Software facilitates digital color grading process.
Press Release Summary:
Using graphics processing unit-accelerated grading, Autodesk Lustre 2007 enables colors and lighting to be shaped in real time for film and TV content. It is based on non-linear, data-centric software architecture and provides playback of primary color grading and key secondary grading capabilities. Colorists can deliver stylized looks, maintain continuity across shots, and change time of day as well as collaborate with visual effects and finishing artists.
Original Press Release:
Autodesk Introduces Lustre 2007 for Digital Color Grading of Film and Television Content
GPU-Accelerated Performance Enables Colors and Lighting to Be Shaped in Real Time
SAN RAFAEL, Calif., Aug. 15 -- Autodesk, Inc. (NASDAQ:ADSK) today launched the Autodesk Lustre 2007 digital color grading solution. Lustre has shaped hundreds of films, including King Kong, Clerks II and the upcoming films Macbeth and The Black Dahlia. There is also growing demand for specialized digital grading tools like Lustre in the TV industry and for films shot in high definition (HD). With Lustre, colorists can deliver stylized looks, maintain continuity across shots and change the time of day during which a story takes place. Lustre 2007 offers real-time capabilities through the use of high-bandwidth, cost-effective Graphics Processing Units (GPUs). It also enables colorists to collaborate with visual effects and finishing artists, which promotes increased creativity while speeding project completion.
Melbourne-based Digital Pictures was beta testing Lustre 2007, and used its Lustre 2.7 system on Macbeth. Macbeth director Geoffrey Wright commented on how Lustre impacted the film's creative process: "Working with Digital Pictures and colorist Justin Heitman gave me progressive confidence that the creative process would be an exciting one. The grading process is now, like editing, another chance to rewrite some elements of the movie, to inject a mood or feeling that may not have been considered before. Grading digitally is no longer a matter of mere consistency, it is explosively creative and inventive, a very stimulating and fascinating task with endless possibilities."
Lustre 2007 is based on a non-linear, data-centric software architecture. Its GPU-accelerated grading provides real-time playback of primary color grading and key secondary grading capabilities. The solution's real-time deliverables functionality makes it possible to start from a 2K resolution master and generate re-formatted primary grade HD and standard-definition deliverables without the need for successive, time-consuming render passes.
Pamela Hammond, head of Post at Digital Pictures, said, "Macbeth was the first HD project to be digitally graded in our state-of-the-art Digital Grading Theatre. Autodesk Lustre gives us the freedom to use numerous creative tools for primary color correction and secondary color correction, window isolation and keying. What's more, Lustre provides us with a key advantage for versioning, since multiple aspect ratios can be created with the same color-corrected images and the same dirt fix can be applied in one pass with its onboard tools."
The Lustre 2007 workflow eases the process of collaborating with a facility's finishing suite. Based around Autodesk Stone media or media residing on an open file system, this workflow allows grading to begin before the final edit is complete, giving colorists more time to experiment and finalize a project's look and feel. For example, Lustre 2007 can be used to round-trip a project from the Autodesk Smoke editing/finishing system or Autodesk Flame visual effects system to Lustre and back without the use of video tape or file exports. This is made possible through the Autodesk Wiretap client-server access protocol.
As well, colorists can capture, render and play out interlaced or progressive video material with Lustre 2007, making it the ideal solution for many types of grading projects. With support for true field-based rendering, interlaced video can be graded using animated roto shapes, animated repositioning or resizing and displayed in 10-bit video on a broadcast monitor, without flickering.
For a complete feature listing and to learn more about Lustre 2007, please visit www.autodesk.com/lustre.
Availability, Configuration and Pricing
Autodesk anticipates that Lustre 2007 will be available in September 2006 for the Microsoft Windows operating system. Lustre 2007 is comprised of the following:
-- Lustre Master Station: Includes the full Lustre toolset and is designed for GPU-accelerated sessions where the colorist works together with the cinematographer. Contains an extensive creative toolset for more elaborate visual design and grading using up to 4K resolution and 16-bit files and for completing tasks like dust busting, conforming, rotoscoping and capture/playout.
-- Lustre HD Station: Cost-effective GPU performance for conforming, preparing, grading and mastering short-form and long-form HDTV projects, as well as HD film projects. Input up to 10-bit 2K and output HD and SD.
-- Lustre Station: Tasks that do not require the direct intervention or supervision of the colorist can be efficiently handled by a Lustre Station. Multiple Lustre Stations can work in parallel to increase throughput and can be used for tasks such as dust-busting, preparatory work, fine-tuning creative sessions, conforming data from EDLs, updating editorial changes using change lists, or mastering to different formats using the real-time deliverables function.
Lustre 2007 is compatible with the new Autodesk Control Surface, which has three sub-panels that enable it to be easily configured for both left- and right-hand dominant operation.
For further information, please visit www.autodesk.com/lustre or contact Autodesk Media & Entertainment at 800-869-3504.
About Autodesk
Autodesk, Inc. is a Fortune 1000 company, wholly focused on ensuring that great ideas are turned into reality. With seven million users, Autodesk is the world's leading software and services company for the manufacturing, building, infrastructure, wireless data services and media and entertainment fields. Autodesk's solutions help customers create, manage and share their data and digital assets more effectively. As a result, customers turn ideas into competitive advantage by becoming more productive, streamlining project efficiency and maximizing profits.
Founded in 1982, Autodesk is headquartered in San Rafael, California. For additional information about Autodesk, please visit www.autodesk.com.
NOTE: Autodesk, Flame, Lustre, Smoke, Stone and Wiretap are registered trademarks or trademarks of Autodesk, Inc./Autodesk Canada Co. in the USA and/or other countries. All other brand names, product names or trademarks belong to their respective holders. We may make statements regarding planned or future development efforts for our existing or new products and services. These statements are not intended to be a promise or guarantee of future delivery of products, services or features but merely reflect our current plans, which may change. Purchasing decisions should not be made based upon reliance on these statements. The Company assumes no obligation to update these forward-looking statements to reflect events that occur or circumstances that exist or change after the date on which they were made.
Contact: Roohi Saeed, 514-954-7296
Email: roohi.saeed@autodesk.com
CONTACT: Roohi Saeed of Autodesk, +1-514-954-7296, or roohi.saeed@autodesk.com
