Grass Valley Creative Grading Delivers Image Control to Camera Shaders
Grass Valley Creative Grading is a new, combined hardware and software system that increases creative control for camera shaders. Camera shaders adjust and match the iris levels on cameras, usually from the control room during live productions. This new product has a fast, natural interface that simplifies the task of adjusting images, giving shaders more time to put creativity into their work and focus on capturing engaging images.
Combining a new control panel and a companion touchscreen application, Grass Valley Creative Grading (GVCG) groups several technical operations into logical packages or bundles. Camera shaders can now manage adjustments more quickly and easily - such as transitions from indoor to outdoor lighting.
Operators can manipulate images directly due to the fast connection between the panel and the control, and the dynamic adaptation to any format - HDR, WCG, 4K UHD and others - in real time. Using GVCG, camera shaders can also use a WiFi-enabled tablet in the front-of-house to establish visual matching between physical and digital set elements.
According to Grass Valley, although live production requirements have changed significantly in the past few years, camera control panels have remained mostly the same. Functions exist in isolation, giving camera shaders limited control over the impact any parameter change will have on the final picture.
They may hesitate to make too many adjustments and, as a result, few of the camera’s many functions are actually used. Grass Valley Creative Grading changes this scenario by bringing deeper, more universal control over looks and storytelling to the crew on location. Its simple interface requires minimal training and can be learned on the job, opening up more creative camera functions across a range of applications.
Before GVCG, defining a look and adapting it to current conditions involved modifying hundreds of parameter combinations. GVCG presents these controls as bundles of related parameters so shaders can toggle between streams from the same panel to experiment, compare and define a look. Once created, a look can be immediately shared across multiple cameras.
GVCG users do not need to memorise individual steps when tweaking image parameters. Instead they can quickly take multiple snapshots of how setting changes impact an image, compare them and select the preferred result. www.grassvalley.com
