Guest post by Jonah Kessel:
Technicolor has just released CineStyle Color Assist, an easy to use color grading application to go along with its extremely popular CineStyle picture profile for Canon DSLRS. It competes with other more established packages like Red Giant’s Magic Bullet Looks. It can be used to grade Cinestyle footage or regular (Rec.709) footage.
While the CineStyle picture profile has done wonders for the DSLR world, it has also slowed down workflows for a lot of people, myself included. This application not only helps speed up workflows, but also gives some advance color grading possibilities with a very effective and simple interface.
If you are impatient like me, and want to know what your footage looks like graded before piecing everything together, this software will save you tons of time. It allows for real-time previewing of different color grades without rendering (i.e. you can keep the video clip playing as you change the look). And like Apple Motion or Magic Bullet Looks, the application round trips with Final Cut Pro 7 or Adobe Premiere Pro CS5.5 and CS6.
CineStyle™ Color Assist: Your Color Assistant from Technicolor CineStyle™ on Vimeo.
My first trials with the software have been great.
If you are a Cinestyle user I recommend you try it for yourself. Technicolor a offers a 7-day free trial you can download here.
Here’s what Technicolor has to say about their new product:
The magic of Hollywood is just one click away with CineStyle Color Assist. Gain access to powerful studio color effects and color correction tools without a Hollywood-sized budget. Preview styling and effects in real-time, while taking control of a simple, easy-to-use interface that works directly with your preferred editing programs. Now with CineStyle Color Assist, you can create stunning, movie studio-quality footage faster and easier than ever before.
Features
• Instant color correction & grading with render free playback
• 25 CineStyle Looks designed by Technicolor Colorists for quick grading
• Ability to save up to 9 Color Compositions per video clip
• Non-destructive color correction & grading via MetaColor file
• User-friendly interface
• 3-Way Color Corrector, Key Selector & Curves Adjustments for advanced control
• Support for popular video codecs in SD, HD & 2K resolutions
• Scopes to easily monitor color information
• Plugin support for Apple Final Cut Pro 7 & Adobe Premiere Pro CS5.5 & CS6
• Expandable library with additional premium CineStyle Looks packages
• Secondary monitor support for full screen playback
• Technology based on Technicolor’s award-winning DP Lights™ System
Supported Video File Formats
• .MOV
• .AVI
• .FLV
• .MP4
Supported Video Codec Formats
• PRORES* Quicktime™ for PC required. PRORES4444 not supported.
• H.264
• DV
• WMV
— Jonah M. Kessel is a freelance visual journalist based in Beijing, working with the New York Times. See his web site here, blog here or follow him on Twitter here.
