Archive notice: This article was originally published on September 6, 2007. Links and embedded videos are preserved as part of the historical record.
At the start of IBC 2007, Autodesk announced numerous sales of its Lustre digital color-grading system to European and Asian post houses. Lustre was used on hundreds of films, trailers, television shows and commercials in Standard Definition (SD), High Definition (HD), as well as 2K and 4K resolutions. These also include the films Babel, Children of Men, Hairspray, King Kong, No Reservations, Pushing Daisies and Swingtown.
The Belgian studio L’Equipe purchased its first Lustre system for work on SD, HD and 2K projects. Among other things, the studio used Lustre for a feature film, three television documentaries and a Belgian soap opera.
Dominique Marcel, Video Department Supervisor at Studio L’Equipe, says: “I chose Lustre because it was already on everyone’s lips among our customers. The product demonstration also impressed us greatly. The fact that many other studios use Lustre naturally motivated us as well. Lustre is the most important color-grading system in Europe and thus became the first choice. Furthermore, it will be no problem to find colorists who are thoroughly familiar with Lustre.”
Optix DigitalPictures in Hamburg, a postproduction studio for film scanning, compositing, 2D and 3D animations, has also invested in a Lustre HD system. Paul Breuer, colorist at Optix DigitalPictures, explains: “Everyone is talking about High Definition. However, only very few are able to carry out a complete postproduction workflow in HD. We realize this workflow with Lustre and can offer correspondingly optimized real-time color grading.”
The audio and video production studio nhb in Hamburg purchased Lustre as part of a major investment in technical equipment. Alongside Lustre, nhb invested in three Autodesk Flame and one Autodesk Smoke editing/finishing system. “The solutions from Autodesk Media & Entertainment allow us to combine various services into a single full-service solution, even at 2K and 4K resolution”, says Michael Vitzthum, Managing Director at nhb. “Only the combination of technically innovative systems and our creativity makes results of the highest level possible.”
CinePostproduction Geyer Berlin, a subsidiary of CineMedia Film AG, has acquired a second Lustre system. “With Lustre HD, we are now extending our high-quality real-time grading capabilities to the demanding television-feature-film segment as well”, says Ivar Beer, Head of Digital Lab and Digital Postproduction at CinePostproduction.
The state-owned Gruzia Film Studios in Tbilisi, Georgia, are currently in a major renovation phase – the studios are changing both externally and technically. In the course of this, an end-to-end Autodesk workflow is also to be installed. In order to secure more film and television work for Georgia, Gruzia Film Studio invested in a digital Lustre HD grading system, a Flame visual-effects system and a Smoke editing/finishing system. In addition, Gruzia Film Studios purchased five seats of the Autodesk Toxik compositing software, Autodesk 3ds Max and Autodesk Maya 3D modeling, animation and rendering software, as well as Autodesk Combustion desktop compositing software. Lustre and Smoke have already been used for training and finishing several commercials. Lustre was also used for the digital grading of Paper Bullet – a television film about the Russian mafia.
Punch Post Production of Oslo has purchased both a Lustre system and an Autodesk Flame visual-effects system. The acquisitions support the company in its development from an offline editing and audio boutique to a full-service provider. Devon Taylor, partner at Punch Post Production, Creative Director and Flame Artist, says of this: “We looked closely at the world of postproduction and thought very intensively about which tools to invest in. There are a whole range of products on the market. But in our opinion there is nothing comparable to Autodesk products when it comes to stability, control, creativity and versatility.”
The CineLab film-production studio in Moscow will expand its range of offerings to include postproduction services in the coming months. The company is already equipped with two Autodesk Lustre Incinerator digital grading systems and an Autodesk Smoke editing/finishing system. “We chose Autodesk products because they are known as the best in the industry”, says Denis Glinsky, Managing Director at CineLab. “We hope to be attractive to old and new customers because more and more films are being made with a DI process. It is a great advantage to be able to perform Lustre 2K color grading in real time.”
Oasis Post Studio in Adelaide uses Lustre alongside its Flame and Smoke systems. The Australian company is continuing to build on its international reputation for creating high-quality postproductions. Oasis Post Studio recently used its Autodesk solution concepts for 2K DI work on the feature film No Reservations. Scott Hicks directed the film starring Catherine Zeta-Jones. Hicks is currently working with Oasis Post on a two-hour documentary titled Glass – A Portrait of Philip in Twelve Parts, which honors the life and work of composer Philip Glass.
“With Lustre, our work gained greatly in speed, accuracy and performance”, says Marty Pepper, Head of Digital Film at Oasis Post. “The system fits perfectly into our pipeline. We had an easy learning process because we were already familiar with the Autodesk user interface. And what I particularly like is that I can work on a 2K project and switch to another HD project within a minute. This allows us to work effectively on different projects at the same time.”
The Post Bangkok has developed from a postproduction studio for commercials into a complete studio for short and long television projects and feature films. Its pipeline includes a Lustre system as well as five Autodesk Inferno and Flame visual-effects suites. The studio works constantly with projects from Thailand, Hong Kong, the United States and other countries.
“Lustre basically enables us all by itself to make the transition from a postproduction studio for television advertising to a complete DI grading studio. Without Lustre, we could hardly handle half our current film volume,” says Richard Downing, Director of Post Production at The Post Bangkok.
The following postproduction studios have also recently chosen an Autodesk Lustre system: Cinemeta Digital (Netherlands), Daltons Digital (Spain), Generator Post (Finland), Sonne (Denmark) and The Ambassadors (Netherlands).
Further Links:
- Autodesk Lustre
