Autodesk Lustre HD

Features: Autodesk Inc. has launched Autodesk Lustre HD, a new digital

color grading system designed for working on high-definition television (HDTV)

commercials and programming, as well as HDTV film projects.






Lustre HD is the latest addition to the Autodesk Lustre family of nonlinear
digital color grading products, which have been used to grade Academy

Award-winning films such as the 'Lord of the Rings' trilogy and 'King

Kong,' in addition to HDTV programs like the BBC Natural History Unit's

'Planet Earth' and 'Galapagos. '






Marc Petit, vice president of Autodesk's Media & Entertainment Division,
said, "Nonlinear digital color grading has become the norm for feature film

production, with Lustre having set the bar. We're now seeing growing demand for

these specialized digital grading tools in the TV industry and for films shot in

HD. The new Autodesk Lustre HD system provides post-production facilities and

broadcasters with an affordable, software-based color grading solution that has

unparalleled workflow and creative tools. It enables digital artists to explore

creative options and deliver stunning looks."

Autodesk Lustre HD offers real-time primary and secondary color correction

capabilities and real-time formatting of video deliverables using advanced

Graphics Processing Unit (GPU) technology - available in commodity graphics

cards. Petit added, "GPUs are proving to be a powerful and more flexible

alternative to older technologies for real-time media processing. They are

extremely fast and easily programmable, and are being developed at a faster pace

than CPUs. As a result, Autodesk is able to offer Lustre HD, a system with GPU-acceleration

technology, at a price that is considerably lower than proprietary

hardware-based solutions."






The system offers colorists an intuitive, nonlinear environment for interactive
color grading sessions, enabling them to collaborate with producers, directors,

art directors and cinematographers to perfectly adjust the colors and looks of

HDTV projects. Lustre HD is being beta tested around the world. Beta sites

include The Video Lab in South Africa and Digital Pictures Melbourne, among

others.






Autodesk has introduced a new control panel for Lustre HD, comprised of three
sub-panels that enable it to be easily configured for both left- and right-hand

dominant operation. The panel is modular in terms of physical layout and key

mapping. This ergonomic panel has a curved design that puts all controls within

easy reach of the colorist's fingertips and follows the natural radial movement

of the colorist's arms. Its non-reflective paint and filtered light-emitting

diodes (LEDs) reduce reflections and unwanted light in a critical viewing

environment.






Autodesk anticipates that Lustre HD and the new control panel will be available
worldwide in August 2006.