Autodesk Lustre Adoption Grows Across Asia Pacific

Sales of the Autodesk Lustre digital colour-grading system continue to gain momentum across the Asia Pacific region, with key customer wins in Australia, China, India, Japan and Southeast Asia.
Paresh Khara, Senior Director, Media & Entertainment, Autodesk Asia, said: "We are excited about the strong, ongoing adoption of Lustre in Asia Pacific. Autodesk solutions offer digital artists, directors and cinemtographers powerful creative tools, a strong return on investment and rapid project turnaround times. We are receiving a tremendous response to Lustre 2009 from the film, broadcast and TVC markets."
Khara continued: "Lustre systems form the creative backbone of our customers' colour-grading workflows, providing world-class digital colour-grading and DI functionality.
"We are delighted that these valued customers have chosen Autodesk technology as an important part of their future."
Buoyed by successes such as Roadside Romeo and Slumdog Millionaire, film producers and post-production houses in India are embracing Lustre to elevate Bollywood productions into the global entertainment market.
Namit Malhotra, Managing Director of Prime Focus, a Mumbai-based post-production and visual effects services house. Malhotra said: "Bollywood filmmakers are welcoming the DI process. The feature set of Autodesk Lustre is truly exceptional. The system's colour-grading, keying, tacking and automated dust-biting tools greatly assist the DI project flow and help us offer the best quality, service and experience for our clients."
Prime Focus was the first company in India to purchase Lustre, completing India's first digital intermediate (DI) feature in 2003. Since then, the company has continued to lead in technology adoption. To date, it has completed more than 100 full-length features and recently upgraded six of its Autodesk systems.
Prasad EFX is one of the top film post-production companies in India. The company recently added five new Autodesk systems to its labs in Mumbai, Chennai and Hyderabad, bringing the total to ten: five Lustre Master stations and five Lustre Assist stations.
Prasad EFX's Executive Producer Madhusudan said: "Working with Autodesk has been wonderful. Our new Lustre systems were up and running quickly and have been seamlessly integrated into our pipelines."
Pixion is one of the leading film and TVC post-production houses in India. The company recently expanded its offerings to include complete DI services for feature film projects. The Mumbai-based facility is headquartered in a modern 15,000-square-foot office in Bandra, the hear of Bollywood. Pixion has a slate of Autodesk products, including three Autodesk Smoke editing and finishing systems and two Autodesk Flame visual effects and compositing systems. Pixion has purchased two Lustre Super Incinerator upgrades and a Lustre Assist Station.
Through its four business units, Avitel Post Studioz offers film and video post-production, animation, visual effects and publicity services. The studio upgraded its Lustre system and used Lustre to give a Hollywood look and feel to Anubhay Sinha's blockbuster film Cash. Siddhartha Jain, Managing Director, Avitel Post Studioz, explained: "The digital intermediate process uses digital tools to colour grade, which allows for much finer control of individual colours and areas of the image, and allows for the adjustment of image structure such as grain and sharpness."
In China, the Administrative Committee of Shenyang National New and High-Tech Industrial Development is investing heavily in Autodesk technology with the goal of becoming a leading force in animation and computer games development. Besides animation software such as Autodesk 3ds Max and Autodesk Maya, it recently invested in a Lustre Master Station to help improve the quality, look and colour of 3D projects.
eFilm Australia, the company behind the stunning visual beauty of the Oscar-nominated film Australia, upgraded its Lustre Master Station to Lustre Incinerator and invested in an additional license of the Lustre Assist Station. The company now has three Lustre Incinerator systems, two of which are in Sydney and one in Melbourne. With a growing number of Hollywood projects moving post-production to Australia and New Zealand, eFilm Australia found it necessary to grow its capacity.
Japan's TYO Technical Ranch has added Lustre to its pipeline, which also includes the Autodesk Flint, Autodesk Inferno, Autodesk Flame and Autodesk Smoke visual effects and finishing systems. The seamless integration of Lustre enables it to provide effective and efficient grading and finishing.
Further information is available at: www.autodesk.com
(KMcA/BMcC)