RESOLVE v11
Blackmagic is certainly not sitting still in their software division. Resolve has long been a fantastic grading platform, v9 added some basic editorial functions, v10 added more compositing tools, and this year they were showing v11, which they billed as a full blown online editor. While it’s not quite ready to replace an NLE for most people, it has added lots of functionality to their editing toolset – quite sophisticated trim tools, animation curve editors, dual monitor UI, and lots more.
At the (offsite) “Supermeet”, they even demonstrated a collaborative workflow, where one person was editing a show, and the colorist was simultaneously grading the same timeline – and each person’s timeline would update with the changes. One guy controls the edit, the other the color grade. While this is an unusual workflow for most, I could easily see a scenario in which your may have a client coming in for a review, and the editor could ask the in house colorist to do a quick pass before presenting to the client, without having to reconform in Resolve and send back to an NLE. Of course this means the editor would be working in Resolve from the start – but dailies are often created in Resolve, sent to an NLE, then back to Resolve for grading, so it seems they are taking steps towards being able to just stay in Resolve throughout the entire post pipeline – for some jobs anyway. The compositing toolset is still pretty limited – and the editing tools aren’t quite ready to replace your Avid – but if this is the direction they’re heading, watch out for v12 – it might be an all in one box solution!
NUCODA – FILM MASTER
I don’t have a lot to say about this, as I caught wind of it very late, but Nucoda makes a top-tier grading system called Film Master. It was in the top tier pricing as well, with a full system running well over $100k – and they have just dropped the price for a (Windows only) software only version to $2750, and also now support the Tangent Element Grading Panel. Guess Blackmagic is making it quite hard for other color grading systems to compete – although Baselight seems to be doing quite well…
THE FOUNDRY
Nuke now has text tools that don’t suck! (Sorry, had to throw that out there for my man Deke…) I kid, of course, Nuke v8 has plenty of great new features, (Model Builder comes to mind) but this has also been available for a little while, so the big news from The Foundry was…
Nuke Studio – this was quite possibly the most exciting news of the show. While Nuke has long dominated the high-end compositing space, Nuke (and Hiero) haven’t quite challenged Flame for the “Hero Suite” in TV commercial finishing. (This is the fancy room the clients hang out in and review and approve the whole package before shipping the spot out – all final color tweaks, VFX, titles, etc.) While there used to be many different online systems (anyone remember Henry?) Flame has dominated this space for well over a decade, heck – almost two!
It appears that Nuke Studio aims to change that. Building on the Hiero timeline and conform tool, Nuke Studio is adding more finishing capabilities, playback, background rendering, editing (always last minute changes, right?), versioning, etc. Workflow is very similar to new Smoke/Flame (and let’s be honest, Avid DS) – where you can conform, add some basic effects to a clip on the timeline, and then convert those effects into a Nuke script if necessary, which can then easily be sent to out to other artists, and the timeline auto-linked to their latest renders via watch folders for each shot, etc..
They have not formally announced a price, other than to say if you buy the Production Package, you’ll automatically get Nuke Studio. Based on that, and the Nuke/Nuke 8 pricing, I think we can expect it to be around $10k when it ships later this year. But let’s remember, this will be a v1 product, it may need some time to mature and iron out the rough edges.
So – will this finally give Flame a run or its’ money in the Hero Suite? I’m sure places that are using Nuke/Hiero right now will fully embrace it and love it – but facilities built on Flame? Will they ever switch? Flame has one of the most fiercly passionate communities I’ve ever seen. But as we’ll discuss in the next section, the artists don’t always get what they want…
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