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.
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