Eleven percent of U.S. post facilities and studios plan to buy one or more seats of color correction software this year, according to a recent study by TrendWatch, Mill Valley, Calif.
This figure is just another indicator that this will be a defining year for the color correction software sector. This is one of the industry’s most talked about topics, and get ready for the rules to be rewritten at the National Association of Broadcasters (NAB) Convention, April 16-21 in Las Vegas.
Workflow from production through post will be the key consideration as the industry moves toward higher resolution, datacentric processes–and that is what NAB goers will examine in color correction systems. So too will be resolution, as 2k and 4k data formats gain popularity; and speed, as users seek tools to support client-attended sessions.
Also keep an eye on pricing. San Diego-based startup Silicon Color recently launched its Final Touch HD color correction system for the Mac–for a mere $4,995. If this system is viewed as a viable color grading option for commercialmaking, it could have a great impact on the market.
At the high end, color correction systems–along with related telecine/scanning tools–are a pivotal part of the Digital Intermediate (DI) process that has taken hold of the feature industry. This will be a vital NAB topic in many sectors. “In our view the most significant technology developments during 2004 revolved around the idea of a new, more powerful, efficient and cost effective way of performing postproduction DI,” reported Adam Welsh, managing director of UK-based Cintel, “The Digital Intermediate workflow was originally designed for feature postproduction, but it is obvious that this workflow would work equally well for TV episodics and commercials.”
COLOR CORRECTION SOFTWARE
Despite the buzz, keep in mind that many of today’s color correction software options are still in development, and many are from young startups. Most pundits agree that the size of the potential market is too small to sustain all of these systems and companies. And this year, some consolidation is expected.
Reflecting this, last month color correction toolmaker Digital Vision acquired London’s young Nucoda, a privately held developer of digital media content creation software to support the digital intermediate process in the 2k and 4k data domains. NAB will be their first joint appearance since the acquisition.
U.K.-based Filmlight will be demoing tools for production up to 4k, including V 2.2 of its Baselight grading and finishing system. Meanwhile, Miami startup Assimilate will present a distribution partnership with Rochester, N.Y.-headquartered Eastman Kodak to deliver support for the Kodak Display Manager System with its Scratch, a software designed to facilitate a DI pipeline. At NAB, Assimilate will announce additional capabilities and add-on modules to the system, whose core features include simultaneous, real-time, multi-resolution review/playback, assemble/edit, conform, primary color grading, scratch audio, visual effects, and final mastering to film.
Of course, Coral Springs, Fla.-based da Vinci will be on hand, showing its lines of color correction tools, including its popular da Vinci 2k and its new Resolve software-based system. It will also present its second annual Master Colorist Awards at its NAB booth.
Following initial successes in the U.K., London-headquartered Edifis recently incorporated itself in California, and at NAB it will market its Finaliser color correction system in the U.S., headed by industry vet Pete Challinger.
Munich-based Iradis will showcase its SpeedGrade DI software. It will also exhibit SpeedGrade On Set, a cinematographer’s application that allows for a direct data path from filming right through all of post to finishing.
Meanwhile, Montreal-based Autodesk Media and Entertainment (formerly Discreet), plans to unveil its developing Incinerator–a cluster of online CPU’s optimized to work in parallel over a high-speed Infiniband network, which is designed to increase the performance of its Lustre color grading software.
And Newbury, U.K.-headquartered Quantel will demonstrate Eiger (Effects, Imaging, Grading and Editing Release), its new toolset release for its eQ and iQ systems. It includes a new multi-format, multi-color space precision keying toolset.
TELECINE & SCANNING
Another key component to a color correction workflow is of course a system still primarily called a “telecine” in the commercial world, but that is being replaced by “film scanners” as the industry moves toward data workflows. In this space, cost and speed are key considerations.
For commercialmakers, probably the biggest news at NAB will be Grass Valley, a division of Paris-headquartered Thomson, which is transitioning from its industry leading Spirit Datacine to offering its new Spirit 2K; support and service for the Datacines remain unaffected.
The Spirit 2K is designed to support standard definition, high definition and 2k (10-bit) data; it can scan to 2k at a rate of up to 30 frames per second. It will have a similar feature set to the original Datacine, and will also include many of the features in its highest end Spirit 4K, which scans up to 4k (16-bit) data.
In related news, Grass Valley will also showcase a new color corrector for the Spirit family, repair and stabilization products for the Bones open postproduction framework, and new function for the LUTher color space converter. LUTher offers 3-D look up tables (LUTs) with 256 measuring points per cube, and image processing capabilities. Other enhancements include compare and preview features; with the compare feature, an HD image is created as a DPX file and passed through the complete chain, compared to at the end of the process.
Cintel will preview a prototype of its new Ditto film scanner, a 2k and 4k scanning system that will be shown by appointment only in a private whisper suite. Ditto is designed for DI work, special effects, archiving and restoration.
Filmlight will show a host software release, version 1.1, for its lower cost Northlight scanner, which will offer users new filtering and control options. As well it will demonstrate upcoming features for its Northlight 2 pin-registered film scanner. With new sensor technology, optics and electronics, Northlight 2 is designed to provide a 4-6 times increase in scanning speed — faster than two frames/second at 2k and 1 frame/second at 4k.
Tokyo-headquartered Imagica will show an upgrade for its newest digital film scanner, the Imager XE-Advanced, which has the ability to scan 2k in 2 seconds, 4k in 4 seconds.
