SAN JOSE, CA — Assimilate (assimilateinc.com) has introduced DIT Pack, a new product bundle that includes the company’s advanced Scratch dailies software and Live Looks for live grading single and multi-cam set-ups. The DIT Pack is designed for modern production workflows that require extensive previz on-set to increase creative control, and to streamline post workflows after the shoot.
The DIT Pack enables a seamless workflow that combines advanced live grading with dailies transcoding, and via live-streaming, pushes everything out to remote and studio clients, while capturing all camera metadata along the way that will be used in VFX/post pipelines. The workflow starts with Live Looks for live grading content from any number of cameras in realtime and even adding advanced effects, like green-screen background replacement and texture effects. When saving a grade, all the metadata - either input by the user or delivered via the live SDI signal from all cameras - will also be saved in the form of a readable text doc and an XML that is suited for further pipeline scripting in VFX or post. All grades and metadata are stored in a familiar folder structure.
In Scratch, all camera material is loaded, and the looks and metadata are matched and merged from the Live Looks folder structure, along with automated syncing of audio. These tasks are automated and require almost no user interaction. Scratch will then output in many formats, as required by VFX/post. This includes offline DNX or Apple ProRes material, including all metadata for offline editing; high quality EXR VFX plates, including frame based lens information and camera metadata; and lightweight h.264/h.265 rushes for online review.
Scratch allows the user to either consolidate all look and metadata files into a folder per day, or copy the look and metadata to each source media file, thereby linking in any other DI software. Producers and post supervisors receive an extensive clip report, listing all relevant production information, and assistant editors are provided with an ALE that contains all clip metadata, including dynamic CDL information, to use in the target NLE.
At the live grading stage, Live Looks provides a local web interface for clients on or near set to browse grades, before-and-after snapshots, and metadata via wifi during the shoot. At the same time, Live Looks allows streaming of all camera feeds through either an RTMP stream or via NDI directly into Zoom, Skype, SetStream.io, or any other NDI-compatible software. At the dailies stage, Scratch separately outputs through RTMP and NDI for in-depth remote QC of all footage. After transcoding, Scratch allows for automatically publishing footage to the Assimilate Dailies Online web portal or the COPRA dailies platform via direct script integration.
DIT Pack is available immediately on MacOS and Windows. A permanent license costs $1,399, while an annual license is $799. A monthly option is available for $99.