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!!!:cheers2::

 

[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!!!:cheers2::

You're on:thumbsup:

 

[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.

 

[Tim Whitcomb]

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.

Good points and its easy to not be fearful because don't you agree that in the end, it indeed it is ALL about experience? In every aspect really.

many people can enhance an image or correct a shot with good tools, but a master uses secondaries and tracking and vignettes to help tell and shape the story, they add lights (or flags) the DP wished he had time to set, and of course, moreso with a DI,...

in my experience, where there is a real disparity is in senior colorists now being forced to learn new kit.

strange to see incredible colorists flounder trying to install a USB driver, whilst computer gurus build incredibly fast and efficient software programs and workstations, but have so little experience in the "art".

It takes years, not months, because it takes many projects, (and myriads of problems) as well as stylistic choices, and lets not forget building relationships with DP's and producers... that all takes TIME.

The latter is why few high end post houses worry about becoming obsolete from a new kid armed with talent and a MAC and a copy of software.

For DIY, the democratization is a godsend, no doubt. Even high end post houses thrive from a better prepared project coming in the door.

YES, the barrier of entry for aspiring colorists has been all but removed... but there is no substitute for experience.

Be it on Scratch, Pablo, Mistika, DaVinci, Color or even MS Paint.

I am also sure you agree Jake that HORSEPOWER is always welcome on pro jobs.

What these home users will all find out soon, is how quickly they find ways to rationalize buying more and more kit every year

The future is exciting and I always think about Coppolla's remarks in the 1990's that "soon some fat chick in iowa, armed with a camcorder, is going to be making features"

cheers

 

[lionel2p]

Good points and its easy to not be fearful because don't you agree that in the end, it indeed it is ALL about experience? In every aspect really.

many people can enhance an image or correct a shot with good tools, but a master uses secondaries and tracking and vignettes to help tell and shape the story, they add lights (or flags) the DP wished he had time to set, and of course, moreso with a DI,...

in my experience, where there is a real disparity is in senior colorists now being forced to learn new kit.

strange to see incredible colorists flounder trying to install a USB driver, whilst computer gurus build incredibly fast and efficient software programs and workstations, but have so little experience in the "art".

It takes years, not months, because it takes many projects, (and myriads of problems) as well as stylistic choices, and lets not forget building relationships with DP's and producers... that all takes TIME.

The latter is why few high end post houses worry about becoming obsolete from a new kid armed with talent and a MAC and a copy of software.

For DIY, the democratization is a godsend, no doubt. Even high end post houses thrive from a better prepared project coming in the door.

YES, the barrier of entry for aspiring colorists has been all but removed... but there is no substitute for experience.

Be it on Scratch, Pablo, Mistika, DaVinci, Color or even MS Paint.

I am also sure you agree Jake that HORSEPOWER is always welcome on pro jobs.

What these home users will all find out soon, is how quickly they find ways to rationalize buying more and more kit every year

The future is exciting and I always think about Coppolla's remarks in the 1990's that "soon some fat chick in iowa, armed with a camcorder, is going to be making features"

cheers

I could not agree more. It's all about experience, from editing, conforming , grading and mixing.

Anyway, something changed with tools for everyone. As I'm making the final outpout for lot of projects in my country because I have VTRs, I can tell you all the terrible things I see, made by people with about no idea of what is quality, formats, norms : awfull grades, mixed of interlaced-progressive, filed frame problems, syncing problems, sounds problems, color cranking problems, resolution problems and so on, and so on. And all those guys don't want to work with me anymore cause my job is to point those problems before sending a tape with my name on it.

They find people to outpout anyway and TV's are taking those tapes like they are, they pay about nothing for the program but they have hours and hours. That's not everthing but 70% of the business now. The all in one tool is the problem. One man think he can do everything, from recording to grading. That''s the way tools are marketed.

Pretty hard days to defend quality and experience. Obviously, quality is the way to go cause looking at the market, there's not too much people in this area.

 

[M Most]

For DIY, the democratization is a godsend, no doubt. Even high end post houses thrive from a better prepared project coming in the door.

Oh, if only that were true. My experience has been that the vast, vast, vast majority of DIY prepped projects are a mess, technically and practically. Almost all of them have to essentially be taken apart and put back together again in order to generate an acceptable final product. Most of them would have been a lot easier if they had just generated lists and brought the raw materials in for a proper conform. If the DIY'ers would only ask questions before they go off on some Internet advised work path, perhaps what you say could occasionally be true.

 

[Nick Shaw]

Oh, if only that were true. My experience has been that the vast, vast, vast majority of DIY prepped projects are a mess, technically and practically. Almost all of them have to essentially be taken apart and put back together again in order to generate an acceptable final product. Most of them would have been a lot easier if they had just generated lists and brought the raw materials in for a proper conform. If the DIY'ers would only ask questions before they go off on some Internet advised work path, perhaps what you say could occasionally be true.

He did say "better prepared projects". Of course a project will only be well prepared if it is done by somebody who knows what they are doing, and liaises with the colourist beforehand.

I have a MacBook Pro Baselight system, and have used it to prepare projects before going into a Baselight EIGHT. It certainly saves time in the grade, but how much that is appreciated by the facility depends I guess how much they appreciate the time saving when what that actually does is moves money out of their pocket and into mine! I know production appreciates it.

 

[Hrvoje Simic]

It will be interesting to see how usable and practical DaVinci is without the control surface. Controls on the color enhancement page seem tiny.

 

[M Most]

He did say "better prepared projects". Of course a project will only be well prepared if it is done by somebody who knows what they are doing, and liaises with the colourist beforehand.

The implication was that having these tools available leads to better prepared projects. I've found just the opposite, hence my comments.

 

[Arttie Puig]

It already started, Filmlight soft only at $95K, Assimilate, what are you waiting for?

 

[Barend Onneweer]

It already started, Filmlight soft only at $95K, Assimilate, what are you waiting for?

Oh god... if you really want to redo the same discussion again just read through the whoe thread once more. It's quite clear that Assimilate won't jump into a spasm over this and they'll let us know if and when there's something to say...

 

[Gabriele Turchi]

It already started, Filmlight soft only at $95K, Assimilate, what are you waiting for?

well actually to be precise baselight at 95K now offer the full system including color surface and quite a few TB of storage (if i am not wrong...i had an email couple of days ago...)

 

[M Most]

well actually to be precise baselight at 95K now offer the full system including color surface and quite a few TB of storage (if i am not wrong...i had an email couple of days ago...)

And also including video I/O, and Baselight Kompressor (to allow a Mac to act as a real time video server and processor for codecs not supported directly on Linux, like ProRes in all flavors).

12TB of storage are included.