The underlying technology of 5D Colossus was licensed from a company called Colorfront. In the wake of the news of 5D closing, the CEO of Colorfront has given us a statement on the future of this technology…
Updated to include official company statement
From Mark Jaszberenyi, CEO of Colorfront:
“Colorfront is the developer of ‘the product formerly known as 5D Colossus’. It was licensed to 5D to offer to the general market.
Colorfront is doing fine, we have no intention of closing down. In fact we are releasing the new version of the software, with v 2.0 scheduled by the end of the year.
Colorfront aim is the same as before: create cutting edge tools for the post production industry, continued development of our film grading software, and to assure that our tools are accessible to artists.
On the short term Colorfront is taking on the support of 5D Colossus customers, so there should be no disruption of service.”
October 16, 2002 Update
An official press release was put out today by Colorfront. The text:
Budapest, Wednesday 16th October, 2002 – Colorfront today announced that is exclusively responsible for the software development behind the digital film color grading system formerly known as 5D Colossus. As the sole intellectual property owner of this software, Colorfront is committed to continuing its development.
An independent software development company based in Budapest, Hungary, Colorfront developed the digital film grading technology originally to grade The Lord of The Rings. Since last year, 5D has been responsible for the sales and marketing of all Colorfront software products, including color*star and star*dust plug-ins and the 5D Colossus color grading software. The former licensing agreement between Colorfront and 5D, which has now been terminated, granted 5D a non-exclusive license to market, distribute and support worldwide a digital film grading system developed by Colorfront.
“The exit of 5D is a great loss to the postproduction industry, and we feel a deep sorrow about the personal loss of everyone involved.” said Mark Jaszberenyi, Colorfront Founder and CEO. “Colorfront will continue to offer support and maintenance to the existing users of 5D Colossus. We are also committed to continuing the development of the software, underlined by a major new release coming before the end of 2002.”
Colorfront is currently setting up its worldwide reseller network and sales channels, while working together with existing Colossus users in integrating digital intermediate grading into an efficient data based workflow.
“What happened to 5D these last days is not good news for anybody, but as far as our digital grading solution is concerned, we still are very confident with the technical expertise of Colorfront Engineers and also their global vision and understanding of the complete pipeline. Since we start the Beta cycle in October 2001 we are in direct contact through Post Logic (French Reseller of Colorfront) with the Colorfront team, and we are very impressed with the outstanding response that they offer. We are definitely convinced that, even with the exit of 5D, this partnership with Colorfront will continue and even grow,” said Patrick O’Rourke of Éclair, Paris.
“The exit of 5D should not really impact the Colossus product, except of the name. Since the beginning we are working very close with Mark Jaszberenyi and his team, in a way to give our French market the best support and integration service. We still are very focused on this digital grading market, and convinced that the Colorfront offer is a future proof one” said Gerard Bonnet of Post Logic, the French Reseller of Colorfront.
About Colorfront Colorfront is a recognised software development company creating professional tools for the film and video post-production industry. Colorfront’s leading color correction technology is currently being used by top facilities around the world, recently by PostHouse to digitally grade the Lord of the Rings.
Color*star is the industry-first software plug-in for digital film grading, advanced selective color correction and creative look creation for film, HDTV, and video. 2001 NAB Pick Hit Award-winning star*dust provides the most complete arsenal of sophisticated tools for film mastering and restoration available as a plug-in for Discreet advanced systems.
Colorfront is headquartered in Budapest, Hungary and can be found on the web at www.colorfront.com.
