Marquise Technologies unveils real-time image restoration
Marquise Technologies is introducing what they say is the world's first fully featured color grading solution with real-time image degrain/denoise, stabilization and dust/scratch concealment features. RAIN version 2.5 provides real-time color grading and image restoration of 2D and Stereo 3D material from RED One, RED Epic, ARRI Alexa and DPX. By integrating Cintel's imageMill2 board, RAIN -- Radically Advanced Imaging N-gine, which is Marquise Technologies' flagship solution for color grading -- now enjoys parallel processing, in real-time, of its dedicated restoration applications GRACE, STEADY and ORIGIN. In addition to real-time performance on 2K images, the new hardware platform integration enables up to 8 fps in 4K. "To be able to work in real time, RAIN processes the images all in GPU and integrates high-end hardware components," says Marquise Technologies CEO Laurence Stoll. "Last year, we were the first to integrate the NVIDIA digital video pipeline in a color correction system and, this year, we are using the Cintel imageMill2 board developed by Cintel."  RAIN works in a range of color spaces including RGB, linear, logarithmic (Cineon, log-C), REC709, REC601 and DCI XYZ. Stoll reports that it will soon support the Academy Color Encoding Specification (ACES). Other highlights include a multi-point tracker and dedicated curves for highlights, midtones and shadows; a StoryBoard mode to allow creation of up to 32 groups of sequences to be graded as an ensemble; QuickStore for immediate access to the grades stored in the Grade Library; and a new Versioning mode to memorize up to nine versions of a clip. GRACE, STEADY and ORIGIN parameters fully benefit from these features and can be applied, modified, saved and retrieved like any type of color correction available in RAIN. "The story of RAIN started with the assumption two years ago that a product was missing in the industry: powerful enough to grade fast and efficiently 80 percent of the time, with access to high-end features for the remaining 20 percent," says Stoll. "I also had a very personal request for that product. For the User Interface, I did not want a display of a lot of information with no logic at all. What we have created is a unique UI that is visual, comprehensible, light, centered on the image and displaying only what you need, thanks to contextual menus and dynamic windows." Stoll points out that when the company began development of RAIN two years ago, the market was dominated by the "big names leading the market, but their products are old-fashioned from a technological point of view," he says. "With each new RAW format, it's a nightmare for their developers because the solutions have been designed a long time ago. RAIN was developed integrating a multiplicity of file formats (RED, ARRI RAW, Phantom, Canon 5D, DPX, QT) and also Stereo 3D, making it easier to work with." Two digital post houses (one in France, one in Switzerland) were beta testers during the development process, reveals Stoll, and these two houses still work with the product. "We have learned a lot from them, in terms of how to make their job easier," says Stoll. "Today we have different grading modes--QuickStore, the GradeLibrary and the StoryBoard--allowing the user to save, retrieve and apply the color decision in different ways." Priced in Europe at 20,000 Euros for a software-only version up to 60,000 Euros for the largest turnkey solution, RAIN will be available in the U.S. through the company's U.S. reseller ProMax. At IBC, imageMill2 applications are available in the turnkey configuration HEAVY RAIN at the Marquise Technologies booth, Hall 7/Booth 7.K25. RAIN is also part of the "Film2Film" 2K/4K Image Restoration Workflow Packages that Cintel (Booth 7.B35) will demonstrate and offers for film archives and restoration companies.
|
| ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
Reply
Like
