Duiker Research Corp., a California-based innovator in imaging and color tools for motion pictures, has launched Color Symmetry, a suite of plug-ins that for the first time allows film "looks" to be easily emulated and previewed within a wide array of animation, graphics and effects packages. Color Symmetry lets companies handle color accurately and consistently across mediums, applications, platforms and even facilities. Color Symmetry additionally helps companies build robust color pipelines to support complex feature film projects right out of the box.
The plug-ins are powered by a custom library of film profiles, proprietary Look-Up Tables (LUTs), color correction nodes and transformation techniques that eliminate color disparity between the way images appear when being manipulated, integrated and rendered and the way they would look on real film stock. The same functionality, film profile display mechanisms and color correction operations are mirrored in all C olor Symmetry-supported applications, which cover a complete range of popular products for painting, compositing, animation, vfx editing and DI.
"Color Symmetry solves a fundamental digital post-production problem by allowing artists creating and rendering shots and elements to see the images as they would appear on film," said Haarm-Pieter Duiker, founder, Duiker Research Corp. "The plug-in suite eliminates guesswork and redundancy from the process and gives any studio the ability to bridge the gap between film color imagery and color imagery displayed in visual effects and post-production software without having to constantly print film to check results. Color Symmetry also tackles the classic challenge of working consistently between the worlds of 2D live-action color imagery and 3D lighting and high-dynamic color range."
"Color Symmetry directly addresses our production needs for film look emulation, color space conversion and color operations in one consistent, cross-platform package," said Matt McDonald, a founding member and co-owner of Evil Eye Pictures, San Francisco. "Color Symmetry makes it possible to have a single set of professional-quality color pipeline tools for all of our core compositing, animation and rendering software and it's a solution our company has been seeking for quite some time."
Key Color Symmetry features include:
* Accurate Film Look Emulation -- Color Symmetry's proprietary LUTs can be applied in hardware or software to recreate the unique characteristics of print film stocks or looks created daily via a Digital Intermediate (DI) process..
* Identical Color Handing -- Color Symmetry handlles color imagery consistently across vastly different software packages, color spaces and user platforms. Color Symmetry supports both Cineon/DPX Log and floating-point HDR Linear color image data, allowing 2D and 3D applications to see color and light in the same way.
* Plug-and-Play Color Pipeline - Color Symmetry delivers a full gamut of tools for film look emulation and color correction that reduce the complexities of setting up and maintaining feature film color pipelines.
* Custom Look Authoring - Color Symmetry's new look creation process will allow custom looks to be authored by filmmakers for instant use in any Color Symmetry-supported application.
The Color Symmetry plug-in suite is available now, with platform-transparent support for Windows, Linux and Macintosh OSX operating systems. A single license of Color Symmetry suite includes color handling and film look capabilities for products including:
* Adobe After Effects* Adobe Photoshop* Apple Shake* Autodesk 3ds Max* Autodesk Maya* Autodesk Toxik* Newtek Lightwave* Eyeon Digital Fusion* Iridas Framecycler* Assimilate Scratch * OpenFX
Color Symmetry additionally integrates directly into production renderers such as mental images' mental ray and Splutterfish Brazil for projects that require command line rendering support.
Based in California, Duiker Research Labs (www.colorsymmetry.com) produces innovations in imagery for the motion picture and television industry. Products include Color Symmetry, as well as an an expanding range of plug-ins, shaders and tools that support and streamline visual effects and animation creation.
Bill Desowitz, former editor of VFXWorld, is currently the Crafts Editor of IndieWire.
