Autodesk Lustre Digital Colour Grading System Success In Europe

Autodesk continues to see rapid adoption of its Autodesk Lustre digital colour grading system by post-production facilities across Europe - with ten Lustre sales in ten weeks alone. This brings the total number of Lustre seats in Europe to more than 60 - and more than 150 worldwide.
"The Autodesk Lustre family, including the Autodesk Lustre HD system which was launched last year, is the most popular digital grading solution in Europe for both film and TV grading, said Patrick Jocelyn, Media and Entertainment Director EMEA, Autodesk. "Lustre is fast, flexible and has a creative toolset that surpasses all others."
Studio L'Equipe's video department supervisor, Dominique Marcel, explained the decision to buy Lustre: "So many of our customers spoke to us about it, and we were very impressed when we saw what it could do. It's a simple answer to our problems, not only because it’s easy to use, but because it's so fast at creating pan and scan versions. It has a great number of masks, and gives you the chance to correct the cuts right up until grading is finished."
Studio L'Equipe already has a feature film, three TV documentaries and a Belgian soap opera lined up for its Lustre suite. "The fact that many other facilities are equipped with Lustre reassures us - and we know we won't have trouble finding colourists to use it," added Marcel.
Film production services facility CineLab plans to add post-production to its offerings in the coming months. It has equipped itself with two Autodesk Lustre Incinerator digital grading systems and an Autodesk Smoke editing and finishing system.
"We spent a long time choosing our kit but we opted for Autodesk because they're known for being the best in the industry, said CineLab's Managing Director Denis Glinsky. "We hope to attract both old and new customers as more and more films are made using DI. And being able to do real time 2K colour grading with Lustre will be a big benefit. With Lustre and our SGI central storage, we'll be able to work with films from any work place in real-time."
Optix DigitalPictures, a renowned post-production facility offering film scanning, compositing and 2D and 3D animation services, has invested in an Autodesk Lustre HD system. Paul Breuer, colourist, Optix DigitalPictures said: "Everyone is talking about HD. But only a few are really able to offer a full HD post-production workflow. With Lustre HD we realised this approach and can offer real time colour grading at its best."
Famous audio and video production studio nhb bought Lustre as part of an overall technical investment that includes three Autodesk Flame visual effects systems and an Autodesk Smoke editing and finishing system. "Autodesk media and entertainment solutions enable us to combine several services into a full service solution for our clients even in 2K," said Michael Vitzthum, managing director, nhb. "Only by adding cutting edge technical systems to our expertise, can we present high level results."
At the Academy Awards, four out of five nominees for Best Cinematography were graded using Lustre, including the winner, 'Pan's Labyrinth'. Lustre was also used to grade recent films such as 'Babel' and 'Children of Men', and TV programmes such as 'Skins', 'Planet Earth', and 'Paper Bullet'.
(DS)