Imarion Adopts Autodesk Smoke and Autodesk Lustre to Meet Growing Client Demands

Things were different then. When Alex Olegnowicz moved up, geographically, that is, from his native Mexico City, Mexico to Toronto, Canada, digital editing and effects systems were still in rather short supply. Still, Olegnowicz founded Imarion (pronounced EE-mary-on) in 1995 on what he now refers to as "low-end" systems such as Adobe Premiere and Avid Xpress NT software. If the systems were low-end, however, the work Imarion produced was not. Successful projects enabled Olegnowicz to upgrade his systems and, by 1998, to add online editing to Imarion's services.

Over a dozen years later, the company continues to thrive with recent projects such as executive producer, James Cameron's controversial The Lost Tomb of Jesus, directed by Simcha Jacobovici and produced for Discovery Channel, and the compelling documentary Sex Slaves, for CBC and PBS, as well as a growing list of independent feature films and commercial projects. In 2003, Imarion added two Autodesk Smoke software system to its technology arsenal and, just last year, it brought in an Autodesk Lustre software systems to provide top-quality color correction and DI.

"It was around 2000 when we started getting more and more requests to do online projects in high definition," says Olegnowicz. "We knew we were going to have to make a change, but we took our time and evaluated all the systems. In the end, we selected Smoke HD because it was simply the best system out there. It was definitely a learning experience, but from the start everybody was really impressed. As soon as we got Smoke, we could do stuff that literally no other system could do. Smoke gave us powerful rendering, fast and sophisticated color correction, and the ability to create visual effects directly on the online system. It wasn't that long before we decided to get a second system. It's been a stormy relationship at times, but it keeps getting better."

If Autodesk Smoke is getting better, it is largely due to demanding users like Olegnowicz and Imarion, who have continued to see their fortunes rise, in the intervening years, with larger and higher profile projects coming through the door each month. Olegnowicz is quick to affirm that Imarion's Smoke systems have, so far, kept pace with the company's growth.

"As luck would have it, around the time we started getting really, really busy, Autodesk brought out Smoke HD on Linux," he explains. "Before long, Autodesk also started integrating more of the best features of Autodesk Flame software into Smoke, which has helped us out a lot. In addition to that, Smoke is now able to read non-EDL formats, such as AAF and XML, which means we can bring in projects from lots of other systems. The integration with XML has been particularly well done. That is invaluable in our business."

Imarion began color grading with the Autodesk Lustre high-performance color-grading system in late 2007, and Olegnowicz admits to being impressed with the results.

"We noticed a shift in the market," he says. "Our clients were demanding more flexibility in color correction, especially in higher-end documentaries and independent films. This is a brand new and very desirable market for us, and it's where the integration between Smoke and Lustre works really well."

"A lot of independent filmmakers have stopped shooting 16 and 35 mm film in favor of tapeless workflows and HD," Olegnowicz continues. "With Smoke and Lustre, we can bring all that footage straight into Smoke, and then send it seamlessly into Lustre to grade the footage. We recently worked on OneXOne, a high-profile charity gala on Canadian network CTV, which featured Matt Damon. It was vital that the color correction was very precise on that project, and we got the job done with Smoke."

While OneXOne was the most recent, James Cameron's The Lost Tomb of Jesus was certainly Imarion's largest project to date. Chronicling the momentous (and accidental) discovery of what may be the burial crypt of Jesus Christ, and his family. The Lost Tomb of Jesus was shot all over the world and in a multitude of formats.

"We were dealing with PAL, 24p, 25p, 23.98, 59.94, you name it," says Olegnowicz somewhat ruefully. "The only system that could digitize everything and get it into the timeline to be worked on was Smoke. Smoke was the right tool for the job because it enabled us to play back all different frame rates. We had all the necessary tools, and Smoke also enabled us to composite right in the timeline. That was all incredibly handy."

Looking to the future, Imarion has a growing interest in independent films, especially those using tapeless cameras. According to Olegnowicz, Autodesk Lustre will be a big help:

"We have worked on three independent films so far. I don't want to give anything away, but the projects are very different in nature and subject. Teddy Bear is an independent feature about a serial killer. Fire & Fury is an absolutely beautifully shot short-period film. And, The Limits is a drama that was graded in Lustre. All three projects were conformed in Smoke, moved to Lustre for color correction, and then rendered back to Smoke with ease. For The Limits especially, they wanted to imbue the film with different textures for different locations. Lustre software's ability to play back from the Smoke storage in real time is just amazing. We don't have to recapture anything. That is a great advantage to this workflow."

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