Technicolor drop Colour Assist

[Mark Dobson]

I bought the Color Assist app when it was launched, had problems with it in relation to it not working with both FCP7 and FCPX. I asked for a refund and was persuaded to wait for the next update as this resolved that problem.

The customer support has been really good, personable and very responsive.

On hearing the news from them about Color Assist being EOL’d I’ve been offered a full refund so I really can’t fault them.

They have been open and communicative and have obviously encountered either poor trading results or technical problems with the new version of FCPX being prepared at the moment.

I’m sorry this product is being discontinued, it had a lot of potential which I had hoped would have been developed as time went on.

For me some the fundamental downsides were that, like Magic Bullet Looks, it took you on a roundtrip outside of FCPX and that the monitor window inside of the app did not match the definition or color space of the FCX windows. However the inclusion of both color wheels together with the ability to create custom log curve adjustments offered a lot of potential for users like me who capture with Canon C Log.

So I wish good luck to the development team at Technicolor and look forward to seeing what they develop in the future.

[Craig Seeman]

Theory posted elsewhere so I’m not the originator but one might speculate that Apple bought the technology to use in the FCPX update specific to the upcoming MacPro Tube update.

I’ve speculated that that update will include improved scopes supporting the two GPUs so it does cause me to wonder about the possibility.

[Michael Phillips]

I am curious as to what technology that might be? I can see purchase based on getting to market sooner, but from a technology standpoint – color presets are pretty well known. Unless I’m missing something.

Michael

[Craig Seeman]

Maybe you’re confusing Color Assist with their other utility CineStyle Profiles. Color Assist is a grading application maybe closest in some sense to Magic Bullet.

[Michael Phillips]

Not really – I am just saying that anything color wise is not some proprietary technology – especially this level and not something a company needs to buy from a technology perspective, but perhaps from a jump start into the market or get to market sooner than developing themselves. If it’s cheaper to buy than to make – then that could be reason enough. I was just referring to any “technology” from such as an acquisition. For example, with v7 of Media with LUT and CDL support I can make looks all day as .cube and apply them in real time and change as needed. Very similar process and I am creating the looks in Resolve for free. I suspect people will make “looks” to give sway or package up as needed to take advantage of this. But the technology is not new or proprietary. How it’s integrated may be though…

Michael

[Craig Seeman]

[Michael Phillips] “but perhaps from a jump start into the market or get to market sooner than developing themselves”

Which might be the case here given the expected importance of color grading relative to the FCPX MacPro update.

… or it may be that Apple hired their programers from this project to work on FCPX grading. Employee skill sets rather than any specific code at all.

[Chris Harlan]

[Craig Seeman] “r it may be that Apple hired their programers from this project to work on FCPX grading”

Is there anything that supports these notions other than a discontinued app?

[Craig Seeman]

[Chris Harlan] “Is there anything that supports these notions other than a discontinued app?”

Nothing really. There are other reasons that app might have been discontinued.
Noting that the app supported both After Effects and FCPX it may have been a one two punch of CC (and the apparent smaller user base) plus changes they felt might be coming in FCPX, resulting in limited revenue potential vs development resources, for example.

Perhaps they hit an unresolvable patent issue.

They recently had a user server and perhaps user response and comments gave them information that continuing development wasn’t as lucrative as the had originally thought.

Heck maybe the sales were disastrously lower than expected.

All speculative of course.

The only pieces we know are that despite some promotion at NAB and post that with some trade reviews, they decided to cease development, end support on Sept 30, offer refunds for anyone who purchased in the last 30 days.

[Oliver Peters]

Perhaps it’s the fact that Davinci Resolve Lite (for free) has killed the market for this type of product.

And what do you see wrong with FCP X’s grading? I thinks it’s rather good as built-in NLE tools go. Curves and color temp/tint additions would pretty much make it a complete package. Then, of course, a better grading workflow, like FCP 7 😉

– Oliver

Oliver Peters Post Production Services, LLC
Orlando, FL
http://www.oliverpeters.com

[Craig Seeman]

[Oliver Peters] “Perhaps it’s the fact that Davinci Resolve Lite (for free) has killed the market for this type of product.”

So you think it was poor sales right out of the gate?
I was under the impression Color Assist was getting a lot of positive attention.
While it wasn’t quite Magic Bullet, at $99 it was 1/4 the price (MB $399)
Do you think Resolve Lite has killed interest in “almost” in app color grading plugins?
Or maybe they were on the FCPX beta list and saw similar features being built in and didn’t see an expanding market in the other Post programs it supported?

It certainly seems like it didn’t live very long given its marketing boost at NAB.