A Digital Media Net newsletter covering production from beginning to end
ASSIMILATE’s SCRATCH(r) Digital Finishing Solution is taking the lead in affordable/high-performance 3D data workflows for the filmmaking, TV, and advertising markets, worldwide. The rapid rise of 3D digital cinema is bringing magical and high-impact experiences back to feature films, capitalizing on its wow factor for global audiences young and old. Cutting-edge advances in digital 3D technology are the catalyst for this 3D revival, enabling a depth and richness to imagery for a highly immersive viewing experience. 3D TV episodes and ad campaigns are also on the rise. For filmmakers, producers, agencies and post-production artists, SCRATCH is quickly becoming the 3D workflow of choice for its real-time, powerful, cost-effective DI tool suite that can reduce 3D post production from years to months or weeks.
From U2-3D and Journey to the Center of the Earth 3D, to Piranha 3D, Charnobyl 2012, Pirates of the Caribbean: On Stranger Tides 3D, and Fright Night 3D, SCRATCH is being used on a global scale for a variety of 3D tasks that include conform, color grading, finishing, compositing, viewing dailies, quality control, real-time remote 3D reviews, and more. SCRATCH enables post artists to work at their speed of thought, in real-time stereo throughout the full DI process.
Jeff Edson, CEO at ASSIMLATE: “From on-set to finishing, SCRATCH enables users to work naturally, easily, and in real time within a built-in, streamlined, 3D data workflow to create a high-quality master for several deliverables. For 3D productions, with complex imagery and double the files, this has a dual benefit for filmmakers, agencies, and post houses: a significant leap forward in efficiency and productivity, and more time for creativity, experimentation, and fine-tuning.”
SCRATCH 3D color grade for Nau Clothing; image courtesy of Merge Group
What SCRATCH 3D Users Are Saying
“Piranha 3D” (2010) – Grant Boucher, award-winning VFX pioneer and founder of inner-D (LA): “A real-time data workflow like SCRATCH enables a significant time savings for a 3D pipeline, which has double the shots, all the complex imagery, and the convergence of left and right eyes. Even during the finishing process we were able to make convergence changes or color adjustments, and again working in real time was invaluable. SCRATCH is now the center point of everything we do.”
“Les Krostons” (2010) – Elodie Ly-tri, 3D data manager at Duboi (Paris): “A key advantage of SCRATCH is the built-in workflow for 3D stereo. So, along with being able to review L and R eyes individually, you can also play back the converged picture. Using the SHOT FRAMING tool set, I could adjust the X and Y offset to change the convergence of a shot, subtly scale the L or R to remove any black edges within the frame, and also correct any vertical or horizontal disparities. Grading for stereo is straightforward too. Gilles Granier, one of our in-house color graders, made color changes to the left eye through SCRATCH Scaffolds, and could apply them to the corresponding shot, or shots, in the right eye by a single keystroke.”
3D Armani Exchange A/X 3D fall ad campaign (2010) – Mark L. Pederson, Offhollywood CTO and co-founder (NYC): “It was clear to us that an all-data workflow is the future of films, TV, and commercials, whether 2D or 3D, so we got on board with RED and SCRATCH as early adopters. We chose SCRATCH for its streamlined workflow, stability, data management tools, and real-time color grading and finishing for 3D, 4K, 2K, and HD. It’s the ideal tool for working with native RED R3D files, and especially RED 4K stereoscopic 3D. The ASSIMILATE guys are continually updating the features within SCRATCH, so it remains a rock-solid tool and very relevant to us well into the future.” Offhollywood is currently working with Discovery on 3D episodes of The Haunted and Ghost Lab.
“Charnobyl 2012″ 3D (2011) – Martin Kryjom, Divizion director and chief colorist (Poland): “SCRATCH is perfect for 3D stereo as its capabilities for viewing, adjusting convergence, equalizing the grade on the stereo pair, and applying the master grade, are all built in.” In post production now, 3D horror flick “Charnobyl 2012,” directed by Patryk Vega, is one of Poland’s biggest-budget productions.
Percy Fung, founder of Digital Magic Hong Kong (August 2010): “The future of filmmaking and media entertainment is digital cinema, and we are going to see tremendous growth in 3D productions over the next few years. The advent of high-resolution digital cameras and real-time data workflows like SCRATCH that include powerful tool suites are making this possible.”
“Black Eyed Peas” – Brian Daly, president at Mob Scene Creative + Productions (Beverly Hills): “We developed a workflow for Samsung’s Black Eyed Peas 3D promotional material that included 3D post production on the SCRATCH Digital Finishing Solution. Samsung knew exactly what they were looking for in 3D, and SCRATCH was able to deliver. During a grading session, adjustments were made on the fly, in real time. 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.”
“Archangel” (2009), Bonnaroo Music Festival, Nau clothing – Jerome Thelia, founder, and colorist and compositor at Merge Group (NY): “High-end 3D means lots of very large files, with a complex data-based workflow, conform, and color grading at a high-quality level – all of which would not be possible without a real-time system like SCRATCH. A real-time workflow is especially vital to the creativity and productivity of a project when working in 3D, and SCRATCH delivers exactly that in a streamlined digital pipeline.”
“My Bloody Valentine 3D” (2009) – Brian Gaffney, vice-president/general manager of Technicolor Creative Bridge (LA): “For My Bloody Valentine 3D, we used SCRATCH as a versatile support tool for four different applications within our 3D workflow…virtual telecine, edit module, quality control, and visual effects. At first glance, tackling a 3D project appears to be daunting and that’s why we opt for best-of-breed tools like SCRATCH. SCRATCH is a powerful stand-alone workflow in itself, but it also works seamlessly, as in this case, within any digital workflow as defined by the project. Its ability to support any format – HD, SD, 3D, RED 4K, 35mm, 16mm – and its depth of functionality make it a highly used and versatile tool within our workflows.”
“Journey to the Center of the Earth” 3D (2008) – Jonas Thaler, VP post production at AFG/Walden Media (LA): “When researching a 3D digital workflow, we examined several scenarios that were compelling but none proved to have the flexibility, 3D features, and price point that we needed to put this together on a project basis. SCRATCH was the only system that met our criteria for 3D, plus it included an extensive feature set for the DI process. Our biggest concern for SCRATCH was the size of this project. There was a huge amount of footage and content from several sources, and we had roughly 800 visual effects, which means multiply by two for the number of files. This was an ambitious project for a cost-effective software tool that we set up ourselves, but SCRATCH performed amazingly well.”
Euro Disney 3D Short (2008) – Arnaud Paris, co-founder and stereographer at Sysmic Films (Paris): “It was very easy to adjust the camera alignment in SCRATCH. The resize, offset and angle controls did all that in real-time on the dual R3D streams. In terms of convergence you can’t predict what the best solution is until you actually watch the result in 3D. The real-time, interactive 3D visualization that SCRATCH gave us was fundamental in helping us to design and then finesse the experience.”
SCRATCH Real-Time 3D Workflow
SCRATCH v5.1 includes a host of product features that propel creative pros — broadcasters, filmmakers, studios, post facilities, creative teams, and agencies — to work at their utmost levels of creativity. SCRATCH v5.1 offers the most advanced, cost-effective, real-time digital workflows for 3D, RED MX and beyond, RED MX-3D, ALEXA ARRIRAW, HD/SD, film, DPX, AVID MXF, or any mix of formats. SCRATCH v5.1 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.
SCRATCH v5.1 includes 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-S for facilities seeking a flexible, professional quality stereo-review system. ASSIMILATE also offers the first 3D Post Remote-Review Network, which combines SCRATCH, the 3aility 3Play Pro S, and the Telairity H.264 Encoder to enable the real-time review of 3D files among clients, talent teams, and post artists, anywhere in the world.
See SCRATCH at IBC 2010
At IBC 2010 at the RAI in Amsterdam, September 10 – 14 (Stand 7.K01), ASSIMILATE(tm) is featuring its state-of-the-art SCRATCH(r) Digital Finishing Solution in four major demonstrations on the show floor. The demos will feature complete SCRATCH workflows for stereoscopic 3D, advanced compositing, digital intermediate (DI) and finishing, as well as the first 3D remote-review network over the internet for real-time review of 3D files among clients, directors, DPs and post artists anywhere in the world.
Price and Availability
Contact ASSIMILATE or your local reseller for a demo, pricing, and configurations of the SCRATCH v5.1 Digital Finishing Solution. For a list of contacts for ASSIMILATE direct sales and resellers, see www.assimilateinc.com.
About ASSIMILATE
ASSIMILATE(tm) is transforming post production of visually complex imagery projects with its SCRATCH(r) 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 3D, RED MX, RED MX3D, ARRIRAW, HD/SD, and film. 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
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Les Krostons” want to take over the world and their impish intentions were recently revealed in a five-minute VFX-laden 3D stereo teaser, directed by Frederick Du Chau through Le Studio d’Imagination, and screened at the 2010 Cannes Film Festival. Duran Duboi in Paris harnessed the powers of ASSIMILATE’s SCRATCH(r) Digital Finishing Solution in a streamlined file-based 3D stereo workflow, from set to post production, to DCP deliverables.
“Les Krostons” is based on the 1968 comic-book creation devised by Arthur Piroton and Paul Deliège.
Elodie Ly-tri, 3D data manager at Duboi in Paris, a subsidiary of Quinta Industries group, was responsible for managing the project under Eric Martin’s supervision, post production manager at Duboi. Ly-tri explains here how SCRATCH proved to be an essential tool in their tapeless, end-to-end, data-centric DI mix.
Ideal 3D DI Tools: “Les Krostons” is a great showcase for SCRATCH’s post capabilities in a number of areas – efficient data workflow, quality control, conforming, 3D stereo image manipulation, DI grading, finishing, and deliverables.
Why SCRATCH? It was a natural choice. We’ve been working with SCRATCH as the heart of our DPX and R
SCRATCH 3D finishing for “Les Krostons image (c) Le Studio d’Imagination and Quinta Industries and DuboiED workflows for nearly four years, and have used it to conform and grade many projects, such as “The Ghostwriter”, “My Own Love Song” and “Lucky Luke”. We’re close to ASSIMILATE’s R&D team, and we have been working on the development of MXF within SCRATCH. We knew SCRATCH was used successfully to make 3aility’s “U23D”, and after ASSIMILATE proved its 3D capabilities to us, we were convinced it was the right tool for “Les Krostons”.
Workflow: “Les Krostons” was shot in 1920 x 1080p with a Panavision Genesis and a mirror rig provided by Binocle. The 4:2:2 capture was on Panavision’s SSR, with this footage offloaded to a Codex Portable recorder, which also directly captured the 4:4:4 VFX shots. Every night we received 40 minutes of dailies per eye, on a Codex DiskPack, and we offloaded the DPX files to our SAN. We usually received the dailies at 2:00 a.m., and we were ready to do separate quality control reviews of the L and R eyes, as well as the converged picture in SCRATCH by 6:00 a.m. This was incredibly fast! By mid-morning we were able to provide the director, DP, and stereographers with a report regarding focus, lenses, color and pixel issues.
Managing Data: After pre-grading in SCRATCH, we exported the shots as Avid stereo-group DNxHD36 MXF files, and sent them to the edit room in LA. To make it clear and easy for them, we managed all the relevant metadata in SCRATCH, renaming shots to each slot where we might apply a cut, and adding the reel IDs as required. SCRATCH can present the files either side-by-side or over-and-under, and they wanted over-and-under.
SCRATCH 3D finishing for “Les Krostons image (c) Le Studio d’Imagination and Quinta Industries and Duboi
Conforming & Comp’ing: What’s really cool about SCRATCH is that I had groups of CONstructs with all the DPX dailies and one with the DPX conforms – all within the same project. Having access to all the DPX files, at any time, made it very easy for me to not just conform, but to also send shots to the VFX team. Our comp’ing team uses SCRATCH with shared storage, so I could prepare a CONstruct with the VFX shots, send that over, and they could simply link to the media and export as required. When shots were completed I simply dropped them back onto my timeline.
XML Support: This is one of SCRATCH’s most powerful features. On “Les Krostons”, we used XML scripts to optimize the flow of files between network locations for the compositing team. We also used XML to prepare the daily QC reports for the production company, sent from SCRATCH as a PDF. With the new HTML support allowing us to publish to the web, SCRATCH provides ever more efficient ways to interact with the production team during post.
3D Strengths: A key advantage of SCRATCH is that it has a built-in workflow for 3D stereo. So, along with being able to review L and R eyes individually, you can also play back the converged picture. Using the SHOT FRAMING tool set, I could adjust the X and Y offset to change the convergence of a shot, subtly scale the L or R to remove any black edges within the frame, and also correct any vertical or horizontal disparities. Grading for stereo is straightforward too. Gilles Granier, one of our in-house color graders, made color changes to the left eye through SCRATCH Scaffolds, and could apply them to the corresponding shot, or shots, in the right eye by a single keystroke.
Deliverables: For marketing purposes we created 3D and 2D DCP masters of the “Les Krostons” teaser in SCRATCH, with 2.35:1 for the 2D and 1.85:1 for the 3D stereo. The sheer ability of SCRATCH to have the footage available in CONstructs in the same project, and to conform, grade and crop images as appropriate, meant that we created these really fast in only two sessions.
Working Relationship: We’ve worked closely with the ASSIMILATE team for several years. They are always very helpful, and they listen to our suggestions, which I think makes SCRATCH a stronger product because of this client-friendly approach. SCRATCH is open; easy to operate; works well with Avid; is very good for managing DPX files and associated metadata; and offers powerful XML specificity. It’s strong on conforming, managing versions, color grading, finishing, and 3D, and handles new camera formats, such as RED and ARRI Alexa. What more could you want?
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