da Vinci Systems today announced its collaboration with 3cP (Cinematographer's Color Correction Process) developer Gamma & Density to ensure that 3cP is fully interoperable with the company's Resolve and 2K Plus systems, giving cinematographers the power for on-set color correction and calibration.

3cP is a laptop-based system that allows color grading decisions to be made on-set by the cinematographer or director of photography (DP). Settings can then be accurately passed on to the dailies timer and to the colorist directly involved with post-production. Using 3cP, everyone in the post-production environment has a precise preview of color decisions for dailies, pre-post, matching special effects, and Digital Intermediate (DI) final color-grading. 3cP is being deployed by some of the world’s top cinematographers on major motion pictures, including 2008’s first summer blockbuster, Iron Man, as well as The Tudors, The Kite Runner, and 10,000 B.C., among others.

“3cP’s tight integration with the Resolve and 2K systems makes it an even more useful tool to solve the problem of color consistency in today’s post-production environment, particularly when it comes to DI work,” said Yuri Neyman, DP and CEO of Gamma & Density. “There is often a disconnect between what a cinematographer expects and what actually occurs during the final color correction process, a problem our two companies have worked together to eliminate.”

The system, which is packaged as a laptop computer loaded with 3cP software, works with film, DI, video (NTSC/PAL), and HD productions to perform on-set color correction with live settings. These settings are then saved to a USB memory stick as ASC CDL XML files, which are easily transferred to the Resolve suite for finishing.

The ASC CDL (American Society of Cinematographers Color Decision List) protocol was developed by members and contributors of the ASC Technology Committee, including Gamma & Density Co. and da Vinci, to provide an industry standard for cross-platform exchange of primary RGB color correction data using offset (lift), slope (gain), and power (gamma) functions and also saturation, printing lights, curves, and other utilities in the future. Unlike 3D LUTs, color corrections saved as an ASC CDL can be modified or reversed once they are in the Resolve or 2K suite.

“More and more, 3cP is becoming a life-saver for DPs who want to communicate their vision accurately into the DI world,” said Dean Lyon, marketing director at da Vinci Systems. “The perfect communication between the 3cP system and the Resolve and 2K that’s enabled by the ASC CDL promotes workflow efficiency, technical accuracy, and perhaps most importantly, artistic quality.”

Gamma & Density and da Vinci, together with Panavision and Modern VideoFilm, will host a Master Class Seminar on Sunday, June 22, during Cine Gear Expo 2008 in Universal City, Calif. The two companies’ products, creativity, and technical skills enabled creation of the industry’s first full-cycle workflow, based on the ASC CDL protocol, for the upcoming film State of Play, starring Ben Affleck, Russell Crowe, and Helen Mirren. At the seminar, the companies will demonstrate the workflow that DP Rodrigo Prieto (ASC. AMC) undertook on the film to keep color consistent across shooting, dailies, post, and DI.