SpeedGrade XR - Universal Real-Time RAW Support

[Peace Villow]

SpeedGrade XR - The End-to-End RAW Workflow Solution
Introducing SpeedGrade XR, the newest addition to the SpeedGrade family of non-destructive color grading applications. SpeedGrade XR is designed as a companion application for RAW camera workflows and offers powerful review, grading, and finishing tools for all available RAW formats as well as AVI and QuickTime codecs. With SpeedGrade XR, the promise of end-to-end RAW digital cinema workflows are now realized: retain the full latitude of the camera's sensor data in a file which is just one third the size of an equivalent RGB format.

Supported File Formats:
ARRI D20/D21 .ari
The ARRI D20/D21 .ari format is fully supported in all IRIDAS applications starting 2007. For render quality processing, use IRIDAS 2008 series applications which incorporate Real-Time RAW 2.0.

ARRI D20/D21 S.Two RAW (.dpx)
The ARRI D20/D21 RAW files recorded on an S.Two Digital Film Recorder (file extension .dpx) are fully supported in all IRIDAS 2008 applications.

Cineform (.avi/.mov)
All Cineform-compressed RAW files are fully supported in all IRIDAS applications starting 2007. For render quality processing, use IRIDAS 2008 series applications which incorporate Real-Time RAW 2.0.

DALSA Origin 4K RAW (.dpx)
DALSA Origina RAW files (extension .dpx) are fully supported in all IRIDAS 2008 series applications.

Phantom HD/4K (.cine)
All Phantom .cine files are supported starting 2007. If you have an older Phantom RAW file with the extension .cin, please enable the corresponding flag in the File Formats tab of your user settings, to enable compatibility with this format. For render quality processing, use IRIDAS 2008 series applications which incorporate Real-Time RAW 2.0.

REDCode RAW (.r3d)
Internal versions of IRIDAS 2008 series applications support REDCode RAW files directly. However since the format is not yet finalized by RED, REDCode format support will be released in a service pack later in 2008. .r3d files wrapped in Quicktime reference files, are supported on Mac OS X versions of SpeedGrade XR.

Silicon Imaging SI 2K/SI Mini (Cineform RAW .avi/.mov)
Cineform RAW files generated by the Silicon Imaging cameras are supported starting 2007. For render quality processing, use IRIDAS 2008 series applications which incorporate Real-Time RAW 2.0 and matrix and .Look metadata support.

Silicon Imaging SI 2K/SI Mini (Uncompressed .siv)
Uncompressed .siv files generated by the Silicon Imaging cameras are fully supported in all 2008 series applications.

Weisscam HS-1 RAW (.wcr)
Uncompressed Weisscam RAW files generated by the Weisscam HS-1 cameras are supported starting 2007. For render quality processing, use IRIDAS 2008 series applications which incorporate Real-Time RAW 2.0.

 

[Vladimir Eugene]

I'm looking forward to seeing your product in action

Vladimir Eugene

 

[Cüneyt Kaya]

REDCode RAW Quicktimes are supported on the Mac at resolutions up to 2K.

http://www.speedgrade.com/xr/


it seems they will support the proxies too

 

[Joel Kaye]

News: IRIDAS to Introduce SpeedGrade XR at NAB 2008

New Application for Digital Cinema RAW Workflows

(Munich, Germany--April 8, 2008) IRIDAS, the industry leader in RAW playback technologies, has announced the release of SpeedGrade XR and will introduce the new application at NAB April 14 - 17.

Designed as a companion product for RAW camera workflows, SpeedGrade XR features IRIDAS' new RealTime RAW 2.0 technology providing superb image quality for review, grading and finishing of unrendered RAW formats at any resolution. The ability to stay in RAW for postproduction offers filmmakers considerable advantages: RAW files provide more image data than RGB formats, yet are just one third the size.

Along with realtime interpolation of RAW formats, SpeedGrade XR can play video formats (QuickTime and AVI) at HD, 2K, and 4K resolutions. The application offers powerful primary and secondary grading tools, refined conform capabilities, animated masks, pan & scan, and numerous FX shaders such as bleach bypass, Technicolor 3-Strip, and more for creating stylized looks. In addition, IRIDAS DualStream technology for realtime stereo playback and grading is now offered standard. For final output SpeedGrade XR renders to any standard video or file format.

"We are using SpeedGrade XR with DualStream for dailies and pre-grading on production for 'Dark Country,' a new stereo feature film," said Jim Hays, Digital Workflow Supervisor at Paradise FX. "When people see the 3D dailies they are blown away. With this system we can really see exactly what we are doing."

For most of the shooting, Paradise FX used the Silicon Imaging 2K camera recording in CineForm RAW. "With the SI camera we can apply SpeedGrade .Looks right in the viewfinder," explained Jim Hays, "it just makes sense to stay with the same system for our dailies." SpeedGrade's realtime RAW capabilities mean that CineForm RAW files can be loaded straight from the camera into SpeedGrade XR for review and pre-grading.

"The IRIDAS software has greatly changed the way we work with stereo," said Tim Thomas, president of Paradise FX. "We had been making do with other solutions for a few years but now we are able to work at five times the speed, which means quicker feedback, much more efficient post work, and a happy client."

"SpeedGrade XR provides the key for enabling RAW digital cinema workflows," said IRIDAS CEO, Lin Kayser. "Staying in RAW makes so much sense, but until recently it was only a theoretical possibility. Now filmmakers have a practical way of keeping the pipeline in RAW through production and post - all the way to final rendering."

IRIDAS is the only developer offering live deBayering of all available RAW formats. Currently the IRIDAS SpeedGrade and FrameCycler applications support ARRI D20 RAW, CineForm RAW (used by Silicon Imaging and others), DALSA 4K RAW, Phantom RAW, and WEISSCAM RAW. Support for additional RAW formats will be added as soon as these become available.

SpeedGrade XR runs on Max OS X and Windows XP and sells for $20,000 USD (US and Canada) or 15,000 EUR (international). Fully functional trial downloads will be available from the IRIDAS web site on May 1, 2008. Visitors to NAB can see SpeedGrade XR at the IRIDAS booth (SL10708) in the South Lower Hall at the Las Vegas Convention Center. To schedule a demo contact IRIDAS at at +49 89 330 35 142 or IRIDAS USA at +1 818 951-8927. For more information, please visit http://www.speedgrade.com/xr.

About IRIDAS
IRIDAS pioneered desktop film-resolution playback in 2001. Its FrameCycler products are now the industry standard for frame-based image review. In 2003 IRIDAS introduced the first non-destructive color correction application. Today SpeedGrade and FrameCycler provide the critical links in an end-to-end pipeline for uncompressed content and color metadata. IRIDAS' applications are used by filmmakers around the world and most major animation and postproduction houses. IRIDAS is an independent, privately held company headquartered in Munich, Germany. For more information, visit http://www.iridas.com.


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This certainly appears to blow away Assimilate's latest offering.

I still think someone like Speedgrade needs to do a much cheaper 1080P output only version that only supports REDcode just for RED DP's who need to color their own stuff and don't need to lay off to tape. Basically aren't competition to post houses.

 

[Cüneyt Kaya]

assimiliate is good in data management and as a conform tool+ you can CC.

so lets wait what irirdias can really do...

but sounds promising

 

[Sven Seynaeve]

This sounds really great.

 

[Cüneyt Kaya]

laguun will be happy

 

[laguun]

laguun will be happy

no news for us

they are only waiting for red to allow the use of redcode , iirc they support red since october 2007, as they do with almost any raw basing camera...
they started raw long before red was delivered, but you have to give lot of the credits of this to axel of magnamedia who also posts here: he was pushing these features

dark country made a good choice with speedgrade, its great to have stereo/3D and raw and on set monitoring and osx and win and linux support, and having mixed cineform/si/red/dpx uncompressed playback is certainly nice for them as they shoot with these different formats in 3D.

Also, iridas has nice 4, 8 and 10K playback systems.

 

[Cüneyt Kaya]

do you know something about the price?

and i knew that you and axel do some behind the scene things

 

[laguun]

assimiliate is good in data management and as a conform tool+ you can CC.

so lets wait what irirdias can really do...

but sounds promising

iridas speedgrade and scratch are both very good tools with a very similar toolset. same league, the "mid-class" systems.

iridas is -the- raw pioneer, they support nearly all raw cameras (and cineform) in their di/conform. They dont limit the features, even not in their 9.999 osx/win/linux product, they only price on the format (QT/prores/AVI, RAW, dpx, 2D/3D) and resolution (1080P and unlimited).

 

[laguun]

do you know something about the price?

and i knew that you and axel do some behind the scene things

speedgrade HD is 9.999, speedgrade DI 22.499, so i *suppose* it will be in the middle. It runs on OSX, linux and windows.

if you want 4K pixel by pixel display (or more, they have some crazy customers as disney with 10K res ) with the venue module, you need several nvidias quadros for the 4K display cluster, this brings the price up to lower DVS clipster level.

 

[Nick Wolf]

I have been holding off researching and researching amassing funds for finsihing waiting so as not to make any rash or hasty decisions nor swayed by hollow rhetorik or falling for the flashy grafics of virtual mock ups...I was waiting untill after NAB but seeing as the fat lady has desided to belt it out now I have pretty much found my "Companion" for the next few years...

I dont think even smelling salts at this point will help...Lights Out.

So my new found friend Who to call for help with configuring hardware and support?

DogDay

 

[Hans von Sonntag]

I use SpeedGrade since over a year on OSX and so far it is the only DI application that is fully crossplatform (including Linux).

IMHO, from an artistisc point of view SpeeGrade is a brilliant CC application, complementing RED nicely (done it on 3 jobs so far). Native RAW support will make it even better suited for RED.

Hans

 

[laguun]

exactly the tools you need!?

color, scratch, speedgrade, baselight, clipster - no tool has the toolset we want.
All have (different) missing functions for us, or all users.

We want a *full* online system, but so far the market doesnt have one. The pieces of the puzzle come together, but it will still take some years.

call us spoiled, but what we finally want is (no joking ) basicly smoke-class editing tools and VFX (better even combustion class VFX), lustre-like Grading, Avids bin-database, procoder-like media encoding with an adobe encore-class bluray authoring, with toxik-like networked workflow and a solid surround sound mastering, with speedgrade-class raw support on dvs clipster quality and speed and automation ala FCS server with investment security ala adobe.

Ah yes, and at a low $$$$-$$.$$$ pricepoint, in one product, or one product suite - i have to equip 7 editing/onlining stations here, so price is important.

In 2008, no manufactuerer has this. Ironically, among the closest near this target are abode (which miss massive DI and automation), apple (which have image quality issues for RGB and limits in their VFX after discontinuing shake). Quantel and discreet have the technology, but sell it in differents products, logically, as they dont have competition to force them to sell it in one product yet.

After buying dozens of Cameras, lenses, NLEs, VFXs, 3 DIs in 2 decades, you better think strategic, and this whole offline/online->step by step, paradigm will be gone soon enough, luckily less than one decade from here. If people buy their first NLE/DI they are often very exicetd about it and think that it might be eternal love, now, thats not to different with the first girl/boyfriend, isnt it?

We have no pressure to invest right now, we are waiting until red ends the monopoly of apple for nle and scratch for di and then will decide whats a good offer. It would be different if apple and/or scratch would have solutions which are better than what we have (besides redcode support), but thats clearly not the case.

Therefore speedgrade, scratch, color are temporary tools for anyone - they will evolve and for the smaller manufacturers its pretty logical that some of them follow an exit strategy, selling the tech to a larger corp, as to be reborn as color etc.

and i guess they are futureproof?

Oh yes, iridas is doing very well since 2000. They have so many top-clients (disney, lucasfilm), excellent tech (great 3d, great raw, great transcontinental networking for paralell working, 4-10K playback with hardware output...)... if i would be arri (or red) i would try to make them an offer which they couldnt resist.

some competition is good in the native r3d di market

some? there is none yet, iridas wont sell the product with redcode until red allows it, even if they have their redcode support ready and up since quite some time. Red wants the companies who have working redcode workflows (as cineform or iridas) to wait, and so they wait.

p.s.
*forgot to add: clipster like DCI mastering of DCDM and DCP

 

[Nick Wolf]

Its a bit off topic but F-It...

Laguun you did an itemized break down a while back for either mmost or mezmo, anyway it was someone, where you went through the specs for setting up a powerful workstation that can fully support Combustion and it included price tag for each specified pice of that puzzle...I dont want you to go through the trouble of repeating yourself though I know you would...Can you just post the link to which thread that was-Please, I can`t seem to locate it.

Ich danke ihnen vielmals!

DogDay

 

[Peace Villow]

do you know something about the price?

SpeedGrade XR runs on Mac OSX, Windows XP and Linux (Cent OS, SuSE, Red Hat Ent.) and sells for $20,000 USD (US and Canada) or 15,000 EUR (international). Fully functional trial downloads will be available from the IRIDAS web site on May 1, 2008.
http://www.speedgrade.com/xr.

 

[Rainer Fritz]

I can only say the debayer of iridas is breath taking genius.... iridas will be the way to go....

 

[laguun]

I use SpeedGrade since over a year on OSX and so far it is the only DI application that is fully crossplatform (including Linux).
IMHO, from an artistis point of view SpeeGrade is a brilliant CC application, complementing RED nicely (done it on 3 jobs so far).
Hans

Yeah, the colorcorrection tools in speedgrade are very good.

Native RAW support will make it even better suited for RED.

They have native raw since a long time for all manufacturers.
For RED, they only waiting for red to allow 3hrd parties to support their camera(s).

 

[laguun]

Its a bit off topic but F-It...

Laguun you did an itemized break down a while back for either mmost or mezmo, anyway it was someone, where you went through the specs for setting up a powerful workstation that can fully support Combustion and it included price tag for each specified pice of that puzzle...I dont want you to go through the trouble of repeating yourself though I know you would...Can you just post the link to which thread that was-Please, I can`t seem to locate it.

http://www.reduser.net/forum/showthread.php?t=10400&highlight=magic

Ich danke ihnen vielmals!
DogDay

gerne

 

[Helge Løken]

Does anyone have any hands-on experience with any of the Speedgrade suites?

I'm especially curious about render-times, which is terrible in Color.
And what NLE would it be best to pair it with?

Thanks!