Colourlab Ai 2.0 Public Beta Announced – Interview with CEO Dado Valentic

by Olaf von VossFebruary 23^rd, 2022

Color Intelligence, a Hollywood-based company and creator of Colourlab Ai (read our coverage here), has just announced the availability of a public beta version of its latest flagship software product: Colourlab Ai 2.0. We took the opportunity to sit down (well, virtually) with Color Intelligence CEO Dado Valentic to talk about the features of this new release!

Color Intelligence announced Colourlab v1 in late 2020 (article here) and has released several updates and improvements ever since. But now it’s time to make the jump from v1 to Colourlab 2.0. With this new version, now in public beta, Colourlab 2.0 adds Adobe Premiere and Apple Final Cut Pro integration, Auto Color, Color Tune and Timeline Intelligence, according to the press release. Deep integration with DaVinci Resolve was already available with version 1.

In addition, the software’s user interface has been completely overhauled and many general improvements, including optimizations to the Cinematic Neural Engine and the color matching feature, have been implemented. This also includes support for Apple’s latest M1 Pro/Max chips and their distinct capabilities.

Last but not least there are now new subscription pricing options including Colourlab Ai Pro and the more affordable Colourlab Ai Creator.

Colourlab 2.0 Public Beta

According to Dado, the new Colourlab Ai 2.0 offers quite a few major features, worth noting (apart from obvious performance updates and enhancements).

Most of these features leverage the power of artificial intelligence and machine learning to help not only professionals, but also content creators and other independent filmmakers who may have a little less experience with proper (and complicated) color grading workflows:

• Adobe Premiere & Apple Final Cut Pro Integration
• Timeline Intelligence
• Ai Powered Auto Color
• Color Tune
• Show Look Library
• Smart LUTs
• Improved Camera Matching

Just as with DaVinci Resolve, Colourlab Ai 2.0 is now tightly integrated with Apple Final Cut Pro and Adobe Premiere. This allows for seamless roundtrips between these NLEs and Colourlab.ai (via a plugin in the NLE of choice) to perform color grading non-destructively, even as you edit. No rendering needed.

The Timeline Intelligence features use the Ai (artificial intelligence) part of the software and provide Ai-based analysis using the Cinematic Neural Engine to dynamically sort and group shots based on their image characteristics. This allows the user to quickly identify similar shots that may need similar color correction, and this could be a real time saver!

Auto Color & Color Tune

Ai Powered Auto Color is precisely that, a feature that lets you automatically grade a specific shot with just a click of a button. According to Color Intelligence, this feature again makes intensive use of Ai to achieve the best possible result. This could be very handy for quick color correction of dailies, for example.

Color Tune offers a comprehensive yet accessible and intuitive toolset for fine-tuning specific shots in your timeline. Simply select the aspect that interests you and tweak it to your taste.

New Show Look Library and other features

Colourlab Ai 2 ships with a new Show Look Library. Show Looks combine 3D LUTs with the parametric meta-data of Color Intelligence’s Look Designer technology, allowing you to easily modify and create variations and leverage the film stock emulations included in Look Designer. You can also import any 3D LUTs and it will be converted into a Show Look that can be further edited in Look Designer.

Beyond a static 3D LUT, Smart LUTs contain parametric values that can be customized in the Look Designer, and they also contain a unique content fingerprint created from reference images for use with Colourlab Ai’s neural network. Colourlab Ai 2 ships with a selection of Smart LUTs to help you get started. Furthermore, it’s possible to edit these Smart LUTs within the Look Designer and even create a Smart LUT from any still image which then acts as a reference.

Finally, Colourlab Ai 2.0 is able to automatically match different camera makes and models to seamlessly blend them together in one timeline. To achieve this, shots from different cameras are instantly color-matched in a fully color-managed pipeline using built-in camera profiles and – you guessed it – artificial intelligence algorithms.

Pricing and Availability

To use Colourlab Ai, you must subscribe to one of the available plans. With v2.0 there are two options available (as well as a perpetual option):

• Colourlab Creator
  • Includes full Ai functionality
  • Subscription for $129/year
• Colourlab Pro
  • Includes Look Designer, Tangent device control, SDI video output, and DaVinci Resolve integration (not available in the Creator tier)
  • Subscription for $39/month, $99/quarter, $299/year or $599 for a perpetual license.

And the best part? If you already have an active subscription for v1, you can start using Colourlab Ai 2.0 right away, there are no additional costs.

Dado was kind enough to provide a discount code for our valued readers: just use the code CINED20 This gives customers a one-time $20 off discount on any subscription of Colourlab Ai Creator or Pro – expires March 31st, 2022.

Both versions come with a fully functional 7-day trial. Colourlab Ai 2.0 is currently available only for macOS and fully optimized for Mac computers with Apple silicon. Windows version coming later this year.

Link: website

Do you already use Colourlab Ai? What do you think about the new features of v2.0? Share your experiences in the comments below!