AV News 182 - November 2010
Igor Kokarev receives the Dobson Henry Medal
Citation
This recipient is rather exceptional, because
awards of this calibre are usually made to persons
of mature years, perhaps often after a lifetime of
service. However, this recipient's contributions to
Audio-Visual is so important, it has not just helped
the traditional Audio-Visual worker change from
making analogue slide tape sequences to those
made digitally, but has also encouraged and
enabled a wave of newcomers into the art of
making sequences. It is almost certain that the
majority of sequences shown at this international
festival have been made possible because of the
efforts of this person.
The recipient of this award was born in
November 1980, in Kirov, a Russian city situated just west of the Ural
Mountains, some 900 kilometres east of Moscow. He studied the usual
academic subjects at school - physics, music, history, biology, literature etc.,
but in particular computer programming and mathematics. His best friend,
Aleksey Elin, was also interested in computer programming and on leaving
school they decided to form a new company to produce computer software.
Their first program was a game called 'Computerman', which was published
as a free product in 1998. They then went on to produce a file manager for
Windows called Win Navigator and the company was christened WNSoft
after the name of this program. The version of Explorer that came with the
Windows 98 operating system was very basic and Win Navigator allowed the
user to view images and play audio files from within the same window.
Seeing the potential of the mixture of images and audio, WNSoft started
work on a new program that would allow users to combine pictures and music
into a single executable file and on 2nd July 1999 launched the very first
version of PicturesToExe. This was followed in November 2000 with the
introduction of a user forum that allowed members to suggest improvements
and features for future versions of the program. The Forum now has 6253
members and many of the developments that PTE has undergone over the
last ten years have been as a result of suggestions made by the people who
actually use the program. It is more than gratifying to realise that the recipient
has always ensured that his contribution has been dynamic in accordance
with Audio-Visual workers requirements.
Since the first version of the program, features such as audio
synchronisation, smooth image dissolves, timeline based workflow, object
layers, animation, DVD and video output and recently audio blending and
Mac output have been added to the program. PicturesToExe has become the
de facto choice for AV enthusiasts in the UK and its simple interface and ease
of use has helped long-standing AV makers move from the old analogue
system to the current digital platform.
The Dobson Henry Medal is awarded to Igor Kokarev.
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