[NAB 2013] FilmLight introduces The Slate, a new affordable control surface for Baselight, and more…

FilmLight, the British creators of high-end color grading solutions, announced a line of news products for NAB 2013:  a new Baselight ONE, The Slate, FLUX Store, additional Baselight Editions and an update to their BaseLight flagship system. All the details after the jump.

Baselight ONE

This is a diskless, 4U tower system with the full Baselight creative toolset, and a 2TB solid-state internal cache that guarantees impressive processing performance. (Around $50,000)

The Slate

This is a new compact grading control panel designed with both Baselight and Baselight Editions in mind. It draws on the success of the revolutionary Blackboard 2 panel, and retains all the quality, precision and ergonomic convenience but in a smaller form factor and at a lower price point of $12,000. The Slate control surface is ideally suited to working with Baselight Editions within your editing or compositing system, but it’s equally at home with the full Baselight color grading system—it’s portable by design. The key features are:

• 2 display screens with user-controllable back light (800×240 pixels resolution)
• 66 x soft mapped, soft labelled push keys with user-controlled brightness
• 3 x infra-red, optical trackballs with 6 point trackball mounting and bespoke 3rd axis rings
• 12 x limitless, rotary optical encoders with integral push switch

FLUX Store

This is a breakthrough approach to storing and managing the huge amounts of content generated by today’s digital workflows. Capable of streaming 2K and 4K content into Baselight systems over dual-link 10 gigabit ethernet, it includes user-expandable storage up to 80TB with integral data management. Teamed with the new Baselight ONE, it makes a perfect streaming media hub to which you can add a second station when you need to.

Baselight Editions

Baselight Editions are the little brothers of the full Baselight system running into a host software: Avid Media Composer for Mac, Final Cut Pro 7 or Nuke. NAB 2013 will see the preview of the eagerly awaited Baselight for Avid Windows. Baselight Editions use the same OpenEXR-based BLG (Baselight Grade) files as all systems in the FilmLight range, so grading decisions can be passed between on-set, near-set and the grading suite simply and transparently. Key features:

• Multiple primary and secondary grade layers within a single instance of Baselight for Final Cut Pro

• Full Baselight grading tools including Film Grade, Video Grade, Curve Grade, Hue Shift and Six Vector

• Built-in HSL, RGB, Luminance and 3D keyers

• Effects filters including Gaussian Blur, Median, Soften which can be applied to the image or the matte

• Unlimited, animatable bezier shapes

• Built-in Truelight Color Management system

• All controls can be keyframed

• All grading and other data can be fully exchanged with other Baselight systems via XML export/import

• Supports the Slate & Artist Color grading control surface

Baselight 4.4

This new version adds new creative and practical facilities:

• Layer Blending: Baselight 4.4 brings you the ability to blend the output of a previous layer into the current layer easily by any amount you choose. Using any of the available Photoshop-style blend modes, such as Mix, Add, Lighten, Darken, Overlay, Screen and so on, you can:
  • Blend the original image back into the graded image.
  • Select any layer as the blend source.
  • Add another image to use as a blend source.
  • Copy a grade from the gallery and blend it with your current grade.
• Render Queue: You no longer need to wait for Baselight to finish rendering before you can start the next operation—Baselight now has a Render Queue.
• Render View: The Baselight Render View provides an ever-increasing array of options, giving you complete control over your deliverables. To ensure you can work in a more logical and streamlined manner, the new render interface has been simplified—with render options and multiple deliverables hidden unless you need them.
• Chalk: The Chalk application lets you customize the buttons on the Blackboard 2 control surface. You can change the functionality of an existing button, or swap the locations of buttons to change the layout. You can even create custom buttons to map to any action.
• New Stereo 3D Tools: Single Stereo Stack, Depth Histogram, 3D Stereoscopic Color Match and more…

Follow the tag NAB 2013 for more NAB 2013 news.

Source: FilmLight Ltd Updated 04/14/13 with prices for Baselight ONE & Slate.

Steve's Blog - Apr 6, 2013 | Color Grading, front page, Home Page, News, Post
Tagged | baselight, FilmLight, FLUX, grading, NAB 2013, The Slate