now there is one in Orange County.

Neighborhood

The Artist's Village in Santa Ana is unlike most of Orange County, an urban environment with a stimulating mixture of old and new. It feels like a small slice of Europe transported to California with its sidewalk cafes and restaurants along 2^nd Street promenade. Many of the neighboring historic buildings have been renovated and re-purposed. The city of Santa Ana spent $7.5 million to purchase and refurbish what was the Grand Central Building. Originally built in 1924, the building served as the central market for Orange County until the 1940s. It now houses the Cal State Fullerton Grand Central Art Center, a mixed residential, commercial and educational complex. The Santora building, once a speakeasy during prohibition, is currently home to restaurants and galleries. DGWB, our neighbors, took the derelict town hall building and turned it into a stunning space. Our studio is located on the east side of the Village in the new Artist Walk Lofts.

The first Saturday of the month is a great time to visit the Village. There is an Art Walk and the area is usually buzzing with people. All of the galleries are open and there is often music on the streets.