EditShare Announces First-Ever Lightworks Open-Source Platform

EditShare, the technology leader in cross-platform collaborative editing and shared media storage, unveiled plans for the newly acquired Lightworks solution at the NAB 2010 exhibition on opening day. The company has transformed the time-honored editing solution into Lightworks Open Source, the industry's first open-source development initiative for a large-scale, non-linear editing (NLE) platform. A departure from standard 3rd-party developer programs that limit access, the Lightworks Open Source platform offers an unprecedented gateway into the NLE's core engine, enabling a wide-range of creative developers to implement forward-thinking features and workflows.

"EditShare has built a reputation for offering open solutions that enhance collaboration. In taking this uncharted path with Lightworks, we follow this same principle," said James Richings, Co-Managing Director, EditShare EMEA. "Lightworks Open Source offers a highly collaborative development environment based on powerful and feature-rich underlying technology, which has come from over one million hours of software development. Building on such a solid foundation will enable creative developers to generate concepts and capabilities never seen before. I expect that the Lightworks Open Source initiative will transform not only the technology, but also the opinions on what a professional editing tool can achieve."

Academy and Emmy award-winning Lightworks was introduced in 1989 as the first and most advanced professional editing system on the market. Its intuitive controls, real-time synchronization, and multi-camera ingest and editing features still remain unmatched by top industry players. Lightworks was most-recently used by editor Chris Gill on the highly-anticipated Neil Marshall thriller, Centurion, as well as multi Oscar-winning editor, Thelma Schoonmaker, on the acclaimed Martin Scorsese thriller, Shutter Island. Building upon its recent blockbuster buzz, EditShare engineers have already made significant advancements with the Lightworks product line. Leveraging the EditShare Universal Media File technology, Lightworks achieves a level of unsurpassed interoperability by offering seamless media exchange between Avid and Final Cut Pro editing applications. The new workflow lets Lightworks users collaboratively edit projects with a much wider group of users. “Developing solutions that offer interoperability for post-production workflows is something that EditShare has mastered and now has brought to the Lightworks platform,” said Andy Liebman, Founder and CEO, EditShare. “Leveraging our existing Universal Media File technology, Lightworks can conveniently sit alongside Avid or Final Cut Pro systems and share media. This means feature film editors can expand the editing workgroup pool to include Avid and Final Cut Pro editors without giving up the features of their favorite editor.”

Lightworks Open Source Program

EditShare officially acquired Lightworks in August 2009 and plans to make the first step towards releasing Lightworks Open Source in Q3 of this year in the form of a free Lightworks download. The download will be made available to everybody. Users will be able to familiarize themselves with the Lightworks editing system and its multitude of features including: true shared projects, instant save, multi-cam ingest, 3D editorial functionality, Universal Media File support, native RED editing, native 2K support with DPX and RED, dual outputs, and a format-independent timeline.

Lightworks Open Source will let developers access and build on Lightworks technology to create their own innovative features and extensions. EditShare will offer developers and manufacturers an opportunity to sell their Lightworks plug-ins, options, or I/O devices through a centralized Lightworks online marketplace. “Lightworks Open Source is a huge venture for EditShare; we are pioneering the path of Open Source to radically expand upon the creative potential of editing applications. We will be deeply involved with our partners, helping drive the development of new features forward, distinguishing Lightworks from other NLEs in terms of capabilities and performance and positioning it as a complete creative editing experience,” said Tara Montford, Co-Managing Director, EditShare EMEA. “EditShare is completely committed to turning out a superior professional editor through the Lightworks Open Source program. We are increasing our development and support staff, and all contributed code will be thoroughly managed by our distinguished Lightworks team, ensuring the reliability of the new Lightworks Open Source editor.”

For more information: www.editshare.com.