At NAB 2010, ASSIMILATE™ rolls out its SCRATCH® v5.1 Digital Finishing Solution with a host of new product features and enhancements that propel creative pros — filmmakers, studios, post facilities, creative teams broadcasters, and agencies — to work at their utmost levels of creativity. SCRATCH v5.1 introduces users to Post 2.0, the next-generation of digital post-production tools to achieve the highest level of quality in digital cinema imagery. At the core of Post 2.0 is SCRATCH v5.1, with the most advanced, cost-effective, real-time digital workflows for 3D, RED Digital Cinema MX and beyond, RED MX-3D, HD/SD, Film, DPX, AVID MXF, or any mix of formats.
Riding the RED MX Wave and beyond: The RED-ONE Digital Camera has taken the entertainment world by storm. SCRATCH v5.1 leads the industry with first support for RED cameras, such as support for multiple RED Rocket cards in a single SCRATCH system; first dual RED Rocket support for MX R3D; and first non-RED application to support the new RED MX sensor and revised color math, with native real-time playback and adjustment of all on-camera color parameters, such as FLUT, exposure, and curves. Working easily with the native R3D files, SCRATCH streamlines the RED ONE MX workflow and delivers a high-quality master for multiple delivery formats.
3D Obsession: The thrill of 3D is back in the theater and coming to your home soon. SCRATCH v5.1 continues ASSIMILATE’s mantra for real-time, streamlined workflows with 3D-specific features for enhanced convergence, scaling, and versioning. Post artists are able to work in real-time 3D at all times with direct output to any stereoscopic display system. Additionally, ASSIMILATE exclusively offers the 3ality 3Play Pro for post facilities seeking a flexible, professional quality stereo monitoring system. 3Play Pro enables playback and review of full-resolution HD stereoscopic material on a variety of consumer 3D monitors, as well as non-3D monitors using a variety of Anaglyph formats. And SCRATCH for 3D does not stop here…stay tuned!
Enhanced Color Grading, Finishing, and Compositing: SCRATCH v5.1 has enriched its color grading, finishing and compositing tools so that creative pros are able to enhance and sharpen details with masks, create titles, add layered effects, and more easily enhance the look, hues, and subtleties of their imagery.
AVID MXF Support: SCRATCH v5.1 supports the read and write of every DNxHD format, which provides full compatibility with AVID media for projects originating on Media Composer, Symphony, or DS.
SCRATCH v5.1 Basics
ASSIMILATE’s SCRATCH® v5.1 Digital Process Solution™ is a streamlined, real-time, easy-to-use, cost-effective, resolution-independent, end-to-end pipeline for pre-and-post-production. A broad spectrum of creative and post artists benefit from the bottom-line advantages of the SCRATCH digital workflow: Increased speed and productivity, ability to easily experiment, high quality output to any format, and an up-tick in profits. Whether an imaging project is film (2K/4K), HD/SD, 3D, RED MX, or RED MX-3D, SCRATCH v5.1 enables your workflow of choice. SCRATCH includes a robust core feature set with real-time data management, review/playback, conform/editorial, color grading, compositing, finishing, and final mastering to any format.
What SCRATCH Users Are Saying about 3D and RED Workflows
Leandro Marini, co-founder and DI producer at Local Hero Post, notes, “SCRATCH v5.1 is the real-time DI platform for post. The added RED 4K tools, 3D capability, and enhanced compositing and finishing tools give me and our team the ability to work at the highest creative levels within a fluid, streamlined workflow. It’s almost a magical experience – we have all the needed DI tools at our fingertips to bring out the best in imagery, no matter the format or size of the project.” Recent projects: RED 4K “The Space Between” (2010); “The Four Faced Liar” (2010); and “Standing Ovation” (major summer release)
Jerome Thelia, founder, and colorist and compositor at Merge, explains, “High-end 3D means lots of very large files, with a complex data-based workflow and conform, and color grading at a high-quality level – all of which would not be possible without a real-time system like SCRATCH.” Recent RED 4K-3D projects: “Archangel” (2009); 3D spot for Bonnaroo Music Festival; and upcoming 3D spot for Nau clothing.
Brian Daly, president at Mob Scene Creative + Productions, noted, “We developed a workflow for Samsung’s Black Eyed Peas 3D promotional material that included 3D post production on SCRATCH. Working in real time is vital in 3D post, especially when the content is a live multi-cam situation and any adjustments need to happen instantaneously.” Recent project: Samsung Black Eyed Peas 3D promotion (2010).
Jason Dowdeswell, Head of Digital Studio at CIS, explains, “SCRATCH is impressive in so many ways – it’s truly a workhorse. Our team was living and breathing SCRATCH for a few months of intense dailies and color grading of the visual effects for Invictus. The ability to work in real time in SCRATCH is an incredible advantage. The time savings we experienced, along with the quality results, is impressive and made a huge impact on our successful delivery of the show.” Recent project: “Invictus” (2009)
Emery Wells, digital color artist and founder of Katabatic, notes, “Data acquisition is the de-facto future of music videos, commercials, and feature films. With an end-to-end SCRATCH digital workflow, our clients realize they can do a shoot, and then have a color grade and finish that gives their project a look that is on par with 35mm film – all while saving time and money.” Recent RED 4K projects: Rob Thomas Music Video, “Someday” (2009); Google Chrome spots (2009); and Target series of holiday ads (2009).
ASSIMILATE Demo Suites
During NAB 2010, ASSIMILATE will demo its SCRATCH workflows at its three demo suites located at the Renaissance Hotel (#730, 732, 739), directly across from the LVCC south hall. Highlights include SCRATCH 3D, RED MX-3D, and RED MX data workflows; workflows for mixed formats (film, HD/SD, data); as well as finishing and compositing. To schedule a demonstration, contact nacho@assimilateinc.com or clint@assimilateinc.com
See SCRATCH throughout NAB 2010 Show Floor
See SCRATCH at ASSIMILATE partner booths on the NAB show floor.
1 Beyond – DL7630: The SCRATCH workflow will be shown on several turn-key HD systems.
Bluefish 444 – SL5011: SCRATCH will be shown integrated with EPOCH for video deliveries.
Editshare – SL4725: SCRATCH will be shown on the EditShare shared storage solutions – XStream Series – enabling real-time DPX and RED MX workflows, as well as stereo playback.
Facilis – SL3629: SCRATCH will be shown connected to a Terrablock shared storage solution.
IGI – C12415: SCRATCH will be connected to a 4K projection system showing real- time, full-resolution RED MX and to a 2K stereoscopic projection system, showing 2K and stereoscopic workfows.
JMR Electronics – SL 7408: SCRATCH will be shown on a variety of JMR’s high-performance storage solutions.
Rorke – SL8629: SCRATCH will be shown on Rorke’s high-speed storage solutions.
The Studio@B&H – C11022: SCRATCH will be connected to a JVC stereo monitor, showing a real-time SCRATCH workflow and 3D-specific SCRATCH workflow.
Price and Availability
All SCRATCH v5.1 will be available in early May. Contact ASSIMILATE or a local reseller for a demo and pricing. See www.assimilateinc.com for a list of contact information for direct sales and resellers.
About ASSIMILATE
ASSIMILATE™ is transforming post production of visually complex imagery projects with its SCRATCH® Digital Finishing Solution, the essential mix for a real-time, resolution-dependent data workflow. SCRATCH v5.1 moves creative artists into Post 2.0, the next-generation of digital post production tools to achieve the highest level of quality in digital cinema imagery. Along with data management, SCRATCH features a rich set of DI and post tools for working in any combination of HD/SD, film (2K, 4K), 3D, RED MX, and RED MX3D. ASSIMILATE is committed to empowering the broad spectrum of creative and post-production professionals with state-of-the-art, easy-to-use, data-centric solutions that deliver optimal price/performance. To learn more about SCRATCH, see www.assimilateinc.com See the latest SCRATCH user case studies at http://www.assimilateinc.com/case.html
