Issue link: http://digital.copcomm.com/i/57245
DI [ Cont.from 25 ] Autodesk Lustre — called Eworks — and Autodesk Flame Premium are key tools in the process. "We added Flame Premium to the mix in Febru- ary," Scott says. "We're using it in a pretty ground- breaking way — directly in the DI, adding another great toolset that wasn't part of our DI pipeline before. Increasingly, clients want to see more creative capabilities in the DI, more options for visual explora- tion. They want everything accessible and adjustable 'til the last second, and Flame Premium affords us that kind of creative flexibility." He hails Flame Premium's batch-tree node-based system with its "full set of the most advanced compos- iting tools and plug-ins imaginable. We're also working to develop a seamless workflow between it and all our color finishing systems. We are investigating ways that Flame Premium can work with the company's DaVinci Resolve, for instance," which Scott says is "great for speed and handling various file formats." He gives kudos to Lustre for its "intuitive and straightforward menu hierarchy, its excellent tracking WORKFLOW [ Cont.from 40 ] a graphics artist worked on the same project using After Effects and Photoshop for logos and graphics sequences, and the sound designer worked on track selection and audio sweetening in Pro Tools. Once the offline was complete, the colorist used Baselight to perform color correction on the final scenes — working with ProRes 4:4:4 files selected according to the Media Composer AAF file and auto- matically mounted on the system. At the same time, working with raw (un-color-cor- rected) source material, a compositing artist used an Avid DS conform and compositing workstation for rotoscop- ing, tracking and chroma keying. Because all project mate- rial is rendered to the same project file system, the color corrected file could be used to replace the original media used on the Avid DS. With cuts approved, the sound mix finalized, the final graphics sequence tied together, and the result conformed in Avid DS, the finished file was output to the "Within Reach" project workspace, where it could be uploaded to the Web or provided as a DG deliverable for its spot distribution service. "The biggest advantage we've realized with our new workflow is the ability to work collaboratively and concurrently on the same material," says Heidt. "Media is continually updat- ed, and our editors can work without the hassle of negotiating permissions or the need to make manual, time-con- suming transfers of media among sys- tems. At one time we 'bicycled' drives all over our facility, and even when we did begin moving data over a network, it was a very slow process. Now, however, with the configuration we're using — a central storage system with very fast connections — we can work together effectively in parallel and deliver a high- quality product more quickly." In addition to providing creative post and grouping capabilities, its batch-tree-node handling of multiple shapes, as well as its ability to see whole reels in a global thumbnail view, and the ability to manually group any combination of shots and collapse them for review. It's a very intuitive toolset, which any- one from a high-end compositing environment will quickly feel comfortable with." Efilm has 12 Lustre/Eworks systems installed, mostly in theater-sized environments where Christie, Barco and NEC projectors display content in 2K to mimic the theatrical experience. Crawford's Digital Migration Center within its 80,000-square-foot facility. services, Crawford specializes in the digi- tization, archiving, and management of digital media assets. The company's private cloud storage system and secure Web-based asset management system give clients such as Gannett easy access to all of their stored media assets, whether newly-shot and edited or migrated from tape for secure storage and man- POST POSITIONS [ Cont.from 42 ] before broadcast so there's minimal or no time for color correction. In the fast-paced broadcast environment, colorists unfortunately don't always get the time to use all the tools in the grading system. The toolset isn't maximized due to tight dead- lines or because the safety net to explore while work- ing isn't there. The pressure to get the job done as quickly as possible can make it hard for the creative side of the industry to advance. AN EVOLVING PROCESS On the flip side, Image Systems has seen facilities invest in software color correction not just because they want to deliver data, but because they need to be able to make editorial changes right up to the last minute in the grading suite with a high-end software grading system. The fact that you can grade in context before the edit and VFX are locked is a huge benefit for broadcasters and allows more time for creativity. The technical development for grading manufac- like us, is a balancing act between solving turers, workflow issues and building new color tools. Manu- facturers are required to continuously update their software to accommodate the proliferation of file structures and codecs from ingest through digital intermediate, delivery and archive. This is applicable to all forms of production — from feature film to broadcast, where workflows are multiplying and con- stantly changing. Software providers must adapt to meet the demands of this process. Facilities catering to the demands of broadcasters will employ different workflows for ingest, editorial, finishing, delivery and archive with multiple vendors involved in this process. These needs will vary from country to country, region to region and case by case. Most broadcasters and production companies are still learning about file-based processes, so there is a great deal of education needed in the field to help them devise robust pipelines. Shaw also pointed out that the rush to get ahead often has facilities and colorists trying to create their own standards, which color correction manufacturers then have to accommodate. It's the same with deliver- ables. "With the world moving toward data formats you would think that we could agree on a standard delivery system, but we've still got different frame rates, we've got field- and frame-based formats and we've got different aspect ratios. The number of deliv- erables now has gone from half-a-dozen to probably 10 times that!" Factor all of this in with the new releases and updates to camera SDKs, firmware and the growing number of camera choices, and it's arguably the biggest change to impact production in recent times. Manufacturers can't just incorporate the latest version and expect it to be automatically backwards compatible. A new SDK can completely break the previous version so manufactur- ers have to be prepared to invest time testing legacy files with each release. It's important for companies to communicate to cus- tomers very clearly what the software can support so when they research workflows and specify cameras for a project they can make an informed decision. www.postmagazine.com Post • March 2012 47 agement within the company's targeted tier three data center. Crawford customizes metadata according to sche- ma offered by each client, thereby enabling more powerful search capabilities and more effective and profitable use of stored assets.