It runs on a Windows XP Platform, and is a highly configurable, low cost and high quality environment for a wide variety of color correction, image restoration and enhancement applications, as well as provides a highly ergonomic, user-friendly interface that each operator can easily customize and manage.

Valhall Colour Grade supports the following image formats: 4:2:2 YUV, 4:4:4 YUV and 4:4:4 RBG in 525i, 625i, 1080i, 1080P and 1080PsF.

Version 2.0 new features include waveform monitor and vectorscope, three layers of primary color correction, true layer handling, user definable transfer functions (curves) and a dedicated vignette layer.

Imagineer Systems showcased monet 1.5, which offers a start-to-finish solution for replacing elements in film and video. It is used frequently for product placement. Courtesy of Imagineer Systems.

FilmLight Ltd., a leading provider of digital filmmaking technology, gave NAB attendees the first look at new features for Baselight v2.2, the upcoming software release for its nonlinear color grading system. Baselight v2.2 brings colorists a host of new creative tools for film and video grading and introduces support for the optional FilmLight-developed Blackboard surface control device announced at NAB. The company also showcased upcoming features for the Northlight scanner and Truelight color management system.

GenArts Inc. featured its entire range of plug-ins, including hands on demonstrations of Sapphire Plug-ins on Avid Xpress Pro HD and for Adobe After Effects, Adobe Premiere, Apple Final Cut Pro and Discreet Combustion. Sapphire Plug-ins provide digital artists with a collection of more than 175 state-of-the-art image processing and synthesis effects. They fully and seamlessly integrate into a number of editing and compositing systems.

Imagineer Systems showcased monet 1.5. Aimed at the broadcast, film and video post-production markets, monet offers a start to finish solution for replacing elements in film and video and is being used frequently for product placement. It is available in two versions, monet software and monet extreme. monet 1.5 further enhances the original feature-set, featuring a host of new tools and optimizations that increase its already impressive price/performance ratio. New features include: the ability to work with proxies and dynamically switch between different proxy resolutions; the export of tracking data to Avid DS; support for working with material with 3:2 pull-down; the ability to place an element in 3D space; support for color highlight and shadow passes; and a completely new tool for the extrapolation of tracks to handle shots where an object disappears from the frame.

Optimization improvements include: better performance when working with HD and film clips; improved overlays; improved keyframe controls and enhanced tracking data export to Shake.

The extreme version of monet 1.5, includes specified hardware, an Aspex Accelera hardware card and an optional SD/HD/2K video I/O by DVS Centaurus and has been designed as a start-to-finish solution for product placement in film and television. Based on Imagineer’s unique element replacement technology, the system enables product placement of high quality to be delivered in an efficient and cost effective way as a post-production service. This creates new sources of revenue, adds flexibility and provides an alternative to the conventional 30-second spot now challenged by Personal Video Recorders.

LightWave 3D 8.3 offers enhanced vector blur routines, seen above in a test sky composite. It also boasts improved integration with other production tools via updated PSD support. © 2005 NewTek Inc.

InPhase Technologies, the leader in holographic data storage systems and media, held the first public demonstration of the industry’s first prototype of a commercial holographic storage device using video clips provided by Turner Ent. Networks. The demonstration of the InPhase Tapestry was conducted with Hitachi Maxell Ltd., a key investor and development partner in InPhase. The prototype is the foundation for a 300 gigabyte (GB) drive that can store more than 35 hours of broadcast-quality high-definition video on a single disk. The family of InPhase Tapestry holographic drives will have capacities that range to 1.6 terabytes (TB) on a single disk.

A breakthrough in data storage, the InPhase prototype demonstrates a new generation of data storage, well beyond magnetic and optical formats, which capitalizes on the company’s leadership position in both holographic drive and media development. InPhase has created a new class of photopolymers, and the delivery of a stable recording device, to achieve a working commercial holographic system. The initial commercial units will be delivered to original equipment manufacturer (OEM) customers in 2006.

InPhase has architected an advanced technique, polytopic recording, which provides greater data density by overlaying “books” of data, rather than pages of data. The InPhase polytopic technique eliminates the space between books of data, thereby increasing data densities. This technique will be implemented in all generations of the InPhase Tapestry product family.