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In its continued support of all things VR, ASSIMILATE® announced today its new SCRATCH VR Suite®, the only professional VR end-to-end workflow with an all-inclusive, real-time toolset for working naturally within a 360 environment -- dailies, conform, color grading, composting, finishing, and mastering in any format, any resolution. It’s a complete and powerful virtual reality (VR) toolset that enables the highest level of quality and productivity, and it’s affordable for everyone. The first public SCRATCH VR Suite demo will be at NAB 2016, the ASSIMILATE booth N8525 in the VR Pavilion, north hall.  http://www.assimilateinc.com/products/scratch-vr/.

The SCRATCH VR Suite includes the latest post-production tools and features of SCRATCH® V8.4, and content creators will automatically be upgraded to SCRATCH 8.5 when it’s announced. SCRATCH VR also includes SCRATCH Web®, and creative tools that are specific to the VR suite. SRATCH Web is a key component of the SCRATCH VR data-workflow and ecosystem, enabling real-time, on-line collaboration and review via Google Cardboard and Samsung GearVR headsets. www.samsung.com, https://www.google.com/get/cardboard/get-cardboard/

“It’s clear that high-quality VR content is really taking off in real-world applications – science, technical and vocational training, education, and of course entertainment – and ASSIMILATE is at the forefront of this next revolution in visual content,” said Lucas Wilson, VR producer at ASSIMILATE. “While the excitement is in the content, it’s the behind-the-scenes software and hardware that give filmmakers and content creators the needed tools to make quality VR happen. Working in a new technology like VR can be complex, and the SCRATCH VR Suite simplifies the workflow so that creators can stay focused on the content while maintaining high levels of productivity and quality.”

“The SCRATCH VR tools have proven to be very useful within a VR pipeline, and have been actively used as part of jobs with Samsung, Reebok, Momofuku, FOX, and many others,” said Jeff Edson, CEO at ASSIMILATE. “VR is a new visual realm that requires the best advanced VR technology, and that’s what we provide.”

Get a sneak peak of the VR basics https://assimilate.sweb.media/default.aspx?pid=3375 and then see all the new features at NAB 2016. Watch for new tutorial updates, coming soon.

Special Price for NAB 2016
For a limited time, the SCRATCH VR suite is being offered at $995 US – a $1,995 US value. See http://store.assimilateinc.com/products.php?product=SCRATCH-VR-Suite. Get in on the ground floor of this innovative VR workflow and receive regular updates for new and improved tools and feature sets. “Content creators can now afford to use the best and most complete VR toolset and workflow on the market, with no need to settle for anything less,” said Edson.

New SCRATCH VR Suite Creative Tools
In recent months ASSIMILATE has extended the capabilities of SCRATCH and SCRATCH Web with a series of tools and functions to offer a streamlined VR workflow. A basic set of these tools is currently available in the standard versions of SCRATCH, SCRATCH Play and SCRATCH Web. The new SCRATCH VR Suite includes these basic tools, as well as the new advanced grade and composite tools.

Control panel for Oculus Rift – All the Play controls used to browse through your timeline become available in the Oculus display as an overlay on top of the image. Use the mouse pointer to operate the controls while still looking in all directions of the image. This way you can start, stop, jump forward, back, or browse through your timeline without removing the Oculus headset or having another person operate the Play controls. Many colorists are able to operate their color panel blindly. In this case, the Oculus Playback control allows you to do the basic grade of your production without ever taking off the Oculus. https://www.oculus.com/en-us/

Pan 360 framing controls – New Yaw, Pitch and Roll controls to re-orient a 360-equirectangular shot. This allows you to control the point-of-interest of a shot, making sure it is in the middle. When editing multiple shots one after the other, you can ensure the point-of-interest of each shot is in the same direction. Examples of how to use the controls:

• Create a pre-defined path in a 360 video. So even though the end-viewer will still be able to view in all directions, you, as a creator, can already define a path that the viewer will follow.
• Stabilize a shot or replace camera motion to spherical projection offsets.

Effects wrapping – When applying an effect, such as a blur or clarity, SCRATCH samples pixels from the opposite side to calculate the effect on the left / right side of an image. This prevents a seam in the middle of the image when viewing it in a 360 projection.

360 repeat option – When the canvas of a composite layer falls over the left or right edge of the main image, it will be repeated on the opposite side. That way the shape will automatically wrap in a 360 projection without any seam.

The Equirectangular-2D Effects node – N lend any 2D element into your 360 projection. Include a text, logo, image effect (e.g. lens flare), or any other graphic element neatly into the 360 scene. The 2D element is placed on a plane that can be positioned in the 360 projection using the Yaw, Pitch and Roll controls of the Effects node. In addition the Effects node has offset, scale and blur controls to position the 2D element on the plane in the correct perspective and blend into the 360 projection.

The Equirectangular-2D Output node - Create a 2D version of your 360 production. Define and animate the path through the 360 projection and set the field-of-view to render out a 2D version in any format or frame-rate.

For more detailed information about the SCRATCH VR Suite, see http://www.assimilatesupport.com/akb/KnowledgebaseArticle50812.aspx

What Users and Partners Are Saying
“We are pleased to see the world of high-end post-production starting to create the tools necessary for finishing true Cinematic VR. With the SCRATCH VR Suite, ASSIMILATE provides a unique set of finishing and review tools which have been used on several Jaunt productions,” said Cliff Plumer, president of Jaunt Studios. "The world of VR is exploding, and SCRATCH VR is at the forefront of providing creative artists the real-time tools they need to get the job done.” www.jauntvr.com

Leandro Marini, founder and supervising colorist of Local Hero, a high-end post facility in Santa Monica, is a pioneer of post-production for VR media. In early 2015, his studio developed a VR workflow in SCRATCH and did the color grading and finishing of “Kaiju Fury”, a short-film production of New Deal Studios and JauntVR.  Marini has completed many high-profile VR projects, such as “Scream Queens” VR for FOX, and is currently in post-production for a new VR project by an A-List director to be released later this year. 

“SCRATCH has proven to be the most effective and powerful post toolset and workflow for me, and I’ve found it to be the same case for VR content. And SCRATCH Web is a first-class review tool that streamlines client and technical reviews, which can otherwise be a time-consuming process,” said Marini. “With the SCRATCH VR Suite, I now have a complete end-to-end VR workflow that enables me to be highly productive and to create high-quality results for my clients, giving me a competitive edge.” www.localheropost.com

About ASSIMILATE
ASSIMILATE is the premier provider of real-time post-production and workflow tools that have proven essential to the successful creation of 2D/3D/VR studio and independent feature films, documentaries, TV episodes, and music videos. The SCRATCH product line, running on Windows and OS X, equips directors, DPs, on-set DITs and post-production artists with the state-of-the-art, cost-effective, data-centric solutions they need to meet the challenges of increased creativity and productivity amid ever-shrinking budgets. SCRATCH is resolution independent, supporting multiple formats, including ARRI RAW, KineRAW, Sony F5/55/65 and Cyber Shot s700, Phantom, Panasonic Varicam 4K, Canon C300/C500, Canon 3DGoPro, as well as enhanced support for all RED cameras. SCRATCH is the only post-production tool to support native Kinefinity RAW (KRW and DNG) files. SCRATCH enables mixing and matching of any camera format, resolution or color space (including ACES) on the same timeline. Learn more at www.assimilateinc.com.