The lack of color standards in the industry is becoming more and more of a problem as new applications are developed and files are being shared between various post houses using these different apps. Stu Maschwitz summarizes the problem in his blog entry, The Film Industry is Broken at ProLost.colorsymmetry1.jpg

Not so long ago, the realm of print graphics faced similar challenges and, through the International Color Consortium, a color management system was instituted that added standardization and encryption of metadata to make transferring data a simple process.

The ICC then formed a Digital Motion Picture Group to investigate how to institute an open, vendor-neutral, cross-platform, color management system architecture for the motion picture industry. Members include representatives from Adobe, Apple, Color Savvy Systems, Eastman Kodak, Electronics & Telecom Research Institute, Fuji Film Electronic Imaging, Hewlett Packard and Thomson, among others. But the DMP Group has been haggling for years and doesn’t appear any closer to a standards solution then they were at the start.

One possible solution to this was introduced at SIGGRAPH by Duiker Research Corporation and the product Color Symmetry. Developed by Haarm-Pieter Duiker. who comes from the world of digital lighting and visual effects on such films as The Matrix trilogy and Fantastic Four, Color Symmetry promises:

Eliminate Guesswork Between Applications – Color Symmetry provides the same Film Profiles and color correction operations within each supported software package to effectively eliminate the disparities in the ways these applications handle color.

Bridge the Worlds of 2D and 3D – Color Symmetry encompasses full support for Cineon/DPX Log color image data as well as floating-point HDR Linear color image data, providing a way for users to bridge the gap between the 2D world of live-action imagery and the 3D universe of lighting, rendering, and high-dynamic range. Color Symmetry’s core library of film profiles together with color correction and transformation techniques let 2D and 3D applications see color and light in the same way.

Build Color Pipelines Out of the Box – Color Symmetry offers facilities an end-to-end range of plug-and-play tools, including film look emulation as well as color correction applications, to quickly establish reliable feature film color pipelines that are adaptable and meet today’s production standards and demands.

Create and Communicate Authored Looks – Color Symmetry’s new look creation process will allow custom looks to be authored and exported for instant use in any Color Symmetry-supported application.

Color Symmetry supports Adobe After Effects Adobe Photoshop, Apple Shake, Assimilate Scratch, Autodesk 3ds Max, Autodesk Maya, Autodesk Toxik, Avid Softimage, Eyeon Digital Fusion, Iridas Framecycler and Newtek Lightwave.

Color Symmetry could be the answer, it could not be, but it seems the solution will have to come from an outside developer rather than hoping all the powers that be come together and settle on one standard.