DaVinci for Mac, game changer or game over?

[roryhinds]

Does anyone know what spec is required for Resolve on Mac?
I heard to nVidia cards but can't find a spec sheet anywhere

[Simon Blackledge]

non yet but a 285 or a 4800 probably..

[jake blackstone]

A system not having certain features its customer base is not demanding, but rather solidifying the ones that make it great makes good sense to me. Assimilate does not make control panels, So? there are tons of panels out there to choose from. You as a colorist should be really scared, one of the powerful parts of a Davinci are its extensive presets. at $995 you can rest assured other colorists will sell lots and lots of presets to what used to be your customer base. with one click Rihanna's producer will find a suitable grade for her next project and save the dough on your services. Lucas can always sell lots and lots of scratch licenses for whatever price he wants.

Haha, that's funny. I'm so glad you'd voiced these sentiments. I get this attitude days in and day out, especially on music videos. Why should we pay you more money, if I can get the director or DP just reuse some look presets and deliver the video? "You as a colorist should be really scared, one of the powerful parts of a Davinci are its extensive presets" What extensive presets? It's just regular garden variety color grades gallery, just any other grading systems. I think originally it was offered on Pogle back in the day. But, if that's your understanding what colorist does, then just use Magic Bullet looks right now. If you're planning to buy Resolve just so you can reuse some bought "presets", then I suggest you should save the $1k and stay with Color. Dare I say, it's just as powerful in that respect:-)
Let me give you an example of why I'm not worried. In majority of cases for music videos grading, I'm usually provided with a few reference videos or stills. If all you are trained to do is to just push the presets, then you should prey to your color gods, that someone had already created this look and you have it in your bag, so you can give to your client what he wants. Beside, the looks never properly work anyway. What if it's something new? As a simple preset reuser, would you even know how to recreate that look in the reference video? I have lost count as to how many times I would get the material, where video wasn't shot even close to the reference requirements. With an advance of modern post tools, clients are under impression, that anything can be turned into any desired look. Yes, but it takes more talent, experience and time, than just reuse of presets. So, no, I'm not scared or even concern at all. Will I get offered less of the low or never paying music video offers? What about all those low quality- good enough- let's find the cheapest colorist for the job- just for film credit- a great way to make connections- do this one and then will get you more non paying jobs? Couldn't care less. Not my market...
I work with Baselight and Lustre, less with FilmMaster and Scratch. Not that many people can say this. Before I ditch my Lustre, I will be doing very extensive, real life tests of the Resolve, but if it meets my needs, I will swith to Resolve in a heart beat, despite my obvious affection for Lustre...
PS. Not being a colorist, that spends many hours every day pushing colors, you can't possibly imagine the importance of ergonomics of properly designed control panel. So, I'm not even going to try to explain it any more...

[Jeff Coatney]

This is an interesting thread. Clearly the Post landscape is in the throes of meaningful change. The next 18 months will be fascinating to watch. Professional tool sets are aggressively migrating to the end-user. If I were a Colorist, I'd be ramping up to share my expertise right now. People that can see the road ahead are well positioned to benefit from this opportunity.

If "secret knowledge" protects your livelihood, the Prometheus of technology will inevitably steal your fire and give it to everyone.

[shashbugu]

Haha, that's funny. I'm so glad you'd voiced these sentiments. I get this attitude days in and day out, especially on music videos. Why should we pay you more money, if I can get the director or DP just reuse some look presets and deliver the video? "You as a colorist should be really scared, one of the powerful parts of a Davinci are its extensive presets" What extensive presets? It's just regular garden variety color grades gallery, just any other grading systems. I think originally it was offered on Pogle back in the day. But, if that's your understanding what colorist does, then just use Magic Bullet looks right now. If you're planning to buy Resolve just so you can reuse some bought "presets", then I suggest you should save the $1k and stay with Color. Dare I say, it's just as powerful in that respect:-)
Let me give you an example of why I'm not worried. In majority of cases for music videos grading, I'm usually provided with a few reference videos or stills. If all you are trained to do is to just push the presets, then you should prey to your color gods, that someone had already created this look and you have it in your bag, so you can give to your client what he wants. Beside, the looks never properly work anyway. What if it's something new? As a simple preset reuser, would you even know how to recreate that look in the reference video? I have lost count as to how many times I would get the material, where video wasn't shot even close to the reference requirements. With an advance of modern post tools, clients are under impression, that anything can be turned into any desired look. Yes, but it takes more talent, experience and time, than just reuse of presets. So, no, I'm not scared or even concern at all. Will I get offered less of the low or never paying music video offers? What about all those low quality- good enough- let's find the cheapest colorist for the job- just for film credit- a great way to make connections- do this one and then will get you more non paying jobs? Couldn't care less. Not my market...
I work with Baselight and Lustre, less with FilmMaster and Scratch. Not that many people can say this. Before I ditch my Lustre, I will be doing very extensive, real life tests of the Resolve, but if it meets my needs, I will swith to Resolve in a heart beat, despite my obvious affection for Lustre...
PS. Not being a colorist, that spends many hours every day pushing colors, you can't possibly imagine the importance of ergonomics of properly designed control panel. So, I'm not even going to try to explain it any more...

Thanks, your point well taken. I do apologize. I dare not be sarcastic about a persons livelihood. That was wrong of me. since you live in LA if you are ever around B hills I'll buy you a drink. Cheers!!!:

[shashbugu]

This is an thread. Clearly the Post landscape is in the throes of meaningful change. The next 18 months will be fascinating to watch. Professional tool sets are aggressively migrating to the end-user. If I were a Colorist, I'd be ramping up to share my expertise right now. People that can see the road ahead are well positioned to benefit from this opportunity.

If "secret knowledge" protects your livelihood, the Prometheus of technology will inevitably steal your fire and give it to everyone.

Interesting!!, That's a pretty profound way to look at the thread.

[jake blackstone]

Thanks, your point well taken. I do apologize. I dare not be sarcastic about a persons livelihood. That was wrong of me. since you live in LA if you are ever around B hills I'll buy you a drink. Cheers!!!:

You're on

[jake blackstone]

This is an interesting thread. Clearly the Post landscape is in the throes of meaningful change. The next 18 months will be fascinating to watch. Professional tool sets are aggressively migrating to the end-user. If I were a Colorist, I'd be ramping up to share my expertise right now. People that can see the road ahead are well positioned to benefit from this opportunity.

If "secret knowledge" protects your livelihood, the Prometheus of technology will inevitably steal your fire and give it to everyone.

I will agree with you on the change part, except, I feel, the change is not only happening, but it's even accelerating in just about every aspect of filmmaking. It's changing from production all the way to delivery. Everyone, not just colorists, should be on their toes these days. Red also is being hit on both sides, with Arri and Aaton from one side and Canon and Nikon on the other. Any DP or Directors should know how to use best tools for the job. I would actually encourage any DP or Director to stop by my shop for quick lesson on color grading. It would help them to be better versed in the process. There is no secret society of colorists that's trying to hide secrets of good color grading. I'm not worried, that someone comes over and learns all my tricks in an hour. Come over... It's all in the open-talent, good eye and perseverance. Repurchasing old presets is not one of them.

[Arttie Puig]

Repurchasing old presets is not one of them.

Presets never work, they only work in the intended source footage, any slight variation will throw it off. It's not even possible sometimes to reuse a graded shot in another, you have to manually tweak it to match it.

I've seen a lot of clients that thought they can get away with Colorista or presets, only to find out they need a colorist urgently later on because it got rejected.

[Alex Hastings]

Actually I'd like to go that road. What kind of compositing we're talking here?
Do you support multiple layers in the timeline, transfer modes, 3D space, 3D or object tracking, any kind of sophisticated keyer beyond the standard 6 vector one, expressions, scripting, roto etc? Just curios, why one would need to do it on very expensive Scratch or Pablo station, if simple after effects will suffice?

Main problem with AE is ROTO, it lacks variable edge softness on a point by point basis. Also you can't keep a matt seperate from scaling and layer effects. I have done pro compositing for about 11 years, and I used AE from v 2.5. AE and it still lacks a lot of basic features required for pro roto. Lets compare to industry standard roto. SILHOUETTE, NUKE, FFI and SHAKE. You need proper ROTO for proper compositing. So in that case AE will not suffice at all.