Conduit feature overview

The next level of visual effects

Lacquer Conduit is a video compositing environment that uniquely combines realtime HD performance and film-class color precision with seamless integration into Apple's Final Cut Studio or Adobe's Creative Suite applications.

For image processing tasks such as color grading, background removal (keying), unique video layering effects or multipass compositing of CGI elements, Conduit gives post-production professionals access to a flexible node-based workflow, artifact-free color manipulation and the exciting possibilities of High Dynamic Range (HDR) imagery.

Conduit is available as a $199 bundle, the Conduit Suite, which includes plugins for all the supported host applications (both Mac and Windows) as well as Conduit Live, a standalone realtime visual effects and video capture application (Mac only).

The Conduit Suite also includes a complimentary membership to Pixel Corps, the ultimate learning and collaboration resource for visual effects artists, so Conduit is perfect for hobbyists or career-expanding professionals looking to learn high-end compositing.

Supported host applications for the Conduit Suite plugins are Apple Final Cut Pro (v5.1.2+, Mac), Apple Motion (2.0+, Mac), Adobe After Effects (7.0+, Mac and Windows) and Adobe Photoshop (7.0+ Windows; CS+ Mac).

Performance

Conduit takes full advantage of the latest graphics hardware by nVidia and ATI, so even very complex compositing processes with dozens of operations can be rendered in realtime at up to HD quality. The underlying Conduit Pixel Engine guarantees deep floating-point color precision throughout the compositing process. This eliminates rendering artifacts and makes it effortless to work with HDR images and use advanced color spaces such as linear luminance, logarithmic, HSV, CIE XYZ or CIELAB.

If your graphics hardware is not quite on the cutting edge, don't worry: Conduit Pixel Engine automatically adapts to the available hardware by fusing the compositing tree into a single efficient GPU program or dividing it into multiple passes for older GPUs that have tight program limitations.

Interface

The Conduit Editor user interface is both beautiful and ergonomic. It makes efficient use of color cues and subtle visual effects, adheres to modern human interface standards on both Mac OS X and Windows, and most importantly is fast and flexible to work with.

Collaboration

Node-based compositing makes it easy for artists to reuse the effects and visual looks they create, because once an effect setup has been designed it can be applied to any number of shots or sent to another artist for modification. Conduit's lightweight file format facilitates this by making it easy to store, transfer and share compositing setups. And with the Pixel Corps network of peer support and knowledge sharing at your disposal, you'll have access to a whole new world of ideas and techniques to help you execute those difficult compositing tasks.

Keying

Blue / green screen keying is a fundamental compositing task, and Conduit makes it easier to pull the best possible key every time. With the power and flexibility of node-based compositing, you can start with the advanced built-in keying tools such as Color Difference, Color Range, Unspill & Despill and then finetune the matte with other tools, or you can even build your own keying method from scratch - all without the realtime renderer missing a beat.

High Dynamic Range

High dynamic range (HDR) means your images can have contrast ratios exceeding 1,000,000:1, so the same image can contain ultra-bright highlights and the most minute variations within shadow tones. By converting your video images to the linear-luminance colorspace, the color values correspond to actual light intensities. HDR frees you from the restricting "0-255" digital mindset and allows you think of compositing in terms of combining and manipulating light itself.

Image detail is never lost because Conduit always operates on images at full floating point. For output, linear-luminance HDR images typically need to be tone-mapped into the video colorspace. Conduit's built-in tools like Exposure allow you to think of this process using familiar photographic concepts like f-stops. And when you need more control or want to design your own tone mapping algorithm, it's always drag'n'drop easy.

Analysis Tools

Conduit's plot tools offer a bird's eye view of how your compositing affects color. The Cube Plot is a zoomable and rotatable 3D color cube that shows the full range of possible RGB values being transformed by the compositing tree. It's never been this easy to get accurate feedback on what's really happening to the colors in your images. (Plot tools available in Mac versions only.)

Pricing and Availability

Conduit is now available for purchase through dvGarage. The retail price is $199 USD.

Included in the price is a complimentary Pixel Corps membership, so you'll have instant access to an entire range of training videos and other learning material that will help you get the most out of Conduit.