Matrix Color / Color Extreme Questions

[laguun]

I noticed that Matrix is offering new softwares, color and color extreme

http://www.chrome-imaging.com/index.php?page=products&sub=matrix_color_extreme

As matrix employees are monitoring the forum, i would like to ask 3 questions.
- I would like to know what the restrictions are compared to the full software.
- Also at which price color and color extreme are sold, if this is different by nation i would like to get a quote by PM.
- Will color extreme (once red allows direct postproduction software support by more than 2 manufacturers) support Redcode raw?

Im my humble opinion - if you price that product in the mid/upper $$$$-range, it could become a real bestseller.

So far, no company has taken the challenge to deliver an really inexpensive and powerful native redcode full colorcorrection/DI software which matches reds gamechanging pricing.

With thousands of customers waiting for a manufacturer to deliver exactly this , a matrix color extreme with redcode and adl/xml conform would find many, many customers.

 

[Gunleik Groven]

Agree to all Laguuns points

 

[dtatut@chrome-imaging.com]

Hi laguun,

Indeed, we do monitor the forum here, and for a long time...

Here are some answers to your questions:

1) Matrix Color and Matrix Color Extreme are geared toward facilities that need color correction tools, not a full blown system with 3D compositing, etc.

2) the difference between Matrix Color and Matrix Color Extreme is mainly the lack of film restoration tools. Basically Matrix Color is used now by several clients for color correcting HD/2K images that come from digital sources, although they grade film images as well as there is no reason why they could not. It's more the client's business model and needs that defined this product, not by the god of theory & marketing.

3) in terms of restrictions, there are none, so to speak. Matrix being a 100% modular software, we have just removed the modules that would not make sense and put a price that makes sense for this kind of use. Proof: several clients bought Matrix Color because of that in the past 3 months.

4) concerning the support of Redcode, the answer is yes, yes, yes and yes again. I think I answered this question more than 100 times in the past 2 weeks. I would like people to understand here that for us R3D files are not more difficult to handle that QuickTime files. Our plug-in based architecture allows the implementation of a R3D plug-in in less than a week, granted an available SDK... when available of course! It will then just come with the next upgrade, free of charge.

5) price-wise, Matrix Color is very competitive (same price range as the competition here). However recent clients that bought the product made a serious investment in terms of hardware in order to work efficiently (graphics card, storage, etc). So the final price of the software does not depend on the country or client's face, but rather on the actual needs, existing hardware, etc. As an example, our most recent client initially thought that a simple 3-ball Tangent Devices CP200 would be enough to start. Then they saw the ergonomics of the software when using the CP100 panel, they made the decision to make a serious investment on the hardare. Why? simply because their Da Vinci colorists worked very fast with it and that meant money making. They now only use the mouse to draw their bezier-shapes, load EDLs/FCP XMLs, conform and enter/exit the software.

6) we do not base our product definition on a specific file fomat. R3D support will be so common in a couple of weeks/months that being R3D-aware will not mean anything. What is important is the workflow. If we support R3D files natively and the whole workflow requires DPX in order to be efficient, then what's the point? Clients have to think about how they make good money in a very competitive market, not if they have the newest gadget on the market in their arsenal

Regarding your general comment about pricing, please understand that as long as Redcode is only given to 2 companies, no agressive attempt will be made by companies to offer new products. But be we sure all of them are preparing something, just as we do.

If you want to keep up to date with what we do, just register on our forum: http://www.chrome-imaging.com/forum/index.php

Best regards,

Dan

 

[Gunleik Groven]

There is a big open space where RedCine currently "is"...

Everyone and his aunt needs a proper development tool with xml/edl support. Even if that tool "only" sent the RedRAW further down the chain with the appropriate metadata readable.

I guess that might be a mute point, once everything supports redRAW, but RC is really bad press for assimilate these days...

 

[laguun]

There is a big open space where RedCine currently "is"...

Everyone and his aunt needs a proper development tool with xml/edl support. Even if that tool "only" sent the RedRAW further down the chain with the appropriate metadata readable.

I guess that might be a mute point, once everything supports redRAW, but RC is really bad press for assimilate these days...

... and for red.

 

[Michele Gavazzeni]

For MAC User...like me...it's windows xp only