While the development of the Digital Intermediate (DI) processes are a milestone in the industry, it should be clarified that there is a kind of fever around these processes. It's very easy to get tangled up in this whirlwind, especially when you hear forecasts that 90% of Hollywood films will have used DI this year, and it looks like everyone is implementing ID, except for yourself.
However, the truth is that not every operation is ready for DI. It may be that some companies do not have the required infrastructure for this type of installation or business model never requires it. Is Important to keep in mind, before making the jump to the wagon of the DI, that this may not be the best solution for your operation at present. Instead of taking the leap, take a step go back and review well what processes really require ID, if any better for your business and if indeed it is the steps you need to take to implement it gradually.
Definitions and decisions
with respect to DI
Based on color correction, DI is essentially the
process of digitizing the raw footage, so that the
color and other characteristics can be manipulated more easily.
While digital imaging is part of the ID process, the
what these images provide makes this technology so
novel: non-linear color enhancement.
In a traditional atmosphere of linear color correction, the colorist must move or revise the source device material, typically a telecine or machine VTR, between the required scenes in a linear fashion, sometimes having to scroll through a large section of film to get to the next required scene. While the review of the material forward and backward and the change of rolls are wasteful and time-consuming, all corrections are made in real time, without the need to generate proxies or waiting for rendering. When fast times are required Of delivery, this workflow is very effective for material short, as commercial, and can meet many requirements of the dailies of cinema.
Does your business work, mainly, to customers who require content in format short? Do your competitors work with similar customers with this kind of needs? If your competition starts offering DI workflows for this type of content, is perhaps the time to consider DI for your own operation. If not, SAY it may not be a necessity for your business right now.
Within the ID process, all the material is digitized and stored digitally, the Celluloid and videotape and can be accessed quickly, from non-linear way, to specific materials. With the use of media storage centers, there are no limitations in terms of tools that can interact with the material, and do not exist restrictions on resolution as there are no limitations about the input format. This makes it possible to work with SD, HD, 2K and even 4K files, as long as you have the storage and the bandwidth they can support Formats. This workflow is generally more appropriate for operations that have to do primarily with content, are short or long format, but sophisticated, such as movies or commercials in HD.
Is your installation mainly linear, but is seeing an increase in customer orders for this type of content? If so, this will mean an increase in the time needed to complete the projects and may require a change to coloring flows non-linear that the ID provides.
It's time to analyze how you can do this in a way that fits into your business, your infrastructure and its budget.
DI Implementation:
technologies and paradigms
Disk storage is the first step in deployment
of a DI workflow. Like any recording will be
Digitized, it takes a tremendous amount of space from
storage for such material, ideally in a SAN, on
all if you plan to manipulate 2K files or other types of files
high resolution. For every hour of material in 2K resolution,
you would need 1 TB of storage.
Yes, as with most post houses, you have a limited budget, you can start with a small SAN system and gradually build to from there, as your storage needs Increase. From a business point of view, anyway you don't want to invest in a big SAN at the beginning. In the SAN market, the amount of storage available it increases while prices fall. Wait until more customers need the space and, at that point, you can probably double your SAN capacity in half or even for a quarter of the original price. Remember also that once you finish your work and deliver the original material and the Finished part, you will be able to clean the system data.
It is also critical to have a data management system in operation, as working with all this storage requires a new paradigm, based on information technologies, on the content movement. Your staff is used to seeing and manipulate tangible assets of rolls and tapes, not bits and bytes stored on magnetic media or disks. This will require the implementation of a system that properly handles all the data and the different versions that are created along length of the process chain.
Next, you will need sufficient bandwidth to move data across all the process states. Ideally, this is done with multiple aggregate fibre optic channels, capable of moving data no bottlenecks. If your clients expect to work on real time, then the network has to provide data in time real. Plan for 300 Mbps for a single material stream in 2K resolution. As inflows and outflows are needed, it is basic doubling that capacity. Despite the fact that fiber optics it's not cheap just like SAN storage, it has been falling in price and improving in quality. Again, you you can build your bandwidth gradually as you their needs grow.
Another requirement is a concealer color, file-based, resolution-independent, that can open the files saved on your system and work in them. Even though you probably have a telecine in your installation, you will need to invest in a scanner that can convert images into data files. A scanner is essential in any ID process.
Migrating to a flow of
non-linear work
One way to migrate to a nonlinear workflow is
add a disk-based device, which allows you to
Coloring device quickly access the material of
a non-linear way. Digital disc recorders, DDRs,
are the most common devices used to handle this type
from sources. By using them, corrections can be made in time
real without needing to generate proxies or wait for the
corrections go through a rendering process.
Using a DDR as a device source is fine if your operation works primarily with short-form materials. DDRs, however, have limitations when it comes to larger, large projects format. The resolution they offer does not exceed that provided the input device, and you will be limited in the the amount of storage offered by the server. In addition once an image has been saved in a DDR, they exist restrictions on the possibility of panning, tilting or zoom without affecting the image quality. And the rotation is practically impossible.
Enter a color checker non-file-based within a nonlinear environment, such as the Splice by da Vinci, is a solution for panning problems, tilt, zoom and rotation caused by DDRs. The Slice acts as a virtual telecine, in essence, as a bridge between the real telecine of the operation and the corrector of colour. For a standard color corrector, such as the 2K Plus from da Vinci, this is presented as a telecine or as a panel of control, which allows non-linear coloring as well as panning, unrestricted tilts, zooms and rotations.
Ultimately, you decide if reject idle for now, or gradually implement it in your operation, or jump squarely to this technology. But make sure to carefully analyze your infrastructure and the needs of your business. The ID may be the last post in the race, but when it comes to applying it to specific operations, the same Size does not serve everyone.
