I had the chance to use the Baselight plugin on a series of short travelogues I graded recently, and it all went pretty smoothly. I can't comment on the full baselight system as I've never got my hands on one, but I'm guessing it's going to be a smoother/faster experience if only because of the dedicated grading panel, compared to using a keyboard and mouse (as I had to).
The big 'plus' in using Baselight Editions (as the plugin is called) is that there's no round-tripping. You can edit pretty much as you would if you were using the Symphony CC and you can see your results on your TX monitor. The plugin controls are limited to a single (LH) monitor, so compared to Resolve on a dual monitor setup, it feels a little cramped. I would describe the layout as quirky - controls are not as logically laid out as in Resolve (or even the Symphony CC). I often found I had to search for a button to access additional functions/parameters, but I guess there's only so much you can fit on a single screen. Baselight works in layers rather than nodes and unlike the full Baselight system, there's no visual representation of the layer stack, or a node tree as in Resolve. When you list the layers it puts the first (or input layer) at the top, so subsequent layers are added below. So when you're looking at the end result of a number of layers, you are looking from the bottom up, which is a bit confusing at first if you're used to the top-down approach of other layer based software. When the plugin is active you cannot access any other Avid functions, even though the Avid timeline is visible (on a dual screen setup). You can only navigate the timeline by using the plugin shortcut keys which allows you to jump from shot-to-shot, and there's no 'previous' or 'next' windows for comparison. You can compare shots using the split-screen function, similar to that found on Resolve Like the Avid CC, you can grade on any layer - including filler, which is useful especially when you're using some of Baselight's unique(?) features. These features include being able to import/export the grade as metadata, either as BLG files (each of which describes a single grade or shot) or a complete set of grades (a 'lens') which can be used to apply/update a grade from another Baselight equipped workstation.
Filmlight have licensing options that allow a freelancer to 'carry' their license with them and they also have a free version of the plugin which allows Avid users to see a Baselight grade on their workstation without having to purchase a full copy.
Using the plugin I found it to be a powerful grading tool, with all the masking/selection tools you expect to find on all the best grading software. It seemed less intuitive than Resolve, and at first I found myself searching around for those extra functions, which were hidden behind other sub-menus or right-mouse clicks. I found that my speed very much improved once I'd learned a good few shortcut keys, but I would say I found it somewhat slower than using the Symphony CC. This was probably also due to the fact that you can do so much more secondary grading on Baselight, so you inevitably end up with more layers and tweaks than you'd ever attempt in Symphony. The other good thing is that it's generally a real-time effect (once you set the timeline to yellow-green quality) but of course once you start adding more layers with blurs etc, it's going to slow down somewhat, and then you will need to render. The render times are quite reasonable, so you won't be waiting hours, like often happens when you start stacking up Boris effects!
So all-in-all, I would give it the thumbs up, and recommend it to anyone who doesn't want to get into the whole round-tripping exercise required when using (say) Resolve. It really comes into its own if you're in an environment where there's multiple workstations (or even a full Baselight system) working on a project which requires re-grades to be passed around with the minimum of fuss. The Filmlight web site has a video which describes this workflow as used on ITV's Coronation street.
Bruno
Posted by: bruno@mansi.demon.co.uk
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