Color science and grading specialist FilmLight is showcasing the latest release of Baselight for Avid, its high-productivity plugin that brings color control and preview to editing workstations, at IBC2017 (Amsterdam, September 15-19, stand 7.F31). With Baselight for Avid and FilmLight’s render-free, metadata-driven workflows, editors always see the latest grade, and can make their own adjustments to it without leaving the Avid environment.

The new release, while still providing sophisticated, professional color grading within the familiar Avid environment, brings even greater efficiencies from the Baselight platform. A new visual timeline allows the user to see and move easily between shots. Combined with the new relational navigation tool, which allows users to narrow down material very quickly and move between shots with the same clip or tape name, navigation is both seamless and simple. 

The popular Baselight workspaces tool is also available in Baselight for Avid 5.0, allowing users to customise their screen and arrange panels within the Baselight UI according to their individual needs and preferences. 

Beyond navigation and layout, the addition of relational grading replicates Baselight’s powerful multi-shot grade application, by allowing grades to be copied and imposed on shots defined by the same category, such as clip name, bin name, camera and so on. 

The latest version also brings the new grading tools introduced in Baselight 5.0 into the Avid workspace. This includes the revolutionary Base Grade concept from FilmLight, which gives the artist access to a set of controls that accurately mimic the way the eye appreciates color, rather than the traditional lift/gamma/gain approach. Also featured is the texture equalizer, which can be used for skintone fixes: giving the editor the ability to clean up skin issues without handing the shot off to a colorist is another huge productivity boost. Other new functionality includes perspective tracking for grading windows, gamut tools for moving between color spaces, and denoise.

Baselight for Avid is part of FilmLight’s unique unified approach to color management. The raw images are retained throughout, with the grade captured in metadata in the FilmLight BLG format. Any device, from Prelight ON-SET or the Daylight dailies tool through Baselight for Avid to the full colorist suite, will interpret the BLG metadata and impose the latest version of the grade in real time.

“What our users have told us, very clearly, is that the FilmLight BLG workflow is hugely productive--and they want to use it more,” said Martin Tlaskal, lead developer, FilmLight. “They want editors and other users of Baselight plugins to have the same functionality that the colorist has, and see precisely the same grade, however rich and sophisticated. This new version of Baselight for Avid achieves just that. This is another huge step forward for collaborative workflows, helping facilities work more productively and achieve a better, more dynamic final result.”

FilmLight will be showing its full range of grading and color management systems on stand 7.F31 at IBC, and will be highlighting the productivity gains of the BLG render-free workflow. Baselight for Avid can also be seen at the Avid booth, 7.J20.