Big NAB rumor "Scratch coming to MAC"

[Stacey Spears]

In the demon on Sunday, they imported a FCP XML with two tracks. Both tracks were available in SCRATCH.

 

[Fredrik Harreschou]

Thank you for the confirmation!

 

[roryhinds]

$18k is a big price drop from the $80k they were asking a few years ago.
Will be interesting to see what happens as the landscape is very different today with a lot more options available.

 

[kito]

In the demon on Sunday, they imported a FCP XML with two tracks. Both tracks were available in SCRATCH.

- very good improvement

thank you for this , Stacey

 

[kito]

$18k is a big price drop from the $80k they were asking a few years ago.
Will be interesting to see what happens as the landscape is very different today with a lot more options available.

yes Rory, nowadays, we have so much options to look. and hope, ...IMHO...the grading suite wouldn't go out from the track, for me,...it 's kind a ridiculous, everything's changed, but they forget the goal. I know they made it for purpose, to get easier, but in the end, i dont wanna put colorist as well as editor also. LOL...peace !!

kito
Vfx-DI artist/Sr.Compositor

 

[Stacey Spears]

Here is some additional info on v6. http://www.freshdv.com/2011/04/nab11-assimilate-scratch-6.html

 

[Fredrik Harreschou]

And fxguidetv talks to Steve Bannerman from Assimilate, last segment: http://www.fxguide.com/fxguidetv/fxguidetv-107-nab-2011-episode-1/

 

[kito]

And fxguidetv talks to Steve Bannerman from Assimilate, last segment: http://www.fxguide.com/fxguidetv/fxguidetv-107-nab-2011-episode-1/

finally,...thanks Fredrik

 

[Fredrik Harreschou]

Some people seem to think that Scratch on the Mac is "too little, too late". You don´t know what you are talking about. Check this out: Some new features in SCRATCH Six

 

[Hans von Sonntag]

Some people seem to think that Scratch on the Mac is "too little, too late". You don´t know what you are talking about...

People are buying lenses for 15k and more and claim that it can do more than a 1k lens. Often the same people think that a 1K software can do the same as a 15k software. Yes, that's right. But like with lenses for some there is more to a tool than just specs.

Great to have Scratch on the Mac.

Hans

 

[shashbugu]

its not $15K its $18K, thats 3k more. I'm being sarcastic Hans. LOL. As a Smoke user what do you see thats sooooo exciting? Except for the generations timeline. One thing i can speculate on is that with the addition of a few Flame effects in Smoke, its inevitable that with the discontinuation of Lustre as a standalone product, a few Lustre features will be tossed into Smac.

 

[Tom.Wong]

People are buying lenses for 15k and more and claim that it can do more than a 1k lens. Often the same people think that a 1K software can do the same as a 15k software. Yes, that's right. But like with lenses for some there is more to a tool than just specs.

Great to have Scratch on the Mac.

Hans

and I also don't think people realize that Scratch isn't JUST color grading. it's only 1 aspect of it's many features. Resolve is very powerful, but the only it does is grading. granted with resolve 8.0 you gain some basic things like keying, and so on. but there are no advanced compositing abilities, and there's a whole slew of other things that making Resolve a finishing solution just for color. Scratch is a full DI finishing solution where you can bring in all your elements into one place and finish from within scratch. I think that's what people have to realize. 18k is a STEAL for the things you can do. But the fact that they are jumping on the bandwagon of, keep the software affordable, let your hardware decide how far you wanna take it, is a great business plan to be following on. Let the hardware justify the cost of the suites, but let the software give you more flexibility. Mobile scratch on macbook pro's, full DI suites built for 40k.

 

[C.H.Haskell]

I agree. I got to demo then new Mac Scratch platforms and was very impressed overall. Assimilate history, relationship with RED, and the price points are just a few reasons to seriously consider this platform...but try and get a demo and see it in action. The software is only as powerful and brilliant as the people behind it and after spending a couple of days with the assimilate family...I am sold.

 

[jake blackstone]

I agree. I got to demo then new Mac Scratch platforms and was very impressed overall. Assimilate history, relationship with RED, and the price points are just a few reasons to seriously consider this platform...but try and get a demo and see it in action. The software is only as powerful and brilliant as the people behind it and after spending a couple of days with the assimilate family...I am sold.

That's funny. I saw the same demo and walked away with an exact opposite reaction. Assimilate is caught in no man's land- not enough of new added functionality to justify a huge price premium over Resolve 8 and not enough of even basic grading functionality to be able to compete with high end grading software, like BL, FM and Lustre.
BTW, I keep hearing the mantra, that somehow now Scratch is a "finishing solution". How does the inclusion of the most basic compositing all of a sudden makes Scratch a finishing suite? By this definition BL and FM were finishing suites years ago. I don't see those manufacturers making this silly claim...

 

[jake blackstone]

and I also don't think people realize that Scratch isn't JUST color grading. it's only 1 aspect of it's many features. Resolve is very powerful, but the only it does is grading. granted with resolve 8.0 you gain some basic things like keying, and so on. but there are no advanced compositing abilities, and there's a whole slew of other things that making Resolve a finishing solution just for color. Scratch is a full DI finishing solution where you can bring in all your elements into one place and finish from within scratch. I think that's what people have to realize. 18k is a STEAL for the things you can do. But the fact that they are jumping on the bandwagon of, keep the software affordable, let your hardware decide how far you wanna take it, is a great business plan to be following on. Let the hardware justify the cost of the suites, but let the software give you more flexibility. Mobile scratch on macbook pro's, full DI suites built for 40k.

What advanced capabilities are you speaking of? Can you import a or analyze a scene for a camera solution, import 3D objects, place them into the scene, light it, apply shaders and render it all? How about a simple end credit roll, without bring an externally created file? Editing sound? Unless it can do all that and somehow I missed it, then this isn't a true finishing tool...
I am wholeheartedly agree, that not all software should be $1K. Anyone, who ever had a chance to observe or drive BL, FM or Lustre in action can clearly see, that those grading solutions are best in breed and certainly justify a price premium. I just can't find that justification with Scratch. Upcoming Resolve 8 is a great value for the money and they don't make any outrages claims. FCP roundtrip with Resolve 8 couldn't be any easier, including H264 with no TC. It is literally one button.
Finally I would like to state, that I don't think, that Scratch price is too high, I just think Resolve's is too low and, as a result, unfortunately, Assimilate is the most vulnerable company. And may be Speedgrade as well.

 

[shashbugu]

What advanced capabilities are you speaking of? Can you import a or analyze a scene for a camera solution, import 3D objects, place them into the scene, light it, apply shaders and render it all? How about a simple end credit roll, without bring an externally created file? Editing sound? Unless it can do all that and somehow I missed it, then this isn't a true finishing tool...
I am wholeheartedly agree, that not all software should be $1K. Anyone, who ever had a chance to observe or drive BL, FM or Lustre in action can clearly see, that those grading solutions are best in breed and certainly justify a price premium. I just can't find that justification with Scratch. Upcoming Resolve 8 is a great value for the money and they don't make any outrages claims. FCP roundtrip with Resolve 8 couldn't be any easier, including H264 with no TC. It is literally one button.
Finally I would like to state, that I don't think, that Scratch price is too high, I just think Resolve's is too low and, as a result, unfortunately, Assimilate is the most vulnerable company. And may be Speedgrade as well.

We tried out speedgrade. We are nt colorist so i cant judge it in that capacity. But for transcoding meta tagging and one light primary grade log based debayers to any color space you can imagine it is years ahead of redcine-x. However with the promise of storm we figured all our onset ranscooding needs would be met. So far storm has been unfaithful to us in the stability area. We still rely on redcine-X.

 

[jake blackstone]

We tried out speedgrade. We are nt colorist so i cant judge it in that capacity. But for transcoding meta tagging and one light primary grade log based debayers to any color space you can imagine it is years ahead of redcine-x. However with the promise of storm we figured all our onset ranscooding needs would be met. So far storm has been unfaithful to us in the stability area. We still rely on redcine-X.

Take a look at Scratch Lab. It's stable and now at new price $5k is pretty good value. Or there is always Colorfront at $40-50k Or you could wait for Storm V2...

 

[Chris Kenny]

and I also don't think people realize that Scratch isn't JUST color grading. it's only 1 aspect of it's many features. Resolve is very powerful, but the only it does is grading. granted with resolve 8.0 you gain some basic things like keying, and so on. but there are no advanced compositing abilities, and there's a whole slew of other things that making Resolve a finishing solution just for color. Scratch is a full DI finishing solution where you can bring in all your elements into one place and finish from within scratch. I think that's what people have to realize. 18k is a STEAL for the things you can do. But the fact that they are jumping on the bandwagon of, keep the software affordable, let your hardware decide how far you wanna take it, is a great business plan to be following on. Let the hardware justify the cost of the suites, but let the software give you more flexibility. Mobile scratch on macbook pro's, full DI suites built for 40k.

I have to admit, I've never really quite gotten Scratch. I haven't used it extensively, but I'm generally familliar with its capabilities and interface. I'm taking another look at it after this price drop, but I still don't quite get it.

We mostly do dailies and color on indie features -- these seem like precisely the sort of things people use Scratch for, but I frankly just don't see any huge holes in our current workflow that it would plug, and certainly not any big enough they need to be plugged with $18K. OK, great, so you can do compositing in the same app you use for dallies, color grading, and creating deliverables. But generally, at least based on my experience in the indie feature world, these things are all done by different people, often in different places, and for color and compositing, at least, I don't think anyone would argue there aren't better tools out there than Scratch. I'm not even convinced that all of these things belong together in one app in the first place, let alone convinced I should pay $18K for that integration.

I'm really not trying to sound like a troll here. Maybe someone who finds Scratch really useful can explain the details of what sets it apart from alternative approaches?

 

[Barend Onneweer]

I have to admit, I've never really quite gotten Scratch. I haven't used it extensively, but I'm generally familliar with its capabilities and interface. I'm taking another look at it after this price drop, but I still don't quite get it.

I'm really not trying to sound like a troll here. Maybe someone who finds Scratch really useful can explain the details of what sets it apart from alternative approaches?

Well, I guess it depends on what you call useful and what you call alternative approaches. I think there are not many tools that can beat Scratch in conforming and datahandling. It's a capable color grading platform although Baselight has the edge there. At substantial higher cost, mind you. And limited Quicktime support on Linux, so you need the expensive Kompressor node.

Say you have a project that requires Alexa Prores dailies to be converted from C-log to rec709, with a one-light grade and exported to DNxHD MXFs for Avid editorial.
Scratch really sings in this scenario. V6 will have an even wider support for camera formats, so you can bring in virtually anything.

For me Scratch has missed some things in the grading department, such as multiple masks on a layer - but those are about to get covered in v6.

 

[Chris Kenny]

Say you have a project that requires Alexa Prores dailies to be converted from C-log to rec709, with a one-light grade and exported to DNxHD MXFs for Avid editorial.
Scratch really sings in this scenario. V6 will have an even wider support for camera formats, so you can bring in virtually anything.

I suppose I can see that, but that's sort of an odd edge case. If I wanted to do that with Red footage, I'd do the one-light in Redcine X, which saves out RMD files, and then use our in-house transcoding utility (a simple command line wrapper around Redline) to do the transcode.

Sticking with ProRes to MXF, though, Resolve (with the MXF add on) can do precisely this. The only current limitation is that it doesn't pass audio through from source clips, which a) isn't always necessary (if you're planning to sync up master audio with the dailies, which we commonly do) and b) a lot of people are bugging Blackmagic about and they'll probably fix. And Storm is going to be able to do this in early summer.

The unique value proposition for Scratch used to be obvious. It was, at one point, the only system that could grade Red footage natively, and the only system that could even play Red footage back in real time. But now its unique value proposition seems to have been reduced to the fact that it makes some workflow tasks moderately more convenient. And even a lot of that is going away.